Salary Tools for Accountants

Determine a fair accountant salary based on job description If you don't have a job description for your accountant positions, come up with one. Things to include are job duties, skills set and expectations. Then, use online salary tools to help you figure out what the typical accountant compensation is for a person that matches that job description. Be sure to keep the number of years of experience and job location in mind.

I recommend:  Accounting Jobs Today has a Salary Wizard powered by Salary.com to help you determine a fair salary for accountants based on job description. PayScale lets you search for accountant salary information and provides a graph showing median accountant salaries based on years of experience. Find a detailed breakdown of accounting salaries at the U.S. Department of Labor. Find starting accountant salary ranges in the annual report from Accountemps.

Compare accounting salaries on national job boards You can research all day long and find hypotheticals, but sometimes the best information out there are real-life examples. Check out your local newspaper's classified section or search online job boards to find accountant salary information from real job postings. Keep a log for a few weeks to see if you a pattern or average emerges. If you are in the market for hiring a new accountant, these same job boards are a great place to start your search.

I recommend:  Find accounting industry salary information on niche boards, such as iHireAccounting or AccountingCrossing. Industrywide job boards are another good place to gather information. Check out Monster.com and Yahoo! HotJobs.

Keep employee benefits in mind when establishing accountants pay An accountant salary is not that only thing that will attract and keep employees. Such benefits as medical and dental insurance, vacation pay, life insurance, flexible hours, casual dress and more are also key factors. Keep all benefits in mind when coming up with the salary of an accountant.

I recommend:  Get a free subscription to Employee Benefit News to stay on top of the latest in employee benefits. The U.S. Department of Labor summarizes what types of employee benefits the average U.S. worker has access to.