Hiring Accountants and Auditors

What do accountants and auditors do?

• Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
• Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
• 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.

Core tasks, O*NET OnLine, 13-2011.00.

What does it take to become one?

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

O*NET Job Zone 4, SVP (7.0 to < 8.0). O*NET OnLine.

Employers commonly list experience with Accounting software, Intuit QuickBooks, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint for this role.

What do accountants and auditors get paid?

BLS OEWS, May 2025 publishes a wage for accountants and auditors in 92 of the metro areas in this build. The median ranges from $61,840 to $121,700 a year depending on the metro, with a midpoint of $80,040. This is what employers pay, place of work, not a single national figure and not what any one person takes home.

BLS OEWS, BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 13-2011.

What does hiring one cost?

The same as any role: tier, not location or salary, sets the fee. Across all six tiers the published range is $6,240 to $54,340 per search. For scale, the highest published median for accountants and auditors in this build is $121,700. A contingency firm hiring at that level would bill roughly $24,340 to $36,510 on the first year salary alone, 20 to 30%.

Frequently asked

How fast can a accountants and auditors search fill?

23 to 35 days, 2 to 3x faster than a typical contingency search, per the recruiting provider's published figures.

What if the hire does not work out?

A 45-day replacement guarantee, at 50% off a repeat search for the same role.