If you are a bookkeeper, you will need to know the basics of this particular field. Many people are under the impression that accounting and bookkeeping are essentially the same, however bookkeeping is just one of the basic functions of the accounting profession. The accounting itself encompasses all of the different functions of accounting, while the bookkeeper is responsible more on the record keeping aspects of the business.
Bookkeepers jobs include:
- they prepare source documents which include buying documents, sales document, paying bills and expenses, and incoming money. They may keep track of purchase orders, track invoices, keep track of credit card purchases, maintain time sheets and cards and keep track of the expences of the company. Some may also take care of the paying of employees, making sales and borrowing money from lending institutions.
- Bookkeepers keep all the Journals and account statements and record the entries that go into them.
- Bookkeepers prepare the many financial reports that are due at a specific time and keep those reports up to date on a regular basis.
- The bookkeepers keep track of a listing of every account the company has which can be many hundreds of accounts.
- Bookkeepers will close the books at the end of the fiscal year.
If you are interested in the bookkeeping field you will find that they are usually very busy individuals. Training in this field can be anywhere between 2 and 4 years. In larger companies where a large workload is required the bookkeeper is usually the accountant for the firm.