The first thing is that must distinguish between a Bookkeeper and an Accountant. Many people who do not have finance experience will be confused between these two careers.

The Role of an Accountant

Accountants possess a degree or a formal professional accountancy qualification. In the UK, they may be the ACA, ACCA or CIMA. An accountant will review the ledger and ensure that the data is correct and complete. They will also make high-level accounting adjustments to the ledger. These may include depreciation or accruals and many more. The accountant will also formalise and deliver the financial accounts. They will handle all queries with management and provide financial advisory to the company’s management.

Difference Between A Bookkeeper and an Accountant

The Role of a Bookkeeper: A bookkeeper will enter financial data into an accounting system. The accounting system is often referred to as the nominal ledger. The ledger will record all financial transactions made by an entity. A bookkeeper will also run reconciliations and some reports from the ledger. You may also find that some data is input into spreadsheets and stored in Excel.

The bookkeeper’s role will possibly involve assisting the accountants, but they will not have the qualifications needed to complete the task of the accountants. This is because they hold more junior qualifications. Visit one of our approved training providers website Souters Training to find out more about bookkeeping courses.

What makes a good bookkeeper? The bookkeeper’s role is less senior than an accountant, but it is still an extremely important role. Here are some examples of what attributes are required by a good bookkeeper: 1- A good level of numeracy is required to be a good bookkeeper. 2- You need a fine eye for details. 3- You need to be able to constantly work towards deadlines. 4- Most bookkeepers will need good IT skills and to be able to adapt to new programs. 5- You need to be able to analyse data and be able to spot errors. 6- You must enjoy inputting data and working with spreadsheets or forms of numerical data.