What Is an Accounting Clerk? 2025 Career Guide

Accounting clerks oversee financial transactions for businesses to ensure accurate, efficient processing. They handle bookkeeping, financial record-keeping, and other essential accounting tasks, making them a vital part of the accounting team. Whether the accounting clerk works for a small business or a large corporation, their job helps the organization stay financially organized and legally compliant. Explore the responsibilities, skills, salary, and steps needed to launch a career as an accounting clerk.

What does an accounting clerk do?

Accounting clerks handle various tasks geared toward keeping a company’s financial records organized and up to date. Although your specific duties as an accounting clerk will vary from company or industry, you can expect to handle these core responsibilities:

• Recording transactions: You will record your organization’s daily financial transactions, including all digital and cash transactions. You will typically log this information into the company’s ledger, which is the primary record for the company’s financial data.

• Maintaining ledgers and journals: You will organize, or “balance,” your company’s ledger. This process ensures no inaccuracies appear in the opening balance, debits, credits, or ending balance.

• Reconciling accounts: You will conduct account reconciliations, which involve comparing account statements to confirm that the recorded transactions match the actual transactions and reviewing bank statements, credit card statements, and the company’s ledger for discrepancies.

• Reconciling payroll: In some cases, you may support the payroll process by verifying that the company has accurately paid its employees and that those amounts have been correctly recorded in its financial records. This process confirms that the company has paid the correct wages and accurately deducted the appropriate taxes, withholdings, and contributions because accurate payroll records are essential for employee satisfaction and regulatory compliance.

• Managing vendor and customer inquiries: You may occasionally communicate with vendors and customers to handle invoices, payments, and other crucial financial account information.

• Preparing financial reports: You may compile budget, transaction, and expense reports at the end of each month. These reports give managers and stakeholders an overview of the company’s current financial performance, which in turn helps them make more informed decisions about the business in the long term.

• Assisting with audits: You may assist with internal or external audits by gathering financial records, answering the auditors’ questions about potential inconsistencies, and helping them verify the accuracy of the organization’s financial records.

Accounting clerk skills

As an accounting clerk, you will need a specific set of workplace and technical skills to help you properly handle financial data and effectively communicate with the organization’s team. Balancing these skills will be important to your success.

Workplace skills

• Attention to detail: You must be highly attentive because even the smallest error can lead to a significant discrepancy. You must carefully review each transaction or entry to ensure everything is precise and accurate.

• Time management: You will need good time management skills to complete your tasks on schedule since most organizations have important monthly or quarterly reporting deadlines. Completing your tasks on time is essential because it directly impacts your business’s efficiency and profitability.

• Communication: You will need effective communication skills to promptly and courteously address everyone you interact with regularly, including team members, managers, vendors, and customers. You will also need to follow your company’s rules regarding sensitive financial information strictly.

• Problem-solving: To avoid errors, you will need to use your critical thinking skills, resourcefulness, and ability to resolve issues as you find them when analyzing financial records and searching for account discrepancies.

• Organizational: You will need to use your excellent organizational skills to keep the numerous files, reports, and records that you will maintain arranged and accessible.

Technical skills

• Data entry: You will need to complete a large amount of data entry, including accurately logging financial transactions into ledgers or accounting software.

• Spreadsheet proficiency: You will need to be familiar with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets because you will rely on spreadsheets to organize and analyze data, generate reports, and perform calculations.

• Accounting software: You will need to have a knowledge of accounting software, such as QuickBooks, Sage, or Xero, to help you efficiently manage financial data, track transactions, and export financial statements.

• Basic accounting principles: You will need to understand basic accounting principles and concepts, such as debits, credits, ledgers, and reconciliation, to handle financial data accurately and consistently.

• Math: You will work with numbers every day as you calculate balances, reconcile accounts, and prepare reports, so strong math skills are vital for providing the highest level of precision and accuracy.

Read more: What Is Business Accounting? (And How to Manage Yours)

Accounting clerk salary and job outlook

As an accounting clerk, you can expect to earn a competitive salary and have steady job prospects in 2024 and beyond. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average annual salary for accounting clerks is approximately $47,440 [1].

The job outlook for accounting clerks remains stable, with opportunities available in various sectors such as technical services, retail, wholesale, construction, and finance. These industries depend on accounting clerks to ensure their financial operations run smoothly. However, the BLS does predict that though the field may experience a decline in employment over the next decade, it will likely have more than 174,000 openings each year from 2023 to 2033 [1]. While automation is changing some accounting processes, the role of the accounting clerk continues to be an essential human role today.

How to become an accounting clerk

You will need a mix of education, training, and certification to become an accounting clerk. Consider these steps on your career path to becoming an accounting clerk.

1. Education and training

At a minimum, you will need a high school diploma to become an accounting clerk, although some employers may look for you to have some additional training in accounting and related fields. Additionally, you may want to pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a related field, as many employers prefer candidates with these qualifications. community colleges, universities, and vocational schools offer comprehensive accounting programs that cover the bookkeeping, payroll, financial reporting, and other valuable skills necessary for aspiring accounting clerks like you.

2. Explore certifications

You can also pursue certifications to boost the credentials on your resume and improve your job prospects. One of the most common certifications in the field is the Certified Bookkeeper (CB) certificate, which covers payroll, financial statements, and reconciliations. Others include the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Getting started as an accounting clerk with Coursera

To become an accounting clerk, you must be detail-oriented, organized, and capable of handling multiple tasks simultaneously, especially during peak periods, such as the end of fiscal quarters. 

If you’re just starting a new job or beginning your pursuit of a career as an accounting clerk, consider completing the Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Professional Certificate on Coursera, a four-course series designed to help you build a strong foundation in basic bookkeeping concepts, accounting measurements, and financial statements.

If you’d like more advanced training, consider completing Macquarie University’s Excel Skills for Data Analytics and Visualization Specialization on Coursera, a three-course series offering in-depth training in Microsoft Excel, to help you more effectively utilize one of the most crucial tools for accounting.