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Finance & accounting · Organizing & Managing

Accounting clerk: what the job actually is

Recording the money a business pays and is paid, accurately and on time, so someone else can rely on the numbers.

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Accounting clerk: quick facts

Accounting clerk salary in Ontario: the median pay is $25.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training.

Median pay in Ontario
$25.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$18.12 to $37.00 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
58,350
Usually needs
Usually a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 14200. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Entering invoices, bills and payments into accounting software, matching them against orders and receipts, and chasing the ones that do not match.
  • Job Bank's group is accounting and related clerks. It covers jobs such as accounts payable and receivable, billing and expenditure clerks, so the day depends on which side of the money you work on.
  • Job Bank says this occupation is not regulated in Canada, so no licence is needed. It says completion of secondary school is usually required, that some employers want coursework from certified bodies, and that some accounting clerks must be bondable.
  • It is a support job inside a larger finance team. A bookkeeper or accountant usually decides how things are categorised and reported, and the clerk keeps the stream of entries flowing and accurate.
  • Job Bank's Ontario outlook for the group says employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions, and notes that greater use of technology to manage invoicing, billing and accounts may temper job growth and change some job functions.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:30 — Open the inbox. Forty invoices came overnight, and a supplier has sent the same one twice.
  2. 9:00 — Match each invoice to a purchase order. Two do not match, so you email the person who ordered.
  3. 10:30 — Enter the matched ones into the accounting software, coded to the right account and department.
  4. 11:30 — A manager wants to know why a payment has not gone out. You find it was waiting on an approval signature.
  5. 12:30 — Lunch.
  6. 13:15 — Reconcile one bank account against the books. Everything agrees except a difference of a few cents, which takes you an hour to find.
  7. 15:00 — Send reminders for the invoices that are late and answer a customer who says they already paid.
  8. 16:00 — File the paper copies, or save the scans in the right folder, because the auditor will ask.
  9. 16:45 — Write down what is outstanding so tomorrow starts where today stopped.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like things being exactly right, and a total that does not balance bothers you until it does.
  • You are patient with repeated tasks and good at spotting the one number that is wrong.
  • You like working with computers and spreadsheets and learning how a business actually runs.
  • You want an office job that you can start with high school and build on with courses.
You may hate this if
  • You get bored by repetition. A lot of the work is the same task done carefully over and over.
  • You dislike chasing people. You will spend time asking colleagues for missing receipts and approvals.
  • You do not like pressure at month-end. Deadlines cluster around the close of each month and the year, and the work cannot be late.
  • You want your job to be safe from technology. Job Bank says greater use of technology may temper job growth and change some functions, so you need to keep learning software.
  • You want to be visible. This is behind-the-scenes work, where the best result is that nobody notices.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish high school with maths and business

    Job Bank says completion of secondary school is usually required. Take maths, business and accounting if your school offers it, and learn spreadsheets properly.

  2. Add post-secondary coursework if you want to stand out

    Job Bank says some employers want post-secondary coursework from certified bodies, naming the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada, the Canadian Securities Institute and the Canadian Bookkeepers Association. Ontario colleges also run accounting and bookkeeping programmes; compare them on ontariocolleges.ca.

  3. Know the bonding requirement

    Job Bank says some accounting clerks must be bondable. That is something an employer asks when you are hired, so ask early whether a job will require it.

  4. Start in a clerk role and learn the software

    Most of what you will use is software your employer teaches you. From a clerk job you can move toward bookkeeping or an accounting designation. Ask your employer whether they pay for courses.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Accounting and related clerks (NOC 14200), requirements · ontariocolleges.ca — program search

The money

Accounting clerk salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$18.12
Low (hourly)
$25.00
Median (hourly)
$37.00
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 14200. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Accounting clerk wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Ongoing need for accounting services and financial recording across businesses and departments will support work in this occupation
  • Greater use of technology to manage invoicing, billing and accounts may temper job growth and change some job functions

Who hires for it

  • Employed across most industries with the leading share in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services
58,350
people work in this job in Ontario
80%
are women (48% across all jobs)
8%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Accounting and related clerks job prospects in Ontario (NOC 14200). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take the accounting, business and maths courses your school offers, and any co-op placement in an office.
  • Learn a spreadsheet properly. Formulas, sorting and checking totals are the daily tools of this job.
  • Be the treasurer or the person who counts the money for a club, a team or a fundraiser.
  • Ask a school guidance counsellor for the list of Ontario college accounting and business programmes and their entry courses.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Keep a clean set of books for one small week of money

About 90 minutes
  1. Make a spreadsheet with columns for date, what it was, who, money in and money out. Use your own spending and any money you receive this week, or invent a pretend week for a small stall.
  2. Enter every item as it happens, and keep a note of where each receipt or proof is.
  3. At the end of the week, work out the total in, the total out and the balance, then check the balance against what you actually have.
  4. If it does not match, find the difference and write down what caused it.

What it tells you. If you enjoyed finding the error and the satisfaction of a balance that agrees, accounting clerk work is made of that. If you found the tracking tedious, or hunting for a small difference made you want to quit, this job will feel that way every day, and a different kind of finance or office work may fit better.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “Which part of the money cycle do you work on, and what does a day on it look like?”
  2. “What software do you use, and how did you learn it?”
  3. “How much of your work is checking, and how much is entering?”
  4. “What happens at month-end, and what is the pressure like?”
  5. “How has technology changed your job since you started?”
  6. “Did you take extra courses, and did your employer pay for them?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Sometimes. Job Bank shows a small share of self-employment in this group. A clerk with experience may move on to bookkeeping, which is more often done as a small business. See the bookkeeper page; clients, trust and a record of accuracy are what you build with.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does an accounting clerk make in Ontario?

The median pay for an accounting clerk in Ontario is $25.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $18.12 to $37.00 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for an accounting clerk in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become an accounting clerk in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school with maths and business; Add post-secondary coursework if you want to stand out; Know the bonding requirement.

Where does an accounting clerk work in Ontario?

Employed across most industries with the leading share in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as an accounting clerk in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 58,350 people working in this job in Ontario. 80% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

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Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

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Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.