What Are Bookkeeping Duties?

B ookkeeping is the process in which companies and more specifically book-keepers keep records of financial transactions of business in accounting. These day to day financial transactions include sales, purchases, receipts and payments and are recorded through establishing accounts, following legal requirements and posting transactions. By keeping these records, a bookkeeper plays a vital role in assisting accountants who in turn interpret this information to assess business performance. Bookkeeping duties, undertaken by a bookkeeper are; 1. Preparing a trial balance. This is prepared at the end of a reporting period to balance the general ledger. Once ready and validated, this sheet is used by the accountant to prepare a financial statement. 2. Collects, analyzes and summarizes accounts information to prepare a financial report. 3. Maintaining the following accounts; • Subsidiary accounts- through verifying, allocating and posting all transactions. After this, a bookkeeper will balance these accounts through reconciling entries. • General ledger- through transferring verified summaries of subsidiary accounts. • Historical records- through filling relevant documents. 4. Distributes money to departments within an enterprise. 5. It ensures compliance with legal requirements, e.g., tax compliance. 6. Maintaining petty cash. 7. Undertakes the payment of company bills. 8. A bookkeeper also handles client invoices, pays vendors and prepares purchase orders. 9. It is the role of this department to prepare information for auditors. 10. A bookkeeper keeps the company’s annual budget. These and others that may be designated by the employer are the duties of the bookkeeper. Bookkeepers use various systems to carry out their duties, among them are single entry and double entry bookkeeping. The single entry system of accounting uses basic income and expense accounts from the expense journal, while the double entry system of bookkeeping uses two different entries for each transaction.