Accounts payable and receivable staff at funded Australian startups earn a median of A$75k a year, and half of the figures we hold sit between A$72k and A$77k, according to our startup finance salary data[1].
The 2026 range
Across 15 figures from 9 funded startups, the median accounts payable or receivable salary is A$75k. Half of the figures sit in the A$72k to A$77k band, which is tight: officer, specialist and assistant titles are paid much the same wherever they sit. The full spread runs from A$48k to A$93k, and the top of it is an accounts receivable officer at Simpro in Brisbane.
Every figure here is for an officer, specialist, assistant or administrator title[1]. Once someone runs collections, sets credit terms and manages people, expect the job to be priced against a finance manager rather than a processor.
Reading the chart
Filter these figures by industry, stage, city and year in the accountant salaries view of the database.
The figures behind the chart
16 figures
Role as stated | Industry | Stage | City | Source | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simpro | Accounts Receivable OfficerAccountant | A$80,000 to A$93,000 | Tech | Growth | Brisbane (HQ) | 2026 | SEEK |
| Carma | Accounts Payable SpecialistAccountant | A$75,000 to A$90,000 | Tech | Series A | Sydney (HQ) | 2026 | Workforce Australia |
| AirTrunk | Accounts Payable Specialistnear Accountant | A$70,000 to A$90,000 | Tech | Before first round | Sydney (HQ) | Not stated | JobLeads |
| Firmus Technologies | Accounts Payable OfficerAccountant | A$65,000 to A$90,000 | Tech | Growth | Sydney | 2026 | JobLeads |
| SpeeDx | Accounts Payable / Accounts Payable OfficerAccountant | A$73,000 to A$80,000 | Deep tech | Before first round | Sydney (HQ) | 2026 | Glassdoor |
| BioScout | Accounts AssistantAccountant | A$60,000 to A$90,000 | Deep tech | Seed | Sydney | 2026 | Job ad (seek.com.au) |
| Carma | Accounts Payable Specialistnear Accountant | A$75,000 | Tech | Series A | Sydney | 2026 | Jobsora |
| PlanCare | Accounts Administratornear Accountant | A$70,000 to A$80,000 | Tech | Seed | Perth (HQ) | 2026 | SEEK |
| Simpro | Accounts Payable Officernear Accountant | A$70,000 to A$80,000 | Tech | Growth | Brisbane (HQ) | Not stated | SEEK |
| Ofload | Accounts Payable OfficerAccountant | A$74,834 | Tech | Series C | Sydney (HQ) | 2026 | Indeed Australia |
| Weploy | Accounts Payable OfficerAccountant | A$65,000 to A$79,000 | Tech | Seed | Melbourne | 2026 | Glassdoor |
| Carma | Accounts Payable OfficerAccountant | A$72,000 | Tech | Series A | Sydney | 2024 | Job ad (indeed.com) |
| Carma | Accounts Payable Specialist / Officernear Accountant | A$48,000 to A$81,000 | Tech | Series A | Sydney | 2026 | Glassdoor |
| AirTrunk | Accounts Payable SpecialistAccountant | A$53,000 to A$75,000 | Tech | Before first round | Sydney | 2026 | Glassdoor |
| AirTrunk | Accounts Payable SpecialistAccountant | A$63,000 | Tech | Before first round | Sydney | 2026 | Glassdoor |
| Weploy | Accounts Payable OfficerAccountant | A$38 per hour | Tech | Seed | Melbourne | 2026 | SEEK |
Sydney and the rest of Australia
Most of the figures come from Sydney startups. There the median is A$75k across 11 figures from 6 companies, with the middle half between A$68k and A$77k. Outside Sydney, the figures we hold sit between A$65k and A$93k, according to our data[2].
In-house or outsourced
Most startups do not hire accounts payable first. Early on, the processing sits with a bookkeeper or an outsourced accounting firm, and the first in-house finance hire is someone who can own the numbers.
That pattern holds further up than people expect. One lender I worked with in 2026 ran a small local finance team with accounts payable and transaction processing offshore. When a startup asks me for its first finance hire, the local seat goes to someone who can own the numbers; the processing goes where it is cheapest to do well.
If you are deciding who the first finance person should be, start with how we run a first finance hire.
Where AI hits first
This is the part of finance most exposed to automation. My read is that roles below the level of a financial accountant, the backward-looking processing in shared service centres and local AP and AR teams, are the ones in trouble over the next few years[3]. The roles that survive are the business-facing ones: chasing a difficult debtor, agreeing terms with a supplier, explaining a number to someone who is not in finance.
For a hiring manager that changes the brief. An accounts receivable hire who can hold a hard conversation with a customer is worth the top of the band. One who only matches invoices to payments is competing with software.
For the next step up the ladder, see what financial accountants are paid.
Common questions
How much does an accounts payable officer earn in an Australian startup?
The median for accounts payable and receivable roles is A$75k a year across 15 sourced figures at 9 funded Australian startups, and half of the figures sit between A$72k and A$77k. The figures are base salary as each source states it, without super added.
What does an accounts receivable manager earn?
More, because the job is managing collections and the people doing them. We do not yet hold a base salary figure for an accounts receivable manager at a funded startup. Every figure we hold is for an officer, specialist, assistant or administrator title, and the highest is A$93k.
What does accounts payable pay in Sydney?
In Sydney the median is A$75k across 11 figures from 6 startups, with the middle half between A$68k and A$77k.
Should a startup hire accounts payable in-house or outsource it?
Most early startups outsource it to a bookkeeper or an accounting firm and keep the local hire for someone who can own the numbers. An in-house accounts payable or receivable hire starts to make sense once invoice volume or collections are big enough to need a person every day.
References
- Our data: 15 annual figures for accounts payable, accounts receivable, accounts assistant and accounts administrator titles at funded Australian startups, from the Startup Finance Salary Database snapshot of 2026-11-05. Each is either the company's own advertised band or a salary for that role at that company reported on a public page and cited in a Google AI Overview. Figures are base salary as each source states it; we do not add super (12% from July 2025). Hourly rates are listed in the table but never counted in the median. The database groups these roles under Accountant; how we collect, match and de-duplicate figures is in about the data. The one accounts receivable manager figure we found, at SafetyCulture, was Glassdoor total pay (base plus bonus) rather than base salary, so it is left out.
- We quote a median only where at least 5 figures from 5 source pages, 3 companies and 3 different sites back it. Sydney clears that for this role; no other city does yet. Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth each have one or two figures so far, so treat the national median as the benchmark outside Sydney.
- The flip side, as I see it in 2026: commercial, business-facing roles stay in demand because they need a person to talk to people, help make decisions and guide those who are not financially minded.
Accountant salaries in Australian startups: the data
Our Startup Finance Salary Database holds 256 sourced salary figures from 104 funded Australian startups: pay bands from the companies' own job ads, and salaries reported for the same role at the same company. Every figure links to its source.
- Accountant salaries (118 figures)
- Finance salaries in tech startups (170 figures)
- Finance salaries in deep tech startups (37 figures)
- Finance salaries in fintech startups (30 figures)
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we work with. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.