Accountancy is one of the few professions with genuinely portable credentials. ACCA, ACA, CPA and CIMA are recognised across most of the markets covered here, and mutual recognition agreements cover much of the remainder. The practical question is therefore not whether you can move, but whether it pays.
The figures below take a qualified accountant with roughly five to ten years of post-qualification experience, working in industry rather than in a Big Four partnership track, and apply the local 2026 rules.
The ranking
Federal tax only; state and provincial tax reduce both figures. † Most of the Singaporean deduction is CPF, which remains yours. Currency conversions use approximate mid-market rates for July 2026: 1 EUR equals 0.86 GBP, 1.16 USD, 1.60 CAD, 1.77 AUD, 1.95 NZD, 0.93 CHF, 7.46 DKK, 11.0 SEK, 11.7 NOK, 176 JPY, 1.50 SGD and 3.80 ILS.
Luxembourg and Ireland are the finance market anomalies
Both countries pay accountants well above what their general wage levels would predict, and for the same reason: a fund administration and international finance sector far larger than the domestic economy would support.
Luxembourg administers a fund industry measured in trillions and imports most of its qualified workforce, much of it commuting daily from France, Germany and Belgium. The salary premium is a recruitment cost. Ireland's premium comes from the same source, with the added effect that Irish tax credits keep the retention rate high at this salary level, as the Irish take-home guide sets out.
The Luxembourg deduction rate of 33.9% is heavy relative to the country's reputation as a low tax jurisdiction. That reputation was earned by its corporate regime, not its payroll, a distinction covered in the guide to Luxembourg wages.
Germany pays accountants less than it pays engineers
A German accountant at 55,000 euros keeps 62.4% of it, the worst retention rate in the table apart from Denmark, and the gross itself sits well below the German software engineering equivalent. Both facts have the same cause: German corporate structures locate accountancy as a support function and pay it accordingly, while the Mittelstand's engineering premium goes elsewhere.
The comparable engineering figures are in the developer comparison, and the gap between the two professions in Germany is wider than in any other country here.
What the table leaves out
- Partnership tracks. Big Four and mid-tier partner income is a multiple of the figures above and is frequently taxed as self-employment or partnership income rather than employment income.
- Qualification recognition. ACCA and ACA travel widely; local statutory audit rights generally do not. Signing an audit opinion in Germany, France or Italy requires the local qualification.
- Bonus culture. In London, Dublin, Zurich and New York, bonuses in industry roles run from 10% to 30% and are not included here. How they are taxed is covered in the guide to bonus taxation.
- Language. Financial reporting in English is standard in Amsterdam, Dublin, Luxembourg and Zurich, and much less so in Milan, Madrid, Paris and Tokyo.
- Housing. The three countries at the top of this table also have three of the most expensive housing markets on it.
Run a specific offer through the UK, Germany or Ireland accountancy pages, or use any Luxembourg Salary Calculator for a custom figure.
Related: Singapore vs the UK