6 free templates by type: standard, small-business first hire, patient billing, AR collections, entry-level, and insurance, with the title disambiguation, FLSA non-exempt classification, and salary band the generic templates skip. Download as DOCX.
The first thing to know about an accounting representative job description is that the title itself is ambiguous. Depending on the company, an accounting representative is a bookkeeping clerk, a billing or collections clerk, or a patient-billing rep in healthcare, and it is one letter away from account representative, which is a sales role entirely. The most useful job description starts by pinning down what the work actually is, then describes it in plain terms so the right candidates apply.
These six templates cover the role across its common meanings: a standard accounting representative, a small-business first-finance-hire version, a patient-billing version, an accounts-receivable and collections version, an entry-level version, and an insurance or financial-services version. Each is ready to use, with the title disambiguation, FLSA classification, and salary band the generic templates skip. For the fundamentals behind any posting, the guide to writing a job description covers the basics, and you can pair this with FirstHR to onboard your new hire once they accept.
TL;DR
An accounting representative handles day-to-day clerical accounting: accounts payable and receivable, payment posting, invoicing, reconciliation, and billing questions. The title is non-standard, so name the work clearly. The role is non-exempt and hourly, distinct from a professional accountant, with a wage benchmark around $49,210. Download six templates as DOCX, by type, with the compliance built in.
What an Accounting Representative Does
An accounting representative handles day-to-day accounting transactions: processing accounts payable and receivable, posting payments, preparing invoices, reconciling accounts, entering financial data, answering billing questions, and following up on balances. It is a clerical, procedure-based role focused on keeping financial records accurate and current, rather than on analysis or strategy.
Because the title is non-standard, the closest federal occupation is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031), with overlap into bill and account collectors and billing clerks. The exact mix varies by employer: some accounting representatives lean toward billing and collections, others toward general bookkeeping, and in healthcare the role centers on patient billing. The duties, not the label, tell you what the job really is.
What to Actually Call the Role
Because accounting representative means different things, the most useful step before posting is deciding what to actually call the role. Here is how the common meanings map to clearer, standard titles, so you attract the right candidates.
Accounting Representative Duties and Responsibilities
The duties cluster into four areas: payables and receivables, reconciliation and records, billing and follow-up, and accuracy and compliance. A strong job description picks the specific responsibilities from each area that match your business, rather than listing every possible task.
Payables and receivables
Process accounts payable and receivable
Post payments to the right accounts
Prepare and send invoices
Reconciliation and records
Reconcile accounts and resolve discrepancies
Enter and update financial data
Keep records accurate and organized
Billing and follow-up
Answer customer and vendor billing questions
Send payment reminders
Follow up on past-due balances
Accuracy and compliance
Protect confidential financial data
Follow accounting procedures
Support month-end and reporting
The mix shifts by version: an AR-focused rep weighs toward collections and follow-up, a patient-billing rep toward claims and insurance, and a general rep spans payables and receivables. Write the duties concretely: reconcile accounts and resolve discrepancies beats the vague handle accounting. For a structured way to scope the role, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by the kind of work and industry. The core structure is the same across all six, but each one emphasizes the duties and framing that fit a specific version of the role. Use this guide to choose the closest fit, then adjust.
Standard Accounting Rep
AP/AR clerical
The all-purpose version: accounts payable and receivable, payment posting, invoicing, reconciliation, and billing questions.
Small Business / First Finance Hire
Owner-led
The signature version for a growing business making its first dedicated finance hire, taking the books off the owner.
Patient Accounting Rep
Healthcare billing
For medical billing: patient and insurance payments, claims, balances, and patient questions, with a HIPAA note.
AR / Collections Rep
Receivables-focused
For the receivables side: payment posting, reminders, past-due follow-up, and payment arrangements.
Entry-Level
First finance job
For a first finance hire with no experience: data entry, payment posting, and supported invoicing with training.
Insurance / Financial Services
Back-office billing
For insurance or financial-services billing: premium or account billing, posting, reconciliation, and customer questions.
Match the Template to the Work
General AP/AR and bookkeeping: Standard. A growing business making its first finance hire: Small Business / First Finance Hire. Medical or patient billing: Patient Accounting Rep. Chasing receivables: AR / Collections. A first finance job with no experience: Entry-Level. Insurance or financial-services billing: Insurance / Financial Services. When in doubt, the Standard version is the baseline to adapt.
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: company overview, job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, an hourly pay range, schedule, and how to apply, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets and post.
Download All 6 Job Description Templates
Standard, small-business first hire, patient billing, AR collections, entry-level, and insurance. All in one DOCX.
Template 1: Accounting Representative (Standard)
The all-purpose version: accounts payable and receivable, payment posting, invoicing, reconciliation, and billing questions. The baseline for most businesses.
[Company Name] is hiring a Billing Representative for our [insurance / financial
services] operation. You will process premium or account billing, post payments,
reconcile accounts, and answer customer billing questions, working within our
systems and procedures. Ideal for an accurate, customer-focused person with
back-office billing experience.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Process premium or account billing and payments
•Post and reconcile payments to accounts
•Answer customer billing and account questions
•Resolve billing discrepancies and disputes
•Maintain accurate account and transaction records
•Follow up on outstanding balances
•Support month-end and reporting tasks
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•High school diploma or equivalent; associate a plus
•[1 or more] years of billing, accounts, or back-office experience
•Comfort with billing and accounting systems and Excel
•Strong accuracy and customer-service skills
•Reliable, organized, and discreet
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Pay range: $_____ to $_____ per hour
To apply, send your resume to __ by _.
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer.
FLSA Classification and Title Disambiguation
This is the part the generic templates skip, and for this role it is two parts: getting the title clear, and getting the classification right. Both protect you from attracting the wrong applicants and from misclassification risk.
First, decide what to actually call the role
Accounting representative is not a standard job title, and that ambiguity is the first thing to fix. Depending on the company it means a bookkeeping or accounting clerk, a billing or accounts-receivable clerk, a collections representative, or a patient-billing rep. It is also easily confused with account representative, which is a sales role. Before posting, decide which version you actually need and consider naming it plainly (accounting clerk, billing clerk, AR representative) so the right candidates apply. This page covers the clerical accounting version, the most common meaning, and gives you templates for each variant. This is general information, not legal advice.
The role is non-exempt and overtime-eligible
An accounting representative performs routine clerical accounting work: entering accounts payable and receivable data, posting payments, reconciling, invoicing, and sending reminders. Department of Labor guidance lists exactly these tasks as non-exempt, and the regulations are explicit that accounting clerks and bookkeepers who do a great deal of routine work generally do not qualify as exempt (29 CFR 541.301(e)(5)). The clerical nature fails the discretion-and-independent-judgment test for the administrative exemption (29 CFR 541.202). So the role is non-exempt, paid hourly, and owed overtime regardless of the title. This is general information, not legal advice.
A title does not make the role exempt
Calling the role a representative, or paying it a salary, does not make it exempt. Exemption requires both a salary level (the federal standard is 684 dollars a week) and a duties test the role must actually pass, and routine billing and posting work does not pass it. Misclassifying a clerical representative as exempt salaried is a classic wage-and-hour mistake, and the exposure is real: back wages, an equal amount in liquidated damages, and a two-year window (three if willful). When in doubt, classify as non-exempt and track hours. Some states, including California, apply stricter tests and daily overtime. This is general information, not legal advice.
Healthcare billing adds HIPAA
If the role touches medical billing or patient accounts, the representative is a workforce member who handles protected health information, which brings HIPAA into play. The Privacy Rule requires training every new workforce member within a reasonable time after hire, and the practical standard is to train before granting access to patient data (45 CFR 164.530(b)). A small practice has the same obligation as a large system. Build HIPAA training and a signed acknowledgment into onboarding for any patient-billing version of this role. This is general information, not legal advice.
Not Legal Advice: Classify on Duties
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an accounting representative doing routine clerical accounting work is non-exempt and owed overtime, because the role does not exercise discretion and independent judgment on significant matters. The title and a salary do not change that. Misclassifying the role as exempt carries back-pay and liquidated-damages exposure. This page and these templates are general references, not legal advice. Verify classification against current Department of Labor rules and your state thresholds, and consult counsel for edge cases.
Accounting representative roles start from accuracy, numeracy, and software fluency, with experience layered on by level. State the must-have skills clearly, and weight reliability and accuracy for a small-business hire.
Requirement
What to look for
Education
High school diploma; associate or coursework a plus
Experience
0 to 2 years accounting, billing, or bookkeeping
Software
QuickBooks or similar, plus Excel
Accuracy
Strong numeracy and attention to detail
Discretion
Trustworthy with confidential financial data
Classification
Non-exempt, hourly; overtime over 40 hours a week
Keep the posting neutral and inclusive, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on a protected characteristic, and the SHRM guide covers the standard sections of a job description.
Accounting Representative Salary
The role is hourly and sits in the low-to-mid $40,000s. Set your range using government data as a baseline, then adjust for level and local market.
Median Around $49,210 (BLS)
Because accounting representative is not a standard occupation, the closest benchmark is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031), with a median annual wage of $49,210 in May 2024 (lowest 10 percent under $34,600, highest 10 percent over $72,660). Bill and account collectors sit near $46,040. National compensation surveys for the exact title average near $47,000 a year (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). For comparison, a professional accountant earns a median around $81,680.
Entry-level reps fall toward the lower end, with experienced and specialized roles approaching the upper end, and pay running higher in major metro markets. Because every clerical figure sits well under any senior threshold, this is a budget-friendly finance hire, distinct from a higher-paid accountant. Benchmark to your local market, and publish an hourly range, which many states now require.
Hiring for a Small Business
A large company hires accounting representatives into an established finance department, often under titles like patient-billing rep or premium-billing rep. A growing small business makes this hire to take the books off the owner, usually as one of its first finance roles. The title confusion matters most here, because a small employer can waste a posting on the wrong applicants. Here is how to write it for that reality.
Accounting representative means different things, so name the role you actually need
The single biggest issue with this title is that it is non-standard. One company's accounting representative is a bookkeeping clerk, another's is a billing or collections clerk, and a healthcare employer's is a patient-billing rep. It is also a step away from account representative, which is a sales job entirely. For a small business, the practical move is to decide what the work actually is, posting invoices and reconciling accounts, chasing receivables, or handling patient billing, and either name it plainly or use the matching template below. That alone filters out the wrong applicants before they apply.
This is often a first finance hire, and it is clerical, not professional accounting
For a growing small business, a clerical accounting hire is frequently the first dedicated finance role, brought on when transaction volume climbs and the owner is spending hours a week on the books. It is important not to confuse this with hiring an accountant. An accounting representative or clerk does routine, procedure-based work and is non-exempt and hourly, with a wage benchmark around 49,000 dollars. A professional accountant interprets and analyzes, needs a degree, and is paid far more. Hire the clerical role to handle the transactions, and bring in an accountant or CPA for the analysis and tax work when you need it.
The books are where a small business is most exposed, and onboarding sets the tone
Handing the books to a new hire means giving someone access to payments, vendor data, and financial records on day one, so a clean onboarding matters. The setup is ordinary people operations: a signed offer, I-9 and W-4, state new-hire reporting, and a confidentiality acknowledgment, plus access to your accounting system at the right level. FirstHR fits this people side: e-signature for the offer and confidentiality acknowledgment, document management for signed forms and personnel files, onboarding workflows to bring the representative on consistently, and the HRIS and employee database to keep records in one place. To be clear about scope, FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not an accounting, bookkeeping, or payroll system like QuickBooks, so pair it with those. Applicant tracking is coming soon.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the work shifts to onboarding, and because this role handles money and financial records, the onboarding includes a confidentiality step and careful systems access. A repeatable process keeps the books protected from the first day.
Send the offer
Confirm the role, hourly pay, classification, and start date in writing. An offer letter template and e-signature make it fast.
Collect paperwork
I-9 by day one with verification within three business days, W-4, state new-hire reporting, and a confidentiality acknowledgment.
Set up systems access
Provision the accounting system at the right access level, and for patient billing, complete HIPAA training before access.
Store the records
Keep the signed offer, I-9, and confidentiality agreement organized in one place from the start.
Once your offer is ready, the offer letter template handles the next step, and an onboarding template gives the new hire a structured start. FirstHR connects the offer, e-signature on the offer and confidentiality acknowledgment, document management for signed forms and personnel files, onboarding workflows, and the HRIS and employee database, so a small business can onboard a finance hire consistently and keep records organized from day one. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not an accounting, bookkeeping, or payroll system, so connect those separately. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
Accounting representative is a non-standard title: it can mean a bookkeeping clerk, billing clerk, collections rep, or patient-billing rep, so name the work clearly.
Do not confuse it with account representative, which is a sales role, or with a professional accountant, which is a higher-paid degreed role.
The role is clerical and non-exempt: routine accounting work that is paid hourly and owed overtime.
Benchmark pay to a median around $49,210, well under a professional accountant's; publish an hourly range where required.
For patient-billing versions, build HIPAA training into onboarding before the rep accesses patient data.
Because the role handles money, build confidentiality and careful systems access into onboarding from day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an accounting representative do?
An accounting representative handles a company's day-to-day accounting transactions. The core duties are processing accounts payable and receivable, posting payments, preparing and sending invoices, reconciling accounts, entering financial data, answering customer and vendor billing questions, and following up on unpaid balances. It is a clerical, procedure-based role focused on keeping financial records accurate and current, not on analysis or financial strategy. The exact mix varies by employer: some accounting representatives lean toward billing and collections, others toward general bookkeeping, and in healthcare the role centers on patient billing and insurance claims. Because the title is non-standard, the duties are the best guide to what the job actually is. The closest federal occupation is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031).
What is the difference between an accounting representative and an accountant?
They are different roles at different levels. An accounting representative does routine clerical accounting work: posting payments, processing payables and receivables, invoicing, reconciling, and answering billing questions, following established procedures. It typically requires a high school diploma, is non-exempt and hourly, and has a wage benchmark around 49,000 dollars. An accountant interprets and analyzes financial information, prepares statements, handles tax and compliance work, and exercises professional judgment. Accountants usually need a bachelor's degree, often a CPA license, and earn a median around 81,680 dollars. A small business typically hires an accounting representative or clerk first to handle the transaction volume, then brings in an accountant or CPA for analysis, tax, and year-end work. This is general information, not legal advice.
Is an accounting representative exempt or non-exempt?
An accounting representative is non-exempt and entitled to overtime. The work is routine clerical accounting: entering payables and receivables, posting payments, reconciling, invoicing, and sending reminders, which Department of Labor guidance specifically lists as non-exempt tasks. The regulations are explicit that accounting clerks and bookkeepers who perform a great deal of routine work generally do not qualify as exempt (29 CFR 541.301(e)(5)), and the clerical nature fails the discretion-and-independent-judgment test for the administrative exemption (29 CFR 541.202). Neither the representative title nor paying a salary changes that, because exemption requires passing the duties test, which this role does not. Classify as non-exempt, pay hourly, and track overtime over 40 hours a week. California and some other states apply stricter rules. This is general information, not legal advice.
Is accounting representative the same as account representative?
No, and the two are easily confused. An accounting representative does clerical accounting work: billing, payment posting, reconciliation, and accounts payable and receivable. An account representative is usually a sales or client-relationship role focused on managing customer accounts, hitting sales targets, and growing revenue. The single letter changes the job entirely, and the salary too, since sales account representatives often earn commission. When you write or search for this job description, be precise about which one you mean. If the role is about money coming in and going out and keeping the books accurate, it is an accounting representative. If it is about selling and managing client relationships, it is an account representative, a different posting. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does an accounting representative make?
Pay is hourly and clusters in the low-to-mid $40,000s. Because accounting representative is not a standard occupation, the closest government benchmark is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, with a median annual wage of 49,210 dollars in May 2024 (lowest 10 percent under 34,600 dollars, highest 10 percent over 72,660 dollars). Related roles like bill and account collectors sit around 46,040 dollars. National compensation surveys for the exact title accounting representative average near 47,000 dollars a year, roughly 22 to 23 dollars an hour, consistent with the clerical benchmarks. Entry-level reps fall toward the lower end. For a posting, benchmark to your local market, publish an hourly range where required, and remember the role is non-exempt and overtime-eligible. This is general information, not legal advice.
What should an accounting representative job description include?
A strong accounting representative job description starts by being clear about which version of the role you mean, since the title is ambiguous, then includes a company overview, a job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, and compensation. Responsibilities should be specific: processing payables and receivables, posting payments, invoicing, reconciling, and answering billing questions. Qualifications should name the experience level and software fluency, typically QuickBooks or similar plus Excel. The most valuable additions that generic templates skip are the FLSA non-exempt classification, a sourced salary range, a pay range where state law requires it, a clear note distinguishing the role from a professional accountant and from a sales account representative, and a HIPAA note for any patient-billing version. Close with an equal opportunity statement and apply instructions. This is general information, not legal advice.
What software should an accounting representative know?
The most common requirement is accounting software plus spreadsheets. QuickBooks is the most widely used at small and mid-sized businesses, so familiarity with it is frequently listed, along with strong Excel skills for tracking and reconciliation. Larger employers may use systems like NetSuite, SAP, or Sage, and healthcare billing roles use medical billing and EHR systems. For most small-business postings, name the specific accounting software your business uses and treat broader fluency as a plus rather than a hard requirement, since a reliable, accurate candidate can usually learn a new system. Comfort with data entry, basic reconciliation, and standard office software rounds out the typical toolkit. Listing your actual software in the posting helps candidates self-select.
What happens after I hire an accounting representative?
Once a candidate accepts, the work shifts to onboarding, and because this role touches money and financial records, a clean setup matters. Before the start date you typically need the signed offer, the I-9 completed by day one with verification within three business days, the W-4, state new-hire reporting, and a confidentiality acknowledgment given the financial data the role handles. Then comes access: provision your accounting system at the right level, and for any patient-billing version, complete HIPAA training before granting access to patient data. FirstHR handles the offer, e-signature on the offer and confidentiality acknowledgment, document management for signed forms and personnel files, onboarding workflows, and the HRIS, so a small business can onboard a finance hire consistently and keep the records organized from day one.
