Accounting Careers in Japan: What 374 Job Postings Ask For
Every figure on this page summarizes job postings tracked on AirTA. It describes what employers asked for in their postings, in aggregate, and is shown the same way to every reader. It is not a description of any individual’s career or prospects.
- 374
- 226
- 61%
- 54%
What Gets You In
1-2 years of experience
39
3-4 years of experience
94
5-9 years of experience
80
10+ years of experience
14
15%
24% day-to-day or above
Bookkeeping certification (日商簿記) 38%
CPA / USCPA (公認会計士) 30%
Tax accountant (税理士) 19%
Monthly / Annual Closing
70%
Tax
57%
Bookkeeping Certification
51%
Consolidated Accounting
42%
Audit
41%
Internal Control / J-SOX
35%
CPA
34%
Financial Disclosure
29%
374 postings
Levels by Experience
1–2 years
5%
21% day-to-day or above
Bookkeeping certification (日商簿記) 41%
CPA / USCPA (公認会計士) 13%
39 postings
3–4 years
10%
22% day-to-day or above
Bookkeeping certification (日商簿記) 45%
CPA / USCPA (公認会計士) 21%
Tax accountant (税理士) 18%
Monthly / Annual Closing 79% (+30)
Internal Control / J-SOX 39% (+21)
Financial Disclosure 32% (+17)
Treasury 19% (+14)
Tax 54% (+13)
94 postings
5+ years
24%
34% day-to-day or above
CPA / USCPA (公認会計士) 52%
Bookkeeping certification (日商簿記) 37%
Tax accountant (税理士) 26%
CPA 53% (+31)
IFRS 34% (+18)
Tax 67% (+13)
Consolidated Accounting 53% (+13)
Audit 48% (+11)
94 postings
Stated Pay
Median ¥7,100,000 · 201 postings state pay
¥5,800,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥8,500,000
Median ¥7,000,000 · 53 postings state pay
¥5,700,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥8,000,000
Median ¥8,000,000 · 48 postings state pay
¥6,900,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥9,400,000
Working Conditions
- 123 days
79 postings
- 20 h
40 postings
- 39%
- 26%
Fully remote
13
Hybrid
93
On-site
15
373 postings
What Comes Next
Senior leadership
21
People management
16
Specialist track
8
Internal transfer or rotation
8
Employers naming each step, of 33 that name one
Levels by Job Title
Specialist track
Entry / new graduate
10
Junior / associate
1
Senior
14
Management track
Team lead
13
Manager
35
Director
5
Executive
1
Individual-contributor level
25 postings from 18 employers
Every figure below summarizes job postings tracked on AirTA at this level. It describes what employers asked for in their postings, not any individual.
These figures summarize other postings tracked on AirTA, not this role.
Accounting · individual-contributor level
English · 25 postings
Daily English
28%
Some English
44%
No English stated
28%
Japanese · 25 postings
Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)
80%
Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)
8%
No level stated
12%
3 years median (middle half 3 to 5)
over 16 postings stating a threshold
4% of postings (1)
CPA / USCPA (公認会計士) (36%)
Bookkeeping certification (日商簿記) (24%)
Manager level
35 postings from 24 employers
Every figure below summarizes job postings tracked on AirTA at this level. It describes what employers asked for in their postings, not any individual.
These figures summarize other postings tracked on AirTA, not this role.
Accounting · manager level
median ¥8,004,000 · 17 postings
Too few stated salaries to publish a range
English · 33 postings
Daily English
24%
Some English
27%
No English stated
48%
Japanese · 33 postings
Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)
73%
Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)
18%
No level stated
9%
5 years median (middle half 5 to 5)
over 21 postings stating a threshold
34% of postings (12)
CPA / USCPA (公認会計士) (43%)
Bookkeeping certification (日商簿記) (20%)
Tax accountant (税理士) (17%)
41 openings are titled as a candidate for this level
Who Is Hiring
Related Functions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Accounting career ladder?
A level-by-level summary of what live Accounting job postings tracked on AirTA ask for. Levels come from job titles (manager, director, senior and so on) and, separately, from the years of experience a posting states. Every figure is a statistic over those postings, refreshed daily.
Where do the numbers come from?
From the job postings AirTA collects from employer career sites and applicant tracking systems. Years of experience, certifications and management experience are read from the posting text; the level is read from the title; pay is the salary the employer stated on the posting. Nothing is estimated for an individual.
Why is there no pay figure at some levels?
A pay band publishes only when at least 30 postings at that level state a salary, and a median only from 10. Senior-level pay is rarely published in Japan, so the honest answer at some levels is no figure rather than a figure borrowed from another level.
What does "candidate for" mean?
Some postings are titled 「マネージャー候補」 or "Manager Candidate": the employer states in the title that the opening is for someone who will grow into that level. The ladder counts those titles as the employer wrote them. It does not predict anyone’s promotion.
Role information is sourced from companies' public careers pages. Listed companies are not affiliated with AirTA. Is this your company? Claim your listing or request removal.