Public Accounting Starting Salaries Expected to Rise About 9% in 2025

“Starting salaries are rising primarily for high-demand roles in areas such as accounting operations, financial analysis, and general accounting,” Robert Half said. “For jobs that can be done remotely, 65% of managers are willing to increase starting salaries for new hires to work in the office full or part time. Of those, 55% are offering workers up to 20% more pay to come in four to five days a week.” 

CPA Practice Advisor analyzed starting salary projections from Robert Half’s 2024 and 2025 salary guides to determine how much average starting base pay is expected to increase next year for each of the eight positions featured. The results were:

Tax services

• Senior manager: 10.8%
• Manager: 5.5%
• Senior tax associate: 8.5%
• Tax associate: 9%

Overall average increase: 8.4%

Audit and assurance services

• Senior manager: 17.8%
• Manager: 3%
• Senior associate: 13%
• Associate: 4.2%

Overall average increase: 9.5%

Average increase of both tax services and audit/assurance services: 8.9%

In its annual salary guide, Robert Half provides starting pay ranges by percentile, based on a candidate’s experience. For the 2025 salary guide, there are three salary percentiles with the following descriptions:

• 25th percentile: The candidate is new to the role and building the needed skills, experience, and autonomy.
• 50th percentile: The candidate has the experience to perform core responsibilities without direct supervision and is comfortable with the role’s processes and subject matter.
• 75th percentile: The candidate delivers value beyond the stated job duties, has advanced qualifications and experience, and is ready for the next career level.

Below are the projected starting salaries in public accounting for 2025, according to Robert Half (25th/50th/75th):

Senior Manager, Tax Services	$136,000	$175,500	$217,250
Manager of Tax Services	$99,500	$117,500	$137,750
Senior Tax Associate	$72,750	$90,000	$101,750
Tax Associate	$57,250	$70,250	$82,250
Senior Manager, Audit/Assurance Services	$136,000	$175,500	$217,250
Manager, Audit/Assurance Services	$92,750	$109,500	$128,500
Senior Associate, Audit/Assurance Services	$68,000	$80,500	$91,500
Associate, Audit/Assurance Services	$51,250	$62,750	$72,500

Below are the starting salaries for each of the eight public accounting roles in the 2025 salary guide, listed by percentile, compared with 2024’s starting salary projections from Robert Half (2024 -> 2025) so we can see how big the starting pay increases are expected to be by position and by percentile (in parenthesis):

Senior manager, tax services

• 25th percentile: $124,500 -> $136,000 (9.2%)
• 50th percentile: $159,500 -> $175,500 (10%)
• 75th percentile: $192,000 -> $217,250 (13.1%)

Manager, tax services

• 25th percentile: $92,750 -> $99,500 (7.3%)
• 50th percentile: $112,750 -> $117,500 (4.2%)
• 75th percentile: $131,000 -> $137,750 (5.1%)

Senior tax associate

• 25th percentile: $67,250 -> $72,750 (8.2%)
• 50th percentile: $83,250 -> $90,000 (8.1%)
• 75th percentile: $93,250 -> $101,750 (9.1%)

Tax associate

• 25th percentile: $52,750 -> $57,250 (8.5%)
• 50th percentile: $64,750 -> $70,250 (8.5%)
• 75th percentile: $74,750 -> $82,250 (10%)

Senior manager, audit and assurance services

• 25th percentile: $121,500 -> $136,000 (11.9%)
• 50th percentile: $150,250 -> $175,500 (16.8%)
• 75th percentile: $174,250 -> $217,250 (24.7%)

Manager, audit and assurance services

• 25th percentile: $90,000 -> $92,750 (3%)
• 50th percentile: $106,250 -> $109,500 (3%)
• 75th percentile: $124,750 -> $128,500 (3%)

Senior associate, audit and assurance services

• 25th percentile: $57,750 -> $68,000 (17.7%)
• 50th percentile: $72,750 -> $80,500 (10.6%)
• 75th percentile: $82,750 -> $91,500 (10.6%)

Associate, audit and assurance services

• 25th percentile: $49,000 -> $51,250 (4.6%)
• 50th percentile: $60,500 -> $62,750 (3.7%)
• 75th percentile: $69,500 -> $72,500 (4.3%)

“The accountant shortage not only continues—it’s worsening. Professionals are overtasked, and many leave public accounting for a better work-life balance. To alleviate workloads and stress, firms are hiring for permanent roles and bringing in contract professionals during seasonal peaks,” Robert Half said. “To boost their hiring efforts, companies find they must raise salaries and offer flexible work options. Some managers assign light accounting duties to employees on other teams. This alleviates pressure on accounting staff, but it can drive up salaries across the firm.”