Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
Compute, classify, and record numerical data to keep financial records complete. Perform any combination of routine calculating, posting, and verifying duties to obtain primary financial data for use in maintaining accounting records. May also check the accuracy of figures, calculations, and postings pertaining to business transactions recorded by other workers.
- Median pay
- $50,670
- Doing it now
- 1,532,400
- By 2035
- Down 5.6%
- Usually needs
- Some college, no degree
a year
across the country
144,100 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Check figures, postings, and documents for correct entry, mathematical accuracy, and proper codes.
- Operate computers programmed with accounting software to record, store, and analyze information.
- Comply with federal, state, and company policies, procedures, and regulations.
- Debit, credit, and total accounts on computer spreadsheets and databases, using specialized accounting software.
- Classify, record, and summarize numerical and financial data to compile and keep financial records, using journals and ledgers or computers.
- Code documents according to company procedures.
- Access computerized financial information to answer general questions as well as those related to specific accounts.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Accounting and Related ServicesSee 1,192 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Organised and precise
Leading and persuading
Analytical and curious
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $50,670 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.