What’s a typical Accountant salary?

Are you considering changing careers, or are you looking for your very first career? If you are in college, you may be looking for that perfect career. If so, if you are good with numbers and enjoy dealing with money, accounting is a great field to consider. You can work for a firm, the government, a corporation, or just about anywhere in an accounting position – earning a decent accountant salary.

One thing you probably consider when searching for a career is salary. While the amount of money you make shouldn’t be top priority, you must still be sure it’s worthwhile. If you hate the job, it won’t matter how much money you make, but if you love it and can’t make money to live off of, it will be a problem, too.

In order to understand what is a typical accountant salary, you must understand what they do and what you have to do to get there. There are a wide variety of different accounting positions available. You could be a staff accountant at a firm, a bookkeeper for a small business, a tax accountant, or something else. Of course, the position you hold will have a lot to do with how much money you make.

For example, a bookkeeper for a small business is going to make much less money than a CPA partner at a CPA firm. This has a lot to do with education and experience. Obviously, the more education and experience you have, the more you’ll make, assuming you find the right opportunities.

A bookkeeper rarely needs much education at all after a high school diploma. If you get an associates degree or are fortunate enough to find a place to build experience, you can get a job as a bookkeeper. A bookkeeper is not actually considered to be an accountant. An accountant needs a larger educational background.

An accountant must acquire a 4 – year bachelor’s degree. You can then get a job at a firm or within a company. The more experience and education you gain, the more you will get paid. If you become a CPA, Certified Public Accountant, you can increase your pay dramatically.

The typical accountant salary will also be different depending on where you live. For example, if you live in the northeast of the United States, as a starting an accountant, you can expect to make around $38,000 to $48,000 a year. With 6 to 8 years of experience, you can expect upwards of $80,000 per year. CPA partners can earn up to $100,000 or much more per year, depending on the location and size of the firm.

If you live in Europe, a typical salary could be around £80,000 per year. As you can see, the salaries don’t vary too far from each other. The salary of an accountant can be pretty high, that is why it is such a desired career. Whether you’re a cost accountant, a tax accountant, or a CPA, you can make an above average salary.

Just as with any career, you should never get into any job just because it makes a lot of money. Being an accountant is not for everyone. If you are very outgoing and love to be around people, it might not be the right job for you because in the beginning, you do a lot of independent work. If you have trouble with math and tend to ignore accuracy, this is not for you either. If you don’t value ethics, this is definitely not the right career for you, in fact, you will probably have trouble in any career.

What’s a typical accountant salary? You have to know the amount of education you have, the experience, the location of work, and the type of specific job before you can get more accurate numbers, but generally, you can do very well financially as an accountant. The longer and harder you work, the more money you will make. Accounting is a great career that is worth getting into if the career appeals to you.

Photo source: Axel Buhrmann