A bookkeeper meticulously records your company’s financial transactions. Such transactions must be identified, accepted, classified, and recorded in such a way that they can be presented as financial statements.
Thus, a bookkeeper is responsible for a variety of tasks, including:
- collecting financial data;
- recognizing monetary transactions and measuring them in terms of money;
- recording the financial impact of the monetary transactions;
- classifying the effects of the financial transactions; and
- preparing organized financial statements.
Every business requires a bookkeeper to effectively manage their books of accounts. Furthermore, they must comply with the filing requirements of tax returns and financial statements with their local revenue authorities.
Certain skills must be mastered in order to perform bookkeeping effectively. This article will go over how to become a bookkeeper as well as various bookkeeping training online courses.
How Does One Become a Bookkeeper?
It is not necessary to be a certified bookkeeper; however, a certified bookkeeper has the necessary skills to effectively manage a company’s books of accounts. Furthermore, it adds a credential to your list of professional achievements.
Some people pick up bookkeeping skills on the job. However, it is always advantageous to pursue additional education in order to become a professional bookkeeper.
As a bookkeeper, you are in charge of keeping accurate financial records and managing all accounting processes for a company.
For an entry-level bookkeeping position, some employers may only require a high school diploma. Most employers, however, expect you to have additional education and work experience.
As a result, if you want to advance your career as a bookkeeping training online courses expert, you can do the following:
Earn a Degree
Many bookkeeping jobs require only a high school diploma, but some employers prefer candidates with an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
There are numerous programs available in business administration and accounting.
Accounting Associate Degree
An associate degree in accounting is a two-year degree that prepares students for careers in accounting.
Community colleges, technical colleges, universities, and online programs all offer such a degree. Associate of Science (AS) in Accounting and Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Accounting are the most common types of accounting associate degrees.
An associate degree provides candidates with the foundational knowledge they need to pursue entry-level jobs in the industry.
Jobs for Associate Degree Holders
An Associate Degree in Accounting is the first step toward obtaining a bachelor’s or master’s degree. However, such a degree does not prepare students to sit for an accounting license exam, such as the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam.
As a result, candidates with an associate degree in accounting may be considered for entry-level positions. These are some accounting training programs examples:
- Bookkeeper
- Accounting Assistant
- Administrative Assistant
- Payroll Clerk
- Auditing Clerk
Accounting Bachelor’s Degree
A Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting can equip you with the fundamental knowledge required to begin advising businesses, individuals, and organizations on financial and accounting issues.
It is the required minimum degree for accounting license programs such as the CPA examination.
Various Accounting Bachelor’s Degrees
A bachelor’s degree in accounting, for example, may qualify you to take a professional certification program such as the CPA exam. Accounting bachelor’s degree options include the following:
- Bachelor of Science (BS) in Accounting
- Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
- Bachelor of Arts in Accounting (BA)
Take Training
Most employers prefer to hire bookkeepers with a proper degree. However, some employers prefer to hire candidates with only a high school diploma and train them on the job.
- Learning double-entry bookkeeping
- Online accounting software
- Managing payroll
- Accounts payable and receivable
- Learning hard skills such as analytics
- Technology skills
- Functional accounting and finance skills
- Leadership or management training
- Soft skills such as writing negotiation and presentation
Is Bookkeeping the Right Career for You?
Bookkeepers are professionals who organize and record a company’s day-to-day transactions. This process of identifying, accepting, classifying, and recording financial transactions necessitates meticulous attention to detail, multitasking, and a great deal of number crunching.
If you are unsure whether bookkeeping is the right career for you, consider the following list of essential skills needed to excel as a bookkeeper:
- Strong interest in administrative and clerical procedures
- Comfort with numbers and other hard skills such as calculator comprehension, record keeping, and so on
- Have an understanding of how to use accounting software to record and analyze financial data, such as Universal Accounting School Online Accounting Software, Google Docs, Microsoft Office, and others.
- Enjoy working with data
- Have basic accounting and bookkeeping knowledge such as bank reconciliation, debits and credits, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrual accounting, basic financial statements, journal entries, general ledger, and so on.
- Payroll processing skills, such as calculating payroll taxes, calculating benefits, depositing payroll taxes, creating payroll journal entries, reporting payroll taxes, and so on.
- Interpersonal and people skills such as the ability to work with others, problem-solving, error correction, supervising, oral and written communication, and so on.
- Ability to manage financial transactions and cash flow, such as payments, billing, invoicing, payments, customer relations, and so on.
- Ability to maintain discretion and thoroughness
What Does a Bookkeeper’s Day Look Like?
A professional bookkeeper, as previously stated, should be detail-oriented, enjoy working with data, be at ease with routine procedures, and be at ease with numbers.
A bookkeeper’s primary responsibility is to keep track of a company’s financial transactions and to generate relevant and accurate reports. These reports assist accountants and business owners in understanding the financial position of the company.
The following are typical day-to-day tasks performed by a bookkeeper:
- Using online accounting software to track cash flow
- Inventory tracking and reporting any discrepancies
- Keeping track of daily transactions for both customer and internal accounts.
- A thorough understanding of double-entry bookkeeping.
- Entering purchase invoices into accounting and bookkeeping software, processing payables reports, and obtaining management approval to pay bills.
- Preparing and sending invoices to customers on time
- Reconciling bank statements with company financial statements and matching various accounts in the event of errors
- Payroll preparation and processing
- Ensuring statement accuracy in terms of correct journal entries, amounts, postings, and so on.
- Making changes to journal entries as needed.
- Checking the general ledger on a regular basis to ensure that the balances and accounts are correct.
- Creating and maintaining a chart of accounts in online bookkeeping software in accordance with the double-entry accounting system and accounting rules.
- At the end of each month, prepare financial statements such as a balance sheet, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and other financial reports.
- Processing vendor payments, checking for customer payments, downloading or printing bank statements, and other online banking tasks
- Making certain that all deadlines are met
- Dealing with bookkeeping documents such as customer checks, bank and credit card statements, purchase invoices, and so on.
- Handling phone calls from customers and suppliers about invoices and payments.
- Following up with customers about late payments
- Adherence to accounting policies and procedures
Online Accountant at Universal Accounting School
Whether you’re doing bookkeeping for personal reasons or starting a new job with a company to track and manage their finances, having a solid understanding of bookkeeping is essential. Some bookkeeping training online courses are free, while others charge a fee. Your employer may choose to cover the cost of your course. For more info, visit Universal Accounting School!
