Senior tax analyst vs senior cost accountant

The differences between senior tax analysts 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 analyst and a senior cost accountant. Additionally, a senior tax analyst has an average salary of $79,029, which is higher than the $65,824 average annual salary of a senior cost accountant.

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

Senior tax analyst vs senior cost accountant overview

	Senior Tax Analyst	Senior Cost Accountant
Yearly salary	$79,029	$65,824
Hourly rate	$37.99	$31.65
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	56,996	45,010
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does a senior tax analyst do?

A senior tax analyst is responsible for reconciling tax accounts, preparing tax payment estimates for the state and federal income tax jurisdictions. Other tasks that you will perform include discussing inter-company accounting, conducting tax research using different tax databases, and preparing state and federal income tax returns. In addition, you will be responsible for maintaining client accounts, write-ups, and ledgers, reconciling bank statements, and researching, developing, and executing tax-efficient structure. As a senior tax analyst, you are also responsible for reviewing and analyzing tax withholdings.

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 analyst vs senior cost accountant salary

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

	Senior Tax Analyst	Senior Cost Accountant
Average salary	$79,029	$65,824
Salary range	Between $58,000 And $106,000	Between $48,000 And $89,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Rhode Island	New Jersey
Best paying company	Google	OraSure Technologies
Best paying industry	Finance	Health Care

Differences between senior tax analyst and senior cost accountant education

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

	Senior Tax Analyst	Senior Cost Accountant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Pennsylvania

Senior tax analyst vs senior cost accountant demographics

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

	Senior Tax Analyst	Senior Cost Accountant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 48.3% Female, 51.7%	Male, 59.7% Female, 40.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 15.5% White, 60.8% 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 analyst and senior cost accountant duties and responsibilities

Senior tax analyst example responsibilities.

Manage the production of retirement benefit checks, and ACH invoices.
Review various tax liability and reserve account reconciliations to ensure proper accounting treatment of tax collections and remittances.
Prepare sales/use tax reclassification journal entries for monthly closing and perform quarterly and annual sales/use tax accounts reconciliation for SOX control.
Used OneSource s/w for filing the tax returns.
Develop and generate ERP system reports, meeting standard reporting needs.
Improve: labor reporting, sales cycle, departments communication, A/R & A/P processing.

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 analyst vs senior cost accountant skills

Common senior tax analyst skills

ASC, 6%
State Income, 5%
OneSource, 5%
Tax Compliance, 5%
Tax Research, 4%
Indirect Tax, 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 Analyst vs Senior Cost Accountant

Updated January 8, 2025

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