Accounts payable team lead vs accounting clerk

The differences between accounts payable team leads 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 accounts payable team lead and an accounting clerk. Additionally, an accounts payable team lead has an average salary of $70,092, which is higher than the $38,683 average annual salary of an accounting clerk.

The top three skills for an accounts payable team lead include vendor invoices, general ledger and reconciliations. The most important skills for an accounting clerk are data entry, customer service, and purchase orders.

Accounts payable team lead vs accounting clerk overview

	Accounts Payable Team Lead	Accounting Clerk
Yearly salary	$70,092	$38,683
Hourly rate	$33.70	$18.60
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	55,415	106,969
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Average age	51	51
Years of experience	6	6

What does an accounts payable team lead do?

An accounts payable team lead supervises the finance department's budgeting team. They manage the clerical side of a company's budgeting process. Their team's responsibilities include issuing invoices, managing purchase orders, tracking logistics expenses, and documenting financial transactions. They must ensure that all their team members work cohesively to complete these tasks.

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.

Accounts payable team lead vs accounting clerk salary

Accounts payable team leads and accounting clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Accounts Payable Team Lead	Accounting Clerk
Average salary	$70,092	$38,683
Salary range	Between $50,000 And $97,000	Between $29,000 And $51,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	New York
Best paying company	-	Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker Llp
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between accounts payable team lead and accounting clerk education

There are a few differences between an accounts payable team lead and an accounting clerk in terms of educational background:

	Accounts Payable Team Lead	Accounting Clerk
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Accounts payable team lead vs accounting clerk demographics

Here are the differences between accounts payable team leads' and accounting clerks' demographics:

	Accounts Payable Team Lead	Accounting Clerk
Average age	51	51
Gender ratio	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%	Male, 20.0% Female, 80.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.9% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.7% Asian, 6.6% White, 67.1% 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 accounts payable team lead and accounting clerk duties and responsibilities

Accounts payable team lead example 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.
Manage preparation of monthly account reconciliations, journal entries, inter-company accounting and year-end audit schedules.
Verify receipts and ensure GAAP compliance for employee expense accounts.

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.

Accounts payable team lead vs accounting clerk skills

Common accounts payable team lead skills

Vendor Invoices, 7%
General Ledger, 6%
Reconciliations, 5%
Purchase Orders, 5%
ACH, 5%
Customer Service, 4%

Common accounting clerk skills

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

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Accounts Payable Team Lead
Accounts Payable Team Lead vs Accounting Clerk

Updated January 8, 2025

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