Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between accounts payable leads and accounting assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an accounts payable lead and an accounting assistant. Additionally, an accounts payable lead has an average salary of $57,175, which is higher than the $39,569 average annual salary of an accounting assistant.
The top three skills for an accounts payable lead include FAA, purchase orders and vendor invoices. The most important skills for an accounting assistant are data entry, customer service, and reconciliations.
| Accounts Payable Lead | Accounting Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $57,175 | $39,569 |
| Hourly rate | $27.49 | $19.02 |
| Growth rate | -5% | -5% |
| Number of jobs | 31,041 | 63,945 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 51% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Average age | 51 | 51 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
Accounts payable leads are accounting professionals who are responsible for leading a team of professionals that manage the company's accounts payable, a short-term debt payment that needs to be paid to avoid default. These professionals are required to evaluate vendor invoices and prepare payments to pay vendors while preparing the daily expense reports. They must create the general ledger at the end of the month to reconcile closing balances. Accounts payable leads must also assist purchasing agents in resolving vendor or customer issues that pertained to inaccurate information on purchase orders.
An accounting assistant is responsible for supporting the daily operations of the business' accounting department, from reviewing financial transactions to the submission of financial reports. Accounting assistants' duties include performing data entry and clerical tasks, maintaining a safe record of account statements, updating and analyzing transactions, verifying the accuracy of financial records, and managing customers and vendors' inquiries as immediate as possible. An accounting assistant must have a broad knowledge of the accounting principles and processes, as well as excellent communication and time-management skills, especially on meeting strict deadlines and doing complex tasks as needed.
Accounts payable leads and accounting assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Accounts Payable Lead | Accounting Assistant | |
| Average salary | $57,175 | $39,569 |
| Salary range | Between $41,000 And $79,000 | Between $30,000 And $50,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New York | New York |
| Best paying company | NV Energy | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between an accounts payable lead and an accounting assistant in terms of educational background:
| Accounts Payable Lead | Accounting Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 51% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Most common major | Accounting | Accounting |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between accounts payable leads' and accounting assistants' demographics:
| Accounts Payable Lead | Accounting Assistant | |
| Average age | 51 | 51 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 28.7% Female, 71.3% | Male, 20.1% Female, 79.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.8% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 6.5% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 6.8% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 6.6% White, 67.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |