Job Overview: Staff Accountant

Erik Larson By Erik Larson
on September 21, 2011 at 8:08 PM, updated September 23, 2011 at 9:49 AM

Staff Accountant Overview

Staff accountants are personal accountants who specialize in finance while employed by a specific company or business. They differ from CPAs who have several clients and are also fundamentally self-employed. Staff accountants keep up all of the accounts and ledger books for a company, and their position is usually under the purview of the Finance and Accounts department. They have to be fully aware of accounting standards, human resource standards, local and federal labor laws and more. Among other tasks, accounts are in charge of salary and wages, deductions and taxes, labor and productivity turnover and issues associated with labor. They are also expected to take care of complications arising from the financial problems of employees and their complaints pertaining to accounting errors.

Staff accountants should be adept at math and extremely well organized. They should be able to handle massive amounts of money with a minimum of mistakes, balance books and comprehend how the company's accounts work, and they should also be able to quickly understand what the company's polices are in regards to each individual account.

The job security for staff accounts is mediocre at best. The reason for this is because their skills will always be in demand, and also because those skills are becoming increasingly easy to find and to outsource or contract out to an accounting company. But this won't always be the case as a majority of companies like to have staff accountants on their payroll instead of accountants who aren't directly employed by the company. It's also worth mentioning that the job growth between 2008 and 2018 for an account is 22%, which is higher than other professions. The reason for this is altering taxation and regulations, increased globalization of commercial business and the need to reduce financial risk. 

The pay for staff accountants depends on experience, the size of the company and their location. Accountants at a small firm can make about $10,000 a month while those at a larger firm can expect to make about $50,000 a month. Those employed by a larger company will also have additional opportunities to advance. Ambitious accountants should plan on becoming certified as a Certified Public Accountant as they are paid a significant amount more, but they also have to have additional training.

Sites such as and CareerBuilder are excellent for finding positions as a staff accountant. Ways to make your accounting resume stand out are to use "accounting buzzwords" such as: monthly accounting cycle, month-end close, accounts payable/receivable and general ledger maintenance, here is a good example of a staff accountant resume. You'll also want to make sure that you tailor your resume with every potential job opportunity. Show potential employers how you've either saved money or improved on an existing idea, and don't be afraid to include the kinds of accountant software that you're familiar with.