UK

United Kingdom · Finance roles · Entry Level (0-2 years)

Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, a real day, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

  • Experience bandEntry Level (0-2 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toBookkeeper
  • UK framework levelUsually someone starting out, or keeping a process running

Also advertised as Junior Bookkeeper · Finance Assistant · Accounts Assistant

Built on an analysis of 43,079 real UK job descriptions · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Start with a free Future Fluency check, tuned to Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk

Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this role rather than a generic one. About five minutes, and no card.

Start the check, free

1What this role really is

This is where you'll get your foot in the door in finance. You'll be the person making sure bills get paid on time and that we get paid by our customers. It's a foundational role, meaning you'll learn the ropes of how money moves in and out of a business. Think of it as the engine room of our finance department – not always glamorous, but absolutely essential for everything else to run smoothly. You'll be handling the day-to-day transactions that keep the lights on, literally.

2What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

QuickBooks Online / XeroIntermediate

Daily data entry for invoices and expenses, running basic reports (P&L, Balance Sheet), assisting with bank reconciliations.

Microsoft Excel / Google SheetsIntermediate

Using SUMIFs, VLOOKUPs, and basic PivotTables for simple data manipulation, tracking expenses, or creating ad-hoc lists.

BILL (formerly Bill.com) / MelioBasic

Processing approved supplier bills, matching invoices to purchase orders, and initiating routine payments.

Expensify / RampIntermediate

Reviewing and coding employee expense reports against company policy, chasing for missing receipts and approvals.

Gusto / ADP RunBasic

Entering new hire information, assisting with basic payroll data entry, and handling simple payroll queries.

Slack / MS TeamsIntermediate

Communicating with colleagues, asking quick questions, providing status updates on tasks, and sharing documents.

3What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing inWhere you are nowThe step above
Approving supplier invoices for paymentNo authority. You'll route invoices to the correct department manager for approval, then to the Bookkeeper for final sign-off.May approve routine invoices up to £500, within a defined budget, after manager approval. Still escalates exceptions.Can approve routine invoices up to £5,000, within budget. Consults Controller on unusual or large invoices.
Changing a General Ledger (GL) account codeNever. You'll use the codes provided or ask the Bookkeeper if you're unsure.Can change codes for minor reclassifications within established guidelines, but usually after consultation with the Senior Bookkeeper.Can make necessary GL adjustments and reclassifications, often preparing journal entries for review by the Controller.
Authorising a customer refundNo authority. You'll flag refund requests to the Bookkeeper or relevant department (e.g., Sales, Customer Service).Can process refunds up to a small threshold (e.g., £50) after manager approval and verification of reason.Can authorise refunds up to £500, ensuring all documentation and approvals are in place, then processes.
Prioritising your daily tasksYou'll follow the priorities set by your Bookkeeper. If urgent requests come in, you'll check with them first.You can prioritise your own routine tasks, but you'll consult your manager on conflicting 'urgent' requests.You'll manage your own workload and the workloads of any mentees, making most prioritisation decisions independently.

4How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, honestly: the hard targets, how often each one is actually looked at, and the quiet human signals that never make it onto a dashboard.

Invoice Processing Accuracy
The percentage of invoices processed without any errors (e.g., wrong amount, incorrect supplier details, miscoding).
Target · >99%

Out of 200 invoices processed in a month, you only made one mistake. That's 99.5% accuracy – spot on.

Timeliness of Invoice Processing
How quickly you process incoming supplier invoices from receipt to entry in the accounting system.
Target · <2 business days for standard invoices

An invoice comes in on Monday morning, and it's entered into QuickBooks by Tuesday afternoon. Perfect.

Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) Contribution
Your impact on reducing the average number of days it takes for customers to pay us, specifically through your AR chasing efforts.
Target · Contribute to a 5% reduction in company DSO over 6 months.

By consistently following up on overdue invoices, you help reduce our average payment time from 40 days to 38 days.

Expense Report Review Accuracy
The percentage of employee expense reports you review where you correctly identify policy breaches or missing documentation.
Target · >95%

You review 50 expense reports and correctly flag 3 instances where receipts were missing or limits were exceeded. You missed one, which we'll review together.

Proactive Error Identification
Your ability to spot something that looks 'off' and ask questions, rather than just blindly processing it.
  • You flag an invoice that seems unusually high for a particular vendor. You notice a duplicate payment request before it goes out. You ask for clarification on a vague expense description.
Adherence to Deadlines
Consistently completing your assigned tasks by their due dates, especially during busy periods like month-end.
  • All supplier invoices are processed before the payment run. Customer statements are sent out on the first day of the month. You communicate early if you foresee missing a deadline.
Clear Communication on Issues
When you find a problem (e.g., missing receipt, incorrect invoice), you communicate it clearly and concisely to the right person.
  • Your emails asking for missing information are polite but firm, and they clearly state what's needed. You don't just say 'wrong', you say 'wrong because X'.
Willingness to Learn & Improve
Your openness to feedback, your eagerness to understand new processes, and your initiative in asking 'why' things are done a certain way.
  • You take notes during training sessions. You ask follow-up questions after your work is reviewed. You suggest minor improvements to a process, even if it's just about filing.

5Would you like it

The honest version. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Getting it Right

You'll feel a real sense of satisfaction when the bank reconciliation balances perfectly, or when you catch an error that would have caused a headache later. It's about the precision and accuracy of your work.

You've spent an hour tracking down a £0.50 discrepancy in the bank statement, and finally finding it feels like a small victory.

Being a Key Contributor

Even though you're at an entry level, you'll quickly see how your meticulous work directly supports the wider finance team and the business. You're not just a cog; you're an essential part of the machine.

Your manager tells you that because you processed all invoices quickly, they were able to get a crucial report out on time to leadership.

Learning and Developing

This role is a fantastic launchpad. You'll be exposed to all aspects of basic accounting, learning how different transactions flow through the business. If you love absorbing new knowledge and skills, you'll thrive.

You're constantly asking your manager 'why' we code something a certain way, or how a particular report is used, eager to understand the bigger picture.

What frustrates people
  • The Receipt Chase: Relentlessly hounding busy managers for missing expense receipts. It's tedious, but someone has to do it.
  • Vague Descriptions: Spending ages trying to figure out what 'Consulting' or 'Software' actually refers to on an invoice, requiring endless follow-up emails.
  • Month-End Squeeze: The last few and first few days of the month are a pressure cooker. Expect long hours and a barrage of 'urgent' requests that can throw off your plans.
  • Being the 'No' Person: You'll often be enforcing policies (like expense limits or payment terms) that are crucial for financial control, but can make you feel like the bad guy.
What this role does not give you
  • High-level strategic decision-making – not yet, anyway. That comes later once you've mastered the fundamentals.
  • A quiet, uninterrupted environment every single day. You'll get queries from all angles, and you need to be able to switch gears.
  • A role where you rarely have to follow up with people. Chasing information is a core part of the job.

6Who you work with

Honestly, your work directly impacts our cash flow. If you process invoices slowly, we might miss early payment discounts or even get hit with late fees. If you don't chase customer payments, we'll have less cash in the bank. It's fundamental stuff that keeps the whole company ticking over. You're making sure the money machine keeps running.

Inside the business
  • The Bookkeeper (your direct manager)
  • Senior Bookkeeper (for more complex queries)
  • Department Managers (e.g., Marketing, Operations, Sales – they'll send you invoices for approval)
  • Employees (for expense claims)
Outside the business
  • Suppliers (you'll be processing their invoices and sometimes answering payment queries)
  • Customers (you'll be sending them invoices and gently reminding them about overdue payments)

7What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • Strong numerical aptitude: You should be comfortable with numbers and basic calculations.
  • Good GCSEs in Maths and English (or equivalent qualifications).
  • Basic computer literacy: You can confidently use email, word processors, and navigate online systems.
  • A genuine interest in starting a career in finance and a willingness to learn the fundamentals.
  • Ability to follow instructions accurately and meticulously.

8What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Spreadsheet Modelling

While AI handles some data, you'll still need strong Excel skills for ad-hoc analysis, building reconciliations, and preparing custom reports that our accounting software might not produce directly.

INDEX/MATCH & XLOOKUP · Data Validation & Conditional Formatting · Basic PivotTable Analysis · Power Query (Introduction)

  • This quarter: Take an online course on intermediate Excel functions (e.g., Udemy, LinkedIn Learning).
  • Next quarter: Practise building a small reconciliation template using INDEX/MATCH.
  • Month 6: Ask your manager for opportunities to build a simple ad-hoc report in Excel.
  • Month 9: Explore Power Query tutorials to see how it can clean messy data.

Quick win: Start using conditional formatting in your existing spreadsheets to highlight overdue invoices or unusual expense amounts. It makes data much easier to read.

Integrated System Understanding

Businesses are increasingly using multiple systems that 'talk' to each other (e.g., expense software linking to accounting software). You'll need to understand how these integrations work to troubleshoot issues and ensure data flows correctly.

API concepts (basic) · Data Flow Mapping · Troubleshooting Integrations

  • This month: Ask your Bookkeeper to explain how our expense software connects to our accounting software.
  • Next quarter: Document the data flow for one key process (e.g., AP invoice processing).
  • Month 6: Shadow the Bookkeeper when they troubleshoot an integration issue.
  • Month 9: Learn about common error messages in integrated systems and how to resolve them.

Quick win: Whenever you see an error message related to data syncing between two systems, don't just escalate – try to understand what it means and suggest a potential cause.

9Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Enrolling in an AAT qualification (we might even offer support for this).
  • Attending webinars or online courses on accounting software (e.g., QuickBooks, Xero).
  • Reading finance blogs or industry publications to stay updated on best practices.
  • Seeking out mentorship from more experienced colleagues in the finance team.

10How the AI economy is changing work like this

Before we ask anything of you, here's what we can already say about AI and work of this kind:

The new skill this role is being asked for: AI Literacy for Finance Operations

AI is already automating much of the manual data entry and reconciliation in finance. Knowing how to use these tools effectively will make you much more productive and valuable.

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

Your PlanIllustration

Built for Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk

3 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Record Transactions and Make Accounting AdjustmentsInstitute of Accountants and Bookkeepers · covers 2 of 10 standardsLevel 3
  2. Book-Keeping and AccountsCity & Guilds Limited · covers 1 of 10 standardsLevel 2
  3. Financial AccountingPearson Education Ltd · covers 2 of 10 standardsLevel 4
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

AI Literacy for Finance Operations

AI is already automating much of the manual data entry and reconciliation in finance. Knowing how to use these tools effectively will make you much more productive and valuable.

  • Understanding AI's capabilities
  • Prompt Engineering (basic)
  • Data Validation with AI
  • Ethical Use of AI

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Double-Entry Accounting
  • Bank & Credit Card Reconciliation
  • General Ledger (GL) Management
  • Accounts Payable (AP) & Receivable (AR) Lifecycles

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    School Leaver / College Graduate

    0-1 year

    Skills to master

    • Basic data entry accuracy, understanding of financial documents, professional communication, time management.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently accurate processing of invoices and expenses.
    • Proactive in asking questions and learning new procedures.
    • Reliably meets daily and weekly deadlines.
    • Demonstrates a keen interest in finance and accounting.
  2. 2

    Apprenticeship Programme

    1-2 years (combining study and work)

    Skills to master

    • Practical application of double-entry bookkeeping, bank reconciliation, understanding of VAT, use of accounting software.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully completes AAT (or similar) modules.
    • Can independently perform routine AP/AR tasks.
    • Identifies and resolves minor discrepancies without constant supervision.
    • Contributes to month-end tasks effectively.
  3. 3

    Administrative Assistant with Finance Exposure

    1-2 years

    Skills to master

    • Organisational skills, managing multiple priorities, basic data handling, stakeholder communication.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Comfortable with office systems and procedures.
    • Demonstrates strong attention to detail in administrative tasks.
    • Has handled some basic financial tasks (e.g., petty cash, expense collation).
    • Shows initiative in taking on more finance-related responsibilities.

11Where this role leads

The long view:Your journey starts here, learning the absolute bedrock of finance. With dedication, continuous learning, and a keen eye for detail, the opportunities within our finance team – and beyond – are really quite vast. It's a fantastic foundation for a long and successful career.

Pay & demand

Pay and demand for this role will appear here, each figure traced to a named authoritative source (e.g. the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, under the Open Government Licence). We don’t show numbers we can’t attribute.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk is actually changing. In about two minutes, the free confidence check asks where you stand on each of the ten. That's the whole check, and it's what makes the plan yours rather than generic.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

12The team that's yours

No two people are taught the same way. This is one-to-one, not one-to-many.

Zavmo is a hyper-personalised AI learning platform. Twelve virtual tutors, each with a different way of teaching, and one orchestration agent that picks the right one for the moment. So every single lesson is shaped around you, your role, and the way you learn. Not a course everyone sits through. A conversation built for you, and no one else.

…and nine more, matched to you after your first chat. Meet all twelve

Start free and meet yours

13What it feels like

A conversation, not a course

Because your tutor knows your role, your projects and your last session, learning sounds like this. And it's different for every single person:

Record Transactions and Make Accounting AdjustmentsLevel 3

Applied to your work in Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk

By completing this unit, learners will be able to apply accounting concepts, reconcile trade debtors and creditors, account for fixed assets, stock, prepayments, accruals, and bad debts, and prepare ledger accounts for drafting financial statements.

How the thinking builds
  1. Remember
  2. Understand
  3. Apply
  4. Analyse
  5. Evaluate
  6. Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

One to one, not one to many

No two people run this the same way

A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.

  1. Your actual work Every lesson is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
  2. What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
  3. The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
  4. How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
  5. Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.

See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.

DemonstrateIllustration

Evidenced on your work in Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk

You do not finish by watching something. You finish by showing it on the work you already do, against the measures this job is judged on.

  • Invoice Processing AccuracyThe percentage of invoices processed without any errors (e.g., wrong amount, incorrect supplier details, miscoding).Out of 200 invoices processed in a month, you only made one mistake. That's 99.5% accuracy – spot on.>99%
  • Timeliness of Invoice ProcessingHow quickly you process incoming supplier invoices from receipt to entry in the accounting system.An invoice comes in on Monday morning, and it's entered into QuickBooks by Tuesday afternoon. Perfect.<2 business days for standard invoices
  • Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) ContributionYour impact on reducing the average number of days it takes for customers to pay us, specifically through your AR chasing efforts.By consistently following up on overdue invoices, you help reduce our average payment time from 40 days to 38 days.Contribute to a 5% reduction in company DSO over 6 months.
  • Expense Report Review AccuracyThe percentage of employee expense reports you review where you correctly identify policy breaches or missing documentation.You review 50 expense reports and correctly flag 3 instances where receipts were missing or limits were exceeded. You missed one, which we'll review together.>95%
These are this job's own measures, with its own targets. Nothing is marked evidenced, because nobody has started this yet. Yours would fill in from the work you bring.

Your passport

This isn't a certificate you file away. It's a passport to the life you're designing.

Every credit you earn and every fluency you build adds up: evidence where it counts, carried with you. Zavmo keeps the map: where you are, where you're heading, and the next step, at your pace, around your life. From Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk to Bookkeeper (Level 2), and whatever you decide comes after.

Level 2 · in progressAI Fluency→ Bookkeeper (Level 2)→ your design
Where this takes you

Your journey starts here, learning the absolute bedrock of finance. With dedication, continuous learning, and a keen eye for detail, the opportunities within our finance team – and beyond – are really quite vast. It's a fantastic foundation for a long and successful career.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration
Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk
  • Double-Entry Accounting
  • Bank & Credit Card Reconciliation
  • General Ledger (GL) Management
  • Accounts Payable (AP) & Receivable (AR) Lifecycles
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

14The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Bookkeeper (Level 2)

    2-3 years from entry

    You'll move from executing specific tasks to owning entire sub-ledgers (like Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable) and performing full bank reconciliations independently. You'll also start assisting more with the month-end close.

    • Full Bank & Credit Card Reconciliation (independent execution).
    • Preparation of initial Trial Balance.
    • Basic Journal Entry preparation (e.g., for accruals/prepayments).
    • More advanced use of accounting software features (e.g., setting up recurring entries).
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, some parts of bookkeeping are a bit repetitive. But what if you could offload the grunt work to AI and spend more time learning, problem-solving, and actually understanding the numbers? That's exactly what our AI Productivity Hub helps you do.

For an Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk, AI isn't about replacing you; it's about making your life easier. Imagine less manual data entry, fewer errors, and quicker answers to fiddly questions. You'll still be in control, but with a super-smart assistant at your side.

Automated Data Entry & Coding

Use AI-powered tools like Dext or BILL's built-in AI to automatically scan invoices and receipts. It'll extract key info like vendor, date, and amount, and even suggest the correct GL code based on how we've coded similar items before. This means way less typing for you.

Anomaly Detection & Analysis

Imagine AI constantly scanning thousands of transactions in the background. It can flag things a human might miss, like a duplicate payment request, an invoice from an unusual vendor, or an expense that's way out of line with the budget. You'll get alerts, so you can investigate faster.

Policy & Compliance Look-up

Ever spent ages searching through policy documents for a specific rule? Use an AI assistant to get instant answers on accounting or tax questions. For example, 'What's the VAT treatment for a training course bought in France?' It's like having a super-fast, always-on reference guide.

Smart Dunning & Communication

Chasing overdue invoices can be awkward and time-consuming. AI can help draft and schedule polite but firm reminder emails for customers. It can even tailor the tone and timing based on their past payment behaviour, freeing you up for more complex AR issues.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become an Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk?

Common routes in include School Leaver / College Graduate (0-1 year), Apprenticeship Programme (1-2 years (combining study and work)) and Administrative Assistant with Finance Exposure (1-2 years). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can an Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk progress to?

This role can lead on to Bookkeeper (Level 2) (2-3 years from entry), depending on the skills you build.

What level is an Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk in the UK?

This role aligns to RQF Level 2 on the UK framework, a guide to the depth of qualification it maps to, not a hard entry bar.

What new skills matter most for an Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk?

Increasingly, AI Literacy for Finance Operations. These are the areas where the higher-paid, future-proof work is heading.

The honest bit

You’ve started things before

Most of them were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.

There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.

And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.

What it costs

Less than one coaching session. Every month.

A single career-coaching hour costs more than a month of this, and it ends when the hour does. Zavmo doesn't. It's £70 a month, about £2.30 a day, for a companion that knows an Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk, works on the job you actually do, and keeps going at your pace rather than a timetable's.

  • Searching and planning stay free. You only pay when you start learning.
  • Your credits are yours. Regulated, and they don't vanish when a subscription ends.
  • Cancel any time and billing stops. No notice period, no minimum term.

Your path, personalised

You have the map. Walking it is the part we do together.

This route runs to 10 national skill standards. That is a real journey.

Zavmo shapes a learning experience as unique as you are. It fits how you learn, your pace and the work you already do. Every step stays benchmarked to recognised national standards. That’s the plan for becoming an Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk: personal to you, and it still counts. The first steps are free.

Independent research finds well-designed intelligent tutoring performs nearly as well as one-to-one human tutoring: VanLehn (2011), Educational Psychologist.

A private tutor in the UK averages £35–40 an hour . Zavmo is £70/month.

A real plan on learn.zavmo.ai: Ofqual-regulated units, credits, and a three-month run at your own pace.
Start free No commitment. See your first steps free.

15Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 2

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

Other roles in Finance roles

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The skills you learn here are highly transferable across almost any industry. Every business needs robust bookkeeping, so you could move into tech, retail, manufacturing, or even charity work. The fundamentals remain the same.

Not sure this is the right direction?

Work out what you actually want from work first, then come back and see which roles fit it. Takes about ten minutes.

This role profile is © 2026Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Build my plan, free Here's the first ten minutes: a 2-minute confidence check → your personalised roadmap → meet the tutors matched to you. No card, cancel any time. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.