Balance clerk vs accounting assistant

The differences between balance clerks 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 a balance clerk and an accounting assistant. Additionally, an accounting assistant has an average salary of $39,569, which is higher than the $37,281 average annual salary of a balance clerk.

The top three skills for a balance clerk include data entry, bank deposits and check images. The most important skills for an accounting assistant are data entry, customer service, and reconciliations.

Balance clerk vs accounting assistant overview

	Balance Clerk	Accounting Assistant
Yearly salary	$37,281	$39,569
Hourly rate	$17.92	$19.02
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	66,377	63,945
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	51	51
Years of experience	6	6

Balance clerk vs accounting assistant salary

Balance clerks and accounting assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Balance Clerk	Accounting Assistant
Average salary	$37,281	$39,569
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $46,000	Between $30,000 And $50,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	New York
Best paying company	-	Los Alamos National Laboratory
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between balance clerk and accounting assistant education

There are a few differences between a balance clerk and an accounting assistant in terms of educational background:

	Balance Clerk	Accounting Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Business	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Balance clerk vs accounting assistant demographics

Here are the differences between balance clerks' and accounting assistants' demographics:

	Balance Clerk	Accounting Assistant
Average age	51	51
Gender ratio	Male, 21.1% Female, 78.9%	Male, 20.1% Female, 79.9%
Race ratio	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%	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%

Differences between balance clerk and accounting assistant duties and responsibilities

Balance clerk example responsibilities.

Manage multiple deadlines for numerous payroll divisions and complex division budget reports with accurately and efficiently.
Maintain and provide timely and accurate reconciliations of various general ledger accounts and perform special projects as assigned.
Reconcile and balance multi-million dollar business & individual accounts, using QuickBooks.

Accounting assistant example responsibilities.

Manage revenue ledger including other subsidiary ledgers and responsible for the reconciliation of various income accounts to ensure accuracy of postings.
Participate in weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly audits to ensure SOX compliance and propose opportunities for improvement.
Meet with account teams to discuss job structure, new projects, client requests, billing procedures, and SOX requirements.
Reconcile departmental report cash against banking ACH transactions.
Process mortgage portfolio monthly payments and interest accruals.
Utilize online system for calculating payroll and family tuition payments.

Balance clerk vs accounting assistant skills

Common balance clerk skills

Data Entry, 21%
Bank Deposits, 15%
Check Images, 14%
Credit Balances, 10%
Customer Accounts, 7%
Financial Institutions, 6%

Common accounting assistant skills

Data Entry, 13%
Customer Service, 11%
Reconciliations, 8%
Purchase Orders, 7%
Credit Card Payments, 6%
General Ledger Accounts, 5%