BookKeeping

Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions such as sales, purchases, receipts, and payments. The person liable to record is named as book keeper or accounting clerk. Book keeper is not an accountant. The difference in book keeper and accountant is that a book keeper records the initial transactions usually up to the trail balances whereas an accountant prepares financial statements on the basis of the information recorded by the book keeper.

Bookkeeping is required in both single entry and double entry system. Single entry book keeping is mainly costumed in small businesses owned by an individual whereas double entry book keeping system is implemented in larger organizations to record the initial transactions in a systematic manner and the recorded information is used afterwards to prepare financial reports. A book keeper collects the bills, ensure procedural requirements to retire the bills, keep records updated, and make them available for audit purposes.

Small businesses usually appoint a book keeper on part time basis to record their daily transactions in the day books which are consist of sales, purchases, receipts, and payments. He/she is responsible to record all the transactions in the registers or computers in correct subsidiary ledgers and to update the main ledgers and trail balances accordingly. Due to the extensive use of computers the job of a book keeper has become quite easy but he/she needs to be capable of understanding the basic principals and assumptions of accounting and must be acquainted with debit/credit rules along with good accounting attitude or common sense.