Account technician vs accounts payable technician

The differences between account technicians and accounts payable technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an account technician, becoming an accounts payable technician takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an account technician has an average salary of $51,115, which is higher than the $47,325 average annual salary of an accounts payable technician.

The top three skills for an account technician include veterans, financial statements and patients. The most important skills for an accounts payable technician are FAA, A/P, and powerplant.

Account technician vs accounts payable technician overview

	Account Technician	Accounts Payable Technician
Yearly salary	$51,115	$47,325
Hourly rate	$24.57	$22.75
Growth rate	-5%	6%
Number of jobs	94,413	23,079
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 39%
Average age	51	40
Years of experience	6	4

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 accounts payable technician do?

An Accounts Payable Technician performs the day-to-day processing of accounts payable transactions. They prepare and process invoices and other financial documents manually or by using specialized automated software.

Account technician vs accounts payable technician salary

Account technicians and accounts payable technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Account Technician	Accounts Payable Technician
Average salary	$51,115	$47,325
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $97,000	Between $33,000 And $66,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Juneau, AK
Highest paying state	California	Alaska
Best paying company	Microsoft	Baptist Health Care
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between account technician and accounts payable technician education

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

	Account Technician	Accounts Payable Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 39%
Most common major	Business	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	SUNY Farmingdale

Account technician vs accounts payable technician demographics

Here are the differences between account technicians' and accounts payable technicians' demographics:

	Account Technician	Accounts Payable Technician
Average age	51	40
Gender ratio	Male, 31.3% Female, 68.7%	Male, 55.0% Female, 45.0%
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, 9.1% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 23.2% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	7%	2%

Differences between account technician and accounts payable technician 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.

Accounts payable technician example responsibilities.

Manage the FOD prevention program to reduce costly repairs and increase the participation in FOD awareness and FOD walk downs.
Utilize technical data to troubleshoot maintenance issues.
Obtain practical experience on the Garrett TPE-331 powerplant.
Maintain catalog of store A/P, A/R source documents.
Enter all invoices into a/p software, assigns g/l account numbers & appropriate cost centers.
Obtain practical experience on the TFE-731 Garrett powerplant and hot section inspection experience on the Pratt and Whitney PT6.

Account technician vs accounts payable technician skills

Common account technician skills

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

Common accounts payable technician skills

FAA, 13%
A/P, 9%
Powerplant, 9%
Airframe, 8%
Troubleshoot, 7%
Hand Tools, 5%

Account Technician vs. similar jobs

Account Technician related careers

Account Technician related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Office and Administrative Industry
Account Technician
Account Technician vs Accounts Payable Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs