A bookkeeper is responsible for up keep and organization of a corporation’s financial records. Bookkeepers update and preserve accounting records, including accounts payable and receivable, expenditures, profit and loss and expenditures. Bookkeepers need to possess a wide array of skills and knowledge. Full-charge bookkeepers will maintain a whole company’s financial records. An accounting clerk, or bookkeeper assistant, will handle only specific accounts.
All types of bookkeepers must make numerous computations each day. This makes good math skills imperative to bookkeeping. Increasingly, computers and other technology are becoming more and more a part of bookkeeping, and individual bookkeepers must be comfortable with it.
As organizations continue to computerize their financial records, many bookkeepers must be kept up-to-date on current computer software in the field. With manual posting and logging becoming obsolete, it is becoming more and more vital that a bookkeeper be able to post charges to accounts on computer sheets. The extensive use of computers has allowed bookkeepers to take on additional responsibilities. These responsibilities include: payroll, billing and procurement. In addition to computer skills, a bookkeeper needs to have interpersonal skills. They may be required to write letters, make phone calls and interact with other employees.
In small companies and organizations, bookkeeping clerks will manage all financial dealings and record keeping. The bookkeeping clerk will manage all transactions, post debits and credits, create financial statements, and put in order reports and summaries for supervisors. Bookkeepers will also organize bank deposits by accumulating data from cashiers, verifying and balancing receipts, and sending all forms of payment to the bank. The bookkeeping clerk may also arrange invoices, make purchases, manage payroll, and keep track of overdue accounts.
In larger firms and accounting departments, bookkeepers will have more particular tasks. They may have a different title, and the title they hold will reflect the kind of work they do. These titles include: accounts payable clerk and accounts receivable clerk. Also, a bookkeeper’s responsibilities may be affected by the amount of experience an individual has.
Entry-level bookkeepers will do jobs such as post details of transactions, total accounts and compute interest charges. They also may check loans and accounts to make certain that payments are up-to-date.
More advanced bookkeeper’s may summarize, balance, and reconcile billing vouchers; ascertain the completeness and accuracy of data on accounts; and code documents according to company procedures. They may also post data in journals and update computer files when needed.
