So you've been wondering what does a bookkeeper actually do?
As a firm offering bookkeeping services it never occurred to us that some people don't know what a bookkeeper does. Until we had someone say to us that they were so relieved to hire a bookkeeper, they now had someone doing all their reconciling in Xero for them. We asked what else the bookkeeper was doing and they said "just the reconciling, that's what a bookkeeper does isn't it?"...
And yes, yes we do reconciling.. but we (as bookkeepers) can also do an array of other tasks. There are the commonly known tasks such as:
- Reconciling
- Entering bills
- Creating and sending invoices
- Preparing and filing gst
- Preparing and running payrolls, including filing paye
Then there is the second list, of items that are not so commonly recognized as tasks a bookkeepers may complete for you:
- Dealing with and creating a process to handle debtors (the people who owe you money)
- Setting up and providing training in accounting software (Xero, MYOB, Reckon + more)
- Setting up and providing training in 100's of other software programmes - not limited to job, CRM and workflow software
- Booking in jobs for businesses (like those in the trades industry)
- Answering phones
- Managing cashflow for businesses
- Helping businesses apply for loans and funding
- Paying bills
- Dealing with the IRD and ACC on the clients behalf
Because we're a VA (virtual assistant) firm we have clients that we do even more for. We essentially are the Office Manager (best title we can think of) for their business. We run all their bookkeeping and administration tasks and processes from our office. It saves them from having an office, to set-up phone lines and hire any staff.
We hope this answers your question about what bookkeepers do, if you have any other questions you would like answered you can email us office@varntige.co.nz
Check out our FAQ's for more commonly asked questions!
