How To Become An Accounts Payable Team Lead: What It Is and Career Path

What is an accounts payable team lead and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

The role of an accounts payable team lead involves overseeing and spearheading all processes involved in accounts payable, including budget preparation, invoice review, and record generation. They are the main decision-makers and hold most of the responsibility for ensuring that all the team's goals are met or surpassed.

The duties of accounts payable team lead can vary greatly depending on their industry or employer's needs, but in general, a project manager & leader is responsible for training team members, creating strategies to optimize workflow, coordinating with clients and other stakeholders, and addressing problems, such as discrepancies in accounts.

Most accounts payable team leads have an educational background in accounting as well as extensive experience in the industry. But to be successful in this job, you also have to possess outstanding leadership, communication, time management, and problem-solving skills. You must also have a keen eye for detail to be able to identify problems before they grow bigger.

ScoreAccounts Payable Team LeadUS Average

Salary

5.5

Avg. Salary $70,092

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.0

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.63%

Asian 6.64%

Black or African American 6.93%

Hispanic or Latino 14.71%

Unknown 3.97%

White 67.11%

Gender

female 75.62%

male 24.38%

Age - 53

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 53

Stress level

6.0

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.4

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.3

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an accounts payable team lead

Explore accounts payable team lead education requirements

Most common accounts payable team lead degrees

Bachelor's

52.4 %

Associate

27.8 %

Master's

8.4 %

Start to develop specific accounts payable team lead skills

Skills	Percentages
Vendor Invoices	6.79%
General Ledger	5.81%
Reconciliations	5.24%
Purchase Orders	5.06%
ACH	4.51%

Complete relevant accounts payable team lead training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New accounts payable team leads learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an accounts payable team lead based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real accounts payable team lead resumes.

Research accounts payable team lead duties and responsibilities

Manage annual IRS 1099 and 1042 reporting.
Handle cash items, manage vendor set ups and maintain accurate W9 information.
Manage ten RPG developers maintaining and modifying a AS400 base JDA MMS ERP system for a large retailer.
Manage payroll transactions utilizing ADP payroll software.

Get accounts payable team lead experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become an accounts payable team lead. The most common roles before becoming an accounts payable team lead include accounts payable clerk, accounts payable supervisor team lead and accounting clerk.

Prepare your accounts payable team lead resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your accounts payable team lead resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an accounts payable team lead resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable accounts payable team lead resume templates

Build a professional accounts payable team lead resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your accounts payable team lead resume.

Apply for accounts payable team lead jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an accounts payable team lead job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do accounts payable team leads rate their job?

-/5

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Accounts payable team lead reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019

Pros

learn about more about the company projects and what are the costs on these projects.

Cons

The process is still too manual, not efficient.

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019