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The differences between accountant assistants and accounting clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become an accountant assistant, becoming an accounting clerk takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, an accountant assistant has an average salary of $40,537, which is higher than the $38,683 average annual salary of an accounting clerk.
The top three skills for an accountant assistant include customer service, data entry and payroll taxes. The most important skills for an accounting clerk are data entry, customer service, and purchase orders.
| Accountant Assistant | Accounting Clerk | |
| Yearly salary | $40,537 | $38,683 |
| Hourly rate | $19.49 | $18.60 |
| Growth rate | 6% | -5% |
| Number of jobs | 63,247 | 106,969 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 44 | 51 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
An accountant assistant is responsible for assisting the operations of a finance department, performing administrative and clerical tasks as advised. Accountant assistants create budget reports, process invoices, and manage accounts receivable. They also document purchase orders, monitor the payroll release, complete bank reconciliations, update the company's account statements and escalate discrepancies, assist with audit preparations, and sort financial documents. An accountant assistant must be familiar with the accounting processes and financial industry, as well as have strong analytical and time-management skills to perform tasks under minimal supervision.
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.
Accountant assistants and accounting clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Accountant Assistant | Accounting Clerk | |
| Average salary | $40,537 | $38,683 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $58,000 | Between $29,000 And $51,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | New York |
| Best paying company | Rodeo Realty | Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker Llp |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Government |
There are a few differences between an accountant assistant and an accounting clerk in terms of educational background:
| Accountant Assistant | Accounting Clerk | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Accounting | Accounting |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between accountant assistants' and accounting clerks' demographics:
| Accountant Assistant | Accounting Clerk | |
| Average age | 44 | 51 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 24.9% Female, 75.1% | Male, 20.0% Female, 80.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 16.8% White, 60.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | 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% |