"How can I work out exactly how much I earn? I've been comparing my pitiful accountant salary with colleagues in other departments and haven't stopped wretching. Is there something I'm missing?"
Anna Lytical, Senior Finance Manager
Ask yourself: How much do I earn?
■ ££££££HUMONGOUS ?
■ $$$$COMPETITIVE ?
■ ££PATHETIC ?
It sounds like a simple question but the answer may be more tricky than you think.
If you're looking to make decisions based on accounting salary comparisons between you and your colleagues, suspect salary surveys or job adverts then you need to be careful. You may end up making a wrong decision.
That's because your actual rewards from working can be significantly more - or less - than just the pennies printed on your payslip. There are a whole range of other benefits and costs that need to be considered!
To help you think about and identify these, we've created a simple accounting remuneration reckoner.
Accounting Salary & Remuneration Calculator TM
TO YOUR BASIC SALARY ADD:
+ Car Allowance
+ Bonus
+ Health Care
+ Pension Contributions
+ Shares & Share Options
+ Comparatively low commuting time and cost
+ Relatively high number of days paid holiday
+ Free use of calculator
+ Ease of access to photocopier for copying personal documents, party invitations, magazines, novels etc
+ Ease of replenishment of household stationery supplies for friends and family, especially the more 'quality' items
+ Number of free drinks from vending machine
+ Frequency of working lunches with decent cold buffet provision, saving on lunch costs
+ Ease of access to telephone for private calls, making customer complaints, booking holidays, idle gossip and chat
+ frequency and distribution of birthdays in your team leading to a steady supply of cakes and cost savings on the snacks vending machine
+ relative preponderance of
accounting jumbos
in the team producing an endless supply of family pack choccy goodies and treats, saving vending machine costs as above
+ the number of days you can work from home: saving on commuting costs, doing your own DIY, being able to see the kids grow up etc
+ Ease of access to colleague-written reference documents and reports to copy and plagiarise as your own when moving to new employer
= GROSS UNADJUSTED ACCOUNTING REMUNERATION
FROM YOUR UNADJUSTED ACCOUNTING REMUNERATION, DEDUCT:
- Relative number of absurd mufti-days requiring generous-style giving to dubious good causes
- Existence of a 'dress-down' policy requiring huge investment in a 'smart-but-not-too-casual' wardrobe for men and an extensive range of flip-flops for women
- The long term psychological damage of having to work alongside that unfathomable assortment of accounting nutters and financial fruitcakes littering your office
- Investment in a large audit-case-style bag to transport contents of stationery cupboard - referred to above - home
- Disproportionately high preponderance of sponsorship-obsessed senior loonies leading to guilt-ridden giving for should-know-better pseudo-endurance events
- Relatively high staff-turnover rates coupled with over-organised female colleagues producing a plethora of money-filled leaving envelopes
= YOUR ADJUSTED GROSS ACCOUNTING EARNINGS
Use this figure to make your accounting salary comparisons.
Your Problem...
It sounds like a simple question but the answer may be more tricky than you think.
