CGA demographics

Where do they work?

Position and Salary:

The CGA designation equips one with financial management and business analysis skills, as well as the professionalism, excellence in leadership and ethical judgment skills required of accountants. CGAs work in top-level positions in businesses of every size and industry segment—the private sector, government and not-for-profits, and public practice accounting firms. They work within organizations as in-house financial experts or they work as external accountants to organizations as management consultants or public practitioners. A CGA has the skills to prepare and analyze financial information, solve complex problems, perform financial planning, complete financial forecasts, and implement corporate strategies. Those who choose to follow the CGA path find job opportunities in potentially every sector of the economy; many secure executive or senior financial positions.

The leading senior positions held by CGAs include:

• Chief Executive Officer
• Chief Financial Officer
• Controller
• Director of Finance
• Financial Analyst
• Public Accountant and/or Auditor
• Senior Accountant
• Vice President

In addition, CGAs hold positions as educators, financial and tax consultants, and they often hold positions as presidents, vice presidents, and treasurers within organizations and some CGAs choose to own and operate their own businesses. Salaries paid for these various positions can be found in the 2009 Salary Guide for Accounting & Finance from Robert Half International – a partial extract from their guide is reproduced below.

Robert Half 2009 Salary Guide Extract
Position	Salary Range
Accountant (over 3 years experience)	$51,250 to $95,750
Financial Analyst (over 3 years experience)	$56,000 to $106,250
Controller	$74,500 to $157,500
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)	$109,750 to $279,500
The salary ranges provided reflect the basic starting salaries across the spectrum of small to large sized organizations. The actual starting salary for an individual will be dependent on the size of the organization, the applicant’s own prior work experience, and their accounting credentials. For a detailed listing of Robert Half’s Salary Guide please click here.

Industry:

CGAs are found working in virtually every sector of the economy as is reflected in the figure below.