What does a bookkeeper do?
- Recording Financial Transactions: This involves systematically documenting all financial activities of the business, ensuring every income or expense transaction is recorded in the company’s ledgers or accounting software.
- Reconciling Accounts: Regularly, typically at the end of each month or week, the bookkeeper must reconcile the accounts by comparing internal financial records against bank statements or other external financial data to ensure accuracy and consistency.
- Handling Bills and Payments: Bookkeepers are responsible for recording and paying bills before their due dates to avoid late fees and maintain good vendor relationships.
- Creating and Issuing Invoices: Generating invoices for goods sold or services rendered, ensuring they are sent to clients, and tracking incoming payments.
- Payroll Processing: In businesses with employees, bookkeepers manage payroll, which includes calculating wages, deducting taxes, and ensuring timely payment to employees.
- Managing Sales Taxes: Bookkeepers track and record sales taxes (like GST, HST, PST, etc.) and are often responsible for filing tax returns, accurately calculating tax owed, claiming credits, and submitting returns on time.
- Accuracy and Complexity: The bookkeeper’s role is to ensure all transactions are accurately recorded, with the job’s complexity varying based on the business’s size, transaction volume and nature, and the bookkeeping systems used.