How to become a bookkeeper in the UK

A bookkeeper records what a business sells, buys, receives and pays, and checks that the records agree with the bank and with each other. The work repeats through the week and the month.

• Enter sales invoices and purchase invoices, each to the right account.
• Record money received and money paid, and match each payment to its invoice.
• Reconcile the bank: explain every difference between the cash book and the bank statement.
• Chase customers who are late paying, and decide which suppliers are due to be paid.
• Keep the petty cash.
• Keep the VAT records and prepare the figures for the VAT return, where the business is registered.
• Run or support the payroll, in some jobs.
• Do the month-end checks and hand tidy records to the accountant.

A bookkeeper keeps the records. An accountant uses those records to prepare the year-end accounts and tax returns, and to advise the owner. In a small firm one person may do some of both, and where the line falls is set by the employer.

Double entry

Knowing which account is debited and which is credited, for any everyday transaction, without stopping to think.

Documents

Reading and checking an invoice, a credit note, a statement and a remittance advice.

Reconciling

Matching two records line by line and explaining what is left: the bank, a supplier statement, a control account.

VAT in the books

Recording VAT on sales and purchases, and knowing which figures go to the return. The rates and rules change, so the skill is the method and knowing where to check.

Spreadsheets and software

Formulas, sorting and lookups in a spreadsheet, and the accounting software the employer uses.

Care and honesty

Accurate figures, and discretion. A bookkeeper sees what people are paid and what the business owes.

Plain writing

A clear email to a customer about a late payment, or to a manager about a figure that looks wrong.

None of these is learnt by reading alone. Each is a thing you do, and speed comes from doing it many times.

Each employer decides what it asks for. These are the usual ways in, in no order.

• Study for a bookkeeping qualification, then apply. AAT (the Association of Accounting Technicians) and ICB (the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) are two bodies that award bookkeeping qualifications in the UK. Their own websites have what is current.
• Start in a junior accounts job, such as accounts assistant or purchase ledger clerk, and learn the work there. Some employers pay for study alongside the job.
• Take an apprenticeship, where an employer offers one. It combines a paid job with study.
• Move across from other office work, or from keeping the books of your own small business, and add a qualification later if employers ask for it.

No route promises a job. How long any of them takes depends on the hours you can give and the level you aim for.

Job adverts are the best guide, because they say what employers near you want now. Read a number of them before you choose what to study.

• The tasks: sales ledger, purchase ledger, bank reconciliation, VAT returns, payroll, credit control.
• A qualification, or study towards one. Some adverts accept experience in its place.
• The accounting software the employer uses, and a working level in spreadsheets.
• Proof of accuracy. An employer may set a short practical test at interview, such as a reconciliation or a spreadsheet exercise.
• References, because the job handles money.

This page gives no pay figures. Pay depends on the area, the employer and your experience, and any figure here would soon be out of date. Read current job adverts for your area instead.

Some bookkeepers keep the books of several small businesses as a business of their own. That is running a business, not holding a job.

Someone who keeps books for clients as their own business needs anti-money-laundering supervision. GOV.UK explains who needs it and how to register. This page is not advice.

GOV.UK also explains what to do when you start working for yourself. Read both before you take on a first client.

Ledger Drill is practice. Each room is a few lines of reading, then questions you answer in a set of books, and every answer is marked at once. It covers the everyday tasks in the list above: double entry, business documents, the bank, VAT in the books, payroll and spreadsheets.

Ledger Drill does not award a qualification, and it is not affiliated with any awarding body. It is a way to find out whether the work suits you before you pay for study, and a way to get quicker at the tasks while you study or apply.

The rooms below are a first week of practice: one from each main task. A room that costs nothing carries a Free tag, and you can start it with no account.