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Accountants and Auditors vs Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Accountants and Auditors and Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Accountants and Auditors Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$81,680
$55,290
Employment · BLS OEWS
1,448,290
156,950
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
66th pct
73rd pct

At a glance

Dimension Accountants and Auditors Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks
Median pay $81,680 $55,290
Employment 1,448,290 156,950
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+4.6%) Declining (-16.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 124,200 13,000
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 66th pct High · 73rd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 89th pct · 51% of tasks 98th pct · 61% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (52.9%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman Yes Yes

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Economics and Accounting, Oral Comprehension, English Language, Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Written Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Near Vision, Information Ordering, Administration and Management, Customer and Personal Service, Writing, Judgment and Decision Making, Monitoring, Complex Problem Solving, Mathematical Reasoning, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Mathematics, Coordination, Category Flexibility, Number Facility, Active Learning, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Time Management, Administrative, Computers and Electronics, Flexibility of Closure, Perceptual Speed.

Specific to Accountants and Auditors

  • Law and Government
  • Persuasion
  • Negotiation

Specific to Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Selective Attention
  • Communications and Media

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Accounting software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Enterprise resource planning ERP software , Business intelligence and data analysis software , Word processing software , Data base user interface and query software .

Specific to Accountants and Auditors

Specific to Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Accountants and Auditors or Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Accountants and Auditors vs Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/accountants-and-auditors-vs-payroll-and-timekeeping-clerks

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Accountants and Auditors vs Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/accountants-and-auditors-vs-payroll-and-timekeeping-clerks

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-accountants-and-auditors-vs-payroll-and-timekeeping-clerks,
  title  = {Accountants and Auditors vs Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/accountants-and-auditors-vs-payroll-and-timekeeping-clerks}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.