Gloria
salary for an accountant
what is the salary for an accountant per hour #accounting #salary
6 answers
Timothy Sonnek, CPA
Timothy’s Answer
The above answers all correctly touch on the nuances of public accounting salaries, and I thought it might be helpful to have some specifics from someone also in the Southeast who began their career fairly recently.
When I started at PwC as a Tax intern in 2017, my salary was $23/hour.
As a first year associate, my base salary was $52,000, and I received a bonus of $5,000 for passing the CPA exam, bringing my all-in cash comp to $57,000. This is before things like 401(k) contributions, health insurance, real-time-recognition bonuses, firm-sponsored student loan paydown, your mobile phone and all the other benefits that can boost comp, depending on how you look at it.
After my first year, my base salary was raised to $60,000 and I received a $2,000 bonus.
It's especially important to consider geography, as someone in NYC or San Francisco will outearn someone in the SouthEast market to keep up with the cost of living. Additionally, it's important to consider in what we call "public" accounting, which means working at an accounting firm vs working as an accountant in another business, the salary and promotion progression is typically much faster than you see in other organizations. The ability to progress quickly and increase my earnings was certainly one of the most attractive things about the public accounting industry, to me.
Please feel free to reach out if there's anything I can provide further color on.
Thanks!
Yvonne Koh
Yvonne’s Answer
Hi Gloria,
The salary you can earn as an accountant is dependent on several factors: geographic location, level of education and experience and the industry you work in. Generally, people with higher education level and experience have an advantage in the job market. Also, depending on the industry you work in, most accountants choose to obtain the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) certification at some point in their career as this could potentially increase their base salary.
Here are some of website with information and statistics regarding salary for an accountant:
- https://www1.salary.com/Accounting-Salary.html
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm
- https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/accountant-salary-SRCH_KO0,10.htm
Hope this helps!
Kruti Patel
Kruti’s Answer
Catherine Padliya
Catherine’s Answer
Hi Gloria,
All good points have been made previously - one thing that I would add is the consideration of future salary progression. At a larger accounting firm or company, there may be more opportunities to progress into high positions or more complex/challenging roles, which generally are associated with higher salaries. As compared to working as an accountant at a smaller company, there may not be as frequent of opportunities to be promoted into higher roles and therefore the salary over time will not grow as much or as quickly as in larger firms.
Regards, Catherine
Brittney Oljar
Brittney’s Answer
Hi Gloria,
Great question - if you are deciding if you would like to enter into the accounting profession, salary is definitely something to consider. I work for a public accounting firm and from my experience it is normal to get an annual increase in salary (as opposed to other professions where annual pay raises is not the norm). In addition, I keep my expenses reasonable and would say that I make enough to pay for my living expenses, pay off student debt, have money to travel/explore during vacation or on the weekends and I have enough to save for retirement. It's tough to say exactly how much an accountant typically makes, but I would say it's a profession where typically you don't have to worry about not being able to live off of it or provide for your family. I hope that answer helps! Reach out if you want to chat further :)
Su Yi Song
Su’s Answer
Hey Gloria,
That is a good question, but the average salary varies by position, location, and company. You can use this webpage called "Glassdoor" to search by specific position, city, and company: https://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm