What Does a Bookkeeper Do? An Easy Explanation

Some of my blog posts include affiliate links.  If you purchase an item from one of my links I may receive a commission.  Please read my disclaimer for more details. 

Small business owners, entrepreneurs, and people in other career paths don’t always seem to understand what a bookkeeper does for a living; therefore, I want to cover some basics with you. 

Regardless of your industry or business type, a bookkeeper will help you maintain the income and expenses of your business.

The definition of a bookkeeper is the job of someone keeping the financial affairs of a business.

A bookkeeper completes record-keeping for a business. Bookkeeping has an important role in the financial health of a business.

The Job of a Bookkeeper

With modern technology, bookkeepers have been able to streamline some bookkeeping roles. The bookkeeper’s job is to assist a company with categorizing their expense receipts and tracking income for their business. 

However, bookkeepers do more than place numbers in software or on a spreadsheet. Bookkeepers determine what expenses are for and which merchant accounts money is collected. They can assist your business with payroll, sales or gross receipt tax, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.

A good bookkeeper will ensure each transaction lines up on the Profit and Loss Statement or Balance Sheet. 

A Bookkeeper Helps a Business

  • Reconcile Accounts Every Month
  • Record Daily Transactions
  • Monitor Debt and Pay Vendors, Suppliers, and Contractors
  • Apply Assets and Liabilities
  • Calculate and Remit Sales Tax to State Governments
  • Generate Financial Statements for Review
  • Generate and Issue Financial Statements to CPAs or Tax Advisers
  • Process Payroll

Download my free Bookkeeping Simplified Guide!

Related Topics:

Benefits of a Skillful Bookkeeper

If you have a good bookkeeper working for you, there are benefits you and the company will receive:

  • Financial Reports to Help Budget
  • No Need for the Last Minute Tax Season Hustle
  • More Time for Business Management and Family
  • Knowledge of Seasonal Ups and Down
  • Understand the Revenue and Expenses in Your Business
  • Your Bookkeeping is Up-to-Date for Loans

Not everyone enjoys working with business income and expenses. Therefore when you hire an experienced bookkeeper, you can easily keep your business on track while you place your efforts elsewhere.


Related Topics:

Bookkeeper vs. Accountant

The definition of an Accountant is the job of someone keeping or inspecting financial accounts.

A bookkeeper records everyday transactions, while an accountant uses the information to create and prepare annual reports and financial statements.

Statements help with financial planning and management decision-making. 

Simply put, a bookkeeper looks at the immediate picture of a business, while an accountant sees a bigger picture of a business.

Talk to your Accountant and prepare for Income Tax Season!

6 Comments

  1. This article discusses about what does a bookkeeper do. I loved reading this article. Before hitting on the other blogs I would request all to give a try here to get the best available content here. The article is much informative regarding work as well.

    1. Thank you for your kind words!

  2. In this article you will get to know about what does a bookkeeper do.This article gives suggestions on limitations and delimitation of such selection. I enjoyed reading while going through this article and this is the best link for gaining all the information about it.

    1. My goal is to help individuals and businesses understand bookkeeping. I’m glad you enjoyed the reading!

  3. That’s good to know that a bookkeeper could help to take care of payroll for you. I am interested in starting a business, but I would pretty busy especially at first if I did, so I might not have a ton of time for the payroll. I should take a look into getting a bookkeeper to help me with that so I could focus on other parts of starting the business.

    1. A bookkeeper could easily help you take care of payroll and recordkeeping. Having a reliable bookkeeper who knows how to take care of payroll and payroll liabilities is essential. Recordkeeping assists with the growth of your business. I wish you luck on starting a business!

Leave a Reply