Accounts payable team lead vs accounts payable clerk

The differences between accounts payable team leads and accounts payable 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 accounts payable clerk. Additionally, an accounts payable team lead has an average salary of $70,092, which is higher than the $38,333 average annual salary of an accounts payable clerk.

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

Accounts payable team lead vs accounts payable clerk overview

	Accounts Payable Team Lead	Accounts Payable Clerk
Yearly salary	$70,092	$38,333
Hourly rate	$33.70	$18.43
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	55,415	89,564
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
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 accounts payable clerk do?

An accounts payable clerk is responsible for supporting the accounting department by performing clerical duties to file financial reports timely and accurately. Accounts payable clerks manage and verify invoices documents, reconcile balance spreadsheets, process payments for suppliers and vendors, resolve billing discrepancies, confirm and post account statements, record outstanding credits, and maintain an organized record of transactions. An accounts payable clerk must have excellent knowledge of the accounting principles to deliver high-quality services and help the business minimize excessive financial loss.

Accounts payable team lead vs accounts payable clerk salary

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

	Accounts Payable Team Lead	Accounts Payable Clerk
Average salary	$70,092	$38,333
Salary range	Between $50,000 And $97,000	Between $30,000 And $48,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	Massachusetts
Best paying company	-	Jane Street
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between accounts payable team lead and accounts payable clerk education

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

	Accounts Payable Team Lead	Accounts Payable Clerk
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Accounts payable team lead vs accounts payable clerk demographics

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

	Accounts Payable Team Lead	Accounts Payable Clerk
Average age	51	51
Gender ratio	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%	Male, 17.2% Female, 82.8%
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, 14.7% Asian, 6.6% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between accounts payable team lead and accounts payable 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.

Accounts payable clerk example responsibilities.

Manage revenue ledger including other subsidiary ledgers and responsible for the reconciliation of various income accounts to ensure accuracy of postings.
Match, code, and process vendor payments via MAS90 accounting system - including check runs and ACH payments.
Perform duties in compliance with GAAP, company and department policies and procedures, internal controls, and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.
Process division payroll in coordination with ADP payroll systems for semi-monthly and weekly union contract employees.
Scan and store documents daily, retrieve W2 and W9 information along with service provider agreements when or if need.
Print, review, research, edit, code and batch invoices for processing via the various ERP financial systems.

Accounts payable team lead vs accounts payable 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 accounts payable clerk skills

Customer Service, 13%
Data Entry, 10%
Purchase Orders, 8%
Expense Reports, 6%
Vendor Invoices, 6%
Vendor Statements, 5%

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Accounts Payable Team Lead
Accounts Payable Team Lead vs Accounts Payable Clerk

Updated January 8, 2025

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