Bookkeepers are financial record keepers that are in charge of organizing and tracking the finances of a business or corporation. A bookkeeper is in charge of keeping records of where the money comes from, where it goes, and what money is left over. In a sense, everyone is a bookkeeper. Anyone who has an individual checking account must keep track of their income and expenses.

A bookkeeper has a wide variety of skills that include calculation of receipts, expenditures, accounts payable and receivable, and profit and loss. A full-service bookkeeper can maintain an entire company's books and hire accounting clerks to handle smaller, specific tasks. If you have a small business, you probably have a bookkeeper that is in charge of all the accounts, generally known as a general ledger. Your bookkeeper will record all your income and expenses.

Bookkeepers are in charge of producing financial statements and producing reports for managers and supervisors to review. A bookkeeper must prepare bank deposits and verify all the information from receipts, cash, checks, and credit cards. Some bookkeepers are also in charge of payroll and track overdue invoices. In small organizations a bookkeeper will prepare invoices and make purchases for the business.

Larger organizations generally have accounting clerks that are in charge of specialized tasks. Depending upon their tasks and the business, they will be called different titles such as "accounts payable clerk" or "accounts receivable clerk". An entry-level accounting clerk will post a detailed list of transactions, total the accounts, and calculate the interest charges. Some clerks are in charge of monitoring loans and making sure the payments are not past due.

A senior accounting clerk is in charge of reviewing printouts and comparing them against ledgers kept by the bookkeeper or other accountants. The senior account must be responsible for any changes in information and making sure everything is complete and accurate. The job of an auditing clerk is to verify all the records of financial transactions that have been posted by the other clerks. Auditing clerks generally have the miserable task of comparing every single receipt against what has been recorded and making sure it is correct. They will not only verify the mathematics of the company, but they will check to make sure that everything is coded properly and if they notice any problems, they will correct or note the errors for other accountants to correct.

Most bookkeepers and accountants use software that tracks all of their financial records. The information is checked by computer programs and the software will automatically export the data into a series of spreadsheets and databases. Since the accounting clerks and bookkeepers are in charge of using this software, they often need to attend bookkeeping and payroll courses to improve their skills.

Since the software used for bookkeeping and accounting purposes is extensive, your bookkeeper or accountant needs to be thoroughly rehearsed in the software. Even the small clerks have additional responsibilities that come with the software. Most accountants will need to be in charge of payroll. You can hire out your payroll to a third party or have your accountant handle it directly.

To become a bookkeeper or accountant, you need to have a college education. Some individuals only have a high school degree and were trained in bookkeeping and accounting by their employer. Some particular accounting firms will not hire you if you have anything less than a bachelor's degree. Even when you are hired to be an accountant, you may be required by your employer to take bookkeeping and payroll courses.

There are several companies who provide online training courses in bookkeeping and accounting. Most bookkeepers need to become certified in order to work for some companies. To become a certified bookkeeper, you should expect to plan on attending online or other courses for about 2 years.

A certified bookkeeper will pass a national exam that has five different tests that include the following:

• Entry adjustment
• Error correction that includes bank reconciliation
• Book taxes
• Payroll
• Inventory

To become a certified accountant you need to spend at least 3,000 hours in training or 2 years. In order to maintain your status as a certified bookkeeper you must earn an average of 30 continuous professional education credits a year. A certified bookkeeper must work hard to maintain their status and keep up to date with the latest payroll laws and other things.

During the bookkeeping and accounting courses you will be taught to properly use the software so you can avoid making errors. As a bookkeeper, you need to be trustworthy and dependable. Your training courses will also teach you proper communication skills.

The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers awards bookkeepers with the certification if they demonstrate the skills and knowledge that is needed in order to carry out all the bookkeeping functions. You will oversee payroll and learn to balance accounts and adhere to a code of ethics. You can enroll in a course online or at a local university or college. Since most companies will promote their bookkeepers and accountants within the organization, you need to enroll in bookkeeping and payroll courses.

Payroll training courses are similar to bookkeeping training courses. The payroll courses will teach you all the basic payroll requirements. With a payroll class you will learn the following:

• How to hire and train other payroll accountants
• How to use pay card systems, direct deposit, and self-service
• How to implement a successful payroll system
• How to work with audits and disaster recovery plans
• How to implement an anti-fraud plan
• How to comply with record retention requirements

Anyone who is in human resources should take a payroll training course. If you do not have an HR person or an HR department, you should send the person in charge of payroll to a payroll course. It is also a good idea for a CFO or another manager to take a payroll course so they can properly train their staff members.

To take payroll courses, you can attend seminars, workshops, conference, online courses, or courses offered through certified career institutes. Depending upon where you enroll in a payroll course, you should expect to pay about $500. Some online companies actually offer annual renewal costs for about $100 a year. Participating in an annual renewal course is a good idea since you can maintain an updated certification each year. This is a great way to keep up with the latest information that is released by the local, state, and federal government. Payroll laws are consistently changing and keeping up with the new laws is essential if you wish to avoid paying a penalty.

During a payroll course, you will learn about what an employer and an employee is expected to pay toward the local, state, and federal government. Employers are required by law to withhold a certain percentage of their employee's wages to pay to local, state, and federal governments. During your payroll course, you will learn the different regulations for your state on how much needs to be withheld. A payroll class will discuss the following: Federal Taxes, Social Security and Medicare Taxes, State and Local Income Tax, Unemployment Insurance, and State Disability.

Your payroll course will also teach you about the new Federal income tax laws that pertain to payroll and to regular business functions. Currently, each employee is required to fill out the Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, Form W-4. Federal regulations state than an employee can update their withholding form whenever necessary, any changes to the form will change the amount of money that is withheld for taxes. A person who is in charge of payroll needs to know these laws and understand how to properly withhold the correct amount of money from a person's paycheck for Federal taxes.

Payroll courses will discuss Medicare and Unemployment laws in great detail. Since the minimum wage is increasing again, the withholding amounts for Medicare, Social Security, and Unemployment will all be changed. Without attending a payroll course, you will not be properly caught up with the new laws and regulations. Currently, employees are eligible to receive up to 26 weeks of unemployment wages after they have been laid off. As a bookkeeper, you need to be up to date with the unemployment laws. The only way a person is eligible to receive unemployment benefits is if they have worked at least 6 months out of the prior 12 months. Another thing you will learn in your payroll course is the taxes that must be paid by the employer. Similar to the employee-paid taxes, you will be taught about the Social Security, Medicare, Federal and State Unemployment Insurance, and State Disability taxes that must be paid by the employer.

A bookkeeper will learn how to pay taxes and run the new accounting software. Since new software is constantly being released, it is important to attend online training courses that will keep you up to date with the new tax laws and other payroll laws that are constantly changing.