Bookkeeper Job Description

The job of a bookkeeper is very respectable and one that comes with quite a few responsibilities. While the main aspects in the bookkeeper job description remain fairly unchanged, some duties and responsibilities of a bookkeeper may vary from company to company depending on the individual needs of the company. Usually a bookkeeper working for a smaller company will have a larger range of functions to perform, some of which may not be directly within the scope of bookkeeping. In a larger company, a bookkeeper's job will be restricted only to bookkeeping as the company will employ other people for the other non-bookkeeping tasks. Sometimes, the bookkeeper may be required to start from the entry-level clerical job so as to understand the job responsibilities better; which defenitely adds to the experience. The core bookkeeper job description is given below.

Job Description of a Bookkeeper

• The main job of a bookkeeper is maintaining the books (financial records) of the company he works for. When the employing company makes any transaction, it is the job of the bookkeeper to record it. The bookkeeper first records a transaction in the journal and then posts it to the individual ledger accounts.
• A very important job of the bookkeeper is to maintain the bills and the receipts as ready reference for any transaction recorded.
• The bookkeeper has to draw up the trial balance and the balance sheet of the company at the end of the year.
• A bookkeeper has to maintain the subsidiary books and prepare for the payroll payments.
• A bookkeeper has to reconcile the bank book and the cash book.
• It is the bookkeepers job to find out if there have been any errors while recording, posting or balancing any account.
• He has to follow all the rules related to accounting in the country in which his company is operating.
• The job of the bookkeeper may also be made to include tax calculation, debt collection and financial statement analysis. This means that the bookkeeper may also work as a finance manager and take the various decisions regarding purchase and procurement of materials and production costing.
• If the company the bookkeeper is employed in is a start-up, then he may also have to design the accounting system for the company.

Educational Qualification for Bookkeeping

A bookkeeper is expected to be well versed with accounting practices, the GAAP and the tax laws of the country in which the company is operating. A bachelor's degree in accounting is a must, while a CFA will be an additional feather in your hat. In addition to this, a bookkeeper should also be computer literate and know how to operate the various accounting software like Tally and EX along with MS Office. In addition to the above, a bookkeeper may also need to be well-versed with data management and financial data analysis software, in case he is also in charge of analysis of financial statements and data.

Bookkeeper Salary Range

The salary of a bookkeeper depends on a variety of factors. The factors that determine the salary of a bookkeeper include the range of functions he is expected to perform, the size of the company and the non-monetary benefits that the employing company gives him. But the median salary you can expect for a job as a bookkeeper is $37,235. On the higher side, bookkeepers who perform a larger range of functions can also expect salaries above $42,316. The lower end of the bookkeeper salary spectrum earns below $32,590.

And so we come to the end of this comprehensive article on bookkeeper job description. If you enter the job market, you will realize that the functions of a bookkeeper largely vary from company to company, depending upon the requirements of a particular company. Hence, the job description of a bookkeeper also changes.