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

5 Star
10%

10% of auditors rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of auditors rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of auditors rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
19%

19% of auditors rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
16%

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 Star
5%

5% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
9%

9% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of auditors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
39%

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

5 Star
16%

16% of auditors rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of auditors rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of auditors rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of auditors rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
10%

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

5 Star
13%

13% of auditors rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
25%

25% of auditors rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of auditors rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
21%

21% of auditors rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
13%

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

5 Star
8%

8% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
17%

17% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
21%

21% of auditors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars