I was asked recently, “What does a Junior Accountant really do?” Sometimes I assume this to be a basic question. However, this blog is dedicated to be a complete information resource for accounting and finance professionals. Are the Junior Accountant jobs easy to find and are there very many out there? What is a junior accountant? Here is a junior accountant job description.
Junior accountant jobs are often entry-level jobs or jobs that require less than five years of experience in the field. Junior accountants have sometimes worked as an intern in the accounts department of a certain company or have experience from a financial services company.
Individual companies can have different requirements for candidates for this position, so the required years if work experience can vary. Junior accountants usually have Bachelor level accounting degree, but sometimes they may have a degree in a related subject such as business or finance. Many juniors are still waiting to take their CPA (or certified public accountant) exam.
Junior Accountant Duties and Responsibilities
A junior accountant’s duties can include providing support to the senior accountants. These may often be some simple tasks the seniors do not have time to do, as having a junior perform them gives the seniors more time to fulfill their other obligations.
Reviewing a company’s profits and its expenses, analyzing its position and comprising reports of losses and profits can be some of the duties in a junior accountant’s job description. Most of the tasks a junior is expected to perform are duties that do not require any specialized knowledge or experience. However, if they stay with the company and gain experience in any specialized areas of the business, they can start to gain more responsibility in these areas. Bookkeeping could be one of these areas of interest.
In general, juniors will always work under the supervision of the senior accountants and although they may be encouraged to make suggestions, their ideas will always have to be accepted by their seniors.
How Much does a Junior Accountant Earn?
US Junior Accountant’s salary is usually around two thirds of the salary of a senior. Generally there is always work in this sector, and junior accountant jobs are not as difficult to find. A typical yearly salary for junior accounting jobs can be between $25,000-$30,000 a year. Remember a Junior Accountant Salary can vary depending on stat income taxes and cost of living.
