Bookkeeping is the sort of business activity you either love or hate. An alarming trend I have noticed is people ‘popping’ up all over the place claiming to be bookkeepers after doing a one day course or less in accounting software.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but bookkeeping is so much more than just entering data and knowing how to turn the computer on.
You need to be able to find transactions allocated to the wrong account, you need to be able to figure out why the bank reconciliation is not reconciling. You need to know your debits from your credits, how do to year end transactions and understand that if it were so easy, why then do accountants go to university to study in this field?
Too many times have I seen a datafile set up incorrectly and messy chart of accounts that don’t tell the business owner a great deal about anything.
If you are considering hiring a bookkeeper on an employee or contract basis, please do yourself a favour and find out exactly what that person knows. Stay updated, know exactly what is going on by reading your reports and listen to your accountant. Your next bookkeeper will thank you!
