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How many levels do finance and accounting ladders have?

Data collected on

We read 22 finance and accounting ladders that public employers and one company publish for their own staff and counted their levels. The median is 4.5 levels for accountants and finance staff who do not manage people, and 5 is the most common count. Every source is linked below, and the data is free to download.

Key findings

  • Ladders run from 2 to 7 levels. The median is 4.5. The most common count is 5, used by 6 of the 22 ladders.
  • 5 of the 19 ladders that use job titles have a Senior level. Its median position is step 3 from the bottom.
  • 16 ladders publish a separate track for managers. The 10 that say where it starts put it between step 2 and step 6, and the median is step 3.

How many levels finance and accounting ladders have

Each bar is the number of ladders with that many levels for accountants and finance staff who do not manage people.

  • 2 levels1 ladder
  • 3 levels5 ladders
  • 4 levels5 ladders
  • 5 levels6 ladders
  • 6 levels3 ladders
  • 7 levels2 ladders

Which titles the ladders use

The bars cover the 19 ladders whose levels are job titles. The other 3 use grades or scope names instead of job titles, such as “APS5” or “CT-FIN-02”. One ladder can use several of these words.

  • Senior5 of 19
  • Intermediate4 of 19
  • Associate3 of 19
  • Accountant12 of 19
  • Analyst3 of 19

Senior counts a level titled Senior or Sr., not Senior Staff or Senior Principal; Accountant counts the whole word only, not Accounting.

Where the manager track starts

This chart shows the step, counted from the bottom of each ladder, where the first people-manager role sits. It covers the 10 ladders that say where it starts. Of the rest, 6 have a manager track but do not say where it starts and 6 do not say whether they have one.

  • Step 21 ladder
  • Step 35 ladders
  • Step 42 ladders
  • Step 51 ladder
  • Step 61 ladder

Download the data

One row per ladder: its name, who publishes it, the source link, the number of levels, the level names, the manager track and the step it starts at.

Download the CSV

All 22 ladders

Levels for accountants and finance staff who do not manage people, lowest first, as each publisher names them.
LadderLevelsLevel namesManager track
Australian Government Department of FinancePublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)5
  1. APS3/4 - Processing
  2. APS5
  3. APS6
  4. EL1
  5. EL2
Not stated
Commonwealth of VirginiaPublic employer3
  1. Financial Services Specialist I
  2. Financial Services Specialist II
  3. Financial Services Specialist III
Separate, from step 2 (level with Financial Services Specialist II)
East Tennessee State UniversityPublic employer7
  1. Financial Associate 1
  2. Financial Associate 2
  3. Financial Associate 3
  4. Financial Associate 4
  5. Financial Professional 1
  6. Financial Professional 2
  7. Financial Professional 3
Separate, from step 6 (level with Financial Professional 2)
GitLab4
  1. Associate General Ledger Accountant (Junior)
  2. General Ledger Accountant (Intermediate)
  3. Senior General Ledger Accountant
  4. Senior General Ledger Accountant, Team Lead
Separate, above the top level (step 5)
NHS EmployersPublic employer6
  1. Finance Assistant (Higher Level)
  2. Finance Officer
  3. Finance Officer (Higher Level)
  4. Finance Analyst
  5. Finance Analyst, Specialist
  6. Finance Analyst, Advanced
Separate, from step 3, level with Finance Officer (Higher Level)
Oregon State UniversityPublic employer2
  1. Accountant 1
  2. Accountant 2
Not stated
Penn State UniversityPublic employer5
  1. Professional
  2. Intermediate Professional
  3. Advanced Professional
  4. Senior Professional
  5. Principal Professional
Separate, from step 3 (level with Advanced Professional)
State of ColoradoPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)3
  1. Accountant I
  2. Accountant II
  3. Accountant III
Separate, above the top level (step 4)
State of MichiganPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)3
  1. Accountant 10
  2. Accountant P11
  3. Accountant 12
Not stated
State of MinnesotaPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)5
  1. Accounting Officer
  2. Accounting Officer, Intermediate
  3. Accounting Officer, Senior
  4. Accounting Officer Principal
  5. Accounting Officer Coordinator
Separate; start not stated
State of TexasPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)7
  1. Accountant I
  2. Accountant II
  3. Accountant III
  4. Accountant IV
  5. Accountant V
  6. Accountant VI
  7. Accountant VII
Not stated
State of WashingtonPublic employer5
  1. Fiscal Analyst 1
  2. Fiscal Analyst 2
  3. Fiscal Analyst 3
  4. Fiscal Analyst 4
  5. Fiscal Analyst 5
Separate, from step 4 (level with Fiscal Analyst 4)
The Ohio State UniversityPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)6
  1. Accountant 1
  2. Accountant 2
  3. Accountant 3
  4. Accountant 4
  5. Accountant 5
  6. Accountant 6
Separate, from step 3 (level with Accountant 3)
Treasury Board of Canada SecretariatPublic employer4
  1. CT-FIN-01
  2. CT-FIN-02
  3. CT-FIN-03
  4. CT-FIN-04
Not stated
UC San DiegoPublic employer5
  1. General Accountant 1
  2. General Accountant 2
  3. General Accountant 3
  4. General Accountant 4
  5. General Accountant 5
Separate, from step 3 (level with General Accountant 3)
UK Government Finance FunctionPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)6
  1. Executive Officer
  2. Higher Executive Officer
  3. Senior Executive Officer
  4. Grade 7
  5. Grade 6
  6. Senior Civil Service 1
Not stated
University of ArkansasPublic employer5
  1. Accountant I
  2. Accountant II
  3. Accountant III
  4. Accountant IV
  5. Accountant V
Separate, from step 3 (level with Accountant III)
University of MichiganPublic employer4
  1. Accountant Associate
  2. Accountant Intermediate
  3. Accountant Senior
  4. Accountant Lead
Separate; start not stated
University of WashingtonPublic employer3
  1. Accountant 1
  2. Accountant 2
  3. Accountant, Senior
Separate; start not stated
University of Wisconsin–MadisonPublic employer4
  1. Accountant I
  2. Accountant II
  3. Accountant III
  4. Accountant IV (Inst)
Separate; start not stated
US Office of Personnel ManagementPublic employer3
  1. Financial Analyst, GS-1160-09
  2. Financial Analyst, GS-1160-11
  3. Financial Analyst, GS-1160-12
Separate; start not stated
West Virginia UniversityPublic employer4
  1. Accountant I
  2. Accountant II
  3. Accountant III
  4. Accountant IV
Separate; start not stated

How we did it

We read 22 finance and accounting ladders that their publishers use for their own staff: 1 from a company and 21 from public employers, on their own sites or in documents they publish. We kept only those whose levels we could read as text. We left out templates written by individuals, professional bodies’ standards and ladders only for clerks, technicians, budget, tax or audit staff.

Levels are the steps an accountant or finance professional can climb without managing people, lowest first. Interns and trainees are left out. When a ladder splits one title into numbered steps, each with its own expectations (like “Accountant I” and “II”), each step counts. Pay bands inside one level do not. A level above both tracks that the ladder does not open to individual contributors is not counted.

The manager track starts where the ladder puts its first people-manager role: the same band or level number, the same row of its table, or the step where it says the tracks split. When that role sits above the top level, it counts as the next step up. When a ladder has a manager track but does not place it, we do not guess.

Title shares only count ladders whose levels are job titles. A level counts as Senior when its title says Senior or Sr., but not Senior Staff or Senior Principal; Accountant, Analyst, Associate and Intermediate count only as whole words, so “Accounting Officer” does not count as Accountant.

This is a sample of the ladders people chose to publish, mostly from US public universities and state governments, and some are several years old. It shows what public ladders look like, not what every employer does. Where a live page was gone or blocked automated reading, we read the Internet Archive copy, and the table says so.

We store only public facts: how many levels a ladder has, what the levels are called and where the manager track starts. Each ladder belongs to its publisher, so follow the links for the full text. None of them has reviewed or endorsed this study, and Competrace is not affiliated with them.

Spotted a mistake, or a public ladder we missed? Email support@competrace.com with the link, and we will update the data.

See levels with their skills

The study counts levels. To see what each level needs, browse our finance and accounting career path with the skills each level expects, or read what a career ladder is.

Other levels studies