Auditors are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, auditors rate their career happiness 2.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 4% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy auditors are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Actuary | 2.5 | $121k |
| Financial clerk | 2.5 | $39k |
| Loan officer | 2.5 | $62k |
| Underwriter | 2.5 | $57k |
| Teller | 2.5 | $19k |
| Auditor | 2.5 | $54k |
| Insurance sales agent | 2.3 | $35k |
| Debt collector | 2.2 | $31k |
| Insurance appraiser | 2.1 | $61k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are auditors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do auditors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as auditors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are auditor’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are auditors making the best use of their abilities?
Are auditors happy with their salary?
Auditors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most auditors having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked auditors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
1560 auditors
10% of auditors rated their compensation 5 stars
27% of auditors rated their compensation 4 stars
27% of auditors rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of auditors rated their compensation 2 stars
16% of auditors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do auditors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, auditors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.1/5. The majority of auditors struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked auditors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.1 out of 5 stars
1567 auditors
5% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
9% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
19% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
28% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
39% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as auditors?
Auditors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.3/5. The majority of auditors don’t see personality fit as a hinderence in their career.
We asked auditors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
1692 auditors
16% of auditors rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of auditors rated their career fit 4 stars
26% of auditors rated their career fit 3 stars
16% of auditors rated their career fit 2 stars
10% of auditors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an auditor’s work environment?
As a whole, auditors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.0/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked auditors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
1682 auditors
13% of auditors rated their work environment 5 stars
25% of auditors rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of auditors rated their work environment 3 stars
21% of auditors rated their work environment 2 stars
13% of auditors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are auditors making the best use of their abilities?
Former auditors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.7/5. Auditors tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked auditors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
1688 auditors
8% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
17% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
21% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars