Accounting Assistant Job Description

Salary Range

$43,520 - $61,470

Experience

Entry-level

Work Environment

Business or finance office

What Does an Accounting Assistant Do?

Clean books at month-end start with someone who checks each receipt, invoice and deposit as it comes in. As an accounting assistant you'll code transactions, enter them in the ledger and sort out small mismatches before they spread. This might involve department budgets, vendor bills, cash deposits or purchasing-card statements in a university business office, a hospital or a mid-sized company.

Also known as: Senior Accounting Assistant

Other Job Titles for This Work

Workers in this occupation report titles such as Account Clerk, Accounting Associate, Accounting Clerk, Accounting Specialist, Accounting Technician, Accounts Payable Clerk, Accounts Payable Specialist, Accounts Payables Clerk.

Accounting Assistant Duties and Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of an accounting assistant include:

• Code invoices, receipts and deposits to the correct account and fund before entering them in the ledger.
• Enter approved bills and payment requests in the accounting system with scanned backup attached.
• Prepare daily cash and check deposits and match them to the bank statement.
• Reconcile purchasing-card statements against receipts; flag missing documents and follow up with cardholders.
• Answer questions from vendors and staff about payment status, missing paperwork and account codes.
• Keep petty cash balanced and record every disbursement with a signed receipt.
• Pull spending-to-budget reports from Excel or the ledger system for department heads.
• File and scan supporting documents so auditors can trace each entry back to its source.
• Compare vendor statements with the ledger and ask for copies of any missing invoices.
• Gather schedules and backup for the month-end close and the year-end audit.

Required Skills and Qualifications

To succeed as an accounting assistant, you will need the following skills and qualifications:

• QuickBooks, or the ledger module of an ERP such as Oracle or Workday
• Excel sorting, filters and simple pivot tables
• Fast, accurate numeric data entry
• Working knowledge of debits, credits and account codes
• Persistence in chasing missing receipts and approvals
• Polite, clear email for vendors and busy department staff
• Discretion with payment and bank details
• Bookkeeping or accounting coursework

Education and Training

Most accounting assistants learn the work through several months of on-the-job training, but some start out by taking bookkeeping classes at a community college. Employers generally expect new hires to know Excel. For the wider group of bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks, BLS lists some college without a degree as the typical entry level.

Salary and Job Outlook

BLS projects employment of bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks to decline about 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, as accounting software takes over more routine posting. Even so, BLS expects roughly 144,100 openings a year, mostly to replace clerks who retire or change careers. Simple keying is what shrinks first. And, as long as offices still close their books each month, assistants who can reconcile and report will be needed to make sure the numbers hold up.

Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks.

Accounting Assistant Pay Range

Highest-Paying States for Accounting Assistants

The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are District of Columbia ($65,180), Connecticut ($59,970), Massachusetts ($59,830), California ($59,230), Washington ($58,620). Pay is lowest in West Virginia ($42,890), Mississippi ($42,840), Arkansas ($42,840).

What the Work Is Like

O*NET surveys people who work as bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:

• 95% work indoors in a climate-controlled space every day
• 94% use email every day
• 91% spend more than half the workday sitting
• 91% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
• 86% are on the phone every day
• 69% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
• 54% use their hands on tools, objects or controls for more than half the day

Education Workers Say the Job Needs

Tools and Software Accounting Assistants Use

Tools and equipment

• 10-key calculators
• Desktop computers
• Financial calculators
• Image scanners
• Ledger sheets
• Notebook computers
• Receipt books

Software

• Intuit QuickBooks
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Office software
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft Word
• SAP software
• Adobe Acrobat
• Epic Systems
• Google Docs
• MEDITECH software
• Microsoft Access
• Microsoft PowerPoint

Is This Job a Good Fit for You?

People who do well in this job tend to enjoy organized work with data, records and clear procedures as well as leading, persuading and making business decisions.

Skills O*NET rates most important: Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Writing, Speaking.

Knowledge areas used most: Customer and Personal Service, Administrative, Mathematics, English Language, Economics and Accounting.

Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 3 of 5, which means medium preparation.

Related Careers

These jobs use similar skills, according to O*NET's related-occupation data:

• Accountant Associate job description
• Budget Assistant job description
• Accounting Specialist job description
• Accounts Payable Coordinator job description
• Payroll Assistant job description
• Office Specialist job description
• Teller job description
• Accountant job description

Applying for an Accounting Assistant Job

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