What are the high paying Accounting jobs? What are the highest paid Accounting careers? The accounting field has always been a big source of job opportunities because all companies, regardless of size, have bookkeeping and financial tracking needs. As the jobs get higher up the corporate ladder, the accounting profession offers executive level positions with great pay and increasing levels of authority and responsibility.
If you have considered getting an advanced accounting degree, such as the Online Accounting MBA, you should look at the following list of the 10 Highest Paying Accounting Jobs & Careers for MBA’s. These 10 positions are listed with the current national average salary for that job, as found on the CareerBuilder.com Website. As with any position, these figures are for average salaries, so there are people earning less at that position at some companies, while there are others making significantly more at other companies.
#1 Chief Accounting Officer: $154,075
This position would be the highest accounting employee within an organization. The kinds of companies that would employ a Chief Accounting Officer tend to be large sized firms where the accounting function comprises a primary part of their business. They would be the ones required to monitor all accounting activities and to be held responsible for those duties being done in a timely manner. There are both internal requirements for these reports as well as external. There are governmental standards for reports to prove compliance with a variety of regulations.
#2 Accounting Director: $127,275
In corporations without a CAO, the Accounting Director is most often the highest level accounting employee. Their responsibilities include managing the entire accounting practices of the organization, and typically lead through various managers that oversee the individual accounting departments. All work must be verified to meet all accepted accounting standards, and it is their responsibility that the required reporting is completed on time for both internal consumers as well as for legal compliance.
#3 Controller: $116,173
Where most of the accounting professionals find themselves involved in many more areas of the financial department rather than just accounting, the controller generally is involved only in the accounting arena. The entry of data, the integrity of their reports, and the accuracy of their reports, are their chief concerns. Questions about information contained in their reports are directed to the controller is considered most knowledgeable at addressing any discrepancies.
#4 Accounting Firm Partner: $108,442
The salary figures for this position vary widely. Larger corporations are likely to pay dramatically higher, assuming higher education and work experience earn them consideration for the positions, some over $300,000. These professionals are the ones in the company that have the most experience and are called upon to service their largest clients. Partners not only oversee the accounting efforts of their staff, but also are charged with contributing the strategic planning of that firm as an ongoing entity. Shaping their vision while working to strengthen their market position through positive image and strong personal and professional relationships is key.
#5 Financial Controller: $97,630
The person employed as a Financial Controller oversees the accounting, budgeting, and auditing functions of company. They are the ones who have to be very aware of all of the reports produced by the various sectors of the financial area, but also needs to have the strong communication skills. This person is often called upon to explain and verify the data on the reports to people in other departments as well as to executives higher up in the company.
#6 Auditing Manager: $87,915
This position is in charge of the internal policies and procedures an organization has in place for the internal auditing of company performance. These audits involve the financial aspects that a company has to be monitoring on a fixed basis in order to ensure that there are no problems with costing that are unknown. Examples are audits of inventory if in a store or warehouse, comparing money in a register to what the computer says should be there, looking at where a department’s budgeted expenses have been adhered to with their actual expenses, and many others.
#7 Accounting Manager: $83,988
The main function of an accounting manager is to obtain, record, and report on the operations of a company. This involves all costs to produce their product, the wages for all employees used to manufacture it, and the costs of selling and/or distributing it to the end user. By tracking these costs, the main goal is uncovering inefficiencies and to generate ideas for possible cost cutting measures. This information is used in decision making within the company to evaluate new products for market as well as for evaluating new procedures for bringing their current products to market.
#8 Forensic Accounting: $81,896
A Forensic Accountant is a person whose primary duty is to investigate and uncover fraudulent activities related to financial reporting or bookkeeping. Typically called white collar crimes, these professionals are employed to look into suspected fraud and to determine whether any not there were any violations or laws broken. People who do well at these jobs tend to be very detail oriented, interested in analyzing large amounts of financial data, and bringing illegal activities to light. Investigations include all types of fraud, and depending on the firm, could involve either corporate wrongdoing or personal wrongdoing.
#9 Tax Accounting Manager: $80,083
Leading the group that handles tax calculation and tax reporting. Depending on the company, it may be for internal tax reporting of different divisions, or for tax-related firms, it may be in the calculating of taxes for personal or business customers external to their business. This person must keep up to date on changing tax laws and know how those changes impact their operations. Can become involved in tax planning for regular clients, whereby they help them reconfigure their investments or holdings in order to reduce their tax burden in the coming years.
#10 Senior Accountant: $76,410
The duties of this position are to maintain and update all data that relates to business performance in financial areas. They provide balance sheet data to the company systems and use that data to product profit/loss reports. Accomplishing this requires having the right information entered into the system correctly, and used correctly in reporting to the company’s leadership.
If these positions and salaries are of interest for your future career, consider the many online MBA options available. 15 Cool Online MBA Accounting Programs: AACSB Options is a great place to start. There are a lot of choices when it comes to picking schools, but you should know that choosing a specialization of accounting is a solid idea. Accounting constantly appears in the top of the rankings of best area of business to concentrate on. You can find more about this at 10 Killer Online MBA Degrees Without No GMAT Requirement.
