The 5 Minute Guide to Bookkeeper Duties

One of the most important employees in a company is the bookkeeper because he or she is the one in charge of managing the company’s financial records. If this is improperly done, it could lead to a huge disaster for the company. This is why you should make sure that you hire an excellent bookkeeper so that you can be sure of accurate and efficient reports. When you’re hiring one, list all the bookkeeper duties in your job posting so that the applicants will know what to expect.

What are these bookkeeper duties? Here is a quick guide on the tasks that this job entails.

Payroll Services
Aside from keeping track of the hours rendered for each employee and giving out paychecks, there are other things that come with this task such as tracking overtime pay, leave pay (sick leave, vacation leave, maternity leave, etc.), holiday pay and other benefits such as social insurance and health benefits. This may be done semi-monthly, bi-weekly or weekly depending on how the company has structured it. The bookkeeper also handles pensions for retired employees, final pay for terminated employees and end of year bonuses

Registering and Complying with Tax Standards
Bookkeepers must know taxation laws as they will not only deal with the various taxes owed by the company but with the taxes for each individual employee as well. It’s critical that taxes be filed accurately and on time to avoid any problems.

Updating and Maintaining Journals and Other Records
One of the main bookkeeping duties is to regularly update all journals. Aside from the fact that this is required by law, it also helps in keeping track of the company’s financial status.  The bookkeeper also needs to maintain the ledger, reconcile bank statements and prepare trial balances.  They also usually perform Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable tasks as well.

Preparing the Income Statement and Balance Sheet
One of the most important duties of a bookkeeper is the preparation of the income statement and the balance sheet. This is generally done monthly. This serves as an essential reference to determine the company’s profitability so it must be prepared accurately.

These are the basic duties of a bookkeeper. The duties vary depending on the size of the company. Smaller companies have their bookkeeper perform most of these functions because they need to maximize their manpower and labor costs.  On the other hand, larger companies usually create different departments to handle each specific task.

A bookkeeper is very important to a company, which is why for employers it’s critical to hire someone who is fully qualified. So be very sure that all the bookkeeping duties and responsibilities are outlined when you post job openings so that you’ll get the right person needed for the job.