City of Buffalo / Audit / Principal Accountant
Job-title file
Maintain financial records, prepare budgets and reports, and ensure compliance with fiscal rules.
3 employees hold this title in Audit. Median total compensation for the role is $85,681, above the department median of $61,640.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, the median wage for Accountants and Auditors — about 4,870 people — is $82,120. Audit pays a median base salary of $46,372 for this role, 44% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Accountants and Auditors across every employer in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Audit’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Accountants and Auditors — about 1,449,500 people — is $83,680. Audit’s median base salary is 45% below that national figure, below the 10th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 2 of 3 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Audit is $85,681, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
Principal Accountant is held in 2 City of Buffalo departments. In Audit, the median of $85,681 ranks #1 of 2.
Median total compensation for the Principal Accountant role in other City of Buffalodepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 4 jurisdictions. In City of Buffalo, the median of $85,308 ranks #2 of 4. See Principal Accountant across all of City of Buffalo →
Median total compensation for comparable Principal Accountantroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
Page 1
Principal Accountant/Audit
Source-specific fields
Francis Cahill works as a Principal Accountant for Audit within General Government Support. Francis earned $115,062 in 2023.
Principal Accountant/Audit
Source-specific fields
Seema Somani works as a Principal Accountant for Audit within General Government Support. Seema earned $85,681 in 2026.
Principal Accountant/Audit
Source-specific fields
Ann Marie O'Donnell holds the role of Principal Accountant at Audit within General Government Support. In 2023, their total compensation was $4,000.