Need an accountant job description you can post this week? The template below is free to copy and edit, and it's built around the work accountants actually do: closing the books, reconciling accounts and producing statements people trust. After it you'll find the day-to-day reality of the role, U.S. pay data from O*NET, and interview questions for the first round.
Accountant job description template
What an accountant does
An accountant's month has a rhythm. The first week or so after month-end is the close: posting accruals, reconciling accounts, chasing missing invoices and tying out the trial balance. The middle of the month goes to reviews, fixes and requests, such as a department head asking why their spend looks high, or an auditor asking for support on a contract. Then the cycle starts again. O*NET's task list for the occupation reflects this: preparing and examining financial records, reconciling discrepancies, preparing adjusting entries and computing taxes owed.
Accountants work with almost everyone who spends or earns money for the company. They sit close to accounts payable, payroll and FP&A, report to a controller, and spend a lot of time with operations and sales staff who code expenses or sign contracts. During audit season they become the main contact for outside auditors.
At a small company or startup, one accountant may handle the whole cycle: AP, payroll entries, the close, sales tax and the year-end package for an outside CPA firm. The work is broad and the systems are often new, so building processes is part of the job. At a larger company, the role is narrower. A staff accountant might own revenue, fixed assets or intercompany only, inside an established ERP with tight review controls and SOX-style documentation.
Skills and qualifications
A bachelor's degree is the clear norm. In O*NET's education survey for Accountants and Auditors, 69% of respondents said new hires need a bachelor's degree, 7% said an associate's degree and 7% said a post-baccalaureate certificate. The CPA is a separate credential: according to NASBA, a CPA is licensed by a state board of accountancy after meeting education, exam and experience requirements, so ask for it only when the job truly needs one.
Salary
O*NET groups accountants with auditors under one occupation, Accountants and Auditors (13-2011.00), so the figures below cover both jobs and every level from staff to senior. Using 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, O*NET shows a U.S. median of $83,680 a year ($40.23 an hour). The 10th percentile is $56,020 and the 90th percentile is $144,090, a spread that reflects everything from entry-level bookkeeping-heavy roles to senior auditors and CPAs.
Location moves the number a lot: O*NET's California median for the same group is $97,050. Check your own state on O*NET's local wage page, then put a real range in the post. A growing number of states and cities require pay ranges in job ads, and accountants, of all people, notice when the numbers are missing.
Interview questions for accountant candidates
- "Walk me through your last month-end close. What did you own, and what usually held it up?" Strong answers are concrete: which accounts, which entries, which deadlines, and one specific bottleneck they fixed or worked around.
- "The bank reconciliation is off by $4,200 and the close is tomorrow. What do you do?" Listen for a method: check outstanding items, timing differences, duplicates and transposed numbers, then escalate with what they found rather than plugging the difference.
- "We prepaid a 12-month software contract in March. How do you book it?" A good answer records a prepaid asset and expenses it monthly over the term, and mentions keeping a schedule to support it.
- "Tell me about a time you found an error someone else made." Look for a STAR story that shows tact, a fix to the root cause and no blame.
- "Explain a big expense variance to a sales director who doesn't read financial statements." The best candidates lead with the cause in plain words, then the number.
For the full list with model answers, red flags and a 1 to 4 rubric, see our accountant interview questions. If you're also hiring for planning work, compare this role with our financial analyst job description.
Writing tips for this role
- Don't require a CPA by default. Most staff and senior accountant work doesn't need a license, and requiring one cuts the pool sharply. Put it under nice to have unless the role signs off on attest work.
- Name your ERP and say how much you'll train. "NetSuite preferred, QuickBooks experience welcome" tells candidates from smaller companies they still have a shot.
- Say which part of the close they own. "Owns revenue and deferred revenue" or "owns the full close" sets very different expectations. Vague posts attract the wrong level.
- Be honest about busy season. If audit prep or quarter-end means long weeks, say roughly how often. Candidates leaving public accounting often care about this most.
- Use the titles people search for. Include "staff accountant" or "senior accountant" alongside "accountant" so the post shows up for both. Our guide on how to write a job description covers titles and inclusive wording in more depth.
Screening accountant candidates with AI
Accounting resumes often list the same software and the same duties, so the first screen is where good candidates get lost. NTRVSTA scores and ranks each resume against your job description, then an AI interviewer runs a live first round, by video avatar or audio only, that candidates take at any hour without scheduling. It covers non-technical roles, adapts its questions to each answer, and uses the STAR method for behavioral questions. You can customize questions per role, so your controller can add the reconciliation and close scenarios that matter to your team.
Each candidate gets a score breakdown (technical skills, English proficiency, communication), with video snippets of key moments and a shareable report. Read how AI interviews are scored to see what those scores mean before you rely on them, and use our interview scorecard template to keep later rounds consistent.
Questions
What's the difference between a staff accountant and a senior accountant?
A staff accountant usually prepares entries and reconciliations for a set of accounts and has their work reviewed. A senior accountant owns larger or harder areas, reviews staff work, handles more audit requests and often trains others. Many seniors have three to five years of experience. Match the title to the review responsibility, not just years.
Should an accountant job description ask for public accounting experience?
Ask for it only if the job needs audit-ready workpapers or close work with auditors from day one. Public accounting builds strong documentation habits, but many excellent accountants came up in industry. Listing it as a preference keeps both groups in the pool.
Is a skills test fair for accountant candidates?
Yes, if it's short, related to the real job and scored the same way for everyone. A 30 to 45 minute exercise, such as a small reconciliation or a few journal entries, tells you more than a long take-home and respects candidates who already have jobs.
Want to watch an adaptive AI interviewer run an accounting first round? Book a 20-minute demo, or try a sample interview yourself. More templates are in our job description library.
