What do good bookkeepers do?
Bookkeepers have an important job to manage your businesses record keeping requirements and to keep in good order the maintenance of your accounting information.
Your time is better spent running and growing your business and not being bogged down with compliance and accounting. Your bookkeeper will implement all systems and controls to help your business manage compliance, cash flows and the entire accounting process.
Here are some of the tasks a bookkeeper will perform to support the smooth running of your business’s financial affairs:
- Collating and filing of source documents
- Matching transactions to source documents
- Recording transactions including all relevant details and classification for income tax purposes
- Reviewing and analysing transactions, and applying correct GST treatment
- Reconciling bank statements and monitoring unpresented items
- Processing sales invoices and receipting payments received
- Processing purchase orders, invoices and receipting payments made
- Monitoring trade debtors and creditors for cash flow purposes
- Reconciling inventory and monitoring against inventory control policies
- Financial Reporting including cash flow reports and management accounts
- Preparation and lodgement of Business Activity Statements

Your bookkeeper is a valuable resource to your Accountant when preparing end of year financial statements and tax returns, the work of your bookkeeper allows your accountant to focus more on the big-ticket items and value-added services to help you grow your business and save money.
How a good bookkeeper will help your business?
Every business needs a good bookkeeper, big or small. Depending on your size, your business needs will vary and so too will the cost. It is a timely exercise to maintain good accounting records, but you need the job done so that you can make good practical business decisions and to meet your compliance obligations.
Bookkeeping does not make your business money, but it can help save you money.
Here are our top 10 reasons why you need a good bookkeeper:
- You get to focus more on your business and its strategic plans and objectives.
- You have more time available to you to run your business and time to relax after a good day’s work.
- You have a reliable source that understands your business and will likely have all the answers to all your queries.
- You will have timely financial information that is accurate and current.
- You will have financial information that is meaningful and useful because it will be presented exactly how you need it.
- Your regulatory compliance obligations are managed and deadlines are met.
- Your cash flows are in order because debtors are managed for collections and creditors are managed to plan payments.
- Your suppliers are happy because they are always paid on time and so too are your employees.
- Your customers are happy because you are focused on their needs and expectations.
- Your Accountant is happy because they have information readily available to provide you with the value-add services you need to save you money and help grow your business.
Read More: How to overcome overdue tax returns?
What are the top 10 Talents of Bookkeepers?
Every business needs a good bookkeeper, here are our Top 10 talents that your bookkeeper will happily brag about:
- Understands systems and will set up an Accounting System specific to your needs.
- Has a good working knowledge of the latest accounting software and can advise you on the best accounting software for your business.
- Is a good organiser and will implement a filing system that will manage your documents and the safekeeping of your financial information and records.
- Capable of reviewing and processing large volumes of data and documents.
- Very good at building systems for managing source documents and tracking vital business information.
- Understands the fundamentals of accounting and will manage the maintenance of your general ledger, debtors and creditors ledger, inventory control, payroll and bank account reconciliations.
- Strong analytical skills when reviewing and processing your accounting information for completeness and accuracy.
- Works in collaboration with your Accountant to share information and to gain important insights about your business.
- Knowledgeable in taxation and will accurately identify and record assessable income, deductible and non-deductible expenses, and transactions that are of a capital nature.
- Understands businesses and will gain a good understanding of your business and needs.
Read More: What’s the difference between accountants and tax agents?
Also read tax agent services guide.