Job Description: Accounts Receivable Specialist (2026)

TLDR

An Accounts Receivable Specialist manages money customers owe a business, handling invoicing, payment application, collections follow-up, dispute resolution, and AR reporting. The best job description for an accounts receivable specialist names the specific AR problem the company is hiring to solve, whether that is billing accuracy, cash application, collections, or month-end close support. This guide includes a copy-ready template, a role-scoping framework, salary benchmarks, interview questions, and common mistakes that cause generic job postings to attract the wrong candidates.

What Is an Accounts Receivable Specialist?

An Accounts Receivable Specialist is a finance or accounting support professional who manages money owed to the business by customers. The role typically includes preparing or reviewing invoices, applying incoming payments, reconciling customer accounts, following up on overdue balances, resolving billing disputes, maintaining accurate AR records, and reporting on receivables aging and collection status.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not use “Accounts Receivable Specialist” as a single standardized occupational title. Instead, the work spans three related BLS categories: Billing and Posting Clerks (who compile billing data and prepare invoices), Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (who maintain financial records), and Bill and Account Collectors (who contact delinquent customers and track collection status). An AR Specialist sits at the intersection of these functions.

That overlap matters. It explains why the title means different things at different companies, and why writing a precise job description for an accounts receivable specialist requires understanding what the role actually needs to accomplish.

If you’re building a finance team and considering nearshore talent in Latin America, defining the AR role clearly is the first step before sourcing candidates.

What AR Problem Are You Hiring to Solve?

Most job description templates treat the Accounts Receivable Specialist as a single, uniform role. It is not. The title gets used for at least five distinct jobs, and the right job description depends on which bottleneck the company needs to fix.

The Role-Scoping Framework

Invoices are late or wrong. Hire a billing-focused AR Specialist. Emphasize invoice generation, PO and contract review, customer portal billing, EDI, and sales order verification. Screen for accuracy, contract reading, and ERP billing module experience.

Payments arrive but are not applied cleanly. Hire a cash application AR Specialist. Emphasize cash posting, remittance matching, unapplied cash cleanup, lockbox processing, bank reconciliation, and sub-ledger to GL matching. Screen for Excel, ERP proficiency, and reconciliation logic.

Past-due balances keep growing. Hire a collections-focused AR Specialist. Emphasize aging review, customer follow-up, promise-to-pay tracking, payment plans, and escalation. Screen for communication, persistence, prioritization, and documentation discipline.

Customers short-pay or dispute invoices. Hire a deductions and disputes AR Specialist. Emphasize short-pay research, credit memos, chargebacks, deductions, dispute portals, and cross-functional resolution. Screen for investigation skills and customer service.

Finance lacks AR visibility. Hire a reporting and month-end AR Specialist. Emphasize aging reports, DSO, collection effectiveness index, cash forecast inputs, close support, and audit schedules. Screen for Excel pivots and lookups, reporting discipline, and a controls mindset.

Current LinkedIn job postings from staffing firms like Aston Carter and Insight Global confirm this pattern. Each posting emphasizes a different mix of billing, collections, reconciliation, DSO tracking, ERP tools, and client relationship work. A generic job description attracts generic applicants. A precise one names the bottleneck.

Accounts Receivable Specialist Job Description Template

Below is a copy-ready job description template for an accounts receivable specialist. Adjust the responsibilities and qualifications based on which AR problem you are solving.

Job Summary

We are looking for an Accounts Receivable Specialist to manage customer invoicing, payment application, account reconciliation, and collections follow-up. This role ensures invoices are accurate, payments are posted correctly, customer account issues are resolved quickly, and outstanding balances are collected in a timely and professional manner. The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, comfortable working with accounting systems and spreadsheets, and able to communicate clearly with customers and internal teams.

Responsibilities

• Prepare, review, and send customer invoices
• Verify billing details against contracts, purchase orders, sales orders, pricing, and service delivery
• Record and apply customer payments, including ACH, wire, check, credit card, lockbox, or portal payments
• Match payments to open invoices and resolve unapplied cash
• Monitor AR aging reports and identify overdue accounts
• Contact customers regarding outstanding balances, payment status, and billing questions
• Research and resolve discrepancies, short payments, overpayments, credit balances, deductions, and misapplied payments
• Process credit memos, adjustments, refunds, and write-offs according to company policy
• Maintain accurate customer account records, collection notes, and payment documentation
• Reconcile AR sub-ledger balances to the general ledger as needed
• Prepare AR reports, customer statements, aging summaries, collection updates, and DSO-related reporting
• Support month-end close, audit requests, and process improvement initiatives
• Collaborate with sales, customer success, operations, billing, and finance teams to resolve customer account issues

These responsibilities synthesize guidance from the Association for Financial Professionals, which groups AR Specialist work into invoicing, payment processing, reconciliation, collections, reporting, customer relations, compliance, and process improvement.

Required Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent; associate’s or bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or business preferred
• 1 to 3 years of experience in accounts receivable, billing, collections, cash application, bookkeeping, or accounting support
• Working knowledge of AR processes, invoices, payment terms, aging reports, and customer account reconciliations
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
• Experience with ERP or accounting software such as NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, QuickBooks, Workday, or similar systems
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• High attention to detail and accuracy
• Ability to prioritize multiple accounts, deadlines, and follow-up tasks
• Professional customer service mindset

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with high-volume AR, shared services, B2B collections, customer portals, EDI, lockbox processing, deductions, chargebacks, or multi-entity accounting
• Intermediate Excel skills, including pivot tables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, SUMIFS, filters, and large data exports
• Experience supporting month-end close, AR reconciliation, audit schedules, or DSO reporting
• Bilingual English/Spanish communication skills

Common Accounts Receivable Specialist Duties Explained

The responsibilities listed in the template above map to a practical workflow: the order-to-cash cycle. Understanding this cycle helps hiring managers write better job descriptions and helps job seekers decode what the role actually involves.

Invoicing and Billing

The process starts when customer or order data becomes an invoice. The AR Specialist verifies customer details, contract terms, purchase orders, pricing, taxes, discounts, and service or product delivery. They generate or review invoices and send them through email, ERP, EDI, or customer portals.

Incorrect invoices are one of the biggest causes of delayed cash. If the invoice amount does not match the contract or purchase order, the customer’s AP team will reject it or short-pay it. That creates extra work downstream. Billing accuracy is not administrative filler; it directly affects cash flow.

Cash Application

When customer payments arrive (via ACH, wire, check, credit card, lockbox, or portal), the AR Specialist matches remittance to open invoices and applies cash to the correct customer account. This sounds straightforward, but in practice it involves frequent exceptions: payments without invoice numbers, partial payments, overpayments, and batched remittances covering dozens of invoices.

Practitioners on Reddit report that even roles described as having “no Excel” often end up exporting aging data or payment files into spreadsheets for analysis. Cash application without decent spreadsheet skills is hard to do well.

Collections Follow-Up

For collections-heavy roles, the AR Specialist reviews aging reports, contacts customers about overdue invoices, sends statements and reminders, negotiates or documents payment plans, and escalates disputes or high-risk accounts.

One Reddit discussion about AR work offered practical advice: be consistent with payment due-date communications. Email before the due date, on the due date, after the due date, then escalate. Build rapport with AP contacts at your larger accounts. Collections success comes from cadence and relationship-building, not just “calling people.”

A Reddit hiring post for an AR Collections Specialist described structured call and email cadence, payment commitment tracking, notes in ERP/CRM, broken promise tracking, and escalation protocols. If your role involves this kind of work, say so in the accounts receivable specialist job description. Do not bury collections behind vague language like “data entry.”

Dispute Resolution

This is one of the clearest differences between an AR Specialist and a basic AR Clerk. The Specialist investigates short payments, overpayments, misapplied payments, deductions, chargebacks, credits, refunds, and unapplied cash. They coordinate with sales, customer success, billing, operations, and customer AP teams to resolve issues.

Dispute resolution requires judgment. It is not a task that can be fully automated, and it demands someone who can read contracts, understand pricing agreements, and communicate calmly when a customer disagrees with an invoice.

Reporting and Month-End Close Support

At the reporting level, AR Specialists reconcile the AR sub-ledger to the general ledger, support month-end close, prepare aging reports, cash collection updates, DSO reports, dispute summaries, and audit documentation. This is where the role starts overlapping with staff accounting, and it is the area most often under-described in generic job descriptions.

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook notes that bookkeeping and accounting clerks have a projected employment decline of 6% from 2024 to 2034, largely due to automation. But that statistic describes data-entry-heavy work. The parts of AR that involve exception handling, customer communication, reconciliation logic, and process improvement are harder to automate and remain in demand.

Required Skills and Qualifications

Hard Skills

Excel or Google Sheets. Every accounts receivable specialist job description should include spreadsheet skills, but calibrate the requirement. For entry-level roles, ask for basic formulas, filters, sorting, and data cleanup. For mid-level roles, ask for pivot tables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, SUMIFS, aging analysis, and reconciliation.

ERP and accounting software. Common systems in current postings include SAP, NetSuite, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics/Great Plains, JD Edwards, Workday, Zuora, Stripe, Tesorio, HighRadius, and QuickBooks. O*NET lists accounting, billing/invoicing, document management, financial analysis, and office suite software as relevant for related occupations.

Cash application and reconciliation. Matching payments to invoices, clearing unapplied cash, and reconciling the AR sub-ledger to the GL are core technical skills.

Invoice processing. Generating accurate invoices from contracts, purchase orders, or service delivery records.

Credit memos, deductions, and write-offs. Processing adjustments correctly and understanding company approval policies.

Soft Skills

Professional communication. AR Specialists regularly contact customers about payments, billing questions, disputed charges, and payment plans. This is a customer-facing role, even if it does not carry that label.

Follow-up discipline. Collections-heavy AR work depends on documented follow-up, reminders, escalation, and broken promise tracking. Effective feedback and performance habits matter here, especially on remote teams where managers cannot observe daily work directly.

Detail orientation. AR errors create cash delays, customer disputes, incorrect aging, and bad reporting.

Prioritization. An AR Specialist managing hundreds of accounts needs to decide which overdue balances to pursue first, which disputes to escalate, and which reconciliation items to clear before close.

Problem solving. Practitioners on Reddit describe day-to-day AR work as involving constant exceptions: unallocated cash, misapplied payments, short pays, credit balances, and billing discrepancies. One user starting a new AR role mentioned nervousness about handling these issues, and experienced commenters reassured them that problem-solving skills matter more than memorizing every possible scenario.

Education and Experience Guidance

Do not assume every AR Specialist needs a bachelor’s degree. Many roles require a high school diploma or equivalent, with an associate’s or bachelor’s degree preferred. ZipRecruiter lists a high school diploma/GED as required and a bachelor’s in finance or accounting as preferred.

Match the experience requirement to the actual complexity:

Level	Experience	Suggested Wording
Entry-level AR Clerk	0 to 1 year	“Prior AR, billing, customer service, admin, bookkeeping, or data-entry experience preferred.”
AR Specialist	1 to 3 years	“1 to 3 years of AR, billing, collections, cash application, or accounting support experience.”
Senior AR Specialist	3 to 5+ years	“3 to 5+ years with complex reconciliations, deductions, ERP systems, month-end close, or multi-entity portfolios.”
AR Manager	5+ years plus leadership	“Experience supervising AR/collections teams, credit policy, KPI ownership, and process improvement.”

Current LinkedIn postings support these ranges. Aston Carter lists 1 to 3+ years for an AR/billing role, while Insight Global lists 2 to 4 years for B2B collections and AR experience.

Accounts Receivable Specialist Salary

Salary varies by location, industry, experience, software stack, and whether the role is billing-heavy, collections-heavy, or reconciliation-heavy. A few benchmarks help set expectations.

Indeed’s 2026 employer data lists a common Accounts Receivable Specialist salary of $23.15 per hour with a range of $8.25 to $45.35 per hour and references an average annual salary around $55,000. For a related occupational benchmark, BLS May 2025 data for Billing and Posting Clerks reports a median annual wage of $48,500 and mean annual wage of $51,070 with estimated national employment of 404,060.

These numbers differ because “Accounts Receivable Specialist” maps to multiple BLS-adjacent occupations. A collections-only AR role will typically pay differently than a senior AR role that includes GL reconciliation, month-end close, and audit schedules.

For companies hiring nearshore or remote AR talent, salary should be benchmarked by country, language requirements, customer-facing responsibilities, and system complexity. Understanding the advantages and trade-offs of nearshore outsourcing helps set realistic compensation expectations.

AR Specialist vs. Related Roles

Title confusion is one of the biggest problems in AR hiring. Here is how the Accounts Receivable Specialist compares to similar roles.

AR Specialist vs. AR Clerk

An AR Clerk is usually more transactional: invoice entry, payment posting, filing, statements, and basic customer account updates. An AR Specialist typically handles more complex account research, reconciliations, disputes, collections follow-up, aging analysis, and cross-functional communication. The AFP separates these roles explicitly, with the Specialist owning reconciliation, collections, reporting, compliance, and process improvement responsibilities that the Clerk role does not include.

AR Specialist vs. Collections Specialist

A Collections Specialist focuses almost entirely on overdue accounts: customer follow-up, payment commitments, escalation, and documentation. An AR Specialist may include collections but often also covers invoice accuracy, cash application, reconciliations, and reporting. If 70% of the job is calling customers about past-due balances, the title should reflect that.

AR Specialist vs. Billing Specialist

A Billing Specialist focuses on creating accurate invoices from contracts, orders, time entries, usage, milestones, subscriptions, or service delivery. An AR Specialist covers a broader post-invoice workflow: payment application, disputes, aging, collections, and reporting.

AR Specialist vs. Accounts Payable Specialist

Accounts Receivable focuses on collecting money from customers. Accounts Payable focuses on paying vendors and suppliers. They are opposite sides of the same cash flow equation. Indeed’s FAQ states this distinction directly.

When the Job Is Really Staff Accounting

A Reddit user considering an “Accounts Receivable Specialist” offer listed duties that included GL reconciliations, monthly financial statements, budget forecasts, journal entries, audit schedules, EDI transactions, and DSO management. Commenters pointed out that the job looked more like a staff accountant role than a narrow AR position, and one user with construction experience noted that construction AR can involve complex retainage, contract billing, and revenue recognition.

The takeaway: if the accounts receivable specialist job description includes journal entries, financial statements, budget support, or audit schedules, consider whether the correct title (and compensation) should be Staff Accountant or Senior AR Specialist.

Interview Questions for Accounts Receivable Specialists

Good interview questions test AR process knowledge, problem-solving ability, and communication skills. Entry-level interviews, according to practitioners on Reddit, tend to focus on fit and work style: deadlines, juggling tasks, staying organized, handling difficult customers, and prioritizing overdue accounts.

Screening Questions

1. Walk me through the accounts receivable process from invoice creation to payment application.
2. How do you prioritize which overdue accounts to follow up on first?
3. What information do you need before contacting a customer about a past-due invoice?
4. How would you handle a customer who says they never received the invoice?
5. How would you research a short payment?
6. What is unapplied cash, and how would you resolve it?
7. What AR reports have you used or prepared?
8. What Excel functions do you use most often for AR work?
9. Which ERP or accounting systems have you used?
10. How do you document collection notes and follow-up commitments?

Scenario Questions

Customer paid $8,500 on a $10,000 invoice with no explanation. A strong candidate asks for remittance, checks for deductions or credits, contacts customer AP, documents the short pay, and escalates if needed.

A large customer is 60 days past due but disputes the invoice. A strong candidate separates collections from dispute resolution, gathers supporting documents, coordinates internally, sets a follow-up date, and updates aging notes.

Bank shows a payment but no invoice number. A strong candidate uses the customer name, amount, remittance, payment history, and open invoices to apply cash correctly.

Month-end close is due and AR has unapplied cash. A strong candidate prioritizes material amounts, reconciles known items, documents unresolved items, and communicates status to the accounting team.

Interview Scorecard

Competency	Weight
AR process knowledge	20%
Reconciliation and problem-solving	20%
Communication and customer handling	20%
Excel and ERP ability	15%
Organization and follow-up discipline	15%
Accounting fundamentals and integrity	10%

KPIs to Include in an AR Specialist Job Description

Adding measurable KPIs to the job description signals to candidates that the role has clear expectations. It also helps managers evaluate performance objectively, which is especially important when managing remote teams across time zones.

• DSO (Days Sales Outstanding): How long it takes the company to collect receivables
• Percent current AR: Share of receivables not past due
• Aging by bucket: Distribution across current, 1 to 30 days, 31 to 60 days, 61 to 90 days, and 90+ days
• Collection effectiveness index: How much collectible AR is actually collected
• Cash application accuracy: Correct payment posting rate
• Unapplied cash balance: Value of payments not yet matched to invoices
• Dispute resolution time: Average time to resolve billing issues
• Promise-to-pay kept rate: Percentage of customers who pay as promised
• Invoice error rate: Invoices requiring correction after issuance

A discussion among CFOs on Reddit argued that collections should not be measured only by cash recovered, because overdue receivables can stem from disputes, missing documents, incorrect invoices, servicing issues, and reconciliation gaps. Good KPIs acknowledge this complexity.

Automation, AI, and the Modern AR Specialist

AR is becoming more systems-driven. Forrester identifies AI use cases in AR including collection management, cash application, payment prediction, and electronic invoice presentment. Current job postings already reflect this shift by asking for experience with AR automation tools, dunning platforms, and systems like HighRadius, Tesorio, and Zuora.

But practitioners on Reddit push back on the idea that AI will replace AR roles quickly. One AR professional noted that automation rules exist, but “AI will magically change everything in 2 weeks” is unrealistic. Another thread observed that AP/AR software has improved, smaller teams can do more, and roles are shifting toward review, exception handling, process improvement, and system oversight rather than disappearing.

The practical implication for job descriptions: modern AR Specialists should be comfortable using automation tools, reviewing exceptions, cleaning data, and improving workflows. Add a line like this to the preferred qualifications section:

“Experience with ERP/accounting systems, AR automation tools, customer billing portals, and Excel/Google Sheets is preferred; the ideal candidate can use system reports to prioritize collections, identify discrepancies, and improve AR workflows.”

Do not overdo it for entry-level roles. Requiring every tool will shrink the candidate pool unnecessarily.

Hiring an Accounts Receivable Specialist Remotely or Nearshore

AR work can be performed remotely when the company has clear systems access, approval policies, documentation, and customer communication workflows in place. Several practical considerations matter.

Time-zone overlap. For customer-facing AR roles, the specialist needs to contact customer AP teams, coordinate with internal sales and finance, and resolve issues in real time. Hiring in Latin America provides strong time-zone alignment with U.S. business hours, which is harder to achieve with teams in other regions. Understanding the differences between onshore, nearshore, and offshore models helps companies choose the right approach.

Language and business norms. For U.S. companies hiring AR talent who will communicate with American customers, English proficiency and familiarity with U.S. business communication norms matter as much as accounting fundamentals.

Security and access. AR staff work with customer financial data and payment records. Secure equipment, role-based ERP access, and documented approval policies are non-negotiable, whether the person works in the office or from a home office in another country.

Compliance. Cross-border employment involves payroll, tax, and benefits considerations that differ by country. A guide to remote employee taxes can help companies navigate these requirements.

Mismo helps U.S. companies source and hire vetted Latin America-based accounting and AR talent aligned with U.S. time zones. The service covers sourcing, vetting, interviews, hiring, payroll, benefits, equipment, and compliance.

Explore Mismo’s guide to hiring talent in Latin America

Common Mistakes in AR Specialist Job Descriptions

Using a Generic Duties List

Generic duties attract candidates who may have done only data entry or only collections. Specify the actual bottleneck. If the company needs someone to call customers daily, say “collections.” If the company needs GL reconciliation and close support, do not bury that under “data entry.”

Asking for a CPA When the Role Does Not Need One

For most AR Specialist roles, a CPA is unnecessary. If the job requires journal entries, audit schedules, financial statements, or budget support, the right title might be Staff Accountant, not AR Specialist.

Hiding Collections Work

If 70% of the role involves calling or emailing customers about overdue balances, the job description for the accounts receivable specialist should say so clearly. Candidates who want reconciliation and reporting work will not be a good fit for collections-heavy jobs, and they will leave when they discover the mismatch.

Saying “Excel Preferred” When Excel Is Central

If the person will export aging reports, reconcile large payment files, or analyze deductions in spreadsheets, list the actual Excel level required. “Preferred” undersells a real requirement.

Failing to Define Escalation Authority

Clarify whether the person can negotiate payment plans, issue credits, recommend write-offs, or place accounts on hold. Or whether they can only escalate to a manager. This affects the type of candidate who applies.

Overloading One Role

Billing, collections, cash application, deductions, customer master data, month-end close, audit support, and reporting can all be one job at a small company. But it should be compensated and titled accordingly. Community discussions on Reddit reinforce this: AR titles can cover narrow payment application work, collections, or broader staff-accountant-level responsibilities depending on the company.

Key AR Terms to Know

If you are writing or evaluating an accounts receivable specialist job description, these terms come up frequently.

Term	Definition
Accounts receivable (AR)	Money customers owe a company for goods or services already billed or delivered
Invoice	A bill sent to a customer showing what they owe, payment terms, and due date
Cash application	Matching incoming payments to the correct customer account and invoice
AR aging report	A report grouping unpaid invoices by how long they have been outstanding (current, 1 to 30 days, 31 to 60 days, 61 to 90 days, 90+ days)
DSO	Days Sales Outstanding; measures how long it takes the company to collect receivables
Unapplied cash	A payment received but not yet matched to the correct invoice or account
Credit memo	A document reducing the amount a customer owes, often due to returns, pricing errors, or disputes
Short pay	A customer pays less than the invoice amount, often because of a dispute, deduction, or error
Dunning	A structured sequence of reminders sent to customers about overdue invoices
Sub-ledger to GL reconciliation	Comparing detailed customer AR records to the general ledger balance to ensure records agree

FAQs

What does an Accounts Receivable Specialist do?

An Accounts Receivable Specialist tracks and collects money owed to a business. They prepare invoices, apply customer payments, reconcile accounts, follow up on overdue balances, resolve billing disputes, and prepare AR reports. The exact mix of duties varies: some roles focus heavily on billing, others on collections, and others on reconciliation and month-end close support.

What should be included in an accounts receivable specialist job description?

A strong job description includes a clear job summary, a specific list of responsibilities tied to the company’s actual AR needs, required and preferred qualifications, education and experience expectations, relevant software and systems, salary range (if possible), and reporting structure. Naming the primary AR bottleneck (billing, cash application, collections, or reporting) makes the description more effective than a generic template.

What is the difference between an AR Clerk and an AR Specialist?

An AR Clerk is typically more transactional, handling invoice entry, payment posting, filing, and basic account updates. An AR Specialist handles more complex work: account research, reconciliations, dispute resolution, collections follow-up, aging analysis, and cross-functional communication. The Association for Financial Professionals separates these roles based on complexity and scope.

How much does an Accounts Receivable Specialist make?

Salary depends on location, experience, industry, and role scope. Indeed’s 2026 data shows a common rate of $23.15 per hour, with an average annual salary around $55,000. BLS data for the related Billing and Posting Clerks category shows a median annual wage of $48,500. Senior AR Specialists handling reconciliations, month-end close, and DSO reporting typically earn more than entry-level billing or collections roles.

What software should an Accounts Receivable Specialist know?

Common systems include NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics/Great Plains, QuickBooks, Workday, Zuora, and HighRadius. Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets is practically universal. The specific software requirement should match what the company actually uses rather than listing every possible system.

Can an Accounts Receivable Specialist work remotely?

Yes. AR work can be done remotely when the company provides clear systems access, documented approval policies, and structured communication workflows. For customer-facing AR roles, time-zone overlap matters because the specialist needs to coordinate with customers, sales, and finance teams during business hours. Companies hiring remotely in Latin America benefit from strong time-zone alignment with U.S. operations.

Is Accounts Receivable Specialist an accounting job?

It is an accounting-adjacent role. AR work involves financial transactions, reconciliations, and reporting, but most AR Specialist positions do not require a CPA or advanced accounting credentials. Practitioners on Reddit describe AR as a “foot in the door” for broader accounting careers, with one commenter noting that AR/AP experience can lead to staff accountant or senior accounting roles for people who learn, show initiative, and improve processes.

What is the difference between accounts receivable and accounts payable?

Accounts receivable is money customers owe the company. Accounts payable is money the company owes its vendors and suppliers. AR Specialists collect incoming cash. AP Specialists manage outgoing payments. They are opposite sides of the same cash flow cycle.