An alternative to hiring an accounts receivable clerk

Instead of hiring an accounts receivable clerk, you can hand the work to Dull: a done-for-you back-office service that sends your invoices, matches incoming payments and chases overdue accounts in the tools you already use, for a flat monthly fee, month to month, with a fixed quote on a 15-minute call. Most businesses are live in about a week, against a median of 39 days just to fill a job opening.

This page covers what an AR clerk actually does, what hiring one costs once benefits are added, how the other options compare, and where Dull fits and where it doesn’t.

What an accounts receivable clerk actually does

• Create and send invoices when work is finished or goods ship.
• Match incoming payments to open invoices and post them.
• Keep the AR aging report current.
• Send reminders on overdue invoices and log the replies.
• Set up new customers and keep billing details current.
• Flag disputes, short payments and credit requests for a decision.

What hiring an accounts receivable clerk really costs

BLS doesn’t count accounts receivable clerks separately. They fall under bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031), a group of about 1.37 million US workers.

BLS reports that wages make up 70.0% of what private employers spend per worker, and benefits and legally required payroll taxes make up the other 30.0% (Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026). Dividing the median salary by 0.70 gives the all-in figure. It still leaves out job ads, recruiter fees, equipment, software seats and the hours you spend training, so the real cost of a hire is higher. Pay also varies by city: the BLS page has state and metro figures.

This isn’t a like-for-like comparison, and we won’t pretend it is. A full-time employee works about 2,080 hours a year and can pick up anything you hand them. Dull’s pilot covers one process, up to 300 standard records a month. If the seat is bigger than that, tell us on the call and we’ll tell you honestly whether we can cover it.

Your options compared

Temp cost is the median hourly wage plus a typical agency markup of 50% to 65% (American Society of Employers), over 2,080 hours a year. The virtual assistant range is the middle half of full-time asking rates in a 2026 survey of 1,385 Filipino VA applicants (Outsource Accelerator).

• Hiring gets you a dedicated person who learns your business and can take on anything. You also carry the salary, benefits, recruiting, training, and the gap when they’re out or leave.
• A temp agency covers the seat fast with no recruiting on your side. You pay the markup, and you still train and check the work, sometimes again with each new temp.
• An offshore virtual assistant is the cheapest per month. You find, train and manage them, check the work yourself, and handle time zones and turnover.
• A bookkeeper keeps your books accurate and closes the month. Daily invoicing, entry and chasing are a different job, so ask whether they’re included and what they cost.
• Dull is a set price, live in about a week, with a person reviewing every exception and a weekly report. It covers defined, repeatable work, not everything a full-time employee would do.

What Dull handles and what it doesn’t

What we handle

• Invoices created and sent from QuickBooks, Xero or your billing system, using the job, order or timesheet records you already have.
• Payments matched to invoices. Anything that doesn’t match, like a short payment or a payment with no reference, is set aside and sent to you with the question.
• Reminder emails on overdue accounts, on the schedule and in the wording you approve.
• A current aging report, and a Friday summary of what was billed, what came in and what’s still open.
• New customer setup, checked against your rules before the first invoice goes out.

For example, picture a field-services business that finishes 60 jobs a week. Each completed job becomes an invoice the same day, payments are matched as they arrive, and a polite reminder goes out at 7, 14 and 30 days overdue. Disputes and payment-plan requests come to the owner as a short list with the context attached, instead of sitting in the inbox.

What we don’t do

• Paying bills, sending payments or moving money. You approve and pay.
• Payroll, tax filings or anything that needs a licence.
• Approval decisions, like credit limits, refunds, write-offs or payment plans. We prepare them; you decide.
• Medical or dental patient records (HIPAA) and card numbers. They aren’t part of the standard pilot: if your work involves them, tell us on the call and we’ll go through what’s needed before anything starts.
• Phone calls with your customers. The pilot works by email and in your systems.

How the switch works

1. A 15-minute call. Tell us which seat is empty or which work is piling up. We’ll tell you straight whether we can take it on.
2. We learn your rules. You give us a login with only the access the job needs, about 20 examples of finished work, your “always” and “never” rules, and one person who answers our questions.
3. Shadow first. We run alongside your current process on real records, and you check our output against yours before we take anything over.
4. Live in about a week. Then you get a summary every Friday: what got done, what’s waiting on you and anything blocked. It’s month to month, so if we stop being worth it, you cancel.

When hiring is the better choice

Hire if you need someone on the phone with customers every day, handling complex disputes or negotiating with large accounts, or if receivables is one part of a broader finance role you want one person to own.

Related

Covering more than one seat? See the alternative to hiring a collections specialist, the alternative to hiring a billing specialist, the alternative to hiring an accounts payable clerk, and what Dull costs. Want the cost math for your own business? Read what an empty AR seat really costs.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an accounts receivable clerk cost?

BLS groups AR clerks with bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks, whose median pay was $50,670 in May 2025. With benefits and payroll taxes that is about $72,400 a year, or $6,030 a month. Dull charges a flat monthly fee, month to month, usually well below the all-in cost of a full-time hire. You get a fixed quote on a 15-minute call.

Can I outsource accounts receivable without losing control?

Yes. With Dull, anything involving money or judgment waits for your approval, such as credits, write-offs and payment plans. You get a Friday summary, and you can remove our access at any time.

Will Dull call my customers about overdue invoices?

Not in the pilot. We send reminder emails on the schedule and in the wording you approve, and give you a short list of accounts that need a call from you.

Which accounting software does Dull work in?

The tools you already use, such as QuickBooks, Xero, Gmail, Outlook and Google Sheets. You create a login for us with only the access the job needs.

How fast can Dull start?

Usually about a week from kickoff: a few days learning your rules on real examples, a few days running alongside your current process, then live.