A method for determining a calibrated leveling of a surveying instrument with an accelerometer. The method includes moving the accelerometer around a rotation axis of the instrument, the accelerometer being arranged at a known position from the rotation axis. As the accelerometer is moved, acquiring a movement profile of the movement by a rotational position encoder for the rotation axis and sensing an acceleration of the moving as accelerometer readings. Deriving at least one calibration parameter for the accelerometer readings is based on the movement profile, the known position and the corresponding accelerometer readings. A calibrated leveling is provided to the surveying instrument by applying the calibration parameter to the accelerometer readings.