Becoming a Bookkeeper

Bookkeepers are clerical staff who record the financial transactions of businesses, governments, and other organizations. They maintain and develop systematic and accurate financial records either manually using ledgers and files, or using a computer. Bookkeepers issue, classify, record, check, and file numerical data and produce statements and accounts, including accounts for the end of the financial year.

The job:

The bookkeeping records of an organization showed that companies overall performance and reflect its profits and losses, assets and liabilities. These records are vital, since they enable management to take business decisions. Bookkeeping records also form the basis for income tax reports and reports to stockholders.

Bookkeepers usually start their careers with the more routine tasks, such as recording financial transactions. As they are experienced rooms, they may take on more difficult jobs and assume greater responsibility. In large businesses, a qualified accountant usually supervises the bookkeeping department.

Bookkeepers issue invoices and petty cash vouchers, keep records of incoming and outgoing payments, maintain stock records, check the bank statements, prepare cash flows statements, and balance the accounts. Bookkeepers calculate wages due to staff their statutory deductions, and make up their pay packets. The bookkeepers may also answer customers queries and to carry out a range of clerical duties, such as mailing statements, answering the telephone, and filing.

Player, neat handwriting is important for businesses that still keep manual records, while keyboard and manual skills are important for using type writers, word processors, adding machines, calculators, and computers. The bookkeepers must have a strong interest in figures and finance, since checking figures is a crucial part of their work. They must also be completely trustworthy.

Bookkeeping work can be very routine, detailed, and repetitive. It is essential to concentrate and carry out each task will really, since errors may be very costly. Eyestrain may be a problem looking at columns of figures and using computer screens. At the end of the financial year, the bookkeeper may be required to work overtime and work can be stressful.

Bookkeepers usually work with other people but may work on their own as well.

They work for a variety of employers, including professional institutions, manufacturing companies, retail businesses, hotels, hospitals, schools, charities, and other organizations.

The majority of the bookkeepers work regular hours sitting at their desks in clean and pleasant offices. Bookkeeping jobs may be ideally suitable for those with limited mobility.

Training involved:

Most bookkeepers study for recognize professional bookkeeping courses, usually by part time study. One of the most internationally recognized qualifications is awarded by the international Association of bookkeepers, IAB. Part time studies for their qualifications are likely to take at least a year. Different countries may have other professional or useful examinations for bookkeepers.

Some of the training for bookkeepers maybe on the job with larger organizations, however, many bookkeepers manage the books on their own and they should, therefore, be able to carry out all the routine tasks immediately on joining a small company.

With increasing automation, bookkeepers should become familiar and expert with the business software and computer systems.

Future prospects:

Currently, many bookkeepers are employed in small businesses where manual bookkeeping still predominates. New positions for bookkeeping clerk's are likely to be with small, rapidly growing organizations, particularly those that find computers unsuitable or too costly for their work. In larger companies, the number of jobs for bookkeepers is declining and companies are more likely to employ accounts and finance clerks or technicians work in a computerized systems.

Despite the overall decline, jobs may be reasonably plentiful for those bookkeepers looking for routine work, since the turnover in bookkeeping jobs is high. Job promotion prospects are reasonable for those bookkeepers who are experienced and qualified in keeping a complete set of company business records.

Opportunities for temporary and freelance work should continue to increase. The bookkeepers who have attained recognized international qualifications may be able to work in other countries.

For further information, please contact a professional body, such as an Association of bookkeepers.