Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between finance technicians 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 finance technician and an accounting assistant. Additionally, a finance technician has an average salary of $45,251, which is higher than the $39,569 average annual salary of an accounting assistant.
The top three skills for a finance technician include financial reports, financial management and review contracts. The most important skills for an accounting assistant are data entry, customer service, and reconciliations.
| Finance Technician | Accounting Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $45,251 | $39,569 |
| Hourly rate | $21.76 | $19.02 |
| Growth rate | -5% | -5% |
| Number of jobs | 89,668 | 63,945 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Average age | 51 | 51 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
Finance technicians are professionals who perform various tasks that are related to financial accounting for an organization. These technicians are required to provide monthly transaction reports and perform forecasts on their future budget requirements to ensure proper financial management for the organization. They must assist in preparing financial statements to analyze and summarize accounting data for the organization's senior management. Finance technicians must also research and resolve any disputes that involve financial transactions while informing the senior management about any financial discrepancies.
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.
Finance technicians and accounting assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Finance Technician | Accounting Assistant | |
| Average salary | $45,251 | $39,569 |
| Salary range | Between $30,000 And $67,000 | Between $30,000 And $50,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New York | New York |
| Best paying company | Ernst & Young | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| Best paying industry | Government | Finance |
There are a few differences between a finance technician and an accounting assistant in terms of educational background:
| Finance Technician | Accounting Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Most common major | Business | Accounting |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between finance technicians' and accounting assistants' demographics:
| Finance Technician | Accounting Assistant | |
| Average age | 51 | 51 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 41.2% Female, 58.8% | 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, 67.8% 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% |