Account technician vs accounting clerk

The differences between account technicians and accounting clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an account technician and an accounting clerk. Additionally, an account technician has an average salary of $51,115, which is higher than the $38,683 average annual salary of an accounting clerk.

The top three skills for an account technician include veterans, financial statements and patients. The most important skills for an accounting clerk are data entry, customer service, and purchase orders.

Account technician vs accounting clerk overview

	Account Technician	Accounting Clerk
Yearly salary	$51,115	$38,683
Hourly rate	$24.57	$18.60
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	94,413	106,969
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Average age	51	51
Years of experience	6	6

What does an account technician do?

Account technicians are skilled professionals who are responsible for gathering data and preparing financial statements and reports from the account records they have maintained. These technicians are required to settle accounts with insurance companies and maximize benefits payments received from those companies. They must maintain a client management system for multiple accounts and coordinate marketing outreach for potential and existing clients. Account technicians must also monitor and compile all documents of the department, such as invoices, checks, and financial records.

What does an accounting clerk do?

Accounting clerks are employees assigned to manage administrative and clerical tasks in the accounting department. Accounting clerks handle office accounting records and ensure that files are properly labeled and stored. They validate records and check whether these are updated. They also sort through documents to ensure that they are in their proper storage bins. Aside from document handling, they also help with creating and validating financial statements and bookkeeping. As such, accounting clerks should have a strong background in accounting to manage their tasks better.

Account technician vs accounting clerk salary

Account technicians and accounting clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Account Technician	Accounting Clerk
Average salary	$51,115	$38,683
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $97,000	Between $29,000 And $51,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	California	New York
Best paying company	Microsoft	Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker Llp
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between account technician and accounting clerk education

There are a few differences between an account technician and an accounting clerk in terms of educational background:

	Account Technician	Accounting Clerk
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Most common major	Business	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Account technician vs accounting clerk demographics

Here are the differences between account technicians' and accounting clerks' demographics:

	Account Technician	Accounting Clerk
Average age	51	51
Gender ratio	Male, 31.3% Female, 68.7%	Male, 20.0% Female, 80.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 6.5% White, 67.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 6.9% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 6.6% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between account technician and accounting clerk duties and responsibilities

Account technician example responsibilities.

Develop expertise in use of PeopleSoft system to manage balance accounts for quarterly investment portfolio.
Process medical claims and workman compensation claims and Medicare & Medicaid claims.
Review accounts, record payments from first and third party billing to include Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance.
Close patient contact, appropriate decision-making concerning patient financial affairs and coordination between patients and third-party sponsorship for further financial assistance.
Issue manual checks from QuickBooks as needed.
Construct payment scheduling through utilization of QuickBooks.

Show more

Accounting clerk example responsibilities.

Manage revenue ledger including other subsidiary ledgers and responsible for the reconciliation of various income accounts to ensure accuracy of postings.
Perform balance sheet reconciliations and resolve open items by notifying employees and vendors of transaction discrepancies.
Assist in monthly financial close process by analyzing preliminary departmental expense reports and making necessary adjustments and accruals.
Develop a spreadsheet that pulls all data relate to project hours by operation from the ERP system.
Process all incoming payments receive via ACH, EFT, or the web; ensure accounts are accurately balance and reconcile.
Digitize proof of delivery receipts into ERP system (AS400) serving as an easy backup for employees to verify occurrence.

Show more

Account technician vs accounting clerk skills

Common account technician skills

Veterans, 13%
Financial Statements, 10%
Patients, 8%
Data Entry, 6%
HR, 5%
Reconciliations, 5%

Common accounting clerk skills

Data Entry, 15%
Customer Service, 10%
Purchase Orders, 9%
Reconciliations, 6%
Vendor Invoices, 6%
QuickBooks, 3%

Account Technician vs. similar jobs

Account Technician related careers

Account Technician related jobs

What similar roles do

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z