Accountants And Auditors – Which Are The Best Paying Jobs?

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Accountants And Auditors – Which Are The Best Paying Jobs? by Emolument.com

Trying to decide on a career path can be a daunting experience, especially when jobs appear fairly similar from the outside and the financial consequences of picking an employer are unclear.

Emolument.com has analyzed 1,401 London salary entries from professionals working as auditors and accountants both as external consultants and internal employees. We found that internal auditors earn more than consulting auditors. Also, when starting out as a consulting auditor, the big 4 are not necessarily the best payers – but it’s not all about the money: blue chip names, mentoring and training processes as well as the professional network they provide should not be overlooked.

Accountants Auditors Best Paying Jobs

Graph 1. & Table1. Median Pay Data based on 508 London professionals
Auditors

Go for internal audit: Internal auditors are better off when it comes to pay than consulting auditors, especially in the financial sector. As senior consultants, external auditors make 21% less, while the gap in total compensation increases to 28% for managerial positions.

The case of the missing bonus: Consulting auditors do not earn bonuses (or very few do) in the early years until they get promoted to manager, in line with most consultancy practices. Even then the bonus is only 4% of their total earnings. Internal auditors however, earn bonuses making up to 7 to 9% of total annual earnings (for junior managers and managers respectively).

Accountants Auditors Best Paying Jobs

Accountants Auditors Best Paying Jobs

Graph 2. & Table 2. Median Pay Data based on 893 London professionals
Accountants

The ins & outs of accountancy. In financial accounting, being employed by a company or  being employed externally by a consultancy is financially irrelevant for the first five years. As accounting professionals rise through the ranks to manager level though, working as a consultant is 30% more lucrative.

Accountants Auditors Best Paying Jobs

Accountants Auditors Best Paying Jobs

Graph 3. & Table 3. Median Pay Data based on 280 London professionals

The Big 4. From the junior levels to senior consultants, there is no noticeable pay difference between working for the Big 4  firm or a smaller accountancy practice.

Alice Leguay, Co-Founder & COO at Emolument.com said: “Not only do companies have to pay competitively to attract and retain the best staff, but they also need to adapt their recruitment and retention strategies and find out what accountants want to do right now, in five years, and ten years’ time. And then help with building a career progression tailored to that individual; not just a one-size fits all programme for staff.”

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