Accountants and Auditors
Also called: Account Auditor, Accountant, Accounting Auditor, Accounting Consultant, Accounting Methods Analyst, Accounting Officer, Accounting Systems Analyst, Audit Partner
Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others.
What accountants and auditors do
Typical tasks
- Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
- Process invoices for payment.
- Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences.
- Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements.
- Prepare adjusting journal entries.
- Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
- Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
- Prepare, analyze, or verify annual reports, financial statements, and other records, using accepted accounting and statistical procedures to assess financial condition and facilitate financial planning.
- Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.
- Review data about material assets, net worth, liabilities, capital stock, surplus, income, or expenditures.
- Report to management regarding the finances of establishment.
- 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.
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Accountants and Auditors salary
The median annual wage for accountants and auditors is $83,680 (BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, national). The lowest 10 percent earn less than $56,020 and the highest 10 percent earn more than $144,090. The mean annual wage is $94,750.
The mean hourly wage of $45.00 is 6.2× the federal minimum wage of $7.25. State minimums are higher in most large states. Minimum wage by state →
How does your pay compare with people your age?
Your numbers are not sent or stored. The comparison uses this occupation's BLS wage percentiles, adjusted for age with BLS median weekly earnings by age group (Q3 2026).
Pay by percentile
Annual wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Percentiles are a good proxy for pay by experience.
Projected pay for Accountants and Auditors (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
Today $83,680 → in 3 years $88,700 → in 5 years $92,300 → in 10 years $101,700 (10-year range $87,500–$118,100). The model assumes pay growth of +2.0% per year.
What drives the annual growth rate
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Accountants and Auditors
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Accountants and Auditors? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Accountants and Auditors
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
The same job in Japan
| Accountants and Auditors United States | 税理士 Japan | 公認会計士 Japan | 内部監査人 Japan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median / average pay | $83,680 | ¥8.11M ≈ $51,562 | ¥8.11M ≈ $51,562 | ¥5.25M ≈ $33,400 |
| Pay in 10 years (est.) | $101,700 | ¥8.84M | ¥8.82M | ¥5.87M |
| Outlook score | 47 | 42 | 41 | 42 |
| AI replacement risk | 86% Very high | 85% Very high | 86% Very high | 81% Very high |
| Workers | 1.4M | — | — | — |
Matched by occupation (SOC code). Yen converted at 157.25 JPY/USD for reference; Japanese figures are averages, U.S. figures are medians, and the surveys define occupations differently.
Skills, education and requirements for Accountants and Auditors
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 4 — considerable preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★★☆☆☆ Fairly easy (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become accountants and auditors
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as accountants and auditors
Career-path guidance is being prepared. Pay by percentile is shown in the Pay section.