Key Takeaways
1. 95% of business failures stem from poor financial record-keeping, underscoring the critical role of bookkeepers in ensuring precise and timely financial documentation.
2. Outsourced bookkeeping services cost between $20-$50 per hour, eliminating additional expenses like employee benefits, making them a budget-friendly alternative to in-house bookkeepers.
3. Tasks like bank reconciliation consume approximately 74 hours annually, showcasing the importance of bookkeepers in streamlining time-intensive financial processes.
4. Bookkeepers help analyze financial statements, identify trends, and provide actionable insights to enhance decision-making, contributing to improved business performance.
One of the more important and growth-rendering things for any organization or business to do is road and retain the books of accounts.
The reliability of the books of accounts is the first step toward the success of any business. Why is this so? The answer is that as long as the books of accounts are reliable and thorough, the business can easily make actual profitable decisions.
However, this task is not as easy as it may sound.
One of the toughest things that a business has to take care of. Although the task is crucial and tough, the top management of any organization can never take the time to record every transaction and take care of the bookkeeping requirements.
This is where a bookkeeper or bookkeeping comes in.
What is a Bookkeeper?
If put in simple terms, a bookkeeper is an individual that takes care of all the financial recording and management in an organization. A bookkeeper ensures that every transaction is recorded in the books of accounts of the business and that the said data is accurate and reliable under all circumstances.
What Does a Bookkeeper Do?
Just the definition of a bookkeeper can not list everything that a bookkeeper does. Hence, to address the same, this section will explain every responsibility of the bookkeeper. So, let’s know:
1. Record and Break Out All Transactions
One of the top responsibilities of any bookkeeper is to record all the transactions of the business. The bookkeeper takes care of the reliability of all the transactions. He ensures that the data presented in the books is accurate and accounted for. Additionally, he will also divide the transactions into specific categories and break out the same. Moreover, for the same tasks, a bookkeeper will also go through all the accounts, software, and other sources of accounting and bookkeeping services.
2. Ensure the Sanctity of the Transactions
Proceeding further with what does a bookkeeper do, another major responsibility of the bookkeeper is to ensure the sanctity of the transaction. As the task of recording and entering the transactions is a human procedure, there are chances that some transaction(s) are entered incorrectly, categorized wrongly, omitted, or mismanaged in some other way. Hence, it’s very important for the business to ensure that all the data related to the transactions are intact and reliable.
3. Generate the Financial Statements
The question, what is a bookkeeper, can be easily answered with the help of this responsibility. A bookkeeper is also responsible for creating and presenting the financial statements from the data present in the books of accounts. This includes the statement of Profit & Loss (the one that shows the actual state of profit earned or loss borne by the company), the statement of Cash Flow (the statement showing how the cash moves within and outside the organization), Balance Sheets (the statement that shows the state or assets and liabilities in an organization), and numerous others.
4. Management of Accounts Payables/Receivables
Another thing that a bookkeeper has to take care of is the management of the accounts payable and receivables. For the same, the bookkeeper may also need to undertake the billing and invoicing responsibilities and data. He needs to figure out from where or to where the funds of the business are being credited or debited.
What Are the Advantages of Hiring Bookkeeper(s)?
Now that you have found the answer to what does a bookkeeper do, you may think about the advantages of hiring one in your organization. Below are some of the advantages that you can enjoy by indulging in bookkeeping:
- Your business can enjoy the accuracy of data present in the books of accounts
- The reports derived from the accounts can help generate future plans and policies.
- With simple bookkeeping, you can ensure the growth of your business.
- You can keep the incomings and outgoings in check.
- Your business and its senior management get the required reports and statements as and when required.
What is the Difference Between a Bookkeeper and an Accountant?
At times, businesses and professionals confuse the bookkeeper and accountant to be the same person. Similarly, the business may think that accounting and bookkeeping are the same tasks as well. However, the case is quite different from this misconception. To be an accountant, you need to get certified by a specific organization. You may also need to undertake some courses to become an accountant. However, any individual, irrespective of professional qualification, can easily become a bookkeeper. Apart from this, the bookkeeper is responsible to record and manage the data, whereas an accountant is supposed to interpret results from such data. This is simply how does bookkeeping work.
When it comes to higher-level management, planning, and more, the business relies on an accountant, rather than a bookkeeper. Hence, one can easily say that the subject matter of accounting (accountants) is broader than simple bookkeeping (bookkeepers.)
Also, Read – How Much Do Bookkeepers Charge
What Does a Bookkeeper Do: Closing Words
From the above-provided data, it must be clear what is a bookkeeper, how does bookkeeping work, and what are the responsibilities of a bookkeeper in any form of business. Still, a question that may confuse the business is can the business owners conduct bookkeeping. The straight answer is yes. It’s true that anyone can undertake and execute bookkeeping tasks, but it’s not worth it for a business owner or manager to undertake the bookkeeping services. Their time is well-invested in making policies and plans related to the development and growth of the business.
Even if the business is using an online tool or software to undergo bookkeeping or recording transactions, it may still need a bookkeeper(s). This is because the tool may be able to ensure the sanctity of the data, but it can not interpret results from the data and generate the financial statements as perfectly as done by a bookkeeper.
Now that you know what does a bookkeeper do, you may think about hiring one or more for your business. If you want help with this, we at Ledger Labs can easily help you. We have a huge team of experienced bookkeeping personnel always at your service. You can hire these bookkeepers as per your requirements and get things done. This will allow you to focus on the other important things at hand. Additionally, as all the professionals at the Ledger Labs have years of experience in various industries and businesses, they can easily fulfill your requirements for any accounting and bookkeeping in the US. Contact us today to know more.
