Accountant (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Accountant organizes and maintains financial records and prepares financial statements for companies and organizations. Works as a public accountant (prepares financial documents where public disclosure is required by law, such as business balance sheets and tax returns), management accountant (prepares financial information for internal use by a company) or government accountant (maintains records for government agencies).
Job Outlook
There were 4546 Accountant (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 189283 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Accountant industry, which includes the Accountant (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Accountant (General) jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $71,420.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $68,333.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Accountant (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $60,495.
Education and Experience
Posted Accountant (General) jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 7.85% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 73.82% |
| Master's Degree | 10.23% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0.74% |
| Other | 5.36% |
Posted Accountant (General) jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 39.14% |
| 3 to 5 years | 53.58% |
| 6 to 8 years | 5.47% |
| 9+ years | 1.81% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Accountant (General) positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Detail Oriented (35.81%)
- Communication (35.07%)
- Management (34.14%)
- Microsoft Excel (33.73%)
- Budgeting (21.65%)
- Operations (19.89%)
- Problem Solving (19.88%)
- Microsoft Office (19.56%)
- Research (17.96%)
- Writing (15.79%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- General Ledger (34.21%)
- Financial Data (10.75%)
- Accounting Software (15.47%)
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (40.06%)
- Balance Sheet (23.05%)
- Account Reconciliation (23.79%)
- Public Accounting (10.44%)
- Finance (50.72%)
- Auditing (47.77%)
- Accounting (99.23%)
- External Auditing (18.25%)
- Accounts Receivable (25.55%)
- Reconciliation (22.44%)
- Accounts Payable (29.12%)
- Fixed Asset (14.46%)
- Internal Controls (17.81%)
- QuickBooks (Accounting Software) (9.42%)
- Financial Statements (54.97%)
- Accruals (11.07%)
- Bank Reconciliations (12.06%)
- Month-End Closing (27.63%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Bookkeeping (9.14%)
- Invoicing (21.61%)
- Billing (9.83%)
- Financial Analysis (16.79%)
- Process Improvement (10.34%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Internal Reporting (4.16%)
- Corporate Accounting (6.98%)
- Accounting Records (5.15%)
- Sales Tax (4.24%)
- Accounting Systems (5.89%)
- Cost Accounting (4.8%)
- Vlookups (4.64%)
- Variance Analysis (5.32%)
- Tax Returns (5.93%)
- Ad Hoc Reporting (5.04%)
- Depreciation (6.95%)
- Income Statement (7.78%)
- Tax Consulting (1.2%)
- Technical Accounting (4.76%)
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) Compliance (3.83%)
- Account Analysis (4.61%)
- Standard Accounting Practices (5.55%)
- Ledgers (Accounting) (7.42%)
- General Ledger Reconciliation (7.03%)
- Annual Reports (3.83%)
- Bank Statements (3.94%)
- Financial Accounting (6.09%)
- Financial Systems (4.49%)
- Cash Flow Forecasting (3.31%)
- Tax Preparation (3.72%)
- Consolidation (4.04%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Ad Hoc Reporting (6.38%)
- Vlookups (5.88%)
- Month-End Closing (35%)
- Corporate Accounting (8.84%)
- Standard Accounting Practices (7.03%)
- Accruals (14.03%)
- Depreciation (8.8%)
- Balance Sheet (29.21%)
- Cash Flow Forecasting (4.19%)
- Financial Statements (69.65%)
- Fixed Asset (18.32%)
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (50.75%)
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) Compliance (4.85%)
- Technical Accounting (6.03%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Accountant (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Accountant
- Staff Accountant
- Accounting Associate
- Accounting Intern
- Tax Accountant
- Corporate Accountant
- Accountant/Bookkeeper
- Financial Accountant
- General Ledger Accountant
- Grant Accountant
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Accounting Manager
- Accounting Analyst
- Accounting Supervisor
- Controller (General)
- Financial Reporting Accountant
- Financial Reporting Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Accountant (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Robert Half (15588)
- Aston Carter (3300)
- Creative Financial Staffing (2735)
- Randstad (2730)
- Kforce (1683)
- Vaco (1560)
- Cherry Bekaert (1060)
- GPAC (766)
- Marriott International (654)
- Amentum (640)
North Carolina
- Robert Half (361)
- Vaco (73)
- Compass Group (62)
- Randstad (62)
- Aston Carter (59)
- Credit Suisse (52)
- Cycle Cpa (41)
- University of North Carolina (40)
- Cherry Bekaert (40)
- North Carolina State University (38)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.