Bookkeepers are the multi-talented and highly organised employees responsible for keeping track of a business’s financial transactions. These financial transactions can include accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchases, sales revenue, wages and petty cash.
Accurately managing all of these movements is not only required by the law, it also provides business leaders with the vital information needed to understand the company’s financial position, health, budget and spending habits.
Bookkeepers and virtual bookkeeping services are an integral part of any business, they need to be able to juggle several things at once, be eagle-eyed and have exceptional time-management skills to fulfil their duties. Keep reading to find out what some of those duties are and what a bookkeeper does in a day.
Day-To-Day Activities Of A Bookkeeper
Keeping track of a company’s entire financial movements can be an arduous and repetitive task. It involves copious amounts of information and data that needs to be recorded and then documented in the right places.
Below are some of the duties and responsibilities of a bookkeeper.
Maintain The General Ledgers
The general ledger is the main record-keeping system that contains a company’s financial data.
Produce Financial Statements
Financial statements report on financial activities, which can provide a snapshot of the company’s financial position, performance and health.The bookkeeper or online bookkeeping service will input data from supporting documents and systems into the general ledger.
This will provide a record of every financial transaction within the company, which is typically organised under the categories of revenues, expenses, liabilities, assets and owners’ equity. The information provided in the financial statements is used to produce the company’s. general ledger
The financial statements a bookkeeper may prepare include:
- Balance sheet
- Cash flow statement
- Income statement
- Profit and loss
- Statement of changes in equity
Record Financial Transactions
One of the main roles of a bookkeeper is to recordall financial transactions. This includes sales receipts, payments, purchases and accounts payables or receivables.
This involves manually inputting data into spreadsheets, journals and books.
Bank Reconciliation
Reconciling bank accounts is an important task involving cross-referencing the company’s internal bookkeeping records with a bank statement or bank records.
The bookkeeper needs to ensure there are no discrepancies and all transactions are accurate and accounted for.
Ensure all transactions are accounted for and record any d Regularly reconciling bank accounts may help prevent incorrectly recorded transactions, overdraft fees and fraudulent charges.
Accounts Receivable And Accounts Payable
Accounts receivable is the process of sending out invoices to customers and then keeping track of those payments.
The process involved with paying invoices, bills and business debts is accounts payable.
Bookkeepers will need to keep the company’s payments and bills up-to-date while also following up on any overdue payments from their customers.
Other tasks a bookkeeper may be responsible for include:
- Data entry
- Daily banking
- Process payroll
- Tax returns
- Maintain your annual expense budget
- BAS lodgements
What To Look For In A Bookkeeper
There is a magnitude of data and documents involved with effectively and accurately recording a business’s financial transactions, which is why bookkeepers need to be highly organised and have a fine eye for detail.
Knowledge in Microsoft software and accounting software, such as MYOB and XERO, is also typically needed to perform bookkeeping duties.
Skills to look for in a bookkeeper:
- Attention to details
- Ability to multitask
- Good time management skills
- Communication skills
- Ability to problem solve
- High computer skills
Depending on the size of your business and the level of help you need, you may not need to hire a full-time professional bookkeeper. Instead, you may benefit from online bookkeeping services or virtual bookkeeping.
