Thursday, January 24, 2019

What Are The Responsibilities Of A Small Business Bookkeeper

By Ryan Burns


Not everyone is cut out for college. A lot of high school graduates decide to go to technical schools or take some courses at a community college. In small towns and rural areas especially there are good jobs available for those who decide they prefer a quieter life. If you're looking for a decent job in a rural community, and you enjoy working with numbers, you might consider becoming a small business bookkeeper.

Bookkeepers have important roles in the lives of companies that can't justify hiring full time accountants. Advanced degrees aren't required, and the duties will vary depending on what the company does and how large it is. Most businesses use CPAs to handle their annual tax returns. They sometimes retain accountants to come in and go over their books once or twice a year. Beyond that they depend on their bookkeepers to manage the day to day financial responsibilities.

Bookkeepers are responsible for accounts receivable and accounts payable. This involves the employee inputting monthly invoices in a computer system and then issuing the checks to pay the invoiced amounts. Bookkeepers also bill customers for the services or products the company sells. She creates company invoices and mails them out. It is often the responsibility of bookkeepers to call customers who have delinquent accounts and arrange payment.

Most of the time bookkeepers handle payroll. They may process paychecks inhouse or send the information to an outside firm that cuts the checks. Bookkeepers are usually responsible for handling payments to commissioned salespeople, collecting time cards of hourly employees, and monitoring the payments of salaried staff. They also process expense reports for reimbursement and handle any wage garnishments.

The daily banking business is something bookkeepers handle for the businesses they work with. They handle deposit transactions and enter the information into the company's computer software program. If the company a bookkeeper works for accepts credit cards, it is her responsibility to reconcile and monitor them. Bookkeepers also reconcile bank statements every month and handle any wire transfers. If there are discrepancies in the bookkeeping records, this employee has to find and resolve them.

Filing the monthly and quarterly tax returns is something most bookkeepers handle for their companies. They also file payroll and unemployment taxes. All the required payments and forms that must accompany returns are the responsibility of the bookkeeper. Some bookkeepers are entrusted with processing the yearly corporate returns for their companies. Most businesses still bring in CPAs for this job, which can be complicated and detailed.

Bookkeepers are expected to run reports for their employers that show monthly cash flow. They print out and send workers compensation and pension reports to the various state and federal government entities that require them. If the business they work for is audited, it is the bookkeeper's responsibility to work with the auditors, supplying all the reports and other information necessary for them to complete their work.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for bookkeepers is slightly more than thirty-eight thousand dollars a year. On the low end salaries were just over thirty thousand. On the high end it was nearly fifty thousand dollars a year.




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