Should I Consider Becoming a Bookkeeper?

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You like working with numbers and you like mathematics. Maybe it’s time to become a professional bookkeeper. What do you need to know to become a bookkeeper? Does becoming a bookkeeper mean that you are an accountant? This may be some of the questions you are asking yourself.

According to Business News Daily, there is a difference between a professional bookkeeper and an accountant. One can become a bookkeeper with no formal training. This is not true to become an accountant, which does require college and certification.

What are the Duties of the Bookkeeper?

You may have an employer come up asking various questions about debits and credits. If you answer correctly, you may have just landed a bookkeeping job. Bookkeepers collect daily financial data such as sales, commissions, expenses, accounts receivables and payables, and record that data to keep track on daily transactions. Whether the company is still using a ledger book, excel spreadsheet or a software application, it still has to be done.

Some small businesses might employ an administrative assistant who has bookkeeping skills and also does the employee payroll. This would include payroll deductions such as taxes, court ordered deductions child support, benefits and anything else pertaining to payroll. They must also make sure that there is enough cash on hand for daily operations. Statements of invoices and purchase orders and all transactions must be run weekly and monthly to help keep all data up to date.

Bookkeepers at all levels still have rules and regulations that they have to follow and are still held liable for inaccuracies. The government can come in at any time and perform an audit and the books better be kept up to date and accurate. Recording accurate financial data lets the company know where expenses are going and where the cash flow comes from. Inaccuracies can mean the difference between success and bankruptcy.

College vs. High School Training

It is possible to become a bookkeeper with no formal schooling, but most medium to large companies prefer college graduates. Keep in mind that the pay will probably be much lower if you only have a high school diploma. Bookkeeping can be complex depending on whether or not it is a dual position paired with an office assistant.

The size of the company makes a difference also. If you are doing payroll along with your other duties, and there are 1,000 employees, it could make for a truly long day. Bookkeepers generally record all the day-to-day transactions while accountants who have formal training will tell them where to enter the data.

Generally, bookkeepers are trained by someone in the company who has bookkeeping skills, in addition to college training. The company may be growing and becoming overwhelmed with the workload and might have to delegate some duties to another person.

A bookkeeper does not perform business forecasts or make corporate decisions or investment analysis. However, their duties are at the core of day-to-day operations. Records must be accurate. An accountant will go through the books to be sure everything the bookkeeper does is in order and accurate. This is a great career opportunity for the right person.