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Accountant career path, levels and ladder
Updated
5 levels, from Staff Accountant to Finance Director. Each one is rated on the same 36 skills — what changes between the rungs is how good you have to be at each. An in-house finance ladder from staff accountant to finance director, covering the books, the month-end close, reporting standards, controls and audit, tax, cash, budgeting and forecasting.
- Level 1 of 5
Staff Accountant
Posts journals, reconciles accounts and supports the monthly close.
Read the job description - Level 2 of 5
Senior Accountant
Owns parts of the month-end close and reviews other accountants' work.
Read the job description - Level 3 of 5
Accounting Manager
Runs the monthly close and the accountants who deliver it.
Read the job description - Level 4 of 5
Financial Controller
Owns the accounts, financial controls, audit and statutory filings.
Read the job description - Level 5 of 5
Finance Director
Sets financial strategy, budgets and funding across the company.
Read the job description
Rather start from a skill than a role? Browse every skill in the library
Skills matrix
36 skills and 1 certification across 5 levels. Download it as a template for Excel or Google Sheets.
| Skill/Certification 37 | Staff Accountant | Senior Accountant | Accounting Manager | Financial Controller | Finance Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Accounting5 | |||||
| BasicYou can prepare accruals, prepayments and recurring journals for your area unaided, with a clear calculation and support for every entry. | ProficientYou can work out the right entries for unusual transactions, and review other accountants' journals for errors before they post. | AdvancedYou can set the journal approval rules and thresholds for the team, and fix the recurring causes of late or wrong entries. | AdvancedYou can set the journal approval rules and thresholds for the team, and fix the recurring causes of late or wrong entries. | AdvancedYou can set the journal approval rules and thresholds for the team, and fix the recurring causes of late or wrong entries. | |
| BasicYou can reconcile a set of balance sheet accounts each month, investigate differences to the source, and clear them rather than carry them forward. | ProficientYou can review reconciliations prepared by others, challenge old or unsupported items, and fix the process that keeps creating them. | AdvancedYou can set the reconciliation standard for every balance sheet account, with owners, deadlines and thresholds, and make sure it holds under audit. | AdvancedYou can set the reconciliation standard for every balance sheet account, with owners, deadlines and thresholds, and make sure it holds under audit. | AdvancedYou can set the reconciliation standard for every balance sheet account, with owners, deadlines and thresholds, and make sure it holds under audit. | |
| BasicYou can run the payables cycle for your entities, including payment runs, vendor statement reconciliations and supplier queries. | ProficientYou can fix recurring payables problems such as duplicate payments, late approvals or missing purchase orders, and keep vendor master data under control. | ProficientYou can fix recurring payables problems such as duplicate payments, late approvals or missing purchase orders, and keep vendor master data under control. | AdvancedYou can design the purchase-to-pay controls and approval limits for the organization, and balance supplier relationships against cash timing. | AdvancedYou can design the purchase-to-pay controls and approval limits for the organization, and balance supplier relationships against cash timing. | |
| BasicYou can manage collections for a group of customers, agree payment plans within limits, and prepare the aging report (who owes what, and for how long) with notes on each problem account. | ProficientYou can estimate how much of the money customers owe will not be collected, using the aging report and customer history, and resolve disputed invoices with sales and the customer. | ProficientYou can estimate how much of the money customers owe will not be collected, using the aging report and customer history, and resolve disputed invoices with sales and the customer. | AdvancedYou can set credit and collections policy for the team, and cut the time it takes to turn invoices into cash. | AdvancedYou can set credit and collections policy for the team, and cut the time it takes to turn invoices into cash. | |
| NoviceYou can add new assets to the fixed asset register from approved invoices and run the monthly depreciation report. | ProficientYou can reconcile the register to the ledger, run a physical verification, and flag assets that may be impaired. | ProficientYou can reconcile the register to the ledger, run a physical verification, and flag assets that may be impaired. | AdvancedYou can write the capitalization and depreciation policy, and account for leases, projects and impairments under the accounting standards that apply. | AdvancedYou can write the capitalization and depreciation policy, and account for leases, projects and impairments under the accounting standards that apply. | |
| Close & Reporting5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can complete your tasks on the close checklist by their deadline and say early when something will be late. | BasicYou can own a section of the close, such as payables and accruals, and hand it over complete and reviewed. | AdvancedYou can run the close across several entities and shorten it without losing accuracy, by fixing the steps that cause late adjustments. | ExpertYou can set the close timetable and standard for the whole organization and answer for the reported numbers being right. | ExpertYou can set the close timetable and standard for the whole organization and answer for the reported numbers being right. | |
| NoviceYou can pull a trial balance and prepare supporting schedules for the financial statements from a template. | BasicYou can prepare monthly management accounts from the trial balance, with a short explanation of the main movements. | ProficientYou can prepare a full set of financial statements, including the cash flow statement, and check they tie back to the ledger and each other. | AdvancedYou can prepare the annual statutory accounts and disclosures and take them through audit and approval. | ExpertYou can own what the organization reports to its board, lenders, investors and regulators, and decide how its results are presented. | |
| NoviceYou can follow the team's accounting policies for routine transactions and ask when something does not fit them. | BasicYou can apply the standards correctly to the transactions in your area and look up the rule when a case is new to you. | ProficientYou can research how the standards treat a complex or unusual transaction and write a technical memo with a conclusion. | AdvancedYou can write and update the organization's accounting policies when standards change, and agree judgment calls with the auditors. | ExpertYou can answer for the organization's compliance with the standards it reports under, and advise leadership on the reporting effect of major deals before they are signed. | |
| NoviceYou can record revenue for standard invoices and track deferred revenue on a schedule someone else built. | BasicYou can maintain deferred revenue and unbilled revenue schedules, and recognize revenue on standard contracts correctly each month. | ProficientYou can review non-standard contracts, identify each separate promise to the customer (a performance obligation), and split the price between them. | AdvancedYou can write the revenue policy, advise sales on how deal terms change the accounting, and defend the judgments at audit. | ExpertYou can own revenue reporting for the organization, and make sure pricing and contract strategy take its accounting into account. | |
| NoviceYou can record intercompany charges on the agreed schedule and send the balance confirmations to the other entity. | NoviceYou can record intercompany charges on the agreed schedule and send the balance confirmations to the other entity. | ProficientYou can prepare the group consolidation, including eliminations and currency translation, and explain the adjustments. | AdvancedYou can design the consolidation process and the intercompany charging rules across the group, including transfer pricing support. | ExpertYou can own group reporting, and advise on how acquisitions, disposals and new entities change the group structure and its accounts. | |
| Controls & Audit4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can perform the controls assigned to you, such as approvals and checks, and keep evidence that they were done. | BasicYou can test whether controls in your area are working and report the ones that are skipped or ineffective. | ProficientYou can design controls for a process, including separation of duties in a small team, and fix a control weakness when one is found. | AdvancedYou can own the control framework for finance, map risks to controls, and act on findings from auditors. | ExpertYou can decide how much financial risk the organization accepts, and report on the state of its controls to the board or audit committee. | |
| NoviceYou can pull documents and samples the auditors ask for and file them where the team can find them. | BasicYou can prepare the audit schedules for your area and answer auditors' questions on them accurately and on time. | ProficientYou can coordinate audit requests across the team, prepare the summary schedules for each audit area, and resolve the adjustments the auditors propose. | AdvancedYou can plan and run the annual audit with the audit firm, agree the timetable and scope, and close its findings. | ExpertYou can manage the relationship with the external auditors and audit committee, and decide how the organization responds to significant findings. | |
| NoviceYou can use the accounting system for your daily work and run its standard reports correctly. | BasicYou can maintain master data such as vendors, customers and cost centers, and build your own reports in the system. | ProficientYou can manage user access and period locks, fix integration errors between the ledger and other systems, and test changes before they go live. | AdvancedYou can lead an ERP upgrade, module rollout or system migration, and keep the books complete and controlled through it. | AdvancedYou can lead an ERP upgrade, module rollout or system migration, and keep the books complete and controlled through it. | |
| NoviceYou can find the right account and cost center for a transaction using the chart of accounts guide. | NoviceYou can find the right account and cost center for a transaction using the chart of accounts guide. | ProficientYou can request and set up new accounts or dimensions correctly, and keep the chart free of duplicates and unused codes. | AdvancedYou can redesign the chart of accounts and reporting dimensions so managers get the reports they need without manual rework. | AdvancedYou can redesign the chart of accounts and reporting dimensions so managers get the reports they need without manual rework. | |
| Tax & Treasury3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can check that invoices show the right tax code and rate, and gather the figures needed for a tax return. | BasicYou can prepare indirect tax returns for your entities, reconcile them to the ledger, and file them on time. | ProficientYou can work out the tax treatment of new products, customers or locations, and fix errors through the proper correction process. | AdvancedYou can own indirect tax compliance across several jurisdictions, work with tax advisers, and set up the system tax rules correctly. | AdvancedYou can own indirect tax compliance across several jurisdictions, work with tax advisers, and set up the system tax rules correctly. | |
| NoviceYou can collect the ledger data and schedules the tax advisers request for the annual return. | NoviceYou can collect the ledger data and schedules the tax advisers request for the annual return. | BasicYou can prepare supporting schedules such as fixed asset and expense analyses for the tax computation. | AdvancedYou can own the tax provision including deferred tax, manage the relationship with tax advisers, and answer tax queries from auditors. | AdvancedYou can own the tax provision including deferred tax, manage the relationship with tax advisers, and answer tax queries from auditors. | |
| NoviceYou can record daily bank balances and update the cash position report. | BasicYou can prepare a weekly cash forecast from receivables, payables and payroll, and explain why last week's forecast differed from what actually happened. | ProficientYou can build a rolling 13-week cash forecast, manage bank accounts and payment approvals, and warn early of a cash shortfall. | AdvancedYou can manage liquidity for the organization, including credit facilities, foreign currency and banking relationships. | ExpertYou can set treasury policy and plan the organization's funding, including when and how it raises debt or equity. | |
| Planning & Analysis5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can collect budget submissions from managers into the budget template and check they add up. | BasicYou can build the budget for a set of cost centers with their owners, challenging assumptions that look out of line. | ProficientYou can run the budget process for a business area, tie revenue, headcount and costs together, and present it for approval. | AdvancedYou can coordinate the whole budget cycle, turning the company plan into targets each area agrees to. | ExpertYou can set the budget the board approves and the tradeoffs behind it, and link it to the organization's strategy. | |
| NoviceYou can update a forecast template with each month's actual results once someone has explained the process. | NoviceYou can update a forecast template with each month's actual results once someone has explained the process. | ProficientYou can run the monthly reforecast for a business area and flag risks and opportunities against the plan. | AdvancedYou can build the company forecast, test it against scenarios, and tell leadership early when targets are at risk. | ExpertYou can decide how the organization forecasts, and use the forecast to steer spending and hiring through the year. | |
| NoviceYou can produce a budget versus actual report and highlight the largest differences. | BasicYou can explain the main variances in your area from the underlying transactions, separating timing differences from real overspend. | ProficientYou can analyze variances across a business area, including price, volume and mix effects, and agree actions with budget holders. | AdvancedYou can present variance analysis to senior leaders so it drives decisions, and improve how variances are reported across the organization. | ExpertYou can hold leadership to the plan with variance analysis, and decide when a variance means the plan itself must change. | |
| NoviceYou can update an existing model's inputs and check the outputs move the way you expect. | BasicYou can build a simple model for a question such as a price change or new hire, with inputs, calculations and outputs kept separate. | ProficientYou can build a three-statement or investment model with scenarios and sensitivities, and document its assumptions. | AdvancedYou can review others' models for errors and fragile logic, and set the modeling standards for the team. | AdvancedYou can review others' models for errors and fragile logic, and set the modeling standards for the team. | |
| NoviceYou can answer a budget holder's question about a transaction or a report line. | NoviceYou can answer a budget holder's question about a transaction or a report line. | ProficientYou can support a business area as its finance partner, bringing analysis to its decisions and challenging spend that does not pay back. | AdvancedYou can partner with senior leaders on pricing, investment and hiring decisions, and lead the finance partners who support them. | ExpertYou can shape the organization's major decisions as a member of its leadership, making sure the financial consequences are understood before they are taken. | |
| Certifications1 | |||||
| Not required | Not required | Not required | Required | Required | |
| Delivery4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can keep track of your own tasks and deadlines, keep your to-do list current, and say as soon as you know something you own will be late. | BasicYou can organize a small piece of work into steps, put them in a sensible order, and finish it by the date you agreed, raising problems before they cause a delay. | ProficientYou can coordinate a small team's work on a shared goal: who does what by when, what has to wait for what, and a revised plan when things change. | AdvancedYou can keep several people's work in step across teams, agree priorities and hand-offs with them, and keep one shared task list that all of them actually use. | ExpertYou can set the everyday habits for how work is organized and followed up across the organization, and teams you do not lead adopt the routines you introduce. | |
| NoviceYou can estimate how long a task will take once the approach is clear, and you say promptly when the estimate turns out to be wrong. | BasicYou can estimate your own work with reasonable accuracy and keep a steady enough pace that other people can plan around you. | ProficientYou can estimate a whole project including its risks and unknowns, split it into stages, and defend the estimate when it is challenged. | AdvancedYou can estimate work that spans several teams, name the assumptions behind each figure, and rework the plan when those assumptions break. | ExpertYou can forecast work and staffing quarters ahead, and the way you estimate becomes what the wider organization plans against. | |
| BasicYou can stay responsible for work after you hand it over: you check it did what it was meant to, put right your own mistakes, and never need chasing for an update. | ProficientYou can pick up a problem that has no obvious owner and make yourself accountable for it, including the parts nobody enjoys. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | ExpertYou can take on the outcomes the organization is most exposed on, and other leaders send problems with no owner to you by default. | |
| BasicYou can choose checks that suit the task in front of you, catch your own mistakes before anyone else sees them, and confirm the result works once people start using it. | ProficientYou can define what good enough means for a project, put checks in place to show it has been met, and hold work back when it falls short. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | ExpertYou can raise the quality bar across the organization by building the tools and habits that make the careful way the easy way. | |
| Craft3 | |||||
| BasicYou can work out what is wrong in work you did not create, and you fix the underlying cause instead of working around the symptom. | ProficientYou can break a large, ambiguous problem into manageable pieces, weigh the options against evidence, and explain the tradeoff you chose. | AdvancedYou can solve problems in areas where you are not the expert, and your solutions hold up on cost, time, and the effort needed to keep them working. | AdvancedYou can solve problems in areas where you are not the expert, and your solutions hold up on cost, time, and the effort needed to keep them working. | ExpertYou can crack problems the organization has repeatedly failed to solve, and your approach becomes how others tackle that whole kind of problem. | |
| NoviceYou can apply the basics of your field to the work you are given, and you know who to consult at the edge of what you know. | BasicYou can work confidently with the tools and methods your team uses daily, and you can explain how your work serves the team's goals. | ProficientYou can be the person the team consults on your area, and you follow where the field is moving and apply it where it pays off. | AdvancedYou can bring in good practice from outside the organization and make it work here, and your judgment clearly improves the work you touch. | ExpertYou can influence how the field is practiced beyond this organization, and your expertise settles questions that have stood open for years. | |
| ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | ExpertYou can set what the organization invests its learning time in, and the material and practice you create outlive your involvement. | |
| Communication4 | |||||
| BasicYou can explain your work to your team so they can act on it, and when a request is vague you ask the questions that sharpen it. | ProficientYou can explain a complex topic to people with very different backgrounds, adjusting the detail to the audience without talking down to them. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to a shared understanding, and colleagues come to you for help framing a difficult or sensitive message. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to a shared understanding, and colleagues come to you for help framing a difficult or sensitive message. | ExpertYou can set how the organization communicates, and the forums and norms you create clearly improve how information travels through it. | |
| BasicYou can work well with people in other roles, share context and credit, and take criticism of your work without defending territory. | ProficientYou can build working relationships beyond your own team and get things done through people who do not report to you. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | ExpertYou can remove the barriers that stop teams working together, and how the organization collaborates changes because of what you built. | |
| BasicYou can document your own work well enough for a colleague to follow it unaided, such as a how-to guide or a handover, and keep it current as things change. | ProficientYou can write for a defined audience, whether a proposal, a policy, a report, or a decision record, and make the reasoning as clear as the conclusion. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were never involved can carry it on. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were never involved can carry it on. | ExpertYou can set the writing standard the organization works to, and documents you wrote are still in use long after you have moved on. | |
| NoviceYou can keep your manager and immediate team informed of your progress, and you raise an issue before someone else discovers it. | BasicYou can identify who is affected by your work and keep them updated at a level of detail and a frequency that suits them. | ProficientYou can win support for a proposal, reset expectations when the plan changes, and turn down a request with a reason the other side accepts. | AdvancedYou can hold senior and external relationships, negotiate between competing demands, and deliver unwelcome news without losing trust. | ExpertYou can represent the organization in its most important relationships and set how it engages with everyone who depends on it. | |
| Leadership3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can act on direction well, seek feedback on how you work, and be open about what you need help with. | BasicYou can spot a problem and propose a way forward unprompted, and you take a small leading role such as running a working group. | ProficientYou can take charge of work with no clear owner, motivate people who do not report to you, and make calls others are willing to follow. | AdvancedYou can lead across team boundaries, build the credibility that makes people follow you by choice, and create room for others to lead. | ExpertYou can set direction for the whole organization, make hard calls under real uncertainty, and carry the decisions nobody else wants to own. | |
| NoviceYou can share what you have just learned with your peers and help a newer colleague find their way around. | BasicYou can help someone new settle into your team's work, answer their questions patiently, and give feedback specific enough to act on. | ProficientYou can mentor someone over months, tell them the uncomfortable thing they need to hear, and adapt how you teach to how they learn. | AdvancedYou can develop other mentors, coach people through career decisions rather than tasks, and lift the capability of a whole team. | ExpertYou can shape how the organization grows its people, and those you developed are themselves named by others as strong in their field. | |
| NoviceYou can explain why the work you were given matters and who it is for. | BasicYou can connect your team's work to its goals and question a task that does not appear to serve them. | ProficientYou can look a year ahead in your area, name what will matter by then, and turn that into work people can pick up now. | AdvancedYou can set direction for an area, choose deliberately what not to do, and defend that choice when it is challenged. | ExpertYou can shape the organization's strategy, and the bets you argued for are visible in where it ended up. | |
Import the whole ladder
Create a free account, then add finance & accounting from Departments → Add from template in one click: all 36 skills, with the mastery expected at each of your 5 career levels.