A bookkeeper records financial transactions of your business in a systematic manner. Such transactions need to be identified, accepted, classified, and recorded in a way that allows them to be presented in the form of financial statements.

Thus, a bookkeeper performs a host of activities including:

• Collecting financial data
• Recognising transactions of monetary nature and measuring them in terms of money
• Recording the financial impact of the monetary transactions
• Classifying the effects of the financial transactions
• Preparing organised financial statements

Every business needs a bookkeeper as they need to manage their books of accounts effectively. Further, they need to meet the requirements of filing tax returns and financial statements with their local revenue authorities.

In order to undertake bookkeeping effectively, there are certain skills you need to master. In this article, we will discuss how to become a bookkeeper and various online bookkeeping courses.

How to Become a Bookkeeper?

It is not mandatory to be a certified bookkeeper, however a certified bookkeeper has the necessary skills required to manage companies' books of accounts effectively. Moreover, it also adds a credential to your list of professional accomplishments.

Some individuals learn bookkeeping skills on the job. However, it is always helpful to seek further education in order to become a professional bookkeeper.

As a bookkeeper, you are responsible for maintaining accurate financial records and handling all the accounting processes for a business.

Some employers may require you to have only a high school diploma for an entry-level bookkeeping position. However, most employers expect you to have additional education and some type of work experience.

Hence, to advance your career as a bookkeeper, you can go for the following:

Obtain a Degree

Many bookkeeping jobs only require a high school diploma, but there are employers who require candidates to have an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree. 

There are a host of programs available in the field of business administration and accounting.

Associate Degree in Accounting

An associate degree in accounting is a two-year degree that helps candidates to begin their careers in accounting.

Such a degree is offered by community colleges, technical colleges, universities, and online programs. The common types of associate degrees in accounting include an Associate of Science (AS) in Accounting and an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Accounting.

An associate degree provides foundational knowledge to the candidates so that they can seek out entry-level jobs in the industry.

Jobs For Associate Degree Candidates

An Associate Degree in Accounting is the foundational step toward attaining higher degrees including bachelor's or master's. However, such a degree does not prepare students to take up an accounting license program like a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination.

Therefore, candidates having an associate degree in accounting may take up entry-level positions. These include:

• Bookkeeper
• Accounting Assistant
• Administrative Assistant
• Payroll Clerk
• Auditing Clerk
• Tax Preparer

Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting

A Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting can provide you with the fundamental knowledge necessary to start advising businesses, individuals, and organisations in financial and accounting matters.

It is the minimum degree required for accounting license programs you may wish to take, such as the CPA examination.

Various Bachelor’s in Accounting Degrees

Thus, a bachelor’s degree in accounting may qualify you to take a professional certification program like the CPA exam. The following are the options for a bachelor’s degree in accounting:

• Bachelor of Science in Accounting (BS)
• Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
• Bachelor of Arts in Accounting (BA)

Undertake Training

Most employers prefer hiring bookkeepers who possess a proper degree. However, there are employers who hire candidates with just a high-school diploma and prefer training them on the job.

Training in bookkeeping involves:

• Learning double-entry bookkeeping
• Online accounting software
• Managing payroll
• Accounts payable and accounts receivable
• Learning hard skills like analytics
• Technology skills
• Functional accounting and finance skills
• Leadership or management training
• Soft skills like writing negotiation and presentation

Is Bookkeeping Right for You?

Bookkeepers are the professionals who record the day-to-day transactions of a business in an organised manner. This process of identifying, accepting, classifying, and recording financial transactions requires attention to detail, multitasking, and undertaking a lot of number crunching.

If you are wondering whether bookkeeping is the right career choice for you, see the below list of essential skills required to excel as a bookkeeper:

• Keen interest in administrative and clerical procedures
• Comfort with numbers and other hard skills like understanding calculators, recordkeeping, etc.
• Attention to detail
• Data entry skills
• Have an understanding of operating accounting software to record and analyse financial data such as QuickBooks Online Accounting Software, Google Docs, Microsoft Office, etc.
• Enjoy set procedures and routines
• Love working with data
• Possess basic accounting and bookkeeping knowledge including bank reconciliation, debits, and credits, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrual accounting, basic financial statements, journal entries, general ledger, etc.
• Payroll processing skills including payroll tax calculations, benefits calculation, depositing payroll taxes, payroll journal entries, reporting payroll taxes, etc.
• People and interpersonal skills like the ability to work with others, problem-solving, correcting errors, supervising, oral and written communication, etc.
• Ability to manage financial transactions and flow of cash including payments, billing, invoicing, payments, customer relations, etc.
• Capability to maintain confidentiality and thoroughness

What’s a Typical Day for a Bookkeeper?

As mentioned above, a professional bookkeeper should be detail-oriented, enjoy working with data, be comfortable with routine procedures, and be comfortable with numbers.

The primary task of a bookkeeper is to keep a track of the financial transactions of a business and generate relevant and accurate reports. These reports help the accountants, as well as the business owners, understand the financial position of the business.

The following duties are common day-to-day tasks that make up a bookkeeper's work day:

• Tracking cash flow with the help of online accounting software
• Tracking inventory and reporting any discrepancies.
• Recording daily transactions pertaining to customer accounts as well as internal accounts.
• Having a good understanding of double-entry bookkeeping.
• Recording purchase invoices in accounting and bookkeeping software, processing payables report, and taking permission from management to pay bills.
• Preparing and sending invoices to customers when they are due
• Reconciling bank statements with the company’s financial statements and matching various accounts in case of any errors.
• Preparing and processing payroll details.
• Ensuring the accuracy of statements in terms of correct journal entries, amounts, postings, etc.
• Adjusting journal entries when there is a need.
• Checking general ledger at regular intervals to ensure that the balances and accounts are accurate.
• Setting up and maintaining a chart of accounts in online bookkeeping software as per the double-entry system of accounting and accounting rules.
• Preparing financial statements including balance sheet, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and other financial reports at the end of every month.
• Undertaking online banking tasks including processing supplier payments, checking for customer payments, downloading or printing bank statements, etc.
• Ensuring that all the deadlines are met 
• Dealing with bookkeeping documents such as cheques from customers, bank and credit card statements, purchase invoices, etc.
• Handling customer and supplier phone calls pertaining to invoices and payments.
• Following up with customers for overdue payments
• Following accounting policies and procedures

Bookkeeping Certificates and Organisations

The following are examples of bookkeeping organisations that provide a host of bookkeeping programs to help you learn and enhance your bookkeeping knowledge. A region-specific alternative may be available in your country. 

National Bookkeepers Association

National Bookkeepers Association (NBA) is an association of individuals who want to:

• Learn bookkeeping
• Enhance their bookkeeping knowledge and skills
• Share their knowledge and skill via a certification

The members of the NBA typically include bookkeeping employees of small businesses and non-profit organisations. Such an association helps bookkeepers develop knowledge and skill via bookkeeping education and accreditation. Furthermore, the NBA trains and certifies bookkeeping students and employees in bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, tax, excel, and QuickBooks.

This certification is recognised throughout the United States. In order to obtain the bookkeeper certification accredited by the NBA, you need to complete the accounting fundamentals course and pass the uniform bookkeeper certification exam.

American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB)

The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB) is an organisation that was established in 1987 in the United States to recognise bookkeeping as a profession.

This organisation offers a national certification – the Certified Bookkeeper (CB) designation to bookkeepers after passing an exam. The CB designation for bookkeeping is the same as what a CPA is for accounting.

Bookkeepers can advance their skills, knowledge, and marketability via the self-study professional education offered by AIPB to both members and non-members.

You will receive a certificate of completion when you pass the final exam which you can showcase to clients and colleagues.

National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers (NACPB)

The NACPB is an organisation that provides bookkeeping training, tools, exam preparation, and testing for NACPB members and non-members.

This organisation informs, trains, certifies, and licenses bookkeeping students, job applicants, employees, and professionals.

The bookkeeping certification accredited by the NACPB is recognised throughout the United States. 

All you need to do is complete the accounting fundamentals course and pass the bookkeeping certification exam.

Free and Low-Cost Online Bookkeeping Courses

Free and low-cost online bookkeeping courses are an excellent way to learn bookkeeping. These courses focus on bookkeeping fundamentals to enhance knowledge and bookkeeping skills.

The following are bookkeeping courses that you can pursue to enhance your employment prospects and demonstrate proficiency to your clients:

Coursera

Coursera is an online platform that offers courses by top instructors from world-class universities and companies.

There are a host of free courses that give you access to on-demand video lectures, homework exercises, and community discussion forums.

The paid courses offer quizzes and projects, and a course certificate upon completion.

Many of their courses have a cost. When you enroll in a course or specialisation on Coursera, you can enroll for free. But, in order to earn a certificate, you need to purchase the course.

When you start your first subscription to Coursera, it will start a seven-day free trial. This free trial allows you to try a specialisation course for free. However, on the eighth day, your free trial automatically becomes a paid subscription, unless you cancel the free trial version.

The following are some of the bookkeeping courses that you can take on Coursera:

• Financial Accounting Fundamentals
• Introduction to Financial Accounting
• Fundamentals of Accounting Specialisation

The Knowledge Academy

With over 30,000 courses across 190 countries, the Knowledge Academy is one of the world’s largest providers of training courses globally. They provide courses in different categories like business analysis, project management, business accounting, and bookkeeping. 

Below you can see some of the accounting and bookkeeping courses that you can take specifically for different locations: 

• Accounting Masterclass - United Kingdom
• Book Keeping Training - Kenya
• Book Keeping Training - Nigeria

Corporate Finance Institute

The Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) is an online platform that provides online finance and accounting courses.

The CFI courses offer practical skills, templates, and tools to enhance your accounting knowledge.

These courses are taught by professional Wallstreet trainers who have been teaching for over twenty years.

The below courses are some of those offered in the area of accounting and finance by the CFI:

• Accounting Fundamentals
• Reading Financial Statements
• Financial Analysis Fundamentals
• Budgeting and Forecasting
• Excel Crash Course
• Introduction to Corporate Finance
• Fixed Income Financials

You can enroll for all these courses for free. However, if you want certification, you will have to purchase the CFI self-study bundle and FMVA certification.

In-Person Bookkeeping Courses

Taking physical classes for bookkeeping offers many benefits provided you have a flexible working schedule that gives you enough free time.

One of the benefits of attending in-person bookkeeping classes is you can clarify your doubts by speaking to the instructor in person.

This is unlike the case of online courses, where you have to send an email or send a message to the instructor on a messenger app and wait for a response. There are a lot of institutes that offer small business workshops, giving valuable insights on bookkeeping and accounting.

These workshops also give you an opportunity to meet like-minded professionals. These professionals can give you accounting and bookkeeping tips and tricks from their own experience.

QuickBooks Certification

QuickBooks offers training classes from the comfort of your home. The QuickBooks comprehensive training program gets users comfortable with using QuickBooks software in just two days.

QuickBooks Online Accountant helps you manage your work, your clients, and your practice, all with one login. Sign up to use QuickBooks Online Accountant for free for your accounting firm.

The QuickBooks training program helps you to:

• Get up-to-speed in no time
• Learn the best ways to learn day-to-day transactions and get the information you need out of QuickBooks
• Solve specific problems with the help of expert instructors
• Discover tips and tricks that save time
• Lean to develop powerful reports that help businesses make good financial decisions
• Learn how to customise QuickBooks for your business
• Discover ways to automate and simplify your work
• Get a passionate instructor who is 100% committed to helping you learn QuickBooks in an engaging way

The topics covered in QuickBooks Online classes are as follows:

Foundational Topics

The foundational topics in QuickBooks Online Accounting Software help you:

• Learn about your version of QuickBooks and compare it with other versions
• Set up your company in the correct way. If you are already set up. Learn how to fix any errors
• Set up online banking and connect your cards. With QuickBooks you can record numerous transactions all at once
• Import data from Excel and other sources
• Tricks to use QuickBooks in a faster way
• How to find support when you need it

Everyday Transactions

The following section talks about everyday transactions including:

• Estimates, invoices, sales receipts, payments, deposits, credit notes, and customer statements.
• Generate and customise sales & customer reports to get more information about customers and sales.
• Staying on top of any money owed to you and sending timely reminders to customers
• Know what money comes out including bills, bill payments, cheques, electronic payments, debit card purchases, bills vs. cheques, petty cash, and supplier credits.
• Generate and customise expense & supplier reports to get more information about how and where you’re spending money.
• Set up inventory parts, purchase orders, receive items, adjust inventory.
• Set up, adjust, pay, and report sales taxes.

Special Transactions

Learn about special transactions including how to:

• Give and receive refunds.
• Record and/or apply credits offered to customers or received from suppliers.
• Record credit card transactions – and train QuickBooks to do this for you.
• Discover when (and how) to Void vs. Delete a cheque.
• Track customer deposits/down-payments.

Tips and Tricks

Get to know expert tips and tricks on how to:

• Clean up your vital lists like Customers, Suppliers, and Accounts.
• Sort and customise lists to view the information you need.
• Collapse financial statements.
• Run reports (like your Profit & Loss Statement) by month, or as a percent of income.

Automation

Get to know QuickBook's powerful tools in order to:

• Find transactions and other information you need fast.
• Speed up your work – tricks to speed up navigation and working in multiple windows/screens.
• Keyboard shortcuts that save you time.
• Set up recurring transactions. You enter it once and QuickBooks automatically enters it in the future.
• Create your own shortcuts.
• Bank accounts and credit cards:
• Teach QuickBooks to categorise and enter transactions for you.
• Learn when and how to add, match, and exclude.
• Process downloaded transactions and tips and tricks to save you time.
• How to reconcile your bank account and fix errors.

Customising QuickBooks

Customise QuickBooks in order to:

• Customise your invoice and other forms.
• Add logos and custom fields to invoices and other forms.
• Use custom fields to track information unique to your business or customers.
• Tailor your company preferences/settings to match your business.
• Create custom reports.
• Customise who has access and what they can/can’t see.
• Set up users with different access rights & permissions.
• Track changes and who made them (audit log/trail).

Generate Reports

Know how to:

• Customise the content and look of your reports.
• Add, delete, resize, and reorder columns.
• Filter and format reports to get the info you need.
• Save reports and create memorised/customised report groups.
• Set up QuickBooks to automatically email reports on any schedule.

Accounting Concepts

Know how to:

• Really understand your financial statements.
• Setup your chart of accounts correctly.
• Change and fix your accounts to ensure accurate reports.
• Cash vs. Accrual accounting. What’s the difference and which should you use?
• Understand and know when to use general journal entries.
• Setup and use subaccounts.
• Set a closing date to protect your accounting records.
• Best way to add and work with your accountant.
• Reconcile bank and credit card transactions.

Attend Training Classes

QuickBooks offers two types of training: self-paced courses and a QuickBooks certification course.

Self-Paced Courses

The self-paced QuickBooks training is designed in such a way that it fits your working schedule.

All you need to do is simply start and stop the training at your own convenience. Once you subscribe to the training course, it never expires. Therefore, you can watch the videos as and when you like.

Following are the various Self-Paced Courses offered by QuickBooks:

• Mastering QuickBooks (Pro/Premier) Level 1
• Mastering QuickBooks (Pro/Premier) Level 2
• Pro/Premier Course Bundle
• VIP Course Bundle

It’s important to note here that if you become a Diamond VIP member, you will get access to every self-paced course offered by QuickBooks. This means more than 100 hours of QuickBooks training, live weekly webinars, live Q & A sessions, and live support from QuickBooks instructors.

QuickBooks Certification Course

QuickBooks certification course gives you concrete skills and knowledge about QuickBooks Online Accounting Software.

In order to become a QuickBooks certified user, you need to follow the steps below:

Attend a Training Class

QuickBooks offers a two-day mastering QuickBooks class. This training class is the stepping stone towards QuickBooks certification.

In this class, you will learn about how to set up QuickBooks, how to handle money in and money out, banking, and much more.

You can find the classes across the nation. In case you are unable to find a class near your location, you can even attend a webinar from the comfort of your home or office.

Prepare for the Exam

The next step in becoming a QuickBooks certified user is to prepare for the QuickBooks certification exam. In order to prepare for this exam, you need to attend QuickBooks training classes as these classes offer you a good foundation of QuickBooks knowledge.

Once you attend a QuickBooks training class, you will receive a QuickBooks certification study guide. This guide consists of real-life examples and tips and tricks to help you to prepare for the exam.

Furthermore, it also gives you a practice test which is a great way to get ready for the exam.

Take the Exam

The final step in becoming a certified QuickBooks is to take the QuickBooks certification exam.

Once you have attended the QuickBooks training class, worked through the study guide, and taken the practice exam, you will be ready for the exam.

QuickBooks Video Help

QuickBooks also provides a webinar held by expert QBO accountant Hector Garcia. In this webinar, the QBO accountant covers how to set up QuickBooks Online and provides guidelines on some of the useful features of the product.

This includes creating invoices, categorising expenses, setting up charts of accounts, and much more.

The following are the topics that are covered in this 1 hr 30 minute webinar:

• Why choose QuickBooks Online?
• Setting up a new company
• Settings, language, and home currency
• Basic navigation
• Chart of accounts
• Tracking sales or invoices and customer accounts receivables
• Tracking expenses or bills and supplier accounts payable
• Inventory management
• Expenses and billable time
• Project profitability tracking
• Tracking sales tax
• Budgets and financial reports
• Banking and reconciliations
• Document attachments

To find more learning information about QuickBooks and all the functionalities, feel free to visit our video tutorials section and subscribe to our youtube playlist. 

User Guide PDF

The QuickBooks User Guide PDF is a document that acts as a training guide for those who are progressing through QuickBooks Online Training.

This guide walks you through various aspects of QuickBooks Online right from choosing the type of QuickBooks Online version, navigating QuickBooks Online, setting up your company with QuickBooks to Online banking, running reports, managing transactions, and sales tax.

Thus, this document acts as a Step-by-Step Guide to getting well-versed in using QuickBooks Online Accounting Software.

Get an overview of:

• Introduction to QuickBooks Online
• Navigating QuickBooks Online
• Online Banking
• Transactions
• Budgets
• Projects
• Bank Reconciliation
• Managing sales tax
• Running Reports
• Mobile Apps – Take the Ipad / iPhone Tour
• Help & Support

Join the Global Community

Global QuickBooks Community is an online hub that allows you to connect with other QuickBooks users around the world. This platform answers your queries pertaining to your QuickBooks account as experts share their knowledge with those who need help.

Whether you are a small business owner or a bookkeeper or an adviser trying to help clients grow, the QuickBooks Community is a good platform to get your queries answered.

Individuals who are members of the community answer the queries posted by QuickBooks account holders around the world. Such queries are answered from their own experience of using QuickBooks.

Furthermore, every member contributes to the community in order to build a collective knowledge base.

In case you are facing any issues using QuickBooks, all you need to do is insert the keyword in the search bar and click ‘search”.

Also read: Take advantage of the International Accounting Day to engage with your community.

QuickBooks Online Accountant

Whether you’re venturing into bookkeeping for your own interests, or you’re starting a new position with a company to track and manage their finances, having a solid understanding of bookkeeping is fundamental. Some online bookkeeping courses are free, while some require payment. Your employer may opt to pay for your course.

If you own the business, you’re going to be keeping the books for, learning all you can about how to keep your own finances straight, saving time and money come tax season. When you use QuickBooks Online Accountant, you can join the QuickBooks Pro Advisor program, which offers courses leading to the core or advanced QuickBooks Online Certification.

QuickBooks Online Accountant helps you manage your work, your clients, and your practice, all with one login. Sign up for free.