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A sub-bookkeeper is the only word with four double letters together. One who keeps track of money holdings, transactions, gains, losses and otherwise anything to do with moolah. CPAs have passed the Uniform CPA Exam – a challenging exam that tests knowledge of tax laws and standard accounting practices. As your business grows to include more customers, vendors, and employees, keeping track of your finances on your own becomes more challenging. Bookkeepers are responsible for providing accurate, up-to-date financial information about a business. DisclaimerAll content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only.

Access all Xero features for 30 days, then decide which plan best suits your business. This last what is a bookkeeper case, of the bookkeeper engaged to the clerk, is the modern situation at its happiest normal.

Summary Definition

The equity section of the chart of accounts is based on the fact that the legal structure of the entity is of a particular legal type. Possibilities include sole trader, partnership, trust, and company. Purchase ledger is the record of the purchasing transactions a company does; it goes hand in hand with the Accounts Payable account. Most recently she was a senior contributor at Forbes covering the intersection of money and technology before joining business.com. Donna has carved out a name for herself in the finance and small business markets, writing hundreds of business articles offering advice, insightful analysis, and groundbreaking coverage. Her areas of focus at business.com include business loans, accounting, and retirement benefits. Your business’s accounting needs might not require the in-depth expertise of a hired professional.

Under the guidance of a supervisor or another experienced employee, new clerks learn how to do their tasks, such as double-entry bookkeeping. In double-entry bookkeeping, each transaction is entered twice, once as a debit and once as a credit , to ensure that all accounts are balanced. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks produce financial records for organizations. They record financial transactions, update statements, and check financial records for accuracy. As organizations continue to computerize their financial records, many bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks need to use specialized accounting software, spreadsheets, and databases. A full-charge bookkeeper is the same as a bookkeeper, except that the “full charge” part of the title designates the person as being solely responsible for accounting. This means that the full charge bookkeeper reports straight to a senior manager, such as the president, and may interact directly with the company’s board of directors and auditors.

How to Become a Bookkeeping, Accounting, or Auditing Clerk

The position can be assisted by an outside CPA who advises on how to record certain of the more complicated business transactions. The full charge bookkeeper may supervise various accounting clerks. For example, a billing clerk, payables clerk, or payroll clerk may report to the bookkeeper. The origin of book-keeping is lost in obscurity, but recent research indicates that methods of keeping accounts have existed from the remotest times of human life in cities. Babylonian records written with styli on small slabs of clay have been found dating to 2600 BCE.

Other small businesses hire a bookkeeper or employ a small accounting department with data entry clerks reporting to the bookkeeper. Some bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks become certified.