6 free templates: AR specialist, clerk, billing, collections, medical billing, and AR manager, with the FLSA non-exempt overtime guidance and seniority-tier clarity generic templates skip. Download as DOCX.
An accounts receivable specialist keeps cash coming into a business, and for a growing company it is often the first or second back-office hire that takes billing and collections off the owner's plate. The trap most job descriptions fall into is treating the specialist title as if it implies management: it does not. The work is routine financial processing, which almost always makes the role non-exempt and owed overtime, and getting that right protects both your cash flow and your wage-and-hour compliance.
At FirstHR, we build templates for the small businesses making this hire: the construction firms, medical practices, distributors, and professional-services companies bringing on AR for the first time without an HR department. The six templates below cover the role across its tiers and industries, each with an explicit FLSA classification call. For the fundamentals behind any posting, the guide to writing a job description is a useful companion.
TL;DR
Six free accounts receivable job description templates: AR Specialist, AR Clerk, Billing Specialist, Collections Specialist, Medical Billing/AR, and AR Manager. Routine AR work is non-exempt and owed overtime, even on a salary; only the manager tier is likely exempt. US pay runs roughly $40,000 to $56,000 for the specialist and clerk tiers. Unlike generic templates, these include FLSA and seniority-tier guidance. Download all six as a DOCX.
What Does an Accounts Receivable Specialist Do?
An accounts receivable specialist manages the money customers owe a business: creating and sending invoices, posting incoming payments, reconciling accounts, and following up on past-due balances. The role sits at the center of the revenue cycle and keeps cash flowing in, working with sales, customers, and the accounting team to make sure invoices are correct and payments arrive on time.
For the employer writing the posting, the key thing to settle is that this is routine financial processing, not management, which is what drives both the pay and the overtime classification. The closest federal occupation is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031). The role is most common at small and growing businesses once invoice volume outgrows the owner or bookkeeper, across industries like healthcare billing, construction, distribution, and professional services, which is why the templates below are organized by tier and industry.
AR Clerk vs Specialist vs Analyst vs Manager
Accounts receivable titles are often used loosely, but they form a real ladder, and choosing the right rung sets the pay, the experience bar, and the overtime classification. Here is how they compare.
AR Clerk / Entry
About $40,000 to $48,000 · Non-exempt
Invoice entry, payment posting, filing, and support work under an AR specialist or accounting manager. The first AR hire at many small businesses, often part-time at first.
AR Specialist / Mid
About $49,000 to $56,000 · Non-exempt
The standard role: invoicing, posting, reconciliation, and collections follow-up across customer accounts. Routine financial work, so non-exempt and owed overtime in the vast majority of cases.
AR Analyst / Mid-senior
About $55,000 to $65,000 · Usually non-exempt
More analytical work on aging, trends, and reporting. Can be exempt only if the role genuinely exercises discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance, which the title alone never establishes.
AR Manager / Senior
About $73,000 to $100,000+ · Often exempt
Leads the AR team, sets credit and collections policy, and approves write-offs. May meet the executive or administrative exemption if supervising two or more employees with real authority.
The clerk, specialist, and usually the analyst are routine financial roles and non-exempt; only the manager tier, with genuine authority, is likely exempt. Decide whether you need a hands-on processor or someone to run the function, then use the matching title. The billing specialist template covers the invoicing-focused variant.
AR Specialist Duties and Responsibilities
AR specialist duties cluster into four areas: invoicing and billing, payments and posting, reconciliation and reporting, and collections and follow-up. A strong posting picks the responsibilities from each area that match your billing volume rather than listing every possible task.
Invoicing & billing
Create and send accurate invoices
Apply correct rates, terms, and taxes
Send statements and resolve billing questions
Payments & posting
Post incoming payments to accounts
Apply payments accurately
Handle deposits and payment records
Reconciliation & reporting
Reconcile AR and resolve discrepancies
Maintain aging reports and records
Support month-end close and reporting
Collections & follow-up
Follow up on past-due accounts
Resolve disputes and arrange payment
Reduce days sales outstanding (DSO)
The emphasis shifts by role: a billing specialist weights invoicing, a collections specialist weights follow-up, and a general AR specialist covers all four. 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 tier and industry. The core structure is the same across all six, but the duties, the experience bar, and the classification differ enough that the matched version reads credibly and keeps you compliant. Use this guide to choose, then adjust.
AR Specialist (General)
The standard mid-level hire
The baseline: invoicing, payment posting, reconciliation, and collections follow-up. Non-exempt and hourly. Start here for most businesses.
AR Clerk (Entry-Level)
First AR hire, with training
For an entry-level support role: invoice entry, payment posting, and filing, with a path to specialist. No experience required.
Billing Specialist
Invoicing-focused
For a role centered on generating accurate invoices, applying rates and terms, and resolving billing issues. Non-exempt.
Collections Specialist
Recovery-focused
For recovering past-due accounts: customer outreach, payment arrangements, and reducing days sales outstanding. Non-exempt.
Medical Billing / AR
Healthcare practices
For a medical practice: claims, denials, payments, and patient balances, with HIPAA confidentiality built in. Non-exempt.
AR Manager (Senior)
Leads the AR function
A step up: manages the AR team, sets credit and collections policy, and approves write-offs. May be exempt if genuinely managerial.
Match the Template to the Role
Standard mid-level AR hire? AR Specialist. First, entry-level AR hire with training? AR Clerk. Invoicing-focused? Billing Specialist. Recovering past-due accounts? Collections Specialist. A medical practice billing insurance and patients? Medical Billing / AR, with the HIPAA note. Leading the AR team and setting policy? AR Manager. The first five are non-exempt; the manager may be exempt if it genuinely meets an exemption test.
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: company and job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, compensation with the classification note, and how to apply, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets and post.
Download All 6 Job Description Templates
AR specialist, clerk, billing, collections, medical billing, and AR manager versions. All in one DOCX.
FLSA status: [Exempt or non-exempt; decide by duties, see the decision aid]
Compensation: $______ [salary]
JOB SUMMARY
[Company Name] is hiring an Accounts Receivable Manager to lead our AR
function: managing the team, owning the receivables process, setting credit
and collections policy, and reporting on cash flow and aging. This is a senior
role with real authority over the AR operation and the people in it.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Lead and develop the AR team
•Own the end-to-end receivables process
•Set and enforce credit and collections policy
•Approve write-offs and payment arrangements
•Report on AR aging, DSO, and cash flow
•Improve AR processes and controls
•Make credit decisions on customer accounts
•Partner with finance leadership on strategy
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Associate's or bachelor's in accounting or finance
•[5+] years of AR experience, including team leadership
•Strong knowledge of AR, credit, and collections
•Proven decision-making on credit and write-offs
•Leadership, reporting, and process-improvement skills
COMPENSATION AND CLASSIFICATION
Compensation: $______ [salary]
[An AR Manager who supervises two or more employees with real authority, or
who exercises discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance
like credit decisions and write-off approvals, paid on a salary basis at or
above the federal threshold, may meet the executive or administrative
exemption. A title alone does not. See the decision aid. This is general
information, not legal advice.]
Benefits: __
To apply, send your resume to __ by _.
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer.
Is an AR Specialist Exempt or Non-Exempt?
This is the question generic AR templates never answer, and it carries real wage-and-hour risk: the specialist title does not make the role exempt, and an accounts receivable specialist doing routine work is non-exempt and owed overtime. Exemption only becomes plausible at the manager tier.
Invoice entry, payment posting, filing, and support work under an AR specialist or accounting manager. The first AR hire at many small businesses, often part-time at first.
AR Specialist / Mid
About $49,000 to $56,000 · Non-exempt
The standard role: invoicing, posting, reconciliation, and collections follow-up across customer accounts. Routine financial work, so non-exempt and owed overtime in the vast majority of cases.
AR Analyst / Mid-senior
About $55,000 to $65,000 · Usually non-exempt
More analytical work on aging, trends, and reporting. Can be exempt only if the role genuinely exercises discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance, which the title alone never establishes.
AR Manager / Senior
About $73,000 to $100,000+ · Often exempt
Leads the AR team, sets credit and collections policy, and approves write-offs. May meet the executive or administrative exemption if supervising two or more employees with real authority.
The federal salary floor for an exempt employee is $684 per week ($35,568 per year), but for AR roles the salary test is rarely the deciding factor; the duties test is, and for the specialist and clerk it points firmly to non-exempt. Some states, including California, apply stricter exemption rules that make most AR roles non-exempt there regardless of title. The exempt versus non-exempt guide and the Fair Labor Standards Act overview explain the tests in more depth. This is general information, not legal advice.
Skills and Requirements
AR specialist roles start from accuracy with numbers, software proficiency, and reliability, with formal credentials as a plus rather than a strict requirement. Set the experience bar to your billing complexity.
Requirement
What to look for
Education
High school diploma; associate's in accounting a plus
Experience
2+ years of AR or billing; scale to your billing complexity
Software
QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage, or your accounting system
Excel
Strong spreadsheet and reconciliation skills
Core strengths
Detail-oriented, accurate, organized, and reliable
Classification
Non-exempt, hourly for specialist and clerk; overtime over 40 hours
Keep the posting neutral and inclusive, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that express a preference based on a protected characteristic, and the SHRM guide covers the standard sections of a job description. Keep degree requirements flexible to widen the candidate pool, since strong AR specialists often come up through bookkeeping or billing roles. Once the posting is live, FirstHR stores the offer and onboarding records it generates. Applicant tracking is coming soon to manage the candidates an AR posting brings in.
Accounts Receivable Specialist Pay
AR specialist pay sits in the high $40,000s to mid $50,000s a year, and the role is usually hourly. Anchor your number to the specific industry, billing complexity, and local market.
Median Near $49,000, Specialist Tier $49,000 to $56,000 (BLS May 2024)
The closest federal occupation, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, had a median annual wage of $49,210 as of BLS May 2024, with the lowest 10 percent under $34,600 and the highest 10 percent over $72,660 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Salary aggregators for the specialist title cluster around $51,000 to $56,000 a year, roughly $18 to $24 an hour. Pay rises with seniority: clerks earn less, AR managers reach $73,000 to $100,000 or more.
Translating the range into an offer: AR clerks sit toward the lower end, specialists in the middle, and managers well above. Pay also rises with billing complexity and in specialized areas like medical billing. Benchmark to your industry and local market, express the range as an hourly band since the role is non-exempt, and post it where your state's pay-transparency law requires.
Hiring AR for a Small Business
A large company hires AR staff into a structured finance department. A small business adds its first AR specialist when invoice volume and cash-flow strain outgrow the owner or bookkeeper, with the owner or a controller making the hire directly, no HR, and a classification question most templates never flag. Here is how to approach the posting and the hire for that reality.
AR clerk, specialist, analyst, and manager are different rungs with different pay and classification
These titles are often used loosely, but they sit on a real ladder, and choosing the right rung sets the pay, the experience bar, and the overtime classification. An AR clerk is an entry-level support role doing invoice entry and payment posting. An AR specialist is the standard mid-level role that owns invoicing, posting, reconciliation, and collections follow-up. An AR analyst leans more analytical. An AR manager leads the function with real authority over the team, credit policy, and write-offs. The first three are routine financial roles and are almost always non-exempt and owed overtime; only the manager tier, with genuine supervisory or decision-making authority, is likely exempt. For a small business, the practical move is to decide whether you need a hands-on processor (specialist or clerk) or someone to run the function (manager), then use the matching title and template so the pay and the classification line up with the actual work.
AR specialists are non-exempt, and the specialist title does not change that
This is the classification point generic templates skip, and it carries real wage-and-hour risk. An accounts receivable specialist performing routine invoicing, payment posting, reconciliation, and collections follow-up is non-exempt, because federal rules are explicit that accounting clerks and bookkeepers who perform a great deal of routine work generally do not qualify as exempt, and routine, recurrent clerical work fails the discretion-and-independent-judgment test for the administrative exemption. That makes the role owed overtime at one and a half times the regular rate over 40 hours a week, no matter that the title says specialist and no matter whether the employer pays a salary. Exemption only becomes plausible at the analyst or manager tier with genuine authority to make credit decisions, approve write-offs, or supervise staff. Misclassifying clerical and bookkeeping staff as exempt is a recurring enforcement and litigation theme, and some states, including California, apply stricter exemption rules that make most AR roles non-exempt there regardless of title. The safe default for a small employer is non-exempt, with hours tracked and overtime paid. This is general information, not legal advice.
A growing small business is making its first or second back-office hire without HR
AR is a classic early back-office hire. The trigger is usually rising invoice and transaction volume and cash-flow strain, when the owner or the bookkeeper can no longer keep up with billing and collections. Industries that hire AR staff heavily at the small-business level include medical and healthcare billing, construction, wholesale distribution, manufacturing, professional services, property management, and staffing. In these businesses the owner or a controller makes the hire directly, with no HR department, and the AR specialist quickly becomes responsible for customer billing data and incoming cash. Getting the classification, the pay range, and the onboarding right from day one matters. That is what FirstHR streamlines. Send the offer letter and collect a signature with e-signature, run a repeatable onboarding workflow that captures the I-9, W-4, and any confidentiality acknowledgment, assign software and process training through training modules, and keep the signed documents organized in document management. For a medical billing AR role, the confidentiality and HIPAA acknowledgment fit the same workflow. To be clear on scope, FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform; it does not run payroll, time tracking, or your accounting system, so pair it with those tools, which matters because AR specialists are non-exempt and accrue overtime. Applicant tracking is coming soon.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the same details become the offer and onboarding, with two things worth getting right early for this role: the non-exempt classification with time tracking, and the confidentiality acknowledgment, especially a HIPAA acknowledgment for a medical billing role, since AR staff handle sensitive financial and sometimes patient data from day one.
Send the offer
Confirm the role, hourly pay range, classification, and start date in writing, and get the offer signed. An offer letter template makes it fast.
Set the classification
Record the non-exempt basis for the specialist or clerk, and set up time tracking so overtime over 40 hours a week is captured.
Cover the essentials
Form I-9, the W-4 and state tax forms, state new hire reporting, plus a confidentiality and HIPAA acknowledgment for a medical billing role.
Train on the systems
Onboard on your accounting or billing software, AR process, and reporting, with a structured first-week plan.
Once your offer is ready, the offer letter template handles the core terms, an onboarding template gives the new AR specialist a structured start, and the new hire paperwork guide covers the I-9, tax forms, and state reporting. FirstHR connects the offer, signatures, confidentiality and HIPAA acknowledgments, onboarding workflow, and document management in one place so a small business can run the full hire-and-onboard cycle without an HR department. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll, time-tracking, or accounting system, so connect those separately, which matters specifically because AR specialists are non-exempt and accrue overtime. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
An AR specialist manages the money customers owe: invoicing, payment posting, reconciliation, and collections follow-up at the center of the revenue cycle.
Use the template that matches the tier and industry: AR specialist, clerk, billing, collections, medical billing, or AR manager.
Routine AR work is non-exempt and owed overtime; the specialist title and a salary do not make it exempt.
Reserve exempt status for a genuine AR manager with supervisory authority or real decision-making on credit and write-offs.
Distinguish the tiers: clerk (entry), specialist (mid), analyst (mid-senior), manager (senior), each with different pay and classification.
Pay runs roughly $40,000 to $56,000 for the specialist and clerk tiers; AR is a classic early back-office hire at a growing small business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an accounts receivable specialist do?
An accounts receivable specialist manages the money customers owe a business, keeping cash flowing in. Day to day that means creating and sending accurate invoices, posting incoming payments and applying them to the right accounts, reconciling accounts receivable and resolving discrepancies, following up on past-due accounts, maintaining customer billing records and aging reports, researching and resolving billing disputes, and supporting month-end close and AR reporting. The role sits at the center of a company's revenue cycle: while accounts payable handles money the business owes to vendors, accounts receivable handles money owed to the business by its customers. An AR specialist works closely with sales, customers, and the accounting team to make sure invoices are correct and payments arrive on time. It is a detail-focused, routine financial role, usually paid hourly, and common at small and growing businesses once invoice volume outgrows the owner or bookkeeper.
What is the difference between an AR clerk, specialist, analyst, and manager?
They form a seniority ladder with rising pay and authority. An AR clerk is the entry-level role, handling invoice entry, payment posting, and filing under supervision, typically earning around $40,000 to $48,000. An AR specialist is the standard mid-level role that owns invoicing, posting, reconciliation, and collections follow-up across customer accounts, usually earning about $49,000 to $56,000. An AR analyst leans more analytical, working on aging, trends, and reporting, often around $55,000 to $65,000. An AR manager leads the function, manages the team, sets credit and collections policy, and approves write-offs, typically earning $73,000 to $100,000 or more. The classification differs too: the clerk, specialist, and usually the analyst are non-exempt and owed overtime because the work is routine, while the manager tier is often exempt if it involves genuine supervisory or decision-making authority. For hiring, pick the rung that matches the work you actually need so the title, pay, and classification all line up.
Is an accounts receivable specialist exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
An accounts receivable specialist is non-exempt in the vast majority of cases and is owed overtime. Federal regulations are explicit that accounting clerks, bookkeepers, and employees who perform a great deal of routine work generally do not qualify as exempt, and routine, recurrent, mechanical work like invoicing, payment posting, and reconciliation fails the discretion-and-independent-judgment test required for the administrative exemption. That makes the specialist entitled to overtime at one and a half times the regular rate over 40 hours a week, regardless of the specialist title and regardless of whether the employer pays a salary. Exemption only becomes plausible at the AR analyst or manager tier, and only with genuine authority such as making credit decisions, approving write-offs, or supervising two or more employees, since a job title never determines exemption on its own. Some states, including California, apply stricter exemption rules that make most AR roles non-exempt there regardless of title. The safe default for a small employer is to classify the specialist as non-exempt, track hours, and pay overtime. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does an accounts receivable specialist make?
Accounts receivable specialist pay generally runs from the high $40,000s to the mid $50,000s a year, and the role is usually paid hourly. The closest federal occupation, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, had a median annual wage of $49,210 as of BLS May 2024, with the lowest 10 percent under $34,600 and the highest 10 percent over $72,660. Salary aggregators for the specific title cluster around $51,000 to $56,000 a year for the specialist tier, roughly $18 to $24 an hour. Pay rises with seniority along the ladder: clerks earn less, around $40,000 to $48,000, while AR managers reach $73,000 to $100,000 or more. Pay also varies by region, industry, and the complexity of the billing involved, with medical billing and high-volume industries sometimes paying more for specialized experience. For a posting, benchmark to your specific industry and local market, express the range as an hourly band since the role is non-exempt, and post it where your state's pay-transparency law requires. This is general information, not legal advice.
What qualifications does an accounts receivable specialist need?
An accounts receivable specialist typically needs a high school diploma, with an associate's degree in accounting or finance as a plus rather than a strict requirement, and usually two or more years of accounts receivable or billing experience. The most important practical skills are accuracy with numbers and data entry, proficiency with accounting software such as QuickBooks, NetSuite, or Sage, strong Excel skills for reconciliation and reporting, and clear communication for customer and internal follow-up. Detail orientation, organization, and reliability matter more than formal credentials, since the work centers on getting invoices and payments exactly right. Optional certifications like Certified Bookkeeper or a receivable-specific certification can strengthen a candidate but are rarely required. For a medical billing AR role, add familiarity with claims, codes, payer rules, and patient-privacy and HIPAA confidentiality. For a posting, set the experience bar to your billing complexity and emphasize software proficiency and accuracy, and keep degree requirements flexible to widen your candidate pool. This is general information, not legal advice.
What should an accounts receivable specialist job description include?
A strong accounts receivable specialist job description starts by confirming the tier, whether clerk, specialist, or manager, since the pay and classification differ, then includes a short company summary, a job summary that makes the revenue-cycle role clear, and responsibilities grouped into invoicing and billing, payments and posting, reconciliation and reporting, and collections and follow-up. It should list the software and Excel skills the role requires, set an experience bar matched to your billing complexity, and address the FLSA status, since the specialist is non-exempt and owed overtime. Include an hourly pay range where your state's pay-transparency law requires it, expressed as an hourly band because the role is non-exempt. For a medical billing variant, add a HIPAA and patient-confidentiality note. The single most valuable addition that generic templates omit is the classification call: stating that the AR specialist is non-exempt protects a small employer from the common mistake of assuming a specialist title makes the role exempt. Close with an equal opportunity statement and clear apply instructions. This is general information, not legal advice.
What is the difference between accounts receivable and accounts payable?
Accounts receivable and accounts payable are near-opposite functions in a company's finances. Accounts receivable (AR) is the money customers owe the business: an AR specialist sends invoices, posts incoming payments, and collects on past-due accounts to bring cash in. Accounts payable (AP) is the money the business owes its vendors and suppliers: an AP specialist processes incoming bills, schedules payments, and sends money out. AR is about getting paid; AP is about paying others. Both are routine financial roles, both are typically non-exempt and owed overtime, and both are common early back-office hires at growing small businesses, but they require different daily workflows and are usually separate positions and separate job descriptions. At the smallest businesses one person, often a bookkeeper, may handle both. As a business scales, AR and AP are usually split into distinct roles. If you are hiring for the vendor-payment side rather than the customer-collection side, you want an accounts payable specialist job description instead. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do small businesses need an accounts receivable specialist?
Yes, accounts receivable is one of the most common early back-office hires for a growing small business. At the smallest end, the owner or a bookkeeper handles AR alongside everything else, but as invoice and transaction volume rises and cash-flow strain sets in, a dedicated AR specialist or billing clerk becomes necessary. The typical trigger is when billing and collections take more time than the owner or bookkeeper can give them, and late payments start hurting cash flow. Industries that hire AR staff heavily at the small-business level include medical and healthcare billing, construction, wholesale distribution, manufacturing, professional services, property management, and staffing agencies. In these businesses the AR specialist is often the first or second finance hire, brought on directly by the owner or a controller without an HR department. Hiring one well, with the right title, pay range, and non-exempt classification, protects both cash flow and wage-and-hour compliance, which is exactly what the templates and the tier guidance on this page are built for.
