Bookkeeper vs Accountant
Bookkeepers vs Professional Accountants
Many bookkeepers in our world today define themselves as accountants, but what is the difference between a Professional Accountant and a Bookkeeper? This essay aims discuss and examine the relationship between each of the occupations, examine the differences that sets the two occupations apart and then explore what makes an accountant a professional in today’s world. Comments made by third parties will be looked at in depth in order to reach a fair conclusion.
Bookkeepers today have an important but restricted role in the business world. Their main role is to record the financial transactions of a business. As a bookkeeper, you will be employed to sustain all the ledger accounts, and maintain all the other documents up to the trial balance. The dictionary of Economics & Business by Christine Ammer & Dean S Ammer defines bookkeeping as, “keeping the financial records (books) of a business or other economic unit, recording all transactions in which it engages”. This evidence clearly states that a bookkeeper is subjected to only recording the transactions until the accounting period has finished and the trial balance produced, and is then subsequently handed over to a more qualified member of staff to produce reports or statements. In the present time, accountants have a more complex role in the business world. As an accountant, you must posses all the skills of a bookkeeper, but in addition to that, an accountant must be able to use the information provided by the bookkeeper to produce and communicate clear statements and reports. The Oxford Dictionary of Business & Management states that “wherever accountants work, their responsibilities centre on the collating, recording and communicating of financial information and the preparation of analysis for decision making purposes”. By this comment, we are able to see the complexity of an accountants role in business and understand the services they provide.
Many bookkeepers in our world today define themselves as accountants, but what is the difference between a Professional Accountant and a Bookkeeper? This essay aims discuss and examine the relationship between each of the occupations, examine the differences that sets the two occupations apart and then explore what makes an accountant a professional in today’s world. Comments made by third parties will be looked at in depth in order to reach a fair conclusion.
Bookkeepers today have an important but restricted role in the business world. Their main role is to record the financial transactions of a business. As a bookkeeper, you will be employed to sustain all the ledger accounts, and maintain all the other documents up to the trial balance. The dictionary of Economics & Business by Christine Ammer & Dean S Ammer defines bookkeeping as, “keeping the financial records (books) of a business or other economic unit, recording all transactions in which it engages”. This evidence clearly states that a bookkeeper is subjected to only recording the transactions until the accounting period has finished and the trial balance produced, and is then subsequently handed over to a more qualified member of staff to produce reports or statements. In the present time, accountants have a more complex role in the business world. As an accountant, you must posses all the skills of a bookkeeper, but in addition to that, an accountant must be able to use the information provided by the bookkeeper to produce and communicate clear statements and reports. The Oxford Dictionary of Business & Management states that “wherever accountants work, their responsibilities centre on the collating, recording and communicating of financial information and the preparation of analysis for decision making purposes”. By this comment, we are able to see the complexity of an accountants role in business and understand the services they provide.