CPA Salary

CPA Salary

Certified Public Accountants or CPAs are usually employed by companies, governments, individuals or non profit organizations to perform tasks such as auditing, accounting, tax work and consulting. Depending on the job, some CPAs have a particular niche just like asset control, income tax returns or consulting. CPAs also have a capability to own their own accounting company or work for public accounting firms.

Average Annual Salary

- According to a federal agency named BLS, the average annual salary of accountants and auditors were $65,840 based on the data of May 2008. They do not differentiate private accountants and CPAs when it comes to computing the salary. The annual wages of medians was about $59,430 and somewhere in between of that 50 percent of the occupation will have an annual earning between $45,900 and $78,210. If the accountant is on the top ten then he/she will have an annual income of about $102,380 or more.

Hourly Wage

- When it comes to the hourly wage, accountants and auditors usually make about $31.65/hour. The median usually earns about $28.57 per hour while the middle half of the occupation makes between $22.07 and $37.60 per hour. As for the top ten, they usually make more than $49.22 per hour.

Starting Salary

- Based on the survey that was conducted by National Association of Colleges and Employers back in 2009, job applicants that have a bachelor’s degree in accounting has a salary offering that averages in $48,993 annually. For job applicants that have a master’s degree in accounting, they receive an offering of about $49,786 annually. In another survey conducted by Payscale.com, CPAs that only has less than a year of work experience earns a median salary that ranges between $39,702 and $51,499.

Work Experience

- It is important that a CPA gains enough work experience so that their salaries will also increase. Accountants with 1 to 4 years of experience in their field usually earns between $43,835 and $58,006 annually. Those with 5 to 9 years of experience in their field earns somewhere between $50,428 and $71,720 annually. An accountant who has between 10 to 19 years of work experience earns about $55,548 and $86,919 annually. And as for those with beyond 20 years of experience, they earn between $61,926 and $107,598.