Where a bookkeeper can go next
12 destinations recorded, ranked by how much of the target role a bookkeeper already meets. The closer to the top of Table 1, the less there is to learn.
Bookkeepers record and assemble the day-to-day financial transactions of an organisation or company, consisting usually of sales, purchases, payments and receipts. They ensure all financial transactions are documented in the appropriate (day) book and general ledger, and that they are balanced out. Bookkeepers prepare the recorded books and ledgers with financial transactions for an accountant to then analyse balance sheets and income statements.
Also known as general bookkeeper, accounting bookkeeper, accounting clerk, accounting technician, accounts clerk, book-keeper, book-keeping clerk, general-ledger bookkeeper, account information clerk, bookkeeping clerk.
Technicians and associate professionals 36 skills on file 12 career moves 1 above 60% overlap Closest: accounting assistant, 72%
- 70% and above · short step
- 50 to 70% · real move
- Below 50% · substantial retraining
Table 2 · A bigger jump
Possible, but expect real retraining rather than a sideways step.
- tax clerk 41% covered · difficulty 55.1
- financial controller 39% covered · difficulty 59.4
- accounting manager 31% covered · difficulty 74.6
- tax inspector 29% covered · difficulty 63.8
- accounting analyst 29% covered · difficulty 69.6
- budget manager 24% covered · difficulty 77.4
- tax advisor 24% covered · difficulty 74.7
- financial fraud examiner 22% covered · difficulty 69.4
- financial auditor 21% covered · difficulty 80.1
Table 3 · What the job itself asks for
A bookkeeper needs 18 required skills and areas of knowledge. These 10 are the ones fewest other jobs share, so they say the most about the work.
- perform balance sheet operations management skills
- prepare trial accounting balances information skills
- use accounting systems management skills
- depreciation business, administration and law
- attach accounting certificates to accounting transactions management skills
- manage the general ledger information skills
- identify accounting errors information skills
- accounting entries business, administration and law
- accounting department processes business, administration and law
- bookkeeping regulations business, administration and law
Table 4 · Jobs that lead here
The reverse view: occupations whose skills already cover much of what a bookkeeper does. The figure is how much of this job each one brings.
Look up another occupation
Bookkeeper is filed under Technicians and associate professionals, ISCO major group 3. The full index lists all ten groups.
How these figures were compiled
Overlap is how much of the target role is already part of a bookkeeper’s work. It is directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. Every entry above opens the full comparison for that move: what carries over, what is missing, and where to start. The full method.