Accounts Payable/Receivable
Certificate III in Financial Services (Accounts Clerical) FNS30304
Business, Education & Industry
Learning Method: Correspondence with online support

Career opportunities include: Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Assistant, Accounts Officer/Clerk, Collections Officer, Credit Officer, Accounts Administrator.

Industries include: You can work in or for any type of industry, from a bank to a travel agency to real estate agent.

What is the difference between Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable?

Accounts payble is where you process the accounts that need to be paid to suppliers. For instance, if you are working for a printing company and the printing company orders paper then the paper supplier will send an invoice to the printing company to be paid. As far as the printing company is concerned this is an account that is payable to the paper company. So you would be doing accounts payable for the printing company.

On the other hand, if you were working for the paper company you would be expecting to receive payment for the paper you supplied to the printing company. Therefore, you would be doing accounts receivable.

The same applies in reverse. The printing company will have accounts receivable (payments coming in from their clients) in response to invoices the printing company sent out; and the paper company will have accounts payable (money they owe to their suppliers).

When you phone a company, such as the phone company, and they ask you if you want "accounts payable or receivable" they mean their accounts payable or receivable (not yours). If they are phoning you about an account then it is your accounts payable or reveivable.

Accounts Payable/Receivable duties may include:

• processing accounts to be paid to suppliers and/or payment to be received by clients
• preparing order forms
• preparing invoices
• reconciling invoices
• doing customer credit checks
• reconciling accounts
• telephoning customers

Accounts Clerks/Assistants usually work under the supervision of an accountant. Most of their client contact is by telephone. Accounts Clerks/Assistants record and put together the documentation for the financial transactions of an organisation for management purposes. Accounts clerks/assistants may do any of the following:

• receive and record invoices and arrange payment
• prepare and send invoices to debtors
• check and process loan applications
• calculate and distribute wages and salaries
• prepare regular reports and summaries of accounting activities
• prepare financial statements and debtors' listings
• check customers' credit ratings
• verify recorded transactions and report irregularities to management
• prepare reconciliations of accounts.
  

Employability Skills are skills that apply across a variety of jobs and life contexts. They are sometimes referred to as key skills, core skills, life skills, essential skills, key competencies, necessary skills, and transferable skills. Industry’s preferred term is Employability Skills.

Employability Skills are defined as ‘skills required not only to gain employment, but also to progress within an enterprise so as to achieve one's potential and contribute successfully to enterprise strategic directions’.

There are eight Employability Skills: communication, teamwork, problem solving, initiative and enterprise, planning and organising, self-management, learning, and technology.

You can review the Employability Skills for this qualification at: http://employabilityskills.training.com.au

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