What Is Bookkeeping? Definition, Tasks, Terms to Know

A ledger contains a chart of accounts, which is a list of all the names and number of accounts in the ledger. The chart usually occurs in the same order of accounts as the transcribed records. Now that you’ve got a firm grasp on the basics of bookkeeping, let’s take a deeper dive into practicing good bookkeeping. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to efficient bookkeeping, but there are universal standards.

There are professional associations that can provide bookkeeping training and certification. Evidence of financial record keeping has been found in Mesopotamia, Babylon, Sumer and Assyria as far back as 7000 BC. Archives have been discovered, showing the recording of accounts from farm produce in ancient Greece as well as from the Roman Empire. A bookkeeper’s work is often reviewed by an accountant and/or the small business owner.

What is the best bookkeeping software for small businesses?

You can either get some bookkeeping software and learn how to do it yourself, or you can outsource your bookkeeping to a part-time, virtual bookkeeping service like Bench. Accountants advise leadership on how to make more strategic financial changes that save the company money or generate more profit. For some of the businesses that they do, accountants also need to be registered certified public accountants (CPAs). Both bookkeepers and accountants need to be comfortable working with numbers all day.

While the basics of accounting haven’t changed in over 500 years, the practice of bookkeeping has. Bookkeeping was once done manually using actual books called journals and ledgers. Because bookkeeping is based on double-entry accounting, each transaction affects two accounts — one gets debited and the other is credited. Bookkeeping is the practice what is bookkeeping of organizing, classifying and maintaining a business’s financial records. It involves recording transactions and storing financial documentation to manage the overall financial health of an organization. Most businesses use an electronic method for their bookkeeping, whether it’s a simple spreadsheet or more advanced, specialized software.