Finance Clerk Job Description Templates for Small Businesses
6 templates written around what a clerk actually owns: general, payables, receivables, payroll and billing support, entry level, and part-time first hire. Download as DOCX.
The first finance job description I ever wrote was wrong in a way that took four months to show up. I titled the role clerk, paid it hourly, and then listed reconciliations, month-end close support, and vendor terms negotiation in the duties, because those were the things piling up on my desk. The person we hired was good. She was also doing three jobs at one rate, and she left.
A finance clerk job description works when the boundary is written into it. The clerk processes transactions. Someone else approves them, closes the books, and decides terms. Every template on this page carries a section most postings skip: what this role does not own. It is the section that filters applicants correctly and the one that keeps your overtime classification defensible.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for owners and office managers who do this alone. The six below cover the general processing desk, a payables focus, a receivables focus, payroll and billing support, an entry-level hire you will train, and a part-time first finance hire.
TL;DR
A finance clerk processes routine transactions under established procedures: entering bills and invoices, preparing payment runs, applying receipts, and filing. The role is non-exempt and paid hourly. There is no federal occupation by that name, so benchmark to bookkeeping and accounting clerks, median $50,670 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Six templates below.
What a Finance Clerk Actually Does
A finance clerk processes financial transactions inside procedures somebody else set. The day is entering bills and invoices, matching documents, preparing payments for approval, applying customer receipts, filing, and reconciling assigned accounts. The volume is the job; the judgment is not.
That last sentence is the whole distinction, and it is worth being blunt about in a posting. Clerk work is high-accuracy repetition against a deadline. It rewards people who like a defined scope and a predictable week, and it frustrates people who want to build a finance function.
What a finance clerk does own
Entering bills, invoices, and receipts into the accounting system
Matching purchase orders, receiving documents, and invoices
Preparing payment runs and applying customer payments
Filing and indexing supporting documents
Maintaining aging reports and vendor or customer records
Reconciling assigned sub-ledgers and flagging differences
What stays with someone else
Owning the general ledger or the chart of accounts
Approving payments, credits, write-offs, or journal entries
Closing the books or producing financial statements
Setting credit terms, payment terms, or accounting treatment
Signing checks or holding sole access to the bank portal
Filing payroll or business tax returns
Write the Boundary Before You Write the Duties
Start the posting with the four or five things the role does not own, then write the duties. It sounds backward and it works. Candidates who want ledger ownership stop reading, candidates who want defined scope keep reading, and you end up with a section that also documents why the role is non-exempt. Most job descriptions describe an ideal employee. This one describes an actual desk.
Clerk vs Assistant vs Bookkeeper vs Accountant
The four titles form a ladder of judgment, not a ladder of effort. A clerk processes, an assistant supports a finance function that already exists, a bookkeeper owns the ledger and the close, and an accountant interprets the results. Pay, classification, and the candidate pool all move with that line.
Getting the rung wrong is the most expensive mistake on this hire. Posting clerk duties at bookkeeper pay wastes budget; posting bookkeeper duties at clerk pay produces the four-month departure I described above.
Role
Owns
Typical FLSA status
Hire when
Finance clerk
Transaction processing and filing under set procedures
Non-exempt, hourly
Volume of paperwork has outgrown the owner or office manager
Finance assistant
Processing plus broader support to an existing finance function
Non-exempt, hourly
There is already a finance lead who needs capacity
Bookkeeper
General ledger, reconciliations, month-end close
Usually non-exempt; check duties
Nobody owns the books and the year-end handoff is a mess
If the title your candidates search for is accounting rather than finance, the accounting clerk templates cover the same desk under that name. The duties are close to identical; the search behavior is not, and the title is the part that decides who sees the posting.
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6 Finance Clerk Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: position summary, key responsibilities, what this role does not own, required qualifications, systems and access, a classification note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you change.
Download All 6 Finance Clerk Job Description Templates
General, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll and billing support, entry level, and part-time first hire. All in one download.
Finance Clerk (General)
The default posting
Mixed transaction work across payables, receivables, and filing, with the scope boundary and the non-exempt classification written into the document.
Accounts Payable Focus
Bills, matching, payment runs
For a business whose volume is mostly outbound: three-way matching, approval routing, W-9 collection, and the vendor banking-change verification step.
Accounts Receivable Focus
Invoicing, cash application, aging
For a business whose problem is getting paid: invoicing deadlines, cash application, first-contact reminder calls, and a written escalation rule.
Payroll and Billing Support
Time data feeds both
For service businesses where the same timesheets drive payroll and client billing, with confidentiality and access limits stated up front.
Entry-Level (Will Train)
First finance job
For hiring on care rather than credentials, with a written 90-day ramp, batch review until an accuracy standard is met, and a scheduled pay review.
Part-Time (First Finance Hire)
Owner still approves
For taking transaction work off the founder’s desk a few days a week, with a weekly summary and a plain warning about the contractor shortcut.
Template 1: Finance Clerk (General)
The default posting for a mixed transaction desk, with the scope boundary and the non-exempt classification written into the document rather than left to the offer stage.
Finance Clerk Job Description (General)
FINANCE CLERK JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Owner / Office Manager / Bookkeeper / Controller]
tool], [spreadsheets]. Access is granted at the entry level and reviewed
[quarterly]. Approval rights remain with [name or role].
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
This role is non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Routine calculating,
posting, and verifying performed under established procedures does not meet the
administrative exemption, which requires the exercise of discretion and
independent judgment on matters of significance. Pay hourly, track hours, and pay
overtime past forty hours in a workweek. Some states apply stricter tests or daily
overtime rules. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodation for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [benefits summary], [schedule and location].
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 2: Finance Clerk, Accounts Payable Focus
For a business whose volume runs outbound: matching, approval routing, W-9 collection, and vendor banking verification. If you want the posting titled by function instead, use the accounts payable clerk template.
For a business whose problem is getting paid, with invoicing deadlines, cash application, and a written escalation rule. The function-titled version is the accounts receivable clerk template.
The Finance Clerk (Accounts Receivable) processes everything customers owe:
issuing invoices, applying payments, keeping the aging report current, and making
first-contact collection calls on past-due balances under a script and a schedule
set by the company.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Issue customer invoices within [number] business day(s) of [job completion /
shipment / billing cycle]
•Apply payments, deposits, and remittance detail to the correct invoices
•Keep the aging report current and circulate it [weekly] to [owner / manager]
•Make first-contact reminder calls and emails on past-due balances
•Escalate accounts past [number] days to [owner / manager] with documentation
•Research and resolve short payments, duplicate payments, and disputes
•Prepare and enter customer credits once approved by [name or role]
•Reconcile the receivables sub-ledger to the general ledger monthly
•Maintain customer billing records, contacts, and tax exemption certificates
WHAT THIS ROLE DOES NOT OWN
•Does not set or change credit terms or credit limits
•Does not approve write-offs, credits, or settlements
•Does not decide when an account goes to a collection agency or to legal
•Does not own revenue recognition or the general ledger
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•High school diploma or equivalent
•[Number] year(s) of billing, receivables, or customer account experience
•Clear and professional phone and email manner with customers who owe money
•Comfort with spreadsheets and an accounting system
COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
An employee collecting your own company debts is generally outside the federal
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which targets third-party collectors, but
state debt collection and consumer protection rules can still apply, especially
when the customer is an individual rather than a business. Set a written call
script, call-time limits, and an escalation rule before the first call. This is
general information, not legal advice.
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Non-exempt under the FLSA. Pay hourly, track hours, pay overtime past forty hours
in a workweek. If you pay a collection bonus, include it in the regular rate when
calculating overtime.
EEO STATEMENT AND HOW TO APPLY
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer. To apply, email
__ with your resume.
Template 4: Finance Clerk, Payroll and Billing Support
For service businesses where the same timesheets drive both payroll and client billing. For a dedicated payroll desk, use the payroll clerk template; for pure invoicing, the billing clerk template.
Finance Clerk Job Description (Payroll and Billing Support)
FINANCE CLERK JOB DESCRIPTION (PAYROLL AND BILLING SUPPORT)
For hiring on care rather than credentials, with a written 90-day ramp, batch review until an accuracy standard is met, and a scheduled pay review so the promise is dated rather than implied.
For taking the recurring transaction work off a founder’s desk two or three days a week, with a weekly summary back to the owner and a plain warning about the contractor shortcut.
A finance clerk is non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act in nearly every real case. Pay hourly, track hours, and pay overtime past forty hours in a workweek. The title on the offer letter does not decide this; the duties do.
The administrative exemption requires a primary duty that includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance. The federal regulation on administrative exemption examples is explicit that ordinary clerical and bookkeeping work does not qualify, and the Department of Labor makes the same point in Fact Sheet 17C. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests in order.
A Salary Does Not Make a Clerk Exempt
The most common and most expensive error on this hire is putting a clerk on a salary, calling the role exempt, and skipping overtime through month-end and year-end crunches. Both tests have to pass: the salary tests and the duties test. Under the FLSA the current white-collar salary threshold is $684 per week, or $35,568 a year, after the 2024 rule was vacated and formally rescinded. A clerk paid above that is still non-exempt if the duties are clerical, and back pay accrues quietly until someone counts it.
Budget for the overtime rather than trying to avoid it. Payment runs, month end, and year-end 1099 preparation all create predictable spikes, and our guide to calculating overtime covers the regular-rate math when a bonus is in play. Several states apply stricter duties tests or daily overtime, so confirm your state rules before the offer.
Controls When One Person Touches the Money
The control that matters most in a small office is separating entry from approval. The clerk prepares; someone else releases. That single split does more to protect a small business than any other measure, and it costs nothing to implement.
The rest is access hygiene and a verification habit. Neither requires a finance department, and both belong in the job description itself so they are part of the role rather than a conversation somebody forgot to have.
Split entry from approval
The single control that matters most in a small office is that the person who enters a transaction is not the person who approves it. You do not need a finance department to do this. The clerk codes the invoice and builds the payment run; the owner opens the batch and approves it from a phone in two minutes. Write the split into the job description rather than leaving it as an unwritten habit, because unwritten habits quietly disappear the first busy week. The same principle covers customer credits, write-offs, and rate changes: the clerk prepares, someone else approves.
Give the narrowest access that works
Access creep is how a clerical role turns into an unmonitored one. Grant entry-level permissions in the accounting system, view-only or entry-only rights in the bank portal, and nothing on the approval side. Keep check stock locked and out of the clerk’s desk. Review permissions on a set date every quarter and remove anything the current duties no longer require. When someone leaves, revoke access the same day rather than the same month, and keep a short written record of who has what so the review takes minutes instead of an afternoon.
Verify banking changes by voice
The most common financial attack on a small business is not a breach, it is an email. A message that looks like it came from a known vendor, or from the owner, asks for updated bank details or an urgent payment. A clerk under deadline pressure is exactly the target. The rule is simple and belongs in the job description: any change to vendor or employee banking details is confirmed by voice, using a phone number already on file, never a number contained in the request. Make it a step in the procedure, not a matter of judgment.
Reconcile on a schedule someone else sees
Reconciliation is where errors and problems surface, so it should never be invisible. Have the clerk reconcile assigned accounts on a fixed monthly date and send the result to the owner or the outside bookkeeper, with unexplained differences listed rather than absorbed. Two things follow. The clerk gets a defined finish line for the month instead of a vague sense of being behind, and a second set of eyes sees the same numbers every cycle. Keep the sent copies; a year of them is the cheapest audit trail a small business can build.
Put the Controls in the Posting, Not Just the Handbook
Candidates read a controls section as a sign of a well-run office, not as distrust. Stating that approvals stay with the owner, that banking changes are verified by voice, and that reconciliations go to a second reader tells a strong applicant the role has clear edges. It also tells the small number of applicants attracted by loose controls that this is not the place. The clerk templates on this page include these lines already.
What to Pay a Finance Clerk
There is no federal occupation called finance clerk, so benchmark to the nearest classifications rather than to a title match. The closest is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, and the neighboring clerical codes bracket the range from below and above.
Closest Benchmark: $50,670 a Year
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031) had a national median wage of $50,670 a year, about $24.36 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned under $36,000 and the highest 10 percent over $74,550, with the quartiles at $43,520 and $61,470 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Benchmark occupation
SOC code
Median annual (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
Median hourly
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks
43-3031
$50,670
$24.36
Payroll and timekeeping clerks
43-3051
$58,260
$28.01
Procurement clerks
43-3061
$50,580
$24.32
Billing and posting clerks
43-3021
$48,500
$23.32
Bill and account collectors
43-3011
$47,030
$22.61
Office clerks, general
43-9061
$45,010
$21.64
Accountants and auditors (for contrast)
13-2011
$83,680
$40.23
Place your rate inside that band by scope. A general processing desk sits near the bookkeeping clerk median, a payroll-input desk sits higher, and an entry-level or part-time role sits between the tenth and twenty-fifth percentiles. Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and quote it hourly, because quoting an annual figure for a non-exempt role invites the salary misunderstanding this page keeps warning about.
A Note on the Trend
The bookkeeping and accounting clerk occupation employed about 1.61 million people in 2024 and is projected to decline slightly through 2034 as software automates routine entry, yet roughly 170,000 openings a year are still expected, almost entirely to replace people leaving the role (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). The pool is deep. What is shifting is the work itself, toward review, exceptions, and system fluency rather than manual keying, so write the posting around the systems you run.
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Three things go wrong on this hire at small companies: the title attracts the wrong pool, nobody in the building can check the work, and the money-handling paperwork lands all at once on day one. Each has a fix that costs nothing.
The title you post decides the applications you get
Finance clerk, accounting clerk, and finance assistant pull different candidate pools even when the duties are identical. Clerk signals transaction processing under supervision and attracts people who want a defined scope and a predictable week. Assistant signals broader support for a finance function that already exists. Analyst or coordinator signals judgment you are not actually delegating. Pick the title that matches the day you are hiring for, then make the posting prove it by naming the systems, the volume, and the boundary. A clerk posting that quietly expects someone to close the books will hire someone who leaves in four months, and you will run the search twice.
There is no one in the building to check the work
In a small office the clerk is often the only person who touches the transaction detail, which means errors survive until a bank reconciliation or a tax preparer catches them. Build the check into the schedule instead of hoping for it. Have the clerk send a short weekly summary to the owner: cash in, cash out, past due, and anything unusual. Ask your outside bookkeeper or accountant to review the sub-ledger reconciliations monthly and to say plainly whether the data arrived clean. Neither takes long, both create a second pair of eyes, and together they turn an unsupervised desk into a supervised one without adding headcount.
The paperwork for a money-handling hire lands all at once
A finance clerk hire carries more onboarding than most: the offer and rate letter, the W-4 and I-9, direct deposit, a confidentiality acknowledgment covering financial and payroll data, a policy sign-off on payment approval and banking verification, system access requests, and training records for the procedures they will follow. FirstHR was built for that burst. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence every time, e-signature handles the offer and the acknowledgments, document management stores everything against the employee profile, and training modules cover the procedures before the first payment run. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Screen on the systems and the accuracy, not on the resume format. A short practical exercise beats an interview question here: hand the candidate ten sample invoices with two deliberate errors and see what they catch. Our accounting clerk interview questions cover the rest of the conversation, and if the general clerical version fits your office better, the general clerk templates cover that scope.
Keep the applicants in one place while you run that exercise. A clerical posting draws volume, and volume in an email inbox turns into candidates who never hear back and a hiring manager who cannot remember who saw which invoice test. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR; until it ships, a single shared sheet with a status column beats a thread.
Once the offer is accepted, run onboarding as a fixed checklist rather than a pile of forms, because a money-handling role has more of them than most. Our onboarding checklist covers the standard sequence; add the confidentiality acknowledgment, the approval-and-verification policy sign-off, and the system access request to it.
Key Takeaways
A finance clerk processes routine transactions under established procedures and does not own the general ledger, approvals, the close, or credit terms.
Write the boundary section before the duties section: it filters applicants correctly and documents why the role is non-exempt.
Clerk, assistant, bookkeeper, and accountant form a ladder of judgment; posting bookkeeper duties at clerk pay is the most common reason this hire leaves within months.
The role is non-exempt under the FLSA regardless of salary, because routine calculating, posting, and verifying fails the administrative duties test.
No federal occupation is named finance clerk; the closest benchmark is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks at a $50,670 median (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Separate entry from approval, grant the narrowest system access that works, and verify every banking change by voice using a number already on file.
A finance clerk hire carries more paperwork than most: offer, tax forms, direct deposit, a confidentiality acknowledgment, a controls policy sign-off, and system access. FirstHR runs that sequence the same way every time, with e-signature for the acknowledgments, document storage against the employee profile, and training modules for the procedures the clerk will follow. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a finance clerk do?
A finance clerk processes routine financial transactions under established procedures. The daily work is entering vendor bills and customer invoices into the accounting system, matching purchase orders and receiving documents against invoices, preparing payment runs for someone else to approve, applying incoming customer payments, keeping aging reports current, filing supporting documents so any transaction can be traced, and reconciling assigned sub-ledgers. What the role does not include is just as important to state in the posting: a clerk does not own the general ledger, does not approve payments or write-offs, does not close the books, and does not set terms or accounting treatment. That boundary is what separates a clerk from a bookkeeper, and it is also what keeps the classification of the role defensible.
Is a finance clerk the same as an accounting clerk?
In practice the duties overlap almost completely, and the difference is in what each title signals to candidates. Accounting clerk points at the accounting cycle: posting, sub-ledgers, reconciliations, month-end support. Finance clerk is the broader label small businesses reach for when the desk also covers billing, payment runs, expense reports, and light payroll input, and it is common at companies that call the whole function finance rather than accounting. Neither title carries a legal definition or a separate federal occupation code, so both usually map to the same benchmark data. Choose the one your candidate pool searches for in your region and industry, then let the responsibilities section carry the real meaning rather than the title.
Is a finance clerk exempt or non-exempt?
Non-exempt in nearly every real case, which means hourly pay, tracked hours, and overtime past forty hours in a workweek. The administrative exemption requires that the primary duty include the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance. A clerk who calculates, posts, verifies, and processes within established procedures does not meet that test, and paying a salary does not change the answer because the duties test applies on top of the salary tests. The common and costly error is putting a clerk on a salary, calling the role exempt, and skipping overtime during month-end crunches. That creates back-pay exposure. Some states apply stricter tests or daily overtime rules, so check your state as well. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a finance clerk make?
There is no federal occupation called finance clerk, so benchmark to the nearest classifications. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a national median wage of $50,670 a year, about $24.36 an hour, with the lowest 10 percent under $36,000 and the highest 10 percent over $74,550. Related benchmarks from the same survey: billing and posting clerks at $48,500, bill and account collectors at $47,030, general office clerks at $45,010, and payroll and timekeeping clerks at $58,260. Entry-level and part-time small business roles usually sit below the median, while a clerk who carries payroll input or reconciliations sits above it. Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency rules apply.
What qualifications does a finance clerk need?
A high school diploma plus demonstrated accuracy is the realistic bar, and a degree is rarely the deciding factor. What matters far more is hands-on experience in the accounting system you actually run, because system fluency is the difference between productive in a week and productive in two months. Name your system in the posting. Beyond that, look for spreadsheet comfort at the sorting and basic formula level, careful document handling, willingness to follow a written procedure exactly, and the discipline to flag an oddity rather than post it and move on. For an entry-level hire, drop the experience requirement entirely and hire on care and reliability, then commit in writing to a training ramp and a pay review date.
Should a small business hire a finance clerk or a bookkeeper?
Hire a clerk when the volume of transactions is the problem and a bookkeeper when the accuracy of the books is the problem. If bills, invoices, and filing are piling up but an outside accountant already handles the close and the tax work, a clerk is the cheaper and more precise fix, and many small businesses start with a part-time one. If nobody owns the general ledger, reconciliations are not happening, and the year-end handoff to your accountant is a mess, you need a bookkeeper, because that work requires judgment a clerk role is not designed to carry. A common sequence is an outside bookkeeper for the close plus an in-house clerk for the daily processing, which keeps the expensive hours focused on judgment.
How do I write a finance clerk job description that filters correctly?
Write four things the generic templates leave out. First, the boundary: list what the role does not own, because that single section removes most of the mismatched applications. Second, the systems: name the accounting software, the bank portal arrangement, and the expense tool, since candidates self-select on fluency. Third, the volume: invoices per month, customers billed, employees on payroll, so people can picture the week. Fourth, the classification and the hourly rate, stated plainly as non-exempt, which sets expectations about overtime before the offer stage rather than after. Add the equal opportunity statement, name a real person to apply to, and give a deadline. The six templates on this page follow that structure so you only rewrite the company-specific fields.
