Bookkeeping from Home: 9 Steps to Starting a Bookkeeping Business

I quickly discovered that finding another telecommuting job was nearly impossible. I am a single mom of three boys, one of whom has special needs, so I really needed to find something that would afford me a lot of flexibility with a full-time income. When I found the Bookkeeping Business Blueprint, I knew it was exactly what I needed. While bookkeeping is absolutely a business you can start without any experience, it definitely helps to have previously worked in a money-related job. Whether you’ve worked as a small-scale accountant or as a company’s controller, that experience will go a long way in landing clients for your own business.

It’s important to understand that the role of the bookkeeper is relied upon by other areas of the company, and the company’s’ financial records are at stake. Being able to say that you will take on a project and complete it within a timeframe specified means that you can be reliable in your position. If you’re the type of person that gets sweet relief from organising files and numbers, then you would be perfect as a bookkeeper.

Bookkeeping faces a specific challenge similar to switchboard operating, word processing and other fields in which software programs can perform many jobs humans once did. Like most fields, accounting and bookkeeping suffered contraction during The Great Recession. They have recovered nicely, however, with economists forecasting job growth of 13% through 2022 for the broader field of accounting, which includes bookkeeping. This is slightly higher than the overall growth rate that considers all fields. As an accountant, you also have to crunch numbers, but it is much more important to possess sharp logic skills and big-picture, problem-solving abilities.

If an account has a debit balance, the balance amount is copied into Column Two (the debit column); if an account has a credit balance, the amount is copied into Column Three (the credit column). The debit column is then totalled, and then the credit column is totalled. The two totals must agree—which is not by chance—because under the double-entry rules, whenever there is a posting, the debits of the posting equal the credits of the posting. If the two totals do not agree, an error has been made, either in the journals or during the posting process.

Bookkeeping is the task of recording all business transactions—amounts, dates, and sources of all business revenue, gain, expense, and loss transactions. Having accurate financial records helps managers and business owners answer important questions. Is the business on sound financial ground, or are troubling trends in cash flow pointing to an instability of some kind?

That said, landing an accounting job requires, in most cases, more education than becoming a bookkeeper. Many hold advanced degrees, such as MBAs with accounting or finance concentrations, or they have Master of Accountancy degrees. To sit for the Certified Public Accountant, or CPA exam, which is a common goal of many accountants, you must have a minimum of 150 postsecondary education hours. This is a bachelor’s degree plus 30 hours of graduate work; most CPA candidates go ahead and finish their master’s degrees. Bookkeeping is where accountants generally start their careers as the barriers to entry are lower and pay is decent.

Employers typically want basic computer skills but they will generally train you in the specific accounting software they use. In a post on Accounting Web Foster says there are still many opportunities and bookkeeping doesn’t need to suffer. The bookkeepers just need to know their market and attract the clients that value their skilled contribution. The three key financial statements are balance sheet, profit & loss and cash flows account. These above three financial statements are interlinked with each other.

Alternative titles for this job include Accounts clerk

The lowest 10 percent earned less than $25,260, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $61,650. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks deal with numbers daily and should be comfortable with basic arithmetic. Employers generally require bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks to have some postsecondary education, particularly coursework in accounting.

For those interested in self-employment, there is a high demand for people to maintain companies’ accounting records on a periodic or contract basis. The US Bureau of labor Statistics predicts that opportunities bookkeeping for bookkeepers will grown at about 14 percent per year, which is about average. However, as financial regulations and oversight have become stricter in the last few years, demand for bookkeepers has increased.

• There is no upper limit to the number of accounts involved in a transaction – but the minimum is no less than two accounts.
• Bookkeeping is repetitive, and a sometimes (okay, a lot of times) mind numbing task.
• Employers typically want basic computer skills but they will generally train you in the specific accounting software they use.
• Keeping books consistently is the key to creating a smooth experience.
• Additionally, bookkeepers who excel at their jobs are sometimes promoted to accounting positions, even if they lack the level of education the company typically prefers.
• Needless to say, you are not alone if you don’t enjoy categorizing transactions.

Checks (spelled “cheques” in the UK and several other countries) are written to pay money out of the account. Bookkeeping first involves recording the details of all of these source documents into multi-column journals (also known as books of first entry or daybooks).

Your tax accountant is clamoring for financial data, and the bank wants a set of current financial statements. If you have any kind of accounting and bookkeeping requirements, feel free to write to us or talk to one of our representatives and we will get back to you within 24 hours. The accounting software has been written so that every transaction must have the debit amounts equal to the credit amounts. The electronic accuracy also eliminates the errors that had occurred when amounts were manually written, rewritten and calculated.

Degrees by Subject

Earning an associate’s degree in book keeping is enough to get an entry level book keeping job and can be transferred into a four year university course. For those looking to develop and assume managerial positions, a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) incorporates elements of management and leadership skills as well as accounting theory and practice.

By keeping track of every sale or purchase and using software to do it all, it’s much easier for them to keep an eye on your cash flow. With more and more technology entering the industry, accountants and bookkeepers have more capacity to focus on how your business works, rather than just on what the numbers are. For bookkeepers, this means less time is spent identifying which expenses go where and more time can be spent double checking entries. Bookkeepers manage the daily financial records of a business, literally keeping the books. Accountants can have more advisory positions, performing audits, managing reports, and offering advice to business owners.

Accounting principles are essential rules and concepts that govern the field of accounting, and guides the accounting process should record, analyze, verify and report the financial position of the business. You can find out more about training in bookkeeping through The Association of Accounting Technicians and the International Association of Bookkeepers. It used to be that a good bookkeeper had solid accounting knowledge combined with quick data entry skills, and the best were additionally very knowledgeable about accounting software as well. In today’s world, financial information is provided real-time through automatic bank feeds and simply by logging into a variety of financial accountability websites.

There will be a number of significant group and individual projects required to earn your MBA. Bookkeepers typically work alone or in small groups that share common tasks. You must be good with math and have excellent skills with one or more spreadsheet programs.