Accounts Payable Position Description
Accounts-payable positions vary depending on the company, its size and the industry. Accounts-payable workers are called clerks, managers, general ledger accountants or staff accountants. Depending on the exact title of the position, an accounts-payable worker performs various duties, but the main purpose of the position is paying the company's bills.
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Accounts Payable Vendor List
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An accounts-payable worker maintains the accounts-payable vendor list, which is a ledger containing each vendor to which the business owes money, the amount of money due and the due date for the invoices. This ledger is completely maintained by an accounts-payable worker, who must keep the ledger accurate and up to date.
Verifying Invoices
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One key role for an accounts-payable worker is verifying authenticity of invoices. To avoid in-house fraud, a company establishes internal controls to avoid one person within a company from gaining too much control. Because of this, the workers receiving goods receive a packing slip, which the accounts-payable worker verifies against the actual invoice to ensure the invoice is not fraudulent.
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Posting
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After a worker verifies the invoices, an accounts-payable employee posts the invoices into a computer database by vendor, amount due and date due. At the time of posting, the accounts-payable worker also verifies if a discount is offered and enters that information in the system.
Correspondence with Vendors
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An important role for an accounts-payable worker is communication with vendors. If the accounts-payable department has questions about bills, a worker must communicate with the vendor to obtain answers. If a vendor has a question regarding payment on an invoice, the question is always directed to the accounts-payable department.
Paying Bills
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Accounts-payable workers pay all bills within the company. Often, companies with a beneficial set of internal controls require the separation of the duties of posting the bills and paying the bills to control fraud within the company. An accounts-payable worker must also take advantage of any discounts offered by vendors for early payment.
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References
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