Best Jobs in America

CNNMoney/PayScale's top 100 careers with big growth, great pay and satisfying work.

24. Forensic Accountant
Forensic Accountant
24
Median pay: $103,000
Top pay: $146,000
10-year job growth: 15.7%
Total jobs*: 1,216,900

What they do all day? These accountants work like financial detectives, sifting through account records to do things like calculate assets, put together timelines of financial activity, or gather evidence of possible wrongdoing. They often work alongside law enforcement and may work on current or potential legal cases involving bankruptcies, insurance claims, divorces, fraud allegations and more.

How to get the job?

What's great? What's not? --J.A.

What they do all day? These accountants work like financial detectives, sifting through account records to do things like calculate assets, put together timelines of financial activity, or gather evidence of possible wrongdoing. They often work alongside law enforcement and may work on current or potential legal cases involving bankruptcies, insurance claims, divorces, fraud allegations and more. --J.A.

Quality of life ratings:
  • Personal satisfaction: A
  • Benefit to society: B
  • Flexibility: C
  • Low stress: B
Subscribe to Money Magazine

*Total jobs is estimated number of people working in broader BLS 'job family.'

Sources: PayScale.com, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and CNNMoney research

Do Forensic Accountants have great jobs, or what? Are these great jobs, or what?
It's still a tough job market, so when CNNMoney, in partnership with data from PayScale.com, set out to find America's Best Jobs this year, first and foremost we looked for professions that offer great growth opportunities.

Other big factors: pay (how strong it is now, and how fast it's growing), overall job satisfaction, and how many jobs are in the field overall.
More

Comments? E-mail the editors

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.