The Rostoker equation has been numerically compared with the Fokker–Planck equation for a plasma with axially symmetric velocity distributions by computing electron slowing‐down rates and velocity‐space diffusion rates due to collisions with background electrons. The results in a case of &OHgr;e∼&ohgr;peagree well with the corresponding quantities obtained from the Fokker–Planck operator. In the case of a strongly magnetized plasma (&OHgr;e≫&ohgr;pe), the results indicate corrections to the Fokker–Planck coefficients which are different from the one suggested by a previous work.