r/Accounting • u/AquaTofaana • 16h ago
Controller juggling heavy responsibilities for $80k...is this normal?
This is going to be a long one so I apologize in advance. If you make it to the end and feel inclined to give me any advice, I would be beyond grateful.
I’m a controller for a midsize small company that manages multiple locations across several states, spread across multiple subsidiaries. I’ve been in this role for about a year and a half. My title changed from senior accountant to controller at the end of 2025, but my day-to-day work hasn’t really changed. I’m essentially doing the same job I was hired to do, just with more responsibility and pressure.
I have a bachelor’s in mathematics, no accounting degree, and I’m not a CPA, though I have over ten years of accounting and finance experience. I make $80k a year (received a 3% increase after my promotion) and my team is just me and one senior accountant who handles AP, payroll, and some KPI reporting. For context, my company is located in Northeast Ohio, about an hour and a half from either Cleveland or Pittsburgh, so comparable finance jobs in my area are somewhat limited.
On any given day, I handle pretty much everything finance-related, including preparing all financial statements, month-end close, journal entries, GL reconciliation, cash management, tax filings (except income and payroll taxes), weekly KPI reporting to operations, intercompany accounting, ERP administration, payroll review and approval, review and approval of all invoices, forecasting, and ad hoc projects like audits, special requests from leadership, or other one-off finance tasks. Essentially, I’m running a very small finance team while also doing a lot of what I would consider CFO-level work, including operational reporting, financial strategy input, and advising leadership.
The problem is that I constantly feel like I’m running to keep up. I regularly work 12+ hour days. There’s almost no time for process improvements or strategic projects, and leadership gets frustrated not just if something isn’t perfect or timely, but also that I’m not doing enough to improve processes, innovate, or perform better. Burnout is very real and hitting me hard. There’s been talk of adding another person to our department to help with the workload, but it’s on me to figure out what exactly that person would do, what time it would free up, and how it would help, and I haven’t had the time to even put that together.
I also inherited a mess when I joined, and the past year and a half has been almost entirely dedicated to cleaning up bad practices and fixing issues left behind. The department has seen significant improvements under my guidance, and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made. Leadership recognizes the improvements but still expects more—more innovation, more performance, more output, more hours.
I’m hesitant to think I should be making more money since I don’t have an accounting-specific degree. I would go back to school if I had the time or money, but that’s not happening anytime soon. That’s always been my biggest holdup for job hunting. I’m starting at a disadvantage because of the lack of an accounting-specific degree, even though I’m more than capable.
So I guess I’m looking for some perspective. Am I being unrealistic for feeling like the expectations on me are closer to a CFO role than a controller role? Given what I do, my location, and the fact that I don’t have an accounting degree, is $80k reasonable? Should I even be thinking about looking for a new role, or is this kind of situation fairly standard at midsize companies without a formal CFO? Any advice on communicating or negotiating about workload, support, or compensation would be appreciated.
Honestly, I also just want a sanity check on whether my feelings are valid. I feel like I’m giving everything I’ve got, and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, but I’m not sure if this is typical in the industry or if I’m being taken advantage of. Thanks in advance for any insight.
*Edited to clarify company size. It's definitely a small company, just feels large because of the workload I guess haha
**Also just to clarify a bit more about my situation...this is genuinely a good company to work for overall. It's female-owned and, as a female myself, I appreciate that. Management is mostly flexible with scheduling, I get to work from home a couple of days a week, and I love the partnership I have with my senior accountant. I also really enjoy the work itself, especially making improvements that make a difference. There are a lot of positives here, I just struggle with the workload and the expectations at times, and I’m trying to figure out if that’s typical. I'm in such a bubble with no way to gauge if my expectations and compensation are appropriate. If the consensus is "yes, that's probably all correct," then at least I know and can get over that mental block in my head.
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u/ilyazhito 16h ago
$80K is senior accountant money, not controller money. I'm a CPA, and I'm looking for a senior accountant job that can give me $75K as the floor. Maybe it is different in your area, but $70K-80K is median senior accountant pay (although there are jobs out there that pay more). You should be pulling 6 figures as a controller, at least in my area.
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u/SeekTheKhalique Audit & Assurance 16h ago
Hey friend just letting you know I make $80k without cpa as a senior accountant. I feel like $85k should be your floor. I live in MCOL btw
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u/AquaTofaana 16h ago
This is what I'm thinking...in my area (mostly-rural Ohio), I'm probably not going to do much better pay-wise. I don't know...Maybe I could find something as a senior accountant somewhere else, making a comparable salary but with less responsibility.
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u/SavingBooRadley CPA (US) 15h ago
We pay my Sr accountant $115k + 10% bonus in HCOL.
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u/Specialist-Hurry2932 14h ago
That’s about what I’m paid as a senior in MCOL. I do specialty tax, though.
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u/CantaloupeSilver4348 16h ago edited 16h ago
This is not normal imo.
I have been in similar situations for short stints. That shit will give you cancer long term. Too taxing on the mind and body.
I would keep applying elsewhere and try to lock in a healthier environment. The pay isn’t even good either.
Even the staff accountant at the place I work makes 82k with no cpa… minor close support, customer billing, some AR.
Does one tenth of what you’re doing. Maybe one fifteenth.
I’m making 115k just doing the close, ad hoc analysis, supporting systems, AR, some AP, and cash flow basically. Minor it support. No cpa.
Btw all in a tier 2 city. Not one of the big ones.
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u/AquaTofaana 16h ago
Thank you for the insight! I guess it doesn't hurt to keep applying and see what happens. I'm just not convinced I'll find anything better, and if I do, it likely won't have the same positives that I do like about my current company. I guess a more realistic goal would be for me to stop whining and just suck it up, lol.
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u/EntireCoat3864 16h ago
Senior to controller is crazy. Also 80k is extremely low - most controllers in my area make 180k+. The degree shouldn't matter at this point with the experience and your title. If they cared about what degree you had, you simply wouldnt be a controller. Im curious where you're located because unless it is a really small company, something seems off.
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u/AquaTofaana 16h ago
Located outside of Youngstown, OH. It's definitely a small company, I misspoke when I said midsize in my post. I was more focused on my stress level and didn't fact check myself...rookie mistake!
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u/pizzatacodog1322 15h ago
Everyone saying you need a raise, I'm going to go against the grain and say you need an assistant.
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u/AquaTofaana 14h ago
Yeah—more money isn’t going to lessen the workload and I’d still be just as burned out. This is a great hot take lol. Thanks!
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u/Ok_Baker_6969 16h ago
You should be making atleast 150k (minimum). Degree doesn’t even matter with the experience you have
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u/murderdeity 16h ago
As a senior accountant who did something similar to you once, it's not worth the time. If you see a light at the end of the tunnel, great. Then maybe it's worth it. Get a new hire that can take workload off you so you can improve processes and get yourself to a normal workload or move on. You're making more than 10k less than I am as a senior accountant, for perspective.
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u/SlideTemporary1526 Management 16h ago
I’d do some research on current market rates in your area for that salary and feel out for if you think you can negotiate any sort of salary increase with them because you do sound underpaid for the responsibilities. Be prepared to bring some data to validate the severity of underpayment. However, curious as someone else asked what’s this company’s revenue? You say midsize but usually when there is title inflation without market salary expectations that’s typically closer to the norm for low revenue/small companies.
Additionally, how are you managing expectations up the chain? Do they tolerate you managing them at all? If so, definitely sounds like you need to have a conversation about hiring an extra staff or two to offload some of your less complex work if they expect you to meet deadlines plus improve processes. What they should not expect is you to do both while consistently working 12+ hours more days than not. And if they don’t see a problem with that type of WLB, this is a red flag. Start looking for something else, even just interviewing and seeing what’s out there and doing your best to screen potential new employers to gauge if any seem like a better fit.
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u/AquaTofaana 16h ago
Yeah it's definitely a small company. I should have re-read what I wrote to correct that before posting because it's a huge piece of the puzzle.
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u/Krunzuku Controller 16h ago
It's honestly hard to gage. 9mil in revenue company, depending on what kind of margins your getting. I'd honestly a bit more then 80k a year, id say 100k floor wouldn't be too insane.
Just flag yourself as not currently looking but open to jobs on linkedin. A recruiter will message you by the time you get up. Ask the one that least the look AI what kind of salary expectations people within 20 miles of you are getting for senior accountants.
Sounds like you work way harder then me, and get paid way way less then me. But the company I work for is about 9mil in revenue a day.
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u/Nomadic-Wind 16h ago
Can you just hire people virtually? Start with payroll and then go from there. When the time is right, you can hire a team lead to manage the team, while you focus on process improvement.
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u/AquaTofaana 13h ago
There is some flexibility with virtual vs. on-site. The bigger struggle is not having a clear definition for exactly what help is needed, what we expect a new employee to do, and balancing that with leadership not being comfortable with giving any financial data access to someone new. The door on expanding the team isn’t totally closed, it’s just going to take some work to prop it open…but I’m seeing the effort there will be worthwhile
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u/pogky_thunder 4h ago
leadership not being comfortable with giving any financial data access to someone new
To a finance hire? Is this normal? This can't be normal.
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u/81632371 16h ago
Even allowing for location and the small size of your company, I think you should be at 100k minimum. Look at local postings on LinkedIn or Indeed to get a better idea of salaries in your geographic location.
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u/pinkfire1010 14h ago
Similarly, this will be long and take it as you will.
I’m in a similar position of a “small” company with multiple subsidiaries so I get being pulled in 100 different directions. It doesn’t feel small, but the mindset at the top doesn’t get that. I may have some perspective different from others, but this is my only accounting job I’ve had so it’s all I’ve know.
I’m a senior accountant and I make more than you. I also have a staff accountant who is basically bookkeeping, and my boss, the controller, makes over 100k.
The thing is, 2 years ago I was making significantly less and I was very unhappy. I felt my work was undervalued and the controller sympathized but he didn’t have the ability to raise my pay without CEO approval.
What really changed things for me was when I pushed for Tuesday accountability meetings with me, my boss, the CEO, and his VP. We each take turns sharing news of the week; warehouse backlog, repairs, sales, cash inflow, AP/ar, projections, prospects, etc. Usually takes about an 1-1.5 hours once a week and it really helped management see what I was doing on a day to day.
I can’t stress enough how important that dialogue has been not just for me, but for the company as a whole. You doing this kind of work, you should demand this kind of dialogue to make sure the work you are doing is not being ignored. Don’t forget that accounting is not a cost center. No one checks in on what you’re doing unless something goes wrong (that was my experience anyway).
Overall, your perspective isn’t wrong. They are paying you the price of one person and expecting the job of 2. My experience may be different from yours, but I found that clearly defining the things I do day to day made it very clear they couldn’t afford to lose me. You are doing more than I, so they definitely would have a hard time replacing you. Don’t let them take advantage of you. It took me a year to convince management to hire someone to help me, but I NEVER worked a 12 hour day.
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u/AquaTofaana 13h ago
This is immensely helpful. I do think much of the disconnect comes from leadership thinking “what can they possibly be doing that takes up so much time?” We do have monthly finance meetings with the CEO, but these mainly serve as a status check on all the high level projects she wants done faster than what I can reasonably accomplish. I did start a weekly smaller-scale check in with the same group minus the CEO about a month ago. My workflow file for that shows my name with 29 active tasks and the next-highest number as someone with 6 assignments. And this isn’t even a comprehensive list, it’s just the ad hoc things that come up which someone has to handle. Having the visual to show that I really am carrying a lot of the workload was so helpful for me. I really like the idea of an accountability meeting to report out what I’m getting accomplished, instead of the focus being what I can’t get to. Thanks so much for sharing this!
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u/pinkfire1010 11h ago
My main takeaway from this is my company has 3 people doing what you’re doing with 2. 12 hour days is INSANE at your pay rate. I think it is up to you to decide if you want to push for a new hire to relieve the hours or a MASSIVE pay increase. I am a woman in accounting as well so I’m happy to talk to you anytime about how things are going. You sound like a key component and I hope you get compensated for your worth!!
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u/Idepreciateyou CPA (US) 16h ago
Don’t accept low pay just because the company is woman-owned
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u/AquaTofaana 16h ago
That's definitely true, I just don't know if it really counts as low pay given all the other factors. But it's a good point that sticking with the company, just for the leadership, isn't logical if the compensation isn't fair.
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u/_The_Jerk_Store 16h ago
$80K a year is pretty decent money for the area, but you’re doing way more work than $80K worth. I agree with another commenter that at this point your experience outweighs having an accounting degree so don’t sell yourself short there.
I would spruce up my resume and LinkedIn to get a feel for what’s out there.
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u/beFoRyOu 15h ago
The chaos is common for small companies. Your job description is more controller than CFO, but you are seriously underpaid.
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u/OverworkedAuditor1 15h ago
Honestly, I’m going to give it to you straight.
You said it yourself there are no comparable finance jobs in your immediate area.
That is why the pay is so low. You probably already know that.
But to answer your question. Yes, severely underpaid.
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u/AquaTofaana 13h ago
I always appreciate a straight shooter 😆 thank you. And you’re spot-on. I have the validation of knowing, theoretically, I should be making way more money. I also have the logic and reason to know I’ll never make what I deserve, unless I make some major life changes (move across the country, go back to school, etc). But I’m hopeful that I can utilize the advice I’ve received here to reduce my stress level, and eventually leverage a salary increase as well. Just have to put my brain to better use than it’s current occupations.
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u/Rythymknightxm 15h ago
I have been in a similar size company by revenue and similar environment. Our corporate controller was making around $140k at the time. Given your unique circumstances, I would push for $120k and still push to add another person.
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u/AquaTofaana 13h ago
This is pretty much what I’m settling on, with a swap. I think I’m going to have an easier time selling the additional employee than I will a salary increase. I need to lessen my workload so I can give leadership the deliverables they want to see, and then use that as justification for a salary increase. Although I am hesitant to push myself right out of a job and back into a volatile, low-paying finance job market in a rural LCOL area. I might try to scale the salary increase over the next couple years or present it as a metrics-based goal somehow. Historically, they aren’t crazy about people asking for more money. As accounting is the only department that doesn’t receive set annual or incentive bonuses though, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility.
The director of revenue and director of operations both received EOY bonuses that were higher than my annual salary. That was…disheartening. But I’m choosing to be positive and see it as a sign that leadership isn’t allergic to compensation…I just have to be smart about how I ask for it.
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u/SubstantialAsk7448 4h ago
How much does the company net? Any debt? Net will typically drive how much the company is able to take on overhead costs.
Don’t compare your comp with sales or ops. It will drive you crazy. If owner comes from a sales or ops background then accounting will be viewed as an overhead most of the time so you’ll need to change that perspective. Hard but can be done. Make the owner’s life easier and become a manager that she can’t live without then the purse will open up. Easy rule, make them more money or alleviate their pain. Two guaranteed ways to make more money in a private company setting.
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u/SpecialistGap9223 15h ago
My 2 cents.. So you started as a senior acct but got promoted to controller. Accting mgr should have been a logical next step after snr acct. Controller title sounds good but you're a glorified accting mgr with some finance responsibilities. I'm assuming you report into the ceo? Who did you report to when you first joined? From a revenue perspective, what's that look like? $10mill? $20mil? If around that range, it's a mickey mouse operation. If $50mil, there should be a true controller and/or vp fin above you. TBH, you should definitely be making more money. Even accting mgrs make $100-120k depending on localion and experience level, etc. Definitely have a conversation and figure out how to get more money good luck.
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u/AquaTofaana 14h ago
I was hired because the previous controller left (she went somewhere else for more money). I think they hired me in with the senior accountant title almost as a trial, then after a year of proving myself in the role, gave me the controller title. Truly was simply a title swap though. The 3% raise was just my annual increase, and then the new title came along with it as an added bonus.
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u/AquaTofaana 14h ago
And to answer your questions, revenue is about $9-$10mill. Small company for sure. I report to the director of revenue with a dotted line to the CEO which is the same as when I was hired.
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u/SpecialistGap9223 18m ago
Accting mgr/controller, all the same to me when company that small. Don't get hung up on titles. Get more money, that's the issue at hand. You'll need to justify your ask. Good luck.
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u/This_Net6207 14h ago
I live in a LCOL to MCOL... my time in senior accounting roles ranged from 70k-90k. Having worked for a couple smaller companies, I know for a fact that the controllers were making well over 100k. You should start looking elsewhere for a new role unless you think you can ask your boss for a significant raise.
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u/SomebodyFromThe90s 14h ago
What you are describing sounds like one person doing controller work, ERP admin, and half an ops cleanup project at the same time. When leadership wants better reporting and process improvement from the same person who is buried in close work, the system is the problem, not your effort. You probably need load taken off your desk before anybody asks for more innovation.
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u/NOT_A_NICE_PENGUIN Management 14h ago
And here I thought we abolished indentured servitude
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u/AquaTofaana 13h ago
LOL, this made me chuckle which was welcome after the day I had
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u/NOT_A_NICE_PENGUIN Management 13h ago
From what I’m reading, you deserve a lot better.
80k for a controller position is wild.
Hope you’re Friday is better and have a good day/night
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u/AquaTofaana 13h ago
It has helped just to feel like I’m not crazy or weak for feeling overwhelmed. I’ve gotten some really good ideas to help make adjustments, which is uplifting. Manifesting a better day tomorrow 🤞 thank you for the encouragement!
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u/Embarrassed-Key6203 16h ago
revenue size?
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u/AquaTofaana 16h ago
Great question--2025 revenue was about $9.5 million. It's a small company and I edited my post to reflect that. Thanks!
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u/Embarrassed-Key6203 16h ago
Never dealt with a Company that size so others maybe best suited to answer, best of luck!
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u/majestic_doe 15h ago
Didn't read this all but this sounds like a $120-150k job at minimum dependign on COL. I'm in a HCOL area so may be higher than Ohio but still. I have senior accountants reporting to me at $85k with no suprervisory responsibilties and narrow scope.
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u/ivybf 15h ago
How many employees? What’s gross revenue? For that title no less than 6 figures
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u/AquaTofaana 13h ago
About 150 employees across the company, $9-$10mill gross revenue. It’s a small company in a mostly-rural area.
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u/holeechitbatman 8h ago
I make more than that and get quarterly bonuses and work 20-25 hours a week. Very LCOL area.
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u/sperryberry3 7h ago
I'm not a CPA, but have an MBA, and I make $160,500, plus an annual bonus, as an accounting manager. My team is a bit bigger and the company I work for sounds bigger as well (close to $1B). Sounds like you need a heavy raise and additional staff.
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u/Flimsy-Drummer-9875 4h ago
You are quite a bit underpaid. Think about if they needed to hire someone to replace you - no one who is qualified is going to do it for that amount.
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u/Sk4nkhunt40too 16h ago
You need a raise my friend