It’s been a minute since we’ve talked about projected salaries for this year in public accounting, and compensation discussions will be happening for many of you in mere months. So today we have a new entrant in our continuing series of 2022 public accounting salary projections, and it is staffing and recruitment firm Century Group, which recently released its 2022 Salary Guide for accounting and finance.
In the public accounting bracket, Century Group provides salary expectation ranges for nine positions—four in audit and five in tax—covering the 25th to 75th percentiles and based on firm/company revenue. There are four firm/company size indicators in the salary guide:
- $1 – $50 million
- $51 million – 500 million
- $501 million – $1 billion
- Over $1 billion
Employee percentiles are defined by Century Group as:
- 25th percentile: candidate has little or no prior experience in the position; still developing relevant skills; low demand.
- 50th percentile: candidate has average experience; has the majority of the necessary skills; moderate demand.
- 75th percentile: candidate has above-average experience and most or all of the necessary skills; may have specialized certifications; high demand.
Here are the projected base pay ranges for the nine roles in public accounting included in Century Group’s 2022 Salary Guide:
Audit partner
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: $181,239
- 50th percentile: $226,549
- 75th percentile: $271,858
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $211,693
- 50th percentile: $251,882
- 75th percentile: $294,094
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $238,301
- 50th percentile: $272,049
- 75th percentile: $309,898
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $250,687
- 50th percentile: $313,358
- 75th percentile: $376,030
Audit senior manager
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: $120,537
- 50th percentile: $150,671
- 75th percentile: $180,805
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $133,009
- 50th percentile: $166,261
- 75th percentile: $199,514
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $145,481
- 50th percentile: $181,851
- 75th percentile: $218,222
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $151,089
- 50th percentile: $188,861
- 75th percentile: $226,633
Audit manager
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: $109,579
- 50th percentile: $136,974
- 75th percentile: $164,369
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $120,917
- 50th percentile: $151,147
- 75th percentile: $181,376
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $132,256
- 50th percentile: $165,319
- 75th percentile: $198,383
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $134,901
- 50th percentile: $168,626
- 75th percentile: $202,351
Audit senior
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: $77,689
- 50th percentile: $97,111
- 75th percentile: $116,533
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $84,469
- 50th percentile: $105,586
- 75th percentile: $126,703
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $91,249
- 50th percentile: $114,061
- 75th percentile: $136,873
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $92,161
- 50th percentile: $115,201
- 75th percentile: $138,242
Tax partner
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: $181,239
- 50th percentile: $226,549
- 75th percentile: $271,858
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $213,106
- 50th percentile: $253,564
- 75th percentile: $296,058
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $237,193
- 50th percentile: $270,783
- 75th percentile: $308,457
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $250,687
- 50th percentile: $313,358
- 75th percentile: $376,030
Tax senior manager
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: $121,111
- 50th percentile: $151,388
- 75th percentile: $181,666
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $127,328
- 50th percentile: $159,160
- 75th percentile: $190,992
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $134,451
- 50th percentile: $168,064
- 75th percentile: $201,677
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $137,798
- 50th percentile: $172,247
- 75th percentile: $184,551
Tax manager
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: $109,263
- 50th percentile: $136,579
- 75th percentile: $163,894
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $116,905
- 50th percentile: $146,131
- 75th percentile: $175,358
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $124,547
- 50th percentile: $155,684
- 75th percentile: $186,821
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $127,648
- 50th percentile: $159,559
- 75th percentile: $191,471
Tax senior
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: $82,952
- 50th percentile: $90,657
- 75th percentile: $100,676
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $84,645
- 50th percentile: $92,507
- 75th percentile: $102,730
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $86,372
- 50th percentile: $94,395
- 75th percentile: $104,827
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $88,531
- 50th percentile: $96,755
- 75th percentile: $107,448
Tax staff
$1 – $50 million
- 25th percentile: N/A
- 50th percentile: N/A
- 75th percentile: N/A
$51 million – $500 million
- 25th percentile: $67,867
- 50th percentile: $73,415
- 75th percentile: $86,162
$501 million – $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $71,788
- 50th percentile: $78,085
- 75th percentile: $88,992
Over $1 billion
- 25th percentile: $76,876
- 50th percentile: $84,018
- 75th percentile: $93,303
For more information, here is our previous coverage of 2022 accounting salary projections.
Who put together this list? I worked at one of the big 4 in the NYC office in the core assurance practice, had a 1 ranking upon promotion to manager back in 2020 and base salary was $105K. After one year as manager and a 2 ranking my salary rose to $120K, which is a respectable 14% raise YoY. Even with bonuses (ranging from 5-12%) there’s no way this list makes sense. These figures are overly inflated.
Bean, How long ago was that since you have been at ENY? Butcher résumé out on the street you will be surprised at all firms are currently paying
Hello? Does anybody still in touch with the accounting world still work at GC? Because this is clearly written by a biased party and not at all reflective of the current market, or any prior market for that matter. Pretty lazy just to repost something and not add in a qualifier or context of what the actual market is. GC seems to just be a place to dump ads targeted at accountants now.
How is it possible that audit senior managers get paid more than tax counterparts? I thought it was always the other way around.
25% of senior associates at billion dollar firms are earning over 138k per year? There is no way this is accurate. Maybe on the high end in high cost of living markets they are earning around 100k.
This made for a good laugh. Audit partners make at least 2x what is shown here.
I love how these are skewed. Low end employee (associates) are shown to be paid more while high end employees (managers) are shown as paid way less than reality.