Difference Between Payroll Clerk & Accounting Clerk

by Aurelio Locsin
Because they handled the employees greatest concern, payroll clerks earned more than accounting clerks.


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Accounting and payroll clerks are alike in that they require only a high-school diploma or equivalent. In both jobs, individuals learn the required skills from more experienced clerks or supervisors, although some companies prefer some post-secondary training. After meeting the education and training requirements, accounting and payroll clerks perform jobs that have distinct differences.

Accounting Clerks

Accounting clerks have different titles depending on their level of responsibility. In large companies, they may specialize in a particular financial function and be known as accounts payable clerks, for example. In small companies, they may handle the entire recording, processing and reporting of financial transactions as bookkeepers, and work under the supervision of an administrative services manager. They handle a broader range of monetary transactions than payroll clerks, and may, in fact, have payroll processing as one of their duties. If they focus on checking financial records for correctness, they are called auditing clerks.

Payroll Clerks

Payroll clerks, who are also called payroll administrators or timekeeping clerks, focus only on the salary functions of accounting. They compute the work times, wages and commissions of employees. They process paperwork for new employees by entering information into the payroll system. They keep track of leave time, such as vacation and sick days, and verify attendance. They also collect and distribute time cards, and process and issue paychecks for each pay period. Payroll clerks typically perform their jobs through the use of computer software such as databases, spreadsheets and payroll processing applications.

Basic Salaries

With 1,643,470 positions, accounting clerks were employed in far greater numbers than the 176,320 payroll clerks as of May 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accounting clerks received average salaries of $36,120 per year, or $17.37 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned $21,450 yearly, while the best-paid 10 percent earned an annual $53,250. The average wages of payroll clerks ran $38,080 per year, or $18.31 per hour, with lows of $24,050 annually and highs of $54,580 yearly.


The largest employers of payroll clerks were companies that took over the management of other companies either by buying a controlling interest in stock or by offering strategic management planning. They hired 12,700 workers and offered an average $39,830 per year, or $19.15 per hour, according to the BLS. Compare this to the largest employers of accounting clerks, which were accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services. The 96,260 clerks who worked for these companies made a mean $35,630 annually, or $17.13 hourly. The highest paying employer for both types of clerks was the Postal Service. However, payroll clerks earned less at a mean $54,250 annually, compared with the mean wages for accounting clerks, which was $57,570 per year.

2016 Salary Information for Financial Clerks


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