How to Work From Home as a Bookkeeper

How to Work From Home as a Bookkeeper

Gone are the days when you needed to collect your scrap receipts in a shoebox and deliver them to a professional bookkeeper each month. As someone who works in the capacity of an outsourced CFO, I can appreciate how important it is to be able to get valuable information quickly through a business’s bookkeeping software.

Many bookkeeping and accounting offices are willing to let high school or college students work part-time as interns. They get help with their jobs, and you get a first-hand look at what it’s like to work as a bookkeeper.

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. Virtual bookkeeping allows a bookkeeper to telecommute instead of physically working at a client’s office. Aside from the work location, there is not much difference between regular bookkeeping services and a virtual arrangement. A virtual bookkeeper uses computerized bookkeeping software to post financial transactions, review and update statements and reconcile accounts.

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It also includes the obligations a bookkeeper has to the bookkeeping and accounting professions. Working as a bookkeeper can be both rewarding and satisfying. With only a two year commitment to becoming certified, bookkeepers can be off the ground and running with a promising career in a short time. The average salary for a general bookkeeper is around $35,000 with top earners bringing in more than $54,000 per year. As with all financial occupations, experience and reputation go a long way toward earning a higher salary.

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When I found the Bookkeeping Business Blueprint, I knew it was exactly what I needed. Virtual bookkeeping jobs are widely available yet often overlooked. Many people don’t think they have the skills necessary to land a position. Despite its closely related accounting cousin, bookkeeping positions are often considered entry level. Often, home-based business owners or small business enterprises don’t need all the features of a full accounting application.

So, if I’m understanding correctly, the first one you discuss (can’t remember the letters now lol) requires the work experience BEFORE you can take the exam or earn the credential? I have no formal work experience in bookkeeping and as a SAHM, there’s no way I can go work a regular job to get the experience faster. I was hoping there would be some kind of training program (with or without a credential) that would give me the training I need for freelancing. I would like to do bookkeeping but also (mostly?) payroll. Whether you are fairly new to bookkeeping or you’re a seasoned bookkeeper, to set yourself up for success we recommend that you take the time to study and prepare for the exam.

• Gone are the days when you needed to collect your scrap receipts in a shoebox and deliver them to a professional bookkeeper each month.
• Yes, so many marketing gurus talk about brand being everything, but it is a waste of time, effort and money for something as simple as a bookkeeping service.
• In the 21st century, most accountants hold bachelor’s degrees.
• That said, landing an accounting job requires, in most cases, more education than becoming a bookkeeper.
• Most bookkeepers have a high school diploma, and some employers might require secondary education.
• It’s much easier to establish a business checking account now, before the cash starts to roll in.

In order for your accountant to consider which one is the best bookkeeping software application for your business, they are going to want the very best reporting capabilities they can get. At the end of the day, one of the main purposes of bookkeeping software is to make small business owners’ lives easier. So, even with all of the fancy bells and whistles, a bookkeeping software needs to help you automate and optimize your business’s financial processes. We want to go beyond the top two to find out what the top three bookkeeping software options are—according to bookkeepers.

Who gathers all the records and financial data needed to satisfy auditors? Who bookkeeping has to drop everything to find a document that an auditor needs immediately?

If two sides of the equations don’t match, you’ll need to go back through the ledger and journal entries to find errors. Post corrected entries in the journal and ledger, then follow the process again until the accounts are balanced. Then you’re ready to close the books and prepare financial reports. To record a transaction, first determine the accounts that will be debited and credited.

They accomplish this mission by certifying, training, and licensing bookkeeping students, employees and professionals in bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, QuickBooks, tax and Excel. The second step in the AIPB certification process is to submit a statement of your experience working as a bookkeeper. A minimum of two years’ work experience is required for those who are full-time bookkeepers.

Accountants and bookkeepers work with numbers all day long. Therefore, those who do not like math, get confused easily when making simple calculations or are generally averse to number crunching should not apply. Bookkeepers can be considered as the ones who line up all the small pieces into place where accountants view and arrange those pieces. Bookkeeping is where accountants generally start their careers as the barriers to entry are lower and pay is decent.

One of the best ways to learn what it takes to become a bookkeeper is to study accounting software and get a feel for how it works. There are lots of online tutorials that will help you learn the basics. You can also always talk to a bookkeeper in person for more hands-on learning, too. For a long-term career, accounting offers much more upward mobility and income potential. The education required to be competitive in the field is greater, but the payoff down the road can be considerably higher.

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. We have several great articles on bookkeeping that I think will give you a good place to start.

Once you are certified, you will earn the credentials CPB (Certified Professional Bookkeeper). You can put these letters behind your name on resumes, business cards and other materials to display your accomplishment to employers and future clients.

Explore resources for employment and wages by state and area for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. Technological change and automation are expected to reduce demand for these workers. Your go-to source for weekly updates on accounting and financial news. Foster says there is a strong feeling that desktop software will stagnate and no longer be developed or supported in the long term and that technology will result in a falling income for bookkeepers.