Accountant job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

16

O*NET task statements

Preparation

Job Zone 4 of 5

considerable preparation

Typical entry education

Bachelor's degree

BLS 2025–35

Median pay

$83,680

BLS May 2025

Data Government data groups this job as Accountants and Auditors (O*NET-SOC 13-2011.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

1. Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards. importance 4.6 of 5
2. Process invoices for payment. importance 4.5 of 5
3. Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences. importance 4.5 of 5
4. Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements. importance 4.3 of 5
5. Prepare adjusting journal entries. importance 4.3 of 5
6. Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions. importance 4.2 of 5
7. Prepare detailed reports on audit findings. importance 4.1 of 5
8. Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies. importance 4.0 of 5
9. Review data about material assets, net worth, liabilities, capital stock, surplus, income, or expenditures. importance 3.9 of 5
10. Report to management regarding the finances of establishment. importance 3.9 of 5
11. Evaluate taxpayer finances to determine tax liability, using knowledge of interest and discount rates, annuities, valuation of stocks and bonds, and amortization valuation of depletable assets. importance 3.9 of 5
12. Supervise auditing of establishments, and determine scope of investigation required. importance 3.9 of 5
13. Develop, implement, modify, and document recordkeeping and accounting systems, making use of current computer technology. importance 3.9 of 5
14. Confer with company officials about financial and regulatory matters. importance 3.8 of 5
15. Review taxpayer accounts, and conduct audits on-site, by correspondence, or by summoning taxpayer to office. importance 3.8 of 5
16. Establish tables of accounts and assign entries to proper accounts. importance 3.8 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Getting Information, Working with Computers, Analyzing Data or Information, Processing Information and Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards.

Knowledge areas: Economics and Accounting, English Language, Mathematics, Law and Government and Administration and Management.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Intuit QuickBooks, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, SAP software. These are examples O*NET records for the job, not a list of tools every employer uses or a checklist of what you must know.

• Education: BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education.
• Experience: BLS lists no work experience in a related occupation as typical to enter.
• Training on the job: BLS lists no typical on-the-job training once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 4 of 5 (considerable preparation). A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations.
• Licenses and certifications: not listed here. A license is a legal requirement set by a state; a certification is a credential from a private or professional body. Rules vary by state and employer, and a missing entry on this page does not mean none is required: check with your state's licensing board and see how to become an accountant.

Most O*NET's occupation experts for this occupation (69%) name a bachelor's degree as the education the job requires.

Job title: Accountant
[Company] · [City, State] · [Full-time or part-time] · [Pay range, where your state requires one]

About the role
[Company] is hiring an Accountant to examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
- Process invoices for payment.
- Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences.
- Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements.
- Prepare adjusting journal entries.
- Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
- Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
- Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.

What we are looking for
- [Education: BLS lists a bachelor's degree as typical for this occupation; set the level this role truly needs]
- [Experience: BLS lists no related work experience as typical to enter; set what this role needs]
- Strength in reading comprehension, complex problem solving and judgment and decision making
- Working knowledge of Economics and Accounting and English Language
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Intuit QuickBooks or Microsoft Excel]
- [Any license or certification your state or company requires]

[Schedule, benefits and how to apply]

Illustrative: every name, employer, school, date and number in these samples is fictional or a bracketed placeholder. Replace each bracket with your own true details; never copy a result you did not achieve.

Not a real job posting. This template is TryHired's illustration built from government occupational data. It is not an opening at any employer, and no employer wrote it.

The median annual wage was $83,680 in May 2025. The median hourly wage was $40.23. BLS estimates about 1,449,500 jobs in this occupation in the U.S.

BLS projects employment of accountants to grow 5.0% from 2025 to 2035, with about 115,300 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

See the full accountant salary breakdown by percentile, state and metro.

• Read a real accountant posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial…”, tell you what that employer weighs most; anything it adds is specific to that team.
• Tailor your resume to the posting, not to this page: describe only accountant work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (reading comprehension and complex problem solving); accountant interview questions turns them into practice questions.