Certified public accountant and compensation: an empirical analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates the relative importance of pertinent factors affecting the variability of the certified public accountant (CPA) income (salary) level based on 594 responses to a random survey—carried out with the assistance of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)—of 2422 CPAs in the US. A simple regression analysis reveals that auditing experience, level of college education obtained, being married and prior success in fraud detection have a positive and significant influence on CPA income, while female and minority CPAs in addition to CPAs working in public accounting firms have negative and significant association. Interestingly, the influence of educational achievement is more applicable for the larger firms and the inverse relationship between female and minority CPAs does exist even after adjustment for educational level. However, once adjusted for the number of years of experience, the statistical significance and magnitude of the gender and minority parameters diminish. Finally, additional professional accounting certification and the size of the firm did not have any significant impact on the salary level.