ACA vs ACCA vs CPA: Which Qualification Pays More in 2026?
Which accountancy qualification pays more in 2026? Trainee and finalist pay by body, what qualified accountants earn in the UK, Ireland and US, and why the role matters more than the letters.
ACA vs ACCA vs CPA: which pays more depends on where and when you look. While you're studying, ACCA students in the UK typically earn more than ACA students. Hays's 2026 UK guide puts a London ACCA finalist at a typical £60,000, against £46,000 for an ACA finalist. Once you're qualified, UK recruiters price you by role and years since qualifying, not by which body you joined. The CPA pays the most in raw numbers, but that's because US salaries are higher, not because of the letters. Robert Half's 2027 US guide puts a senior accountant at $81,500–$111,250 nationally.
This guide covers pay only. If you're choosing a route by career fit, exams and training contracts, start with our ACCA vs CIMA vs ACA comparison, then come back here for the salary side.
Key takeaways
- No current survey compares qualified ACA, ACCA and CPA pay like for like; UK recruiters price qualified accountants by role, years since qualifying and location.
- While studying, Hays 2026 puts a London ACCA or CIMA finalist at a typical £60,000 against £46,000 for an ACA finalist, partly because the two often do different jobs.
- Finishing your exams is worth about £15,000–£17,500 at the median in Robert Half's 2027 UK figures.
- In Ireland, the 2026 Leinster Society/Barden survey found newly qualified chartered accountants averaging a €65,538 package.
- CPA-level US salaries look higher in dollars, but converted at ECB rates a London newly qualified figure of £60,000 is above a US staff accountant's $76,500 mid-point.
What the salary data can and can't tell you
No current survey compares qualified ACA, ACCA and CPA holders like for like. We looked for 2026 member salary surveys from ICAEW and ACCA and didn't find one. The data that does exist falls into three groups:
- Recruiter guides (Hays, Morgan McKinley, Robert Half). These price roles, and they only split by qualification body for part-qualified staff.
- One professional-body survey: Chartered Accountants Leinster Society and Barden's 2026 survey of Irish chartered accountants. It covers ACA holders in Leinster only.
- Official statistics such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. These count all accountants and auditors, whatever their qualification.
So "which pays more" breaks into two narrower questions: what each route pays while you study, and what qualified accountants earn in the places each qualification is used.
While you study: ACA vs ACCA trainee and finalist pay
Hays is the only 2026 guide we found that splits part-qualified pay by body. These are its typical salaries:
| Hays UK 2026, typical | ACCA | CIMA | ACA |
|---|---|---|---|
| London trainee | £34,000 | £35,000 | £32,000 |
| London part-qualified / semi-senior | £48,000 | £48,000 | £39,000 |
| London finalist | £60,000 | £60,000 | £46,000 |
| North West England finalist | £44,000 | £45,000 | £37,000 |
| Scotland finalist | £43,000 | £43,000 | £43,000 |
| South East England finalist | £53,000 | £53,000 | £45,000 |
ACCA and CIMA finalists lead in London, the South East and the North West, but not in Scotland, where all three typical figures are £43,000. Don't read too much into the London gap. ACA is the training-contract route, mostly through accountancy firms, as our route comparison explains. ACCA and CIMA students often study while working in industry finance roles. So the gap partly compares two different kinds of job, not just two qualifications.
The ACA trainee's pay catches up at qualification. Morgan McKinley's 2026 UK guide puts a London part-qualified Big Four auditor at £32,000–£42,000. A newly qualified one earns £52,000–£54,000.
After qualifying: UK pay follows years, not letters
Once you're qualified, the UK guides stop asking which body you joined. Hays's qualified tables give bands by years of experience after qualifying, with no split by body:
| Hays UK 2026, large organisation (typical) | London | North West England |
|---|---|---|
| Newly qualified | £60,000 | £52,000 |
| Recently qualified (up to 2 years) | £65,000 | £58,000 |
| 2–4 years post-qualified | £80,000 | £75,000 |
| 5+ years post-qualified | £100,000 | £88,000 |
Robert Half's 2027 UK guide works the same way. It lists a qualified financial accountant at £48,000–£60,000 and a qualified management accountant at £44,500–£58,000. It doesn't say which body. It does list ACA, ACCA and CIMA among the certifications that can justify higher pay, alongside AAT, ATT and CTA.
Location matters too. At five years post-qualified, Hays's London typical (£100,000) is £12,000 above the North West (£88,000).
Sector moves the number more than the body does. Morgan McKinley's London figures for a newly qualified accountant range from £45,000–£55,000 at investment funds to £55,000–£70,000 at large corporates and £60,000–£70,000 at banks.
What finishing your exams is worth
Whichever body you choose, the data puts a price on finishing. In the UK, Robert Half's 2027 medians show:
- part-qualified management accountant £37,250, qualified management accountant £52,000;
- part-qualified financial accountant £36,000, qualified financial accountant £53,500.
Those steps are worth £14,750 and £17,500. In Dublin, Morgan McKinley's 2026 guide puts a part-qualified accountant with five or more years' experience at €45,000–€50,000. A newly qualified accountant earns €60,000–€65,000.
There's one surprise in the Hays London figures. An ACCA or CIMA finalist is typically on £60,000, the same as a newly qualified accountant in a large organisation. For students already in strong industry roles, qualifying may not bring an immediate rise. It does open the next step: recently qualified (£65,000) and two to four years post-qualified (£80,000).
Ireland: what chartered accountants report
In Ireland, ACA is the Chartered Accountants Ireland qualification. Its Leinster Society publishes the one recent survey that tracks qualified members' pay over time. The 2026 Chartered Accountants Leinster Society and Barden survey of nearly 800 members found:
- an average package of €130,960 across all respondents, the second highest since the survey began in 2018;
- an average of €65,538 for newly qualified members;
- an average of €89,759 at five years after qualifying, down from €97,527 the year before.
The same survey found that 88% of respondents said their total pay had risen in the past three years, and 77% expect a rise in the next 12 months.
These are average packages, not base salaries, so they sit above recruiter base-pay bands. Morgan McKinley's 2026 Ireland guide puts a newly qualified accountant in Dublin at €60,000–€65,000 base and in Cork at €55,000–€65,000. In Limerick, it's €50,000–€65,000. The guide doesn't split any of these by body, so an ACCA-qualified accountant applying for the same Dublin role is benchmarked against the same band.
CPA pay in the US
US salaries are higher in dollar terms across accounting, so CPA comparisons need care. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the May 2025 median for accountants and auditors at $83,680 nationally and $105,650 in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area. That group includes CPAs and non-CPAs. The New York median is about 26% above the national one.
Robert Half's 2027 US guide gives national ranges by role:
| Role (Robert Half US 2027, national) | Low | Mid | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-level accountant | $55,750 | $63,000 | $70,000 |
| Staff accountant | $67,000 | $76,500 | $89,500 |
| Senior accountant | $81,500 | $96,750 | $111,250 |
| Audit/assurance associate | $58,750 | $70,750 | $82,500 |
| Audit/assurance manager | $98,750 | $115,750 | $133,750 |
| Accounting manager | $98,250 | $115,000 | $128,500 |
The BLS spread for accountants and auditors (May 2025) shows how much experience and location matter:
| BLS OEWS, May 2025 | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| US national | $67,020 | $83,680 | $109,810 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City metro | $82,830 | $105,650 | $137,490 |
Robert Half says credentials such as the CPA can raise earning potential, and it lists the CPA among the certifications in demand. It doesn't publish a percentage premium. You'll find CPA premium figures quoted online, but we couldn't trace any of them to a primary source, so we haven't used one here.
At entry level in public accounting, the AICPA's 2025 MAP Survey, reported by the Journal of Accountancy, found median starting pay of $60,834 for bachelor's graduates and $67,750 for master's graduates at CPA firms.
Comparing across countries: why the CPA looks highest
Put a US staff accountant's $76,500 mid-point next to a London newly qualified accountant's £60,000, and the US number looks bigger. At the European Central Bank's reference rates for 21 October 2026 (€1 = £0.83825 = $1.1234), £60,000 is about €71,600 and $76,500 is about €68,100. Converted, the London figure is actually the higher one. And that's before tax and living costs, which change the picture again. We work through the full sums for London, Dublin and New York in a separate guide.
Two practical points matter more than the headline:
- A qualification pays where employers use it. UK and Irish adverts name ACA, ACCA and CIMA. US adverts name the CPA. A qualification earns the most in the market that recognises it in its job adverts.
- Time to qualify is part of the pay. A route that leaves you part-qualified for longer keeps you on the lower trainee or semi-senior band for longer. Our existing comparison covers how each route is structured. Check it against the bands above before you commit.
ACA vs ACCA vs CPA: which pays more for you?
Choose by target role rather than by the letters' average salary:
- You want audit or practice in the UK or Ireland, then industry. ACA through a training contract pays less while you train. By qualification it catches up to the same band as everyone else. In the London Big Four figures above, the pay step comes when you qualify.
- You want FP&A or management accounting in UK industry. ACCA or CIMA lets you earn an industry salary while you study. Hays's London finalist figure of £60,000 shows how far that can go, and our guide to FP&A salaries from analyst to finance manager shows where pay goes after that.
- You want to work in Ireland. Morgan McKinley's Dublin newly qualified band (€60,000–€65,000) applies whichever body you qualified with. Chartered Accountants report an average newly qualified package of €65,538. Choose by whether you want a training contract (ACA) or to study while working in industry (ACCA).
- You plan to work in the US. The CPA is the credential US employers ask for. Price your expectations against US role bands such as Robert Half's, not against UK salaries converted at today's exchange rate.
Whichever route you take, recruiters pay for the evidence on your CV, not the qualification name. If you're mid-qualification, list exams passed and your expected finish date clearly. Then show what you did with the knowledge. Our finance CV achievement examples give 40 honest ways to write that up. If you're coming from another field, read our guide to a career change into finance first. And if you'd like a step-by-step plan from your current role to the qualified job you want, use the free career path planner.
Here's the short version: the qualification sets which jobs you can apply for, and the job sets your salary. Pick the route that gets you into the role you want soonest, in the country where you plan to work.
Frequently asked questions
Is ACA better paid than ACCA?
Not once you're qualified, on the evidence available. UK recruiter guides such as Hays 2026 and Robert Half 2027 price qualified accountants by role and years since qualifying, not by body. While studying, ACCA finalists in London typically earn more (£60,000 against £46,000 in Hays 2026). That's partly because ACA is the training-contract route, mostly through accountancy firms, where trainee pay is lower.
Does CPA pay more than ACCA?
In dollars, US accounting pay is higher: Robert Half 2027 puts a US senior accountant at $81,500–$111,250. But that reflects the US market, not the letters. Converted at ECB rates, a London newly qualified accountant on £60,000 (about €71,600) is above a US staff accountant's $76,500 mid-point (about €68,100). We found no verified CPA premium figure.
Is ACA vs ACCA salary different in the UK?
Only while you study, in Hays's 2026 figures. In London, an ACA finalist is typically on £46,000 and an ACCA finalist on £60,000; in Scotland both are typically £43,000. After qualifying, Hays and Robert Half don't split pay by body. A newly qualified accountant in a London large organisation is typically on £60,000, whichever body.
How much does a newly qualified chartered accountant earn in Ireland?
The 2026 Chartered Accountants Leinster Society and Barden survey found an average package of €65,538 for newly qualified members. Morgan McKinley's 2026 Ireland guide puts newly qualified base pay at €60,000–€65,000 in Dublin, €55,000–€65,000 in Cork and €50,000–€65,000 in Limerick.