Example Career: Bookkeeping, Accounting and Auditing Clerks

Career Description

Compute, classify, and record numerical data to keep financial records complete. Perform any combination of routine calculating, posting, and verifying duties to obtain primary financial data for use in maintaining accounting records. May also check the accuracy of figures, calculations, and postings pertaining to business transactions recorded by other workers.

What Job Titles Bookkeeping, Accounting and Auditing Clerks Might Have

• Accounting Assistant
• Accounting Clerk
• Accounts Payables Clerk
• Bookkeeper

What Bookkeeping, Accounting and Auditing Clerks Do

• Operate computers programmed with accounting software to record, store, and analyze information.
• Check figures, postings, and documents for correct entry, mathematical accuracy, and proper codes.
• Classify, record, and summarize numerical and financial data to compile and keep financial records, using journals and ledgers or computers.
• Debit, credit, and total accounts on computer spreadsheets and databases, using specialized accounting software.
• Operate 10-key calculators, typewriters, and copy machines to perform calculations and produce documents.
• Receive, record, and bank cash, checks, and vouchers.
• Comply with federal, state, and company policies, procedures, and regulations.
• Compile statistical, financial, accounting, or auditing reports and tables pertaining to such matters as cash receipts, expenditures, accounts payable and receivable, and profits and losses.
• Code documents according to company procedures.
• Reconcile or note and report discrepancies found in records.
• Access computerized financial information to answer general questions as well as those related to specific accounts.
• Match order forms with invoices, and record the necessary information.
• Perform general office duties, such as filing, answering telephones, and handling routine correspondence.
• Perform personal bookkeeping services.
• Prepare bank deposits by compiling data from cashiers, verifying and balancing receipts, and sending cash, checks, or other forms of payment to banks.
• Prepare trial balances of books.
• Calculate, prepare, and issue bills, invoices, account statements, and other financial statements according to established procedures.
• Calculate and prepare checks for utilities, taxes, and other payments.
• Compute deductions for income and social security taxes.
• Prepare and process payroll information.
• Compare computer printouts to manually maintained journals to determine if they match.
• Reconcile records of bank transactions.
• Transfer details from separate journals to general ledgers or data processing sheets.
• Complete and submit tax forms and returns, workers' compensation forms, pension contribution forms, and other government documents.
• Prepare purchase orders and expense reports.
• Monitor status of loans and accounts to ensure that payments are up to date.
• Perform financial calculations, such as amounts due, interest charges, balances, discounts, equity, and principal.
• Calculate costs of materials, overhead, and other expenses, based on estimates, quotations and price lists.
• Compile budget data and documents, based on estimated revenues and expenses and previous budgets.
• Maintain inventory records.

What Bookkeeping, Accounting and Auditing Clerks Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

What Bookkeeping, Accounting and Auditing Clerks Need to Learn

• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.