Bookkeeper Job Description, Skills, Experience and Education

In order to become a CPA, an accountant must pass the Uniform Certified Public Accountant exam and possess experience as a professional accountant. Analyzing financial decisions is a key part of the accounting process as it helps in making good business decisions. Accounting shifts the knowledge from the general ledger into judgments to display the real and clear picture of the business, it shows the direction to progress. Business owners will repeatedly seek accountants for help with critical tax planning, analyzing their economic position, concluding, and tax filing.

Gross pay is the number of hours an employee worked during a specific pay period multiplied by their hourly rate. You can collect the necessary data using paper timesheets, punch clocks, or spreadsheets. Use an automated software to help you do this, like QuickBooks Payroll and QuickBooks Time.

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As such, candidates should expect a more competitive landscape if applying for available openings. Industry observers agree that software improvements have made bookkeeping more efficient. As a result, the profession’s growth rates have slowed, but the Strategic Finance article notes growing gaps between the number of open jobs and the number of people qualified to fill them.

An aspiring bookkeeper can enter the profession with a two-year or four-year college degree. Average entry-level salaries approach $38,000 per year, according to Payscale. From this viewpoint, bookkeeping offers an appealing path to an accounting career. Also, note that the degree-related salaries cover all accounting professionals who hold that degree. Instead of graduate degrees, bookkeepers can earn professional certifications that indicate greater ability. These include the certified bookkeeper (CB) designation offered by the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.

What is bookkeeping?

Just like bookkeeping the tasks of payroll can be performed manually but unlike bookkeeping, it is more difficult to perform manual payroll. Moreover, manually operating payrolls increase the risk of calculation errors that ultimately disturb the accounting audits at the end of the year. In a summarized manner, bookkeeping deals with recording, storing and retrieving financial transactions for an individual, company, or nonprofit organization. Generally, an individual must have a bachelor’s degree in accounting To qualify for the title of an accountant.

You can expect your duties as a bookkeeper to vary slightly, depending on the size and type of organization you work for. For example, if your employer is a small or medium-sized business, you might manage more of its accounting tasks, including financial statements, tax returns and payroll. According to Indeed, you would typically see accountants or controllers performing some of those duties in larger organizations.

Bookkeeper Qualifications

Over 1.8 million professionals use CFI to learn accounting, financial analysis, modeling and more. Start with a free account to explore 20+ always-free courses and hundreds of finance templates and cheat sheets. A small business can likely do all its own bookkeeping using accounting software. Many of the operations are automated in the software, making it easy to get accurate debits and credits entered. While they seem similar at first glance, bookkeeping and accounting are two very different mediums. Bookkeeping serves as more of a preliminary function through the straightforward recording and organizing of financial information.

You may also pursue certification programs or use online courses to become a self-taught bookkeeper. Typically, single entry bookkeeping is suitable for keeping track of cash, taxable income, and tax deductible expenses. Bookkeepers are also pretty good at keeping up with the latest and greatest technologies.

One way to think about it is that bookkeepers lay the groundwork for accountants to analyze and prepare financial statements. The responsibilities of a bookkeeper include a fair bit of data entry and receipt wrangling. They’re responsible for recording https://www.bookstime.com/ every financial transaction in your general ledger using double-entry bookkeeping—usually called recording journal entries. That sounds like a mouthful, but often that just looks like inputting all your transactions into accounting software.

Because bookkeepers have a much more intimate knowledge of your books, it’s sometimes easier to have your bookkeeper contact your tax preparer when you’re about to file your small business taxes. Payroll software, like QuickBooks payroll, is designed to accurately calculate the amount you owe each employee and the government. Using the data you gain from keeping a ledger, your next step will be to generate and bookkeeping and payroll services prepare financial reports for analysis. The major reports to include are the profit and loss, the balance sheet, and a cash flow analysis. Additionally, the aged accounts receivables and aged accounts payables reports are helpful in knowing which customers have not paid and which vendors are yet to be paid. These reports will help you gain greater insights into the financial health of your small business.

Build essential bookkeeping skills.

Bookkeepers have the critical job of ensuring the accuracy of the business’s financial records but usually aren’t required to complete audits or provide recommendations to leadership. Someformal certifications include the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers (NACPB) and the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB). Bookkeeping is a great place to start if you’re hoping for a way to break into the finance industry. There are many bookkeeping job opportunities and generally fewer education requirements than in other finance and accounting positions.

• If you opt for bookkeeping software—like Quickbooks—keep in mind the time commitment required to learn how to properly use the program.
• Accounting takes that information and expands on it through analyzing and interpreting the data.
• Despite the importance of accurate bookkeeping practices, most people don’t feel entirely confident with maintaining detailed business finances.
• The FLSA mandates that employers must keep employee records for a minimum of 3 years after the individual stops working with the company.
• Make sure you understand when the money is due to each party, and transfer it on time.
• In order to become a CPA, an accountant must pass the Uniform Certified Public Accountant exam and possess experience as a professional accountant.

A bookkeeper’s work is often reviewed by an accountant and/or the small business owner. The bookkeeper is generally responsible for overseeing the first six steps of the Accounting Cycle, while the last two are typically taken care of by an accountant. While there is a general overlap between the two professions, there are a few distinctions that are later discussed in this article. It’s up to you to channel the money to all the right recipients by the agreed dates.

Step 4: Calculate gross pay and withhold tax deductions

Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals. If you’re organized and enjoy working with numbers, a job as a bookkeeper could be a good fit. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median salary for bookkeepers in the US is $45,560 per year as of 2021 [1]. You can sometimes choose between full-time and part-time positions, and you may go to work in an office or work from home. Learn more about what bookkeepers do and how to get started in this career. Kelly is an SMB Editor specializing in starting and marketing new ventures.