Senior tax accountant vs senior cost accountant

The differences between senior tax accountants and senior cost accountants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior tax accountant and a senior cost accountant. Additionally, a senior tax accountant has an average salary of $77,537, which is higher than the $65,824 average annual salary of a senior cost accountant.

The top three skills for a senior tax accountant include CPA, state income and tax research. The most important skills for a senior cost accountant are reconciliations, variance analysis, and GAAP.

Senior tax accountant vs senior cost accountant overview

	Senior Tax Accountant	Senior Cost Accountant
Yearly salary	$77,537	$65,824
Hourly rate	$37.28	$31.65
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	57,686	45,010
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does a senior tax accountant do?

Senior Tax Accountants recommend tax strategies, as well as assist the preparation of federal, state, and local taxes. They contact clients to resolve minor tax issues and work with the senior tax manager to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local tax legislation.

What does a senior cost accountant do?

A senior cost accountant is an individual who maintains detailed costs in a company's system and provides cost analysis that supports operations and sales. Senior cost accountants are required to review inventory and deal with manufacturing personnel to control and analyze standard costs. They must record cost information to be used in controlling expenditures as well as recommend cost efficiencies in new product layouts. Senior cost accountants must also provide reports that specify and compare factors affecting prices and profitability of products or services to the management.

Senior tax accountant vs senior cost accountant salary

Senior tax accountants and senior cost accountants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Tax Accountant	Senior Cost Accountant
Average salary	$77,537	$65,824
Salary range	Between $60,000 And $99,000	Between $48,000 And $89,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New York	New Jersey
Best paying company	Riverbed Holdings, Inc.	OraSure Technologies
Best paying industry	Professional	Health Care

Differences between senior tax accountant and senior cost accountant education

There are a few differences between a senior tax accountant and a senior cost accountant in terms of educational background:

	Senior Tax Accountant	Senior Cost Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Pennsylvania

Senior tax accountant vs senior cost accountant demographics

Here are the differences between senior tax accountants' and senior cost accountants' demographics:

	Senior Tax Accountant	Senior Cost Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 50.6% Female, 49.4%	Male, 59.7% Female, 40.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.7% Asian, 14.3% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 12.3% White, 64.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between senior tax accountant and senior cost accountant duties and responsibilities

Senior tax accountant example responsibilities.

Research technical topics in taxation to present to the tax department and clients on areas of concern in the IRS code.
Participate in monthly accounting close with preparation and ownership of tax accrual journal entries and reconciliations.
Help implement, and maintain federal and state tax provision information into OneSource.
Work with internal and external resources to ensure implementation of CCH software on shopping cart is successful.
Assist and review the maintenance of the OneSource database relative to coding & mapping of the trial balance.
Conduct research with CCH and RIA on tax exposures, savings, refund, recovery, and credits.

Senior cost accountant example responsibilities.

Manage quarterly inventory reserves in accordance with company policy which follows GAAP guidance.
Prepare internal financial reports for treasury manage accounts include in external compliance reports.
Process month end close including journal entries, account reconciliations, variance analysis, financial statement preparation and corporate reporting.
Provide user training and technical support for ERP and payroll systems.
Implement process improvements for monthly close process and SOX documentation retention.
Complete account reconciliations in accordance with maintaining the integrity of assets and liabilities for balance sheet inventory accounts.

Senior tax accountant vs senior cost accountant skills

Common senior tax accountant skills

CPA, 14%
State Income, 5%
Tax Research, 5%
Income Tax Returns, 4%
Tax Planning, 4%
Tax Compliance, 4%

Common senior cost accountant skills

Reconciliations, 9%
Variance Analysis, 6%
GAAP, 5%
Account Reconciliations, 4%
SR, 4%
SOX, 3%

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Senior Tax Accountant
Senior Tax Accountant vs Senior Cost Accountant

Updated January 8, 2025

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