Job description

The Purchase Ledger or Accounts Payable function exists to ensure that a company or organisation maintains a reliable and accurate record of all of its purchases.

Purchase Ledger Clerks work in finance departments to keep the accounts payable or purchase ledger up to date. All incoming invoices relating to purchases must be properly coded and recorded on a central database or ledger in order to allow a company to understand how much is owed to external creditors at any one time.

A senior finance professional typically has overall responsibility for the Purchase Ledger function, although day to day duties will often be carried out by a junior clerk or assistant.

Typical duties include:

• Matching, batching and coding invoices.
• Processing expense claims.
• Dealing with payment queries and resolving payment disputes.
• Arranging payments by cheque, BACS or CHAPS.
• Reconciling supplier statements.
• Filing invoices and statements.

Purchase Ledger specialists work within the public sector or commerce and industry in any organisation or business that deals with and buys from external suppliers.

Qualifications

There are no requirements for qualifications for those wishing to work as Purchase Ledger Clerks. However, a sound level of numeracy and literacy is essential, with most employers requiring as a minimum GCSEs in Mathematics and English. Computer skills, especially knowledge of spreadsheets and databases, will always be useful for this function.

More senior positions in Purchase Ledger are often filled by experienced professionals who may be qualified accounting technicians (AAT) or qualified accountants.

Salary Snapshot

Recent salaries advertised on TopFinancialJobs (December 2009) include:

• £24-26,000 per annum for a part qualified (AAT) Purchase Ledger Clerk working for an information systems company in London.
• £25-35,000 per annum for a Purchase Ledger Manager working for a well known organisation in Buckinghamshire.
• £18-20,000 per annum for an AAT qualified Purchase Ledger Clerk working for a property company in West London.
• £14-15,000 per annum for a Purchase Ledger Clerk/Accounts Clerk working for an IT service provider in Bradford.

Are you a Purchase Ledger Clerk? Would you like to contribute to our "Day in the Life of..." series? Email us at info@topfinancialjobs.co.uk for more details.