How can I get a job as a book keeper/accounts clerk?

Question

How can I get a job as a book keeper/accounts clerk? I have over twenty years of general office experience, but that experience does not extend to accountancy. So how can I get in without any purchase ledger experience? Should I:

a. Take up a basic Sage Computerised Book keeping course? If so, and I get my certificate, will this stand me in good stead to get an entry-level job in an accounts office?

How much knowledgte of book keeping would I first need to attain in order to get a job?

Answer 1

Get to know Microsoft Excel and Quickbooks. A certificate never, ever hurts

Answer 2

Many small companies hire bookkeepers who do the in-house tasks, and then have a CPA who prepares the tax return and finalizes all the year-end fiscal reports.  It takes more than a couple of weeks of on-the-job training to be a full-charge bookkeeper.  You can take the Sage class because that would give you a great overview of bookkeeping and how to do it on a computer.  But if you really want to know WHAT you're doing and WHY you're doing it, you need to take at least the first 2 accounting classes at your nearest university or community college.  The Sage class may teach you HOW to reverse an entry.  The 2 semesters of accounting will teach you WHY you need to reverse entries, WHEN you need to reverse them, and which entries should not be reversed.

The best way to get your foot in the door is to look for a company who is hiring an accounts payable clerk or an accounts receivable clerk.  These are generally the entry level jobs in an accounting department, but you will get a good understanding of the "hows" and "whys".  What I see a lot in the US is that accounts payable is the lowest level job; accounts receivable is a step up; and the next step is into a payroll clerk position.

With a great boss who is willing to teach you as you go along, and with some good sound accounting classes under you belt, you can learn to be a full-charge bookkeeper.  It doesn't happen overnight.  You should expect it to take at least a couple of years.

Answer 3

Sage will charge you to do their bookkeeping course...but it would stand you in good stead, albeit you would limit yourself to companies who use Sage.

You would only need basic bookkeeping knowledge to do it, and you can learn the smaller details on the job (that's what I did).

I have to say it's not the most thrilling job in the world, frankly it bores me most of the time, but always good as another string to your bow.  

Answer 4

It is very hard to get this kind of job unless you are young and just left college. I have been a book-keeper since I left school 35 years ago but now you don't need to use your brain and work to trial balance and control accounts with your day books and ledgers as its all done on a computer. Recently on looking through the job centre pages all book -keeping works says must have Sage experience so I reckon you should do a course on Sage Computing