Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 1,449,800 people employed as accountants and auditors in the United States. The median annual salary is $77,250. Entry level employees earn approximately $47,970 per year and senior employees earn approximately $128,970 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime pay, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.
• Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
• Supervise auditing of establishments, and determine scope of investigation required.
• Confer with company officials about financial and regulatory matters.
• Examine and evaluate financial and information systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity.
• Inspect cash on hand, notes receivable and payable, negotiable securities, and canceled checks to confirm records are accurate.
• Examine records and interview workers to ensure recording of transactions and compliance with laws and regulations.
• Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
• Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
• Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
• Direct activities of personnel engaged in filing, recording, compiling, and transmitting financial records.
• Conduct pre-implementation audits to determine if systems and programs under development will work as planned.
• Analyze business operations, trends, costs, revenues, financial commitments, and obligations to project future revenues and expenses or to provide advice.
• Prepare adjusting journal entries.
• Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences.
• Establish tables of accounts and assign entries to proper accounts.
• Examine inventory to verify journal and ledger entries.
• Report to management regarding the finances of establishment.
• Develop, implement, modify, and document recordkeeping and accounting systems, making use of current computer technology.
• Evaluate taxpayer finances to determine tax liability, using knowledge of interest and discount rates, annuities, valuation of stocks and bonds, and amortization valuation of depletable assets.
• Examine whether the organization's objectives are reflected in its management activities, and whether employees understand the objectives.
• Audit payroll and personnel records to determine unemployment insurance premiums, workers' compensation coverage, liabilities, and compliance with tax laws.
• Review taxpayer accounts, and conduct audits on-site, by correspondence, or by summoning taxpayer to office.
• Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements.
• Advise clients in areas such as compensation, employee health care benefits, the design of accounting or data processing systems, or long-range tax or estate plans.
• Represent clients before taxing authorities and provide support during litigation involving financial issues.

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