If you are writing a resume or CV for an accounts payable assistant job, it is important to highlight certain skills that show that you will be effective in performing the duties of the position.
This post provides valuable skills that accounts payable assistants need to have to excel in their careers, which they can express in their resumes or CVs to get the attention of recruiters/employers.
But before we get into them, let’s get to know who an accounts payable assistant is.
Who is an Accounts Payable Assistant?
The accounts payable assistant receives, processes, and verifies invoices. They are also responsible for tracking and recording purchase orders, as well as processing payments.
You can see here the full job description for accounts payable assistants.
Now, back to accounts payable assistant skills:
According to Zippia, the skills accounts payable assistant should have include data entry, purchase orders, vendor invoices, and payroll, which are helpful in effectively performing the duties of the role and in earning more salary.
We have compiled a detailed list of important skills you need to succeed in your career as an accounts payable assistant, which you can put in your resume to boost its impact on recruiters/employers:
15 Important Accounts Payable Assistant Skills for Resume
- Organizing and Prioritizing Skills
As an accounts payable assistant, most of the job you have in your hands are not really dependent on your timing to determine when the jobs come in.
You are to be ready to take on any job assigned to you at any time you are called upon.
However, when you have a heap of jobs to do, it is necessary to call up your organizational skills and also prioritize the jobs you have at hand.
You mustn’t try to do everything all at the same time, it’s very difficult to do that if not impossible.
So, one of the ways to prioritize each job is to know the time required for its completion.
For example, if you have some jobs that have to be completed today, it makes sense that you focus on them and do the other ones later.
Recruiters/employers want accounts payable assistants to be organized and have the ability to prioritize tasks, and that is why you have to highlight these skills in your resume.
2. Attention to Details
Remember your role in the department is that of an assistant, which means you are attached probably to someone as a personal assistant or in other similar roles.
So, this means that you take orders and instructions from whoever you are attached to.
This is the person that tells you what to do, how to do it, and when to expect the completion of the jobs.
You really have to listen to the details of the job that you are given and ensure that you do just exactly what is required of you.
Anything short of that may not be acceptable to your employer.
So, attention to details comes into play in this regard.
When you are handed instructions, note every single detail at the time and store them in your memory and have them written down to make sure you don’t forget any.
3. Accuracy
Your role as an assistant is as important as that of the accounts payable role that you are assisting in the organization.
This is because your input will determine whether you will remain in the job for a long time and earn your promotion or lose your job.
Therefore, when doing your job, especially the ones that involve the manipulation of figures, you should be careful not to make glaring mistakes.
It could be damning and embarrassing for both you and the person you are reporting to.
So, get the best method you can employ to improve your accounting and mathematical skills and become better with figures.
You don’t expect your boss to be happy each time you produce a report that is littered with errors.
Employers certainly want to work with people that are accurate in their job.
So, make sure to let the employer know in your resume that you are accurate in performing your job as an accounts payable assistant.
4. Confidentiality
This is keeping some sensitive data or information secret and discrete. Of course, this is one thing you should be able to do no matter the capacity or role you find yourself in the organization.
You cannot afford to leak confidential information about your organization or be careless with it.
That is why you should be able to keep information safe with you without been careless about how you handle some sensitive files or documents at your disposal.
You should be intentional about how you handle information within and outside the organization.
If you get careless about some information or documents at your disposal, you stand a big chance of leaking sensitive information that shouldn’t be known by the wrong people in the organization.
Whether the leak was done intentionally or unintentionally, you may find yourself in trouble doing so.
Employers cannot afford to have someone in the role of accounts payable assistant who cannot maintain confidentiality because they may be in contact with sensitive documents.
Therefore, showing that you have the ability to maintain confidentiality in your resume can make it attractive to employers/recruiters.
5. Problem Solving skills
This is a general skill because anybody working in an organization has one or two problems to solve as part of their role in the organization.
The basic problem(s) you are expected to solve in your role as an accounts payable assistant are actually embedded in your job description.
It is in your job description that you are given a full understanding of what your job is all about.
So, fulfilling the demands of your job description is the major area where you apply this skill.
Your job description is fixed and does not really change for a long time.
However, apart from the details of your job description, you still have one or two problems or challenges you are bound to encounter while executing your job.
You have to work out those problems by yourself applying your problem-solving skills.
This is also an important skill to include in your accounts payable assistant resume because problems usually come up on the job and in the department and this requires people with problem-solving skills to resolve.
6. Relationship Building
This is one of the most important skills every employer looks out for in a prospective employee and even those already working in the organization.
This is because every employer understands the importance of sound and working relationship in the organization.
If your employer sees it as an important skill, then you need to see it that way too.
You cannot do much in an organization if you are not able to build a formidable relationship with your colleagues at work knowing too well that your success on the job is not 100% down to your abilities.
So, be intentional about your relationship with people around the workplace and ensure you do this basically for the purpose of enhancing the growth of the organization.
Build good, intentional, purposeful, and long-term relationships in your job as an accounts payable assistant.
If the ability of building relationships in the workplace is important to employers/recruiters, then ensure to state it in your resume or CV.
7. Information Management
Information management deals with the collation, representation, presentation, processing and storage of information for the future, or for the purpose of decision making.
When you are afforded some data/information, it is expected that you use that information to make something good i.e. make good judgments with the information at your disposal.
You cannot afford to be careless with the information you have acquired.
When you are in possession of some information, you should know what is expected of you to do with it, especially if you are dealing with classified information.
You should use the information only for the purpose it was made available to you.
The ability to effectively manage information is an important part of the accounts payable assistant’s role and you can include this skill in your resume.
8. Judgment
The ability to make sound judgment still remains a necessary skill for accounts payable assistants.
In the process of carrying out your job daily, you have decisions or judgments to make regardless of how big or small you may view it.
You have to be good in decision making to be effective in this job.
If you want to improve your ability to make sound judgments, then you should never neglect the importance of good analytical skills.
Making judgments based on assumption is not ideal and has a greater chance of producing errors.
If you can analyze well, then you can make good and rational judgments.
This is as simple as it sounds.
The major work to be done is analyzing what you are experimenting with and from your observation you can make your judgment.
The ability to make good judgment is what every employer wants. Therefore, adding this skill to your resume will enhance it.
9. Ability to Meet Deadlines
When and how you do your job is not really down to your timing.
As an accounts payable assistant, you are given a set time to complete each job regardless of whatever schedules you have to catch up with.
You should know that the ability to meet deadlines is not peculiar to your job only.
It is a fact that other people, both inside and outside of the organization are equally faced with the same requirement.
So, it is something you have to get used to and device an effective technique to help you meet up with every deadline.
How you do that may not necessarily matter to your boss or employer, all that is important is that the job is done within the specified time frame.
The job of accounts payable assistants usually require meeting deadlines. Therefore, it is important to show that you have this skill by adding it to your resume.
10. Professionalism
Though you may not be at the apex of the organization, however, it does not in any way mean that you are not a professional, you should start seeing yourself in that light.
If you see yourself in that light, then carry yourself that way.
Also, it is not all about the idea of knowing that you are a professional, but also behaving as one.
It is important to know that the organization demands that you behave that way too.
You should know what should be done and what should not be done within the confines of the organization.
So, what is needed from you every day in this job is you doing your job in a professional manner, ranging from how you dress to work, your method of speech, and how you relate with others in the organization, not forgetting the most important, which is how you carry out your job.
11. Integrity
Integrity matters a lot in the job of an accounts payable assistant.
It is a very sensitive job because you have at least two people to affirm that you are trustworthy in this job, which are your boss in the department and the CEO of the organization.
For you to be trustworthy in the eyes of these two important personalities in the organization, you should have passed some integrity tests set for you by them and failing these tests can really affect your chances of remaining in this job in the future.
Being a person of integrity is really not easy but then it is not also impossible.
That is why you should mind your conduct both inside and outside the organization to make sure that you have nothing that can make you to be indicted by the relevant authorities in the organization.
Showing that you are someone of integrity in your resume will certainly enhance its effectiveness with employers/recruiters.
12. Good Attitude to Work
Nothing vexes an employer more than the sight of an employee who sees their job as a punishment or something not worth doing.
This could lead to the employer looking for a replacement almost immediately they notice such attitude.
So, try not to sell the impression to your boss in the office that you can do whatever you like in the organization.
You should give your boss the impression that you are not doing the job only because of the pay/salary. It is sure not a good attitude.
Also, how you behave in the workplace and your relationship with other people in the workplace can define your attitude to be good or bad.
Then you have the issue of punctuality, which is very important in defining whether your heart is still with the job or not.
13. IT Proficiency
We talked about the issue of meeting up with deadlines earlier; you can make this possible by being proficient in information technology.
This is especially needful, especially if you have a job that involves rigorous and tedious mathematical processes.
Such a job will require you to have a very good knowledge of Microsoft Excel and other accounting/mathematical software tools to help you arrive at a good result and within a short period of time.
Proficiency in information technology is certainly a good idea to consider working as an accounts payable assistant.
The work of an accounts payable assistant involves the use of certain software tools. Therefore, having the knowledge and skills in using these tools and stating that in your resume is helpful in boosting its effectiveness with recruiters/employers.
14. Active Learning
This is one thing you should never joke with or overlook. Some people have been phased out in their job today due to lack of improvement in their input or output as the case may be.
Lack of improvement has never done anyone any form of good, no matter the kind of job they do.
Lack of improvement is as a result of lack of active learning.
This means, lack of intentional attitude towards gaining more knowledge.
You need to learn and know more on your job. There are lots of things you don’t know yet that you need to consider knowing, especially if it has to do with your job.
You can learn the fastest and most efficient technologies related to your job by going to the internet and making researches.
You can go to YouTube and search out some skills in your job and learn how to employ them.
Self-improvement from active learning is something employers/recruiters are interested in seeing in a job applicant’s resume. So, go ahead to add it to your accounts payable assistant resume.
15. Data Entry Skills
Data entry skills are useful in the work of an accounts payable assistant.
Data entry has to do with entering of data in the computer or any other specified document either for storage purposes or information dissemination.
So, for whichever purpose, your concern should be to be able to make data entry your major skill.
Data entry is part of the job of an accounts payable assistant and is something you should be able to do without any form of struggle.
When doing this, two things are important for you to achieve: accuracy and speed.
You have to manage your time and also ensure that you are near perfect in terms of accuracy.
Data entry is a useful skill to have as an accounts payable assistant and should be highlighted in your resume.
Conclusion
The job of an accounts payable assistant is more of an administrative role, though at less powerful level compared to other executives in an organization.
They organize and put a lot of things in order.
The skills that have been given above will help you succeed or make a good impact in your job as an accounts payable assistant.
Also, don’t forget to add them to your resume or CV for the employer/recruiter to have an idea of how effective you will be as an accounts payable assistant in their company.
