Where Do You Get Bookkeeping Experience?

A bookkeeper is not required to have a degree, but what we lack in degrees, we make up in bookkeeping experience. There are several ways you can acquire the experience you need to get a bookkeeping job or start a bookkeeping business.

How much bookkeeping experience you will need will depend on what kind of work you will be doing. You will need to have enough experience that you are fully confident that you can perform the bookkeeping tasks you are being hired to do.

In addition, you will need to have enough bookkeeping experience to assure your client that you are qualified to do the job well.

Some ways you can gain on-the-job bookkeeping experience are:

Practice by Doing Your Own Bookkeeping

If you are new to the world of bookkeeping, one way to learn bookkeeping is to purchase QuickBooks, a very user-friendly software that does not require a lot of accounting knowledge, and practice doing your own bookkeeping.

You can use QuickBooks to do your own books as well as practice with the sample companies that comes with the program.

Volunteer as an Assistant Bookkeeper

Some places you might volunteer as an assistant bookkeeper are in a club at your university or local school (for example, student government, pier mentoring program, or any other club that has a budget and needs to have financial records kept on how that budget is spent) or at a not-for-profit company in your community.

Work as an Intern

This is an especially good option to consider if you are going to school for bookkeeping or a related finance or accounting field. Check with the career department of your school and find out what internships are available. Read more bellow on the importance of work experience in addition to educational experience.

Work as a Secretary

You might be surprised by the bookkeeping experience you can gain working as a secretary. I started out at seventeen, working as a secretary for a friend, making minimum wage and ended up getting one-on-one tutoring from his certified public accountant on how to become a bookkeeper.

This opportunity for learning bookkeeping might be especially available through small, up-and-coming businesses.

Ask if There is an Opening at your Existing Job

If you work in an office, ask if you can help with some of the bookkeeping tasks. You never know, that's how I've trained several bookkeepers, by letting them assist me in doing the bookkeeping for the company. That way they get to learn through experience and I get to use my expertise for areas where it is most needed.

Work as an Assistant Bookkeeping Temp

If you have some bookkeeping experience, but need more, one way you can gain experience is by working as an assistant bookkeeper at a job temp agency such as Accountemps. This is how I gained experience when I only had a few years experience. In addition to being a great way to learn very fast, it can be way more exciting than working at one place.

You might end up being matched with either one short-term-full-time job at a time or work several part-time jobs at once. In my two years of temping, some of the companies I gained experience working for were lawyers, fashion designers and universities. This way, I gained a variety of experience.

You can also temp to hire if you are thinking of working a bookkeeping job, but would rather get a feel for the company and make sure you are the right fit for each other before you sign on permanently.

Work in an Accounting or Bookkeeping Office

A great way to learn bookkeeping is to get a job working at an accountant or bookkeeping office. This way you are learning from the specialists of the industry and you are probably getting experience working with a variety of clientele.

Work in the Accounting or Bookkeeping Office of Your Company

Another option is to work at a large company that has it's own accounting office. You can start out as the assistant bookkeeper, gain the experience needed to become a well-seasoned bookkeeper, or perhaps if job security is what you're looking for, even move up to become the managing accountant of the department.

On the Job Training Vs Educational Experience

Educational experience is relative in the bookkeeping world. A bookkeeping degree, while it may teach you the fundamentals of accounting, with today's accounting software, is not necessary and is certainly not enough. If you are getting a bookkeeping degree, you will need to have job experience in addition to this.

If you do not have a bookkeeping degree, it is not necessary to get one in order to get a bookkeeping job or even start a bookkeeping company. Gaining experience is much more necessary, and I can tell you from years of running a bookkeeping business, it is much more respected by clientele.

In addition, keeping yourself educated and up-to-date with the bookkeeping laws and business demands is necessary, but is not necessarily going to be gained going to college. If you are going to spend your time getting a degree, you are probably better off getting a degree in accounting and becoming a certified public accountant, since it pays better, requires similar knowledge and does require a degree.

Other Ways to Learn Bookkeeping

If you are looking to learn bookkeeping, or to update your bookkeeping skills, there are several ways to do so. Here are some ways to learn bookkeeping.

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