What training has a Certified Bookkeeper received?

A Certified Bookkeeper has the proven ability to handle the books for a company of up to 100 employees.  To become certified, a bookkeeper must:

• Know basic bookkeeping, including double-entry accounting, before undertaking certification;
• Pass a national exam in advanced bookkeeping at Prometric Test Centers;
• Have at least 3,000 hours (2 years) of on-the-job experience in bookkeeping;
• sign a Code of Ethics that assures commitment to integrity;
• constantly update skills by earning 20 Continuing Education Credits every year.

 How can you benefit from using a Certified Bookkeeper?

A CB has the proven ability to…

• Help you get accurate financial statements and tax returns.
• A CB is trained to record your year-end adjustments and prepare your adjusted trial balance—the last step before the financial statements and tax return are prepared.
• Your financial statements and tax returns are only as good as the company books that you give to your CPA.
• You base important financial decisions on accurate data
• You avoid problems with the IRS or filing amended returns because your CPA was given inaccurate books.
• You can give your bank, investors or other interested parties accurate financial data
• Find and correct any accounting errors in your company's books
• Correctly perform your monthly bank reconciliation

  Do your company’s payroll.

 A CB can help you: 

complete and file key federal forms;

avoid misclassifying employees as

independent contractors;

save on overtime pay by knowing what

paid time to include—or

not

to include

— in overtime calculations; and 

keep an eye on your outside payroll

service (if you use one). 

What this means to your company:

• You avoid IRS penalties—or even worse, endless IRS correspondence.
• You help reduce the chance of a costly wage-and-hour audit.
• You avoid late-filing penalties and interest.

Maximize depreciation for your financial statements and taxes.

• A CB can: 

  Set up and maintain depreciation

  schedules for your firm’s property, plant and equipment.

    

  Depreciate vehicles, including employee

  business v. personal use.

   

  Record depreciation for your financial

  statements under GAAP—and make sure you get

  all your depreciation and

  Sec. 179 deductions for tax purposes.

   

  What this means to your company:

  • You get all the Sec. 179 and depreciation deductions you are entitled to.
  • You maximize company car deductions without inviting an IRS audit

 Record and cost out your merchandise inventory.

  A CB can: 

record merchandise inventory under the

perpetual or periodic methods.

 cost out inventory under LIFO, FIFO,

LCM, weighted or moving average.

What this means to your company:

You always know the value of inventory on

hand and avoid unpleasant surprises on your financial statements at year end.

tlaa Journal and Constitution “‘Certified bookkeepers are one of the most critical positions within any organization, but most especially for the small business owner,’ says Finacial Consultant Anita Johnson. ‘This isn’t about data entry, this is about payroll, accruals, deferrals, adjusting trial balances, calculating depreciation and valuation of merchandise invent. It’s the entire package. And if you’re ceified, you become tremendously valuable.’

What are some benefits to hiring a Certified Bookkeeper?

• You avoid costly delays in filing your tax return because your books have to be redone.
• You keep track of cash on a timely basis.
• You make sure to catch errors on: bank statements—and errors in your ledger cash account—before they cost you money. 
• Accurate financial information about your company any time you need it.

A CB can help you avoid costly losses from fraud and theft.

A CB can help you set up internal controls

and is trained to prevent or spot:

• employee theft of cash or other assets.
• check fraud by employees or customers.
• credit card fraud by customers.
• many vendor scams.

What this means to your company:

You minimize or avoid employee theft.

You avoid being scammed by customers.

You avoid getting taken by dishonest vendors.