If you are considering a role in finance and why not? More than half of FTSE 100 CEOs have a background in financial management, finance provides excellent career progression. You may be considering the role of a bookkeeper, wondering what a bookkeeper does and whether or not it is right for you. All businesses need to prepare forecasts for their future, businesses of all sizes need to file accounts, keep track of their expenses, profits and losses, etc. the primary role of a bookkeeper is to keep track of the company’s financial records and ensure that business finances are balanced properly. Bookkeepers play a pivotal role when it comes to ensuring that a business is financially successful.

Bookkeeping roles are dependant on the size and type of business that they are employed by, a bookkeeper may be expected to: take care of the businesses petty cash, keep a record of transactions, chase up payments, create invoices, take care of company payroll, keep track of incoming and outgoing payments. A bookkeeper will need to be able to use bookkeeping software such as Sage and QuickBooks.

Bookkeeping or Accountancy

If you are considering a career in finance you may be wondering whether to become a bookkeeper or an accountant the two roles are often confused. A lot of people believe bookkeeping is just another name for an accountancy, bookkeepers and accountants undertake kinds of different roles within an organisation. A bookkeeper will usually perform a fairly mechanical role, a bookkeeper won’t be expected to analyse individual transactions or data. A bookkeeper will be expected to record the outgoing and incoming payments of a business, a bookkeeper will be hired to ensure that the correct amounts are paid out and received into the business, they will be expected to ensure that financial transactions happen on time. A bookkeeper maybe expected to chase up late payments from debtors.

It again depends on the business but an accountants role will usually be to analyse and interpret the financial data that a bookkeeper has collated, an accountant will use collated data to help them forecast the financial position of a company and evaluate the company’s efficiency.

Accounting roles can vary greatly, an accountant may be responsible for tax accounting and auditing, management accounting, etc. If a bookkeeper is collating financially data for tax purposes it will require checking by an accountant, a small to medium-sized business will usually employ a full-time bookkeeper and then hire an accountant once a year at tax return time, some small businesses hire an accounting firm to take care of all financial matters including bookkeeping and payroll.

Bookkeeping Qualifications

Someone who is considering a career change and looking to become a bookkeeper will need to ensure they are proficient in the use of the accounting software mentioned above and they may want to increase their employability by gaining some bookkeeping qualifications. AAT is The Professional Body for Accounting Technicians, AAT courses will be the best choice for someone considering a career in bookkeeping. There are many organisations that offer AAT accredited qualifications, they can usually be completed online, some courses can be completed in months and the qualifications are internationally recognised.

This post was written and supplied on behalf of Souters who provide Bookkeeping Training Courses in London.