Billing clerks have been engaged with ecommerce jobs in business undertakings. In fact they make entries ledgers and verify invoices and purchase orders to maintain and update records of a company’s business transactions. They are responsible for posting items in accounts payable or receivable, making out bills and invoices, and verifying the company’s rates for certain products and services. Billing clerks perform much of their work with the aid of adding machines and calculators. As long as people have engaged in trade and commerce, there has been the need to record business transactions. Wealthy traders during the early Egyptians and Babylonian civilizations often used slaves to make markings on clay tablets to keep track of purchase and sales.
With the rise of monarchies in Europe, billing clerks were already assigned with e commerce jobs. They were needed to record the business transactions of kings, queens, and other wealthy individuals, and also to monitor the status of the royal treasury. The Industrial Revolution, with its increase in the level of commercial transactions, intensified the need for billing clerks in all areas of business. Today, although modern technology has changed the way they record transactions, billing clerks continue to occupy a central role in the business world.
With its ecommerce careers, billing clerks are responsible for keeping records and up-to-date accounts of all business transactions. This entails a variety of duties, such as typing and mailing bills for services or products provided and updating files to reflect the payment of these fees when they arrive. Billing clerks also check invoices that come from other companies to ensure that the products or services specified on the invoice have in fact been delivered and there are no overcharges or other errors. Billing clerks ensure that invoices are paid in a timely manner.
As part of ecommerce employment, the billing clerk is responsible for entering all transaction information onto an account ledger that reflects the items bought or sold in a transaction as well as the credit terms and the date of the transactions. For example, if a billing clerk works for an insurance company, the transaction sheet will reflect when bills are payable and the amount is due. As payments come in, credit is applied to this overall figure and any discounts are applied. Summary statements are prepared for periodic review by management officials. All correspondence is carefully filed for future reference. Calculators are a billing clerk’s primary tool, and increasingly computers are being utilized to process and store information. Billing clerks are also often responsible for working on the preparation of summary statements of financial status, profit and loss statements, and payroll lists and deductions. Clerks also write company checks, compute government tax reports, and tabulate personnel profit shares.
Billing clerks set up shipping and receiving dates and are also troubleshooters, they contact suppliers or clients when payments are past due or incorrect and help solve the minor problems that invariably occur when two or more companies interact.
Qualifications to become a Billing Clerk
A high school diploma is usually sufficient for a beginning billing clerk, although business courses in the operation of office machinery and bookkeeping are also helpful in doing jobs in commerce. Prospective billing clerks should have some mechanical ability (for operating business machines); the ability to concentrate for long periods of time on repetitious tasks, and have mathematical abilities. Legible handwriting is a necessity. For high school students, they should take courses in English, mathematics, and as many business-related courses such as typing and bookkeeping as possible. Community colleges and vocational schools often offer business education courses that will provide training for file clerks. Students may get experience in this field by taking on clerical or bookkeeping responsibility with a school club or other organization. In addition, some school work-study programs may have opportunities with businesses for part-time, practical, on-the-job training. Individuals may have the opportunity to get training in the operation of business machinery, like calculators, word processors, and many others, through courses offered by some business schools. Another way of gaining insight into the responsibilities of a billing clerk is to talk to someone already working in the field. Those interested in securing an entry-level position should contact an appropriate company directly. Major employers of billing clerks include hospitals, insurance companies, and any other large company.
Billing clerks usually begin their ecommerce employment in the more routine types of tasks such as the simple recording of transactions by hand or machine. With experience, they may advance to more complicated assignments and assume a greater responsibility for the total work to be completed. With additional training, billing clerks may be promoted to the position of bookkeeper or accountant. Billing clerks with good leadership skills may become group managers or supervisors.
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