Both accountants and bookkeepers work with the finances of an organization, but they have different roles and different responsibilities. Bookkeepers are responsible for recording financial transactions such as preparing and sending invoices to customers, recording and paying bills from vendors, and processing payroll. Some bookkeepers have more responsibility and are referred to as “full charge bookkeepers.”

After bookkeepers record the financial transactions accountants are responsible for

– ensuring transactions are classified and recorded according to certain accounting standards,

– analyzing and interpreting the financial information and reporting that information to the organization’s management team, and

– establishing processes and procedures to ensure an organization has good “internal controls” to prevent theft, fraud, and errors.

I am an accountant and have a bachelor’s degree in accounting. I am also a Certified Public Accountant in Idaho and Florida. Accountants generally have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in accounting and often have an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree or are a licensed CPA (Certified Public Accountant). The CPA designation requires additional accounting classes after obtaining a bachelor’s degree, passing a rigorous test that takes 12-18 months to complete, working under a CPA for 1 year (in most states), and taking 40 hours of continuing professional education courses each year.

Accounting corrections and adjustments – Say you purchased a vehicle for your company and obtained a loan to pay for the purchase.  You really don’t know how to record either the vehicle or the loan in your books, so you guess. By recording these transactions incorrectly you may have just created a profit or loss that doesn’t exist!

 

Most businesses wait until the end of the year for their accountant to make the corrections. Why wait until then?  You can’t make informed business decisions with bad information, so on either a monthly or quarterly basis I will go through your books and look for transactions that need to be corrected or adjusted and fix them, so you have good information throughout the year.

Reconciling Bank and Credit Card Accounts – Ever find a duplicate check or deposit in your books months down the road?  Reconciling ensures that never happens and is the best way to have accurate information in your books.  I will reconcile your bank and credit card accounts on either a monthly or quarterly basis.  

I currently do not provide services for processing payroll.

Unless you have experienced staff to process your organization’s payroll I recommend that you outsource your payroll to a payroll company. Payroll companies specialize in processing payroll and have departments that specialize in payroll tax rules. Their services are easy to use, convenient, and affordable. I recommend using QTS Payroll or ADP depending on your needs and am happy to refer you to Breck with QTS or Nick with ADP.