Book-keepers
payroll managers and wages clerks
Book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks maintain and balance records of financial transactions, oversee the operation of payroll functions and calculate hours worked, wages due and other relevant contributions and deductions.
- Employees (UK)
- 272k
- Median annual pay
- £27,743
- Exposure score ?
- 6.5/10 High 9.3/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 9.3/10 with-tools reading, strict is 6.5/10
- Wage exposure
- £4.90bn £7.02bn
Higher exposure than 98% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of the routine work in this role can already be done by a capable model. The role does not disappear, but its shape changes, and one person can credibly cover the work of several.
If you are in this role
Stop spending time on what a model can do well. Your value is judgement, relationships and the parts of the work that need you in the room. Redesign the workflow around that before someone else does it for you.
Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's models. Roles like this are being rebuilt, usually not by disappearing but by one person using AI to produce what several did.
If you are in this role
Be the person doing the rebuilding. People who learn to run this kind of work with AI become very valuable, and the ones who wait tend to have the change made for them.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Verify accuracy of billing data and revise any errors.
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Resolve discrepancies in accounting records.
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Prepare itemized statements, bills, or invoices and record amounts due for items purchased or services rendered.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Verify accuracy of billing data and revise any errors.
-
Resolve discrepancies in accounting records.
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Prepare itemized statements, bills, or invoices and record amounts due for items purchased or services rendered.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Billing and Posting Clerks" (43-3021.00).
What AI can already do
20 of 28 tasks, unaided
Verify accuracy of billing data and revise any errors.
Resolve discrepancies in accounting records.
Prepare itemized statements, bills, or invoices and record amounts due for items purchased or services rendered.
Operate typing, adding, calculating, or billing machines.
Review documents, such as purchase orders, sales tickets, charge slips, or hospital records, to compute fees or charges due.
Post stop-payment notices to prevent payment of protested checks.
Keep records of invoices and support documents.
Perform bookkeeping work, including posting data or keeping other records concerning costs of goods or services or the shipment of goods.
Track accumulated hours and dollar amounts charged to each client job to calculate client fees for professional services, such as legal or accounting services.
Consult sources, such as rate books, manuals, or insurance company representatives, to determine specific charges or information such as rules, regulations, or government tax and tariff information.
Compare previously prepared bank statements with canceled checks and reconcile discrepancies.
Take orders for imprinted checks.
Encode and cancel checks, using bank machines.
Compute credit terms, discounts, shipment charges, or rates for goods or services to complete billing documents.
Update manuals when rates, rules, or regulations are amended.
Route statements for mailing or over-the-counter delivery to customers.
Answer inquiries regarding rates, routing, or procedures.
Compile reports of cost factors, such as labor, production, storage, and equipment.
Create billing documents, shipping labels, credit memorandums, or credit forms.
Return checks to customers or retrieve checks returned to customers in error, adjusting accounts and answering inquiries about errors as necessary.
What still needs a person
8 of 28 tasks
Verify signatures and required information on checks.
Contact customers to obtain or relay account information.
Weigh envelopes containing statements to determine correct postage and affix postage, using stamps or metering equipment.
Load machines with statements, cancelled checks, or envelopes to prepare statements for distribution to customers or stuff envelopes by hand.
Review compiled data on operating costs and revenues to set rates.
Monitor equipment to ensure proper operation.
Fix minor problems, such as equipment jams, and notify repair personnel of major equipment problems.
Perform general administrative tasks, such as answering telephones, scheduling appointments, and ordering supplies or equipment.
Tasks via O*NET "Billing and Posting Clerks" (43-3021.00).
What AI can already do
24 of 28 tasks, with tools
Verify accuracy of billing data and revise any errors.
Resolve discrepancies in accounting records.
Prepare itemized statements, bills, or invoices and record amounts due for items purchased or services rendered.
Operate typing, adding, calculating, or billing machines.
Review documents, such as purchase orders, sales tickets, charge slips, or hospital records, to compute fees or charges due.
Post stop-payment notices to prevent payment of protested checks.
Keep records of invoices and support documents.
Verify signatures and required information on checks.
Perform bookkeeping work, including posting data or keeping other records concerning costs of goods or services or the shipment of goods.
Track accumulated hours and dollar amounts charged to each client job to calculate client fees for professional services, such as legal or accounting services.
Contact customers to obtain or relay account information.
Consult sources, such as rate books, manuals, or insurance company representatives, to determine specific charges or information such as rules, regulations, or government tax and tariff information.
Compare previously prepared bank statements with canceled checks and reconcile discrepancies.
Take orders for imprinted checks.
Encode and cancel checks, using bank machines.
Compute credit terms, discounts, shipment charges, or rates for goods or services to complete billing documents.
Update manuals when rates, rules, or regulations are amended.
Route statements for mailing or over-the-counter delivery to customers.
Review compiled data on operating costs and revenues to set rates.
Answer inquiries regarding rates, routing, or procedures.
Compile reports of cost factors, such as labor, production, storage, and equipment.
Create billing documents, shipping labels, credit memorandums, or credit forms.
Return checks to customers or retrieve checks returned to customers in error, adjusting accounts and answering inquiries about errors as necessary.
Perform general administrative tasks, such as answering telephones, scheduling appointments, and ordering supplies or equipment.
What still needs a person
4 of 28 tasks
Weigh envelopes containing statements to determine correct postage and affix postage, using stamps or metering equipment.
Load machines with statements, cancelled checks, or envelopes to prepare statements for distribution to customers or stuff envelopes by hand.
Monitor equipment to ensure proper operation.
Fix minor problems, such as equipment jams, and notify repair personnel of major equipment problems.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Administrative and secretarial occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons