12 Important Bookkeeping Skills You Need for a Successful Career
You can take this exam from anywhere, as long as you have a reliable internet connection. Learn how CapitalT reduced hiring bias with online skills assessments. You need a specific bookkeeping assessment test to gauge each of these qualities. TestGorilla’s pre-employment tests, for example, liquidity premium definition include a variety of scenarios that mirror real-life bookkeeping duties. Companies expect all employees, not just bookkeepers, to have computer literacy skills. Bookkeepers often have to deal with many tasks with competing deadlines, so they must have time-management abilities.
What skills and traits are important for bookkeepers?
However, compensation will widely vary depending on the employer, location, and candidate experience. Bigger companies tend to offer better compensation for bookkeepers; this is largely due to the increased volume of transactions and data. A multinational corporation performs hundreds of transactions a second, while a small business might perform less than a hundred in a day. You may handle payroll functions as a bookkeeper, keep tax withholding records, and issue paychecks or send information to a contracted payroll service.
- For example, an accurate bookkeeper will record things and not miss one cent.
- You can create a custom bookkeeping skills assessment to evaluate your candidates’ understanding of fundamental accounting principles and test proficiency in popular bookkeeping software.
- Bookkeepers are responsible for the initial recording of their organization’s financial transactions.
- Integrity is the most valuable attribute in any candidate because you can trust them to be honest, fair, responsible, and all that other good stuff.
- Knowing how to read invoice documents helps them locate information about a transaction between buyers and sellers.
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A bookkeeper may also help you run payroll, collect debts, generate invoices and make payments. A career in bookkeeping is worth considering for individuals with a knack for numbers and strong organizational skills. Bookkeepers play a critical role in the financial management of businesses, ensuring accurate recording of transactions, which is foundational for making informed business decisions. If you are passionate about working as a bookkeeper, there are certain skill sets you need to have under your belt in order to succeed in the field and become a professional.
How to test bookkeepers’ integrity and transparency
It also helps companies maintain truth and fairness in presenting their records. Bookkeeping doesn’t require certification to practice, meaning you can teach yourself and start right away if you’re confident. However, more knowledge is always an asset, and a bookkeeping certificate can make your resume look more attractive, potentially helping you to gain clients. If you’re interested in an analytical, business-minded career, becoming a bookkeeper (especially a virtual bookkeeper) might be the right choice.
Additionally, there may be other responsibilities based on the unique needs of your business. For example, a bookkeeper may be required to learn a specific what is the abbreviation for million accounting software system or participate in certain meetings. Responsibilities for bookkeepers can vary widely from business to business, though there are a number of very common bookkeeping responsibilities.
Bookkeepers often need critical-thinking skills to help interpret the story behind the numbers. Kelly is an SMB Editor specializing in starting and marketing new ventures. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content.
Remember that you want to tailor the role’s responsibilities in the job description so that it’s not just aligned with the position but with your company. Bookkeepers also face the challenge of managing a diverse range of tasks, from data entry and record-keeping to financial reporting and analysis, often under tight deadlines. Last, but certainly not the least, invoicing is another essential skill every bookkeeper should have. Invoicing refers to the process of itemizing a transaction and detailing each charge on a bill. When working with organizations, mostly, bookkeepers must deal with invoicing. Knowing how to read invoice documents helps them locate information about a transaction between buyers and sellers.
An accountant is the one to help prorated definition and meaning the business owner make sense of their numbers, generate financial documents, and plan for the upcoming tax period. Accountants are required to have advanced certification, while bookkeepers are not. Our Accounting Terminology (US) test evaluates candidates’ understanding of various accounting terms related to financial statements, books of accounts, and other aspects of financial transactions.
