Both the bookkeeper and accountant aim towards the same thing, but they vary in some areas of responsibility.
Accounting and bookkeeping may appear to be the same to most people, both involve working on accounts and financial data, and deal with the preparation of management reports. Understanding the different processes will definitely help you in growing your company, as each of these has its own set of advantages.
Bookkeeping: Recording and filing
Its main objective is to consistently keep record of financial transactions in a proper and organized way as the bookkeeper identifies, measures, and records the business transactions daily.
Bookkeeping is considered as the first step in accounting as it involves the following tasks:
Posting transactions
Payroll preparation
Invoice creations
Bank reconciliation
Petty cash management
Updating inventories
Paying suppliers and others
The management needs more than the data provided by bookkeeping to be able to make
important business decisions but it is essential that the bookkeepers are accurate in their job
and are fully knowledgeable of financial topics with their roles and responsibilities. Taking the required accounting courses to learn the fundamentals of accounting is necessary as the
bookkeeper fulfills the responsibilities.
Accounting: Analysing and reporting
Its main objective is determining the business' financial situation and further communicating the same information to relevant management authorities, the middle-level management task of accounting refers to the process of summarizing, analysing and interpreting, and reporting financial transactions that were classified in the ledger account.
With the preparation of financial statements involved in the accounting process, the role of the accountant includes:
Accruing or deferring expenses and revenue
Analysing and interpreting the company’s operational expenses
Filing taxes and other regulatory payments
Preparing financial statements and reports
Due to accounting's complexity and analytical nature, specific skills are needed in order for
accountants to generate effective loan proposals, account charts for businesses, and budgets for businesses. Professional accountants establish the guidelines and rules for the firm, including how financial records should be filed, kept, and even disposed of when necessary.
A bachelor's degree and passing the board test are prerequisites for becoming a Certified Public Accountant or Chartered Accountant of Singapore. A certified public accountant may also serve as the financial controller or comptroller of a firm.
The shifting landscapes
Since they have both been around for a while, bookkeeping and accounting have seen a
remarkable amount of development and change in the way the operations are carried out.
The difference between bookkeeping and accounting is gradually blurring with the use of
technologies. Since bookkeeping software now quickly generates financial statements, various accounting tasks that were formerly part of the accounting process are steadily being absorbed into bookkeeping as a result of technical advancements brought on by the Information Age.
In fact, the process of keeping the books in Singapore is expected to become obsolete in the near future as the majority of bookkeeping chores would be readily performed by bookkeeping software.
Next actions
By outsourcing your bookkeeping and accounting needs to us, you can save money, free up
your time, and concentrate on running your business. Call us right away to learn more!
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