What are the job duties of an administrative assistant?

The job duties of an administrative assistant span calendars, correspondence, records, supplies, and meetings, and often extend to booking travel and preparing expense reports. These tasks keep day-to-day operations running, making the role a source of operational support for everyone around it.

Official sources describe the job only in broad terms. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) occupational profile says these workers perform “routine clerical and organizational tasks,” which is too general to build a role around. It also doesn’t mention travel arrangements or expense reports. This article, written for hiring managers, office leaders, and anyone defining an administrative assistant role, breaks down the duties by task.

What an administrative assistant does, and where the role sits

An administrative assistant provides organizational support for a team, department, or office through scheduling, communication, document management, and office logistics. The BLS describes tasks such as filing, preparing documents, scheduling appointments, and supporting other staff. It also notes that specific duties vary by experience, job title, and specialty.

O*NET (the Occupational Information Network) rates each task’s importance on a 0–100 scale and labels it core or supplemental to the occupation. Several core tasks score near the top of the O*NET task list for the occupation, such as:

• Answering telephones, giving information to callers, and transferring calls (83)
• Greeting visitors and directing their inquiries (83)
• Creating, maintaining, and entering information into databases (81)
• Setting up and managing paper or electronic filing systems (75)
• Scheduling and confirming appointments (73)
• Composing and distributing correspondence and reports, including expense reports (71)

Travel reservations rank lower for this occupation; it’s listed as a supplemental task and scored a 68. For executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, O*NET’s 43-6011 profile treats making travel arrangements for executives as a core task, scored at 81. The closer an assistant works to senior leaders, the more the job tends to involve booking travel for executives and managing their calendars.

Core job duties of an administrative assistant

Daily work centers on scheduling, communication, records, and office logistics, while travel, expenses, and bookkeeping vary by team and by the seniority of the people being supported. If you’re writing a job description, that second group is where generic templates say the least and where you’ll need the most detail.

1. Calendar and scheduling

Scheduling is the one duty every official list includes, and it involves more than filling open slots. The BLS includes scheduling appointments and updating event calendars, and O*NET includes scheduling among its core tasks. Robert Half’s 2026 guide to higher-paying administrative jobs describes organizing calendars and setting up meetings across time zones. The assistant also adjusts those calendars when a meeting moves or a trip changes.

When you define the role, state whose calendars the assistant manages and whether they can accept or decline invitations on someone’s behalf. The answer sets how much judgment the job requires.

2. Communication and correspondence

An administrative assistant is often a team’s first point of contact by phone, email, mail, and in person. O*NET’s two top-scored tasks reflect that front-line role: answering callers and greeting visitors. Other O*NET core tasks include:

• Operating email systems and coordinating the flow of information internally and with other organizations (74)
• Composing meeting notes, routine correspondence, and reports (71)
• Opening, routing, and distributing incoming mail (67)

Your posting should say whether the assistant writes in their own name or a manager’s, and whether they triage a shared inbox.

3. Records and document management

The assistant keeps documents current and consistent, so the team can find what it needs. The work includes the following tasks, with O*NET importance scores where listed:

• Maintaining databases and filing systems, as the BLS lists
• Preparing and editing memos, invoices, and reports
• Locating files to attach to correspondence that needs a reply (68)
• Reviewing others’ work for spelling, grammar, and company format (67)

The assistant usually decides how the system is organized, whether it’s paper or electronic. When you interview for this duty, ask how candidates have structured shared folders and naming conventions, since a filing system tends to outlast the person who built it.

4. Office coordination

The assistant keeps the office stocked and equipped and works with workplace vendors. The work includes the following tasks, with O*NET importance scores where listed:

• Buying supplies and negotiating with vendors, per the BLS
• Managing stockrooms and running videoconferencing tools
• Operating copiers, phone systems, and similar equipment, and arranging repairs (77)
• Training staff on computer use (59)
• Ordering and dispensing supplies (58)

This duty can take up much of the assistant’s week when there’s no dedicated office manager. Spell out whether the role includes purchasing authority and up to what amount.

5. Meeting and event support

Administrative assistants arrange staff meetings, a duty the BLS lists. LinkedIn’s administrative assistant hiring guide describes planning and scheduling company meetings in the office, off-site, and over videoconference. O*NET adds preparing conference or event materials such as flyers or invitations (57).

For executive assistants, O*NET’s 43-6011 profile includes preparing agendas, coordinating catering for board meetings (73), and recording minutes (63). When you hire a team-level assistant, clarify whether minutes and follow-up tracking belong to the assistant or the meeting owner.

6. Travel and expense management

Travel and expense (T&E) work is where official duty lists and real postings diverge most. The BLS lists neither task, and O*NET treats travel reservations as supplemental. In practice, the work splits into two stages:

• Before the trip: The assistant books policy-compliant flights, hotels, and ground transportation, routes trips through any pre-trip approval workflow, and keeps traveler details on file.
• After the trip: The assistant matches receipts to card charges and prepares the travel expense report. IRS Publication 463 requires receipts for all lodging and for any other expense of $75 or more.

Your tools can shrink this workload. On Navan, delegate booking lets an assistant book for the travelers they support, and expense capture records 130-plus data points per transaction at the point of swipe, which can cut receipt chasing.

7. Basic bookkeeping or reporting support

Bookkeeping duties depend on company size and how closely the assistant works with finance. The BLS lists basic bookkeeping, which O*NET’s executive profile includes among general office duties (72). For the core occupation, O*NET treats payroll functions (81) and collecting and depositing money (79) as supplemental.

An assistant may classify expenses so accounting can map them to general ledger codes. Deadlines also apply. Under an accountable plan, the reimbursement arrangement that keeps reimbursements from counting as wages, IRS Publication 463 generally treats 60 days as a reasonable period to account for expenses and 120 days to return excess reimbursement.

Keeping reports moving helps your company meet those windows, and direct accounting connections help too: Navan connects to NetSuite, QuickBooks, and Xero, so transactions flow from swipe to general ledger.

Skills and tools the role requires

AI tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini are among the most significant recent shifts in this role. They can take over much of the routine drafting, summarizing, and scheduling work, freeing assistants to focus on coordination and judgment. Managing AI well is now a skill in its own right.

The skills the role requires:

• AI management: Choosing which tasks to hand to AI, writing clear prompts, and checking output for accuracy, tone, and confidentiality before it goes out.
• Office software: Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams) or Google Workspace.
• Calendar, meeting, and booking tools: Indeed’s senior administrative assistant template asks for familiarity with calendar management, video conferencing, and travel booking platforms.
• Time management and prioritization: Robert Half identifies these as the top skills gap employers see among candidates.
• Written and verbal communication: Drafting clear messages for a manager or a whole team.
• Discretion: Handling confidential schedules, personnel details, and financial records.
• Attention to detail: Catching errors in documents, invoices, and expense entries before they reach an approver.

AI adoption among administrative professionals has risen quickly. The 2026 State of the Administrative Profession report from the American Society of Administrative Professionals (ASAP), based on 5,536 responses from administrative professionals, executives, and HR professionals, found that 76.9% of the administrative professionals surveyed use AI in their daily work, up from 26.0% in 2024. During your interviews, ask which tasks a candidate hands to AI, such as drafting routine replies or summarizing meetings, and which they keep for themselves.

How the role compares with executive assistant and office manager roles

Administrative assistants, executive assistants, and office managers share skills but differ in who they serve. An administrative assistant supports a team. An executive assistant supports senior leaders, and an office manager runs the office and its support staff.

Scope and T&E responsibility shift across the three roles in these ways:

The three roles overlap, but who they serve shapes the work. An administrative assistant keeps a team running and handles travel and expenses as needed. An executive assistant treats travel and expense work for a senior leader as a core duty, and the executive assistant role extends into decision support.

An office manager oversees the office, its vendors, and its budgets, including expense reporting. The title alone won’t tell your candidates what the job involves when one person covers parts of all three roles, so the duty list has to.

Matching responsibilities to the work your team needs today

An administrative assistant’s responsibilities should reflect the work your team needs to get done now, which may differ from what the role covered when it was first defined. Start by comparing the duty list with how the assistant spends a typical week. Scheduling, communication, records, and office coordination usually hold steady. Travel, expenses, payroll, and deposits are where the actual work tends to drift from the written role, so confirm how many people the assistant books for and which expense steps they own.

Then look for repetitive work your tools can absorb. AI tools can draft routine replies and summarize meetings, while your booking platform may store traveler preferences and your expense system may capture transaction details when a card is used. Moving that busywork to tools can give the assistant more time for coordination and judgment. Repeat this check after each tool change, and update the role so it matches the work being done today.