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Entering a career in bookkeeping can lead to a variety of opportunities for professional development, with plenty of qualifications on offer.
            
            Bookkeepers, also known as finance or accounts clerks, are responsible for the likes of processing sales invoices, receipts and payments, completing VAT returns and preparing statements of income and outgoings.
They also balance accounts and check their accuracy, as well as producing final profit and loss reports. Salaries start at between ￡12,000 and ￡15,000 a year and you can earn up to ￡22,000 once you have experience as a bookkeeper.
The pay also increases substantially as you move up the career ladder, with the likes of senior accountants earning as much as ￡100,000 a year.
Arithmetical Skills.
Malcolm Trotter, chief executive of the International Association of Bookkeepers (IAB), explained that basic skills in English and maths are a prerequisite for the job.
"You don't need a GCSE necessarily, as long as you've got arithmetical skills, that's sufficient," he insisted.
English is important when it comes to producing invoices and other financial statements as these need to be written in a coherent manner that is understandable to those using them.
Beyond these basic requirements, it is a case of taking training to learn the practical skills needed to do the job, according to Mr Trotter.
Level Three Qualifications.
"To become what we call a practitioner, you need to get level three qualifications, based on the national qualifications framework," he explained.
These are the equivalent of A levels and include the likes of certificates in bookkeeping.
"You could of course go straight in at that level but we would always advise people to do it step by step," Mr Trotter said.
"That would entail doing qualifications at levels one and two, level one being a very simple introduction and level two taking people to the trial-balance level of bookkeeping, learning double-entry bookkeeping, and level three taking people through to simple financial statements, such as profit-loss accounts and balance sheets," he explained.
You might also take Sage classes in London, for example, to learn how to use this bookkeeping-specific software.
Bookkeeping Registration.
The beauty of a career as a bookkeeper is that you can work for various types of companies or, alternatively, go self-employed and work for yourself.
This requires adhering to recent legislation,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Mr Trotter advised.
"If you want to provide a bookkeeping service to clients, be a bookkeeper in practice, it is a legal requirement to be registered under the money-laundering regulations of 2007.
"What that means is you have to be registered with either an approved body, which of course the IAB is, or with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs," he said.
"The advantage of joining a professional body is that they will assist and support you in professional development," Mr Trotter, added, explaining that the IAB runs meetings and seminars for its members.
Professional Development.
When it comes to moving forward with your career,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, there are various options in bookkeeping, but the key to climbing the ladder is topping up your qualifications.
For example, you will need a level four certificate, such as a diploma, to become an accounting technician, which is the next step up from a bookkeeper or accounts clerk.
Through the likes of accounting courses in London, you will learn how to run a cash book, reconcile purchase orders, delivery notes and invoices and check the creditworthiness of potential customers.
You will also be taught how to chase payments, balance ledgers and prepare profit and loss account and balance sheets, use Sage to prepare a VAT return, plus produce and analyse budgets and cash flows using Microsoft Excel.
Having become an accounting technician, you can then progress to the level of accountant with further qualifications through one of five professional bodies, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Scotland, or Ireland and the Association of International Accountants.
Trained accountants typically earn between ￡28,000 and ￡50,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login,000 a year and their job involves preparing business plans, producing annual and monthly accounts, carrying out independent audits and forecasting future profits, among other things.
Another route to go down having started in bookkeeping, is to train as a payroll administrator,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, which involves working with wages, processing holiday, sick and maternity pay, deducting tax and national insurance payments, calculating overtime and the like.
Whatever you decide, you will need to enrol on a bookkeeping course first, then the accountancy world is your oyster!
         
            
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