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About Bookkeeping
You'll become
Average Salaries
Bookkeeping workers may earn between $40,000 and $72,000 per year
Businesses are seeking your organisational skills. Turn your natural ability to manage details into a rewarding career by studying a bookkeeping course.
Provide the insight, support and assurance to help businesses thrive in a competitive and regulated modern market by studying a practical and rewarding course in bookkeeping.
Vital to the success of any business, bookkeepers work with financial records and accounts to ensure finances are managed and monitored correctly. Assessing, maintaining and preparing financial records and statements, bookkeepers are responsible for ensuring businesses know how and why their money is being used, and ensure all business practises meet rigorous modern standards of compliance.
A skilled, qualified bookkeeper can offer a range of businesses and organisations the assurance they need to conduct their business strategically and safely. By studying a bookkeeping course, you’ll build the theoretical knowledge, practical skills and personal insights needed to successfully support great business practises.
You can study bookkeeping as a certificate or diploma course, or as part of a bachelor’s or master’s degree in accounting or administration management. After completing a bookkeeping course, you’ll likely seek employment as a bookkeeper, accounts officer or payroll manager, working for virtually any business, organisation or government department.
If you enjoy solving problems and have a head for details, you’ll find working in bookkeeping a rewarding and challenging experience.
What do bookkeeping graduates do?
Bookkeepers play a vital role in the functioning of all businesses, working quietly behind the scenes to ensure all regulatory and statutory requirements are met and managing the financial accounts and other records of the business or organisation.
You’ll work closely with other finance, accounts and administrative staff to ensure all aspects of finances are managed smoothly and professionally.
Day-to-day, you can expect to perform tasks such as:
- Keeping and maintaining financial records, including monitoring and recording income, expenses and advances;
- Preparing and reconciling invoices, purchase orders and bank deposits;
- Preparing bills, receipts, ledgers and other documents;
- Balancing accounts using manual and computer account management systems;
- Managing cash flow, advances and lines of credit;
- Organising, distributing and recording per diems and other staff payments;
- Preparing financial statements and reports;
- Preparing budgets, expenditure reports and analyses using account books, ledgers and accounting computer software;
- Preparing and presenting reports and account summaries when requested;
- Reconciling bank accounts;
- Verifying transaction records and reporting irregularities;
- Researching and preparing forms for tax exemptions and tax payments; and
- Performing basic administrative and organisational management tasks.
Career Outcomes
Career Outcomes
You may also choose to take your skills in administration and management into an office management role.
You’ll be able to seek employment in a wide range of industries. The Australian Government’s Job Outlook reports that job opportunities for bookkeeping graduates are available in all areas of Australia and in a wide variety of industries. Most bookkeepers in Australia are currently employed in industries including:
- Professionals, scientific and technical services
- Construction
- Manufacturing
However, as every business, government department and not-for-profit organisation require the management of its finances, job opportunities for bookkeepers are likely to be available in every employment sector in Australia.
After completing a bookkeeping course, you’ll seek employment in a bookkeeping role. Some job titles you might have include:
Is bookkeeping right for you?
You’ll thrive working in bookkeeping if you:
- Are highly organised
- Have excellent administrative skills
- Have a head for detail
- Like solving problems
- Have good communication and interpersonal skills
- Are proactive and autonomous
- Can work well in a team
- Have strong time management
- Are patient
- Prefer behind-the-scenes jobs to being the centre of attention
- Enjoy numbers, maths and patterns
Job opportunities
According to the Australian Government’s Job Outlook, bookkeeping is a large industry that employs a significant number of Australians. Job Outlook reports that approximately 99,800 people are currently employed as bookkeepers, indicating that secure employment in bookkeeping is available all over Australia. However, Job Outlook notes that opportunities in the industry have contracted slightly over the last five years, and observes that opportunities are likely to continue dropping until 2020. Job Outlook predicts approximately 88,400 people will be employed as bookkeepers in Australia by 2020.
Average Salaries
According to PayScale, bookkeepers can expect to earn between $40,000 and $72,000 per year, with an average annual salary of approximately $56,000. PayScale notes a positive relationship between experience and earning capacity, but observes that entry-level bookkeepers may still command a competitive salary, earning on average approximately $50,00 per year.
PayScale also notes that many bookkeepers move to senior roles in administration management and financial controlling after working in bookkeeping for several years.