Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks: Salary, career path, job outlook, education and more
- Education Required
- Employers generally require bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks to have some postsecondary education, particularly coursework in accounting. However, some candidates can be hired with just a high school diploma.
- Training Required
- Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks usually get on-the-job training. Under the guidance of a supervisor or another experienced employee, new clerks learn how to do their tasks, such as double-entry bookkeeping. In double-entry bookkeeping, each transaction is entered twice, once as a debit (cost) and once as a credit (income), to ensure that all accounts are balanced.
- Job Outlook
-
The projected percent change in employment from 2016 to 2026: -1% (Little or no change)
(The average growth rate for all occupations is 7 percent.) - Advancement
- With appropriate experience and additional education, some bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks may become accountants or auditors.
- Licenses/Certifications
- Some bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks become certified. For those who do not have postsecondary education, certification is a particularly useful way to gain expertise in the field. The Certified Bookkeeper (CB) designation, awarded by the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers, shows that those who have earned it have the skills and knowledge needed to carry out all bookkeeping tasks, including overseeing payroll and balancing accounts, according to accepted accounting procedures.
- Median pay: How much do Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks make?
- $38,390 Annual Salary
- $18.46 per hour
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks produce financial records for organizations. They record financial transactions, update statements, and check financial records for accuracy.
What do Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks do?
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks typically do the following:
- Use bookkeeping software, spreadsheets, and databases
- Enter (post) financial transactions into the appropriate computer software
- Receive and record cash, checks, and vouchers
- Put costs (debits) and income (credits) into the software, assigning each to an appropriate account
- Produce reports, such as balance sheets (costs compared with income), income statements, and totals by account
- Check for accuracy in figures, postings, and reports
- Reconcile or note and report any differences they find in the records
The records that bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks work with include expenditures (money spent), receipts (money that comes in), accounts payable (bills to be paid), accounts receivable (invoices, or what other people owe the organization), and profit and loss (a report that shows the organizations financial health).
Workers in this occupation engage in a wide range of tasks. Some are full-charge bookkeeping clerks who maintain an entire organizations books. Others are accounting clerks who handle specific tasks.
These clerks use basic mathematics (adding, subtracting) throughout the day.
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks use specialized computer accounting software, spreadsheets, and databases to enter information from receipts or bills. They must be comfortable using computers to record and calculate data.
The widespread use of computers also has enabled bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks to take on additional responsibilities, such as payroll, billing, purchasing (buying), and keeping track of overdue bills. Many of these functions require clerks to communicate with clients.
Careers for Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
- Accounting clerks
- Accounts payable clerks
- Accounts receivable assistants
- Accounts receivable clerks
- Auditing clerks
- Bookkeepers
- Bookkeeping clerks
- Clerks
- Financial clerks
- Fixed capital clerks
- Foreign exchange position clerks
- Full-charge bookkeepers
- Mortgage accounting clerks