How do I transition from an Accounting Clerk position to an Accounting Assistant position.?
Asked by electriclady1383
What skills and tasks do Accounting Assistants need to have or know? Currently, I am working as an Accounting/File Clerk. I do 75% accounts payable work and 25% is Accounts receivable and filing. I work for a big company, the accounting department consists of an Accounts Payable Clerk, Accounts Receivable clerk, Accounting Assistant, Manager, Controller and VP of Finance. There are no positions opening. I process high volumes of invoices, cheques, writing cheques, some account reconciliation.. I can pretty much do everything the A/P clerk can. This is my second job as an Acct. clerk and I have about 2 years of experience. I feel that I am not learning as much as I would like to in the Accounting field. My job it seems is very simple; while I do appreciate having this great job I can't stand that it bores me. My dream job would be an Accounting Manager in the future (5 years from now). But my current goal is to be an Account Analyst.( in the next 2 years) I know that the last person at our company, who was our Accounting Assistant got a job as an Account Analyst at a bank. I have a college diploma in Accounting. I am currently working on getting my Commerce degree at a University (which my company is paying for). I am also enrolled in the CGA program. I would really like to use more accounting knowledge in my job. So…I don’t exactly know what to do. I have asked our Controller if I could do some work that the Accounting assistant can do b/c she is always swamped with work. The Assistant agreed that she would like that, but because of some control issues, I can’t do the job. So, what tasks do I need to learn and know and study to be an effective Accounting Assistant in my next job (when I start looking for one)? How many years of experience do you need in the Accounting field? I am very hard working, pretty smart, and outgoing. Thank you all for the advice

Best Answer:
Keep working on your CGA, and know that if the company is paying for this you have some hope of moving up when the time is right. Keep asking for more work, keep studying, and apply to some other places too. Things will shift around so you can do more eventually...so don't rush things. Sometimes if you are doing courses at night...its nice to have an easy routine job during the day. If life throws you a curve ball, you are learning new joby, and trying to study...well things aren't so much fun anymore. Where your at is a good jumping place...so stay with it and know something will come up - either at this job or somewhere else.

i think you are already at the dead end in your present company. two years work experience as accounting clerk is more than enough experience. move on, use your education and your experience to apply for a much higher position with higher responsibilities. if getting a promotion is next to impossible in your current employer then find it outside. try applying for assistant position or supervisory level and see if you get anyone interested then go for it.
Answered by nico