Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks Onet SOC Code 43-3031.00 Career Description: Compute, classify, and record numerical data to keep financial records complete. Perform any combination of routine calculating, posting, and verifying duties to obtain primary financial data for use in maintaining accounting records. May also check the accuracy of figures, calculations, and postings pertaining to business transactions recorded by other workers. Related Clusters: Programs of Study Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

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Career Summary:

• Experience- Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
• Education- Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Some may require a bachelor's degree.
• Job Training- Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers.
• Examples- These occupations usually involve using communication and organizational skills to coordinate, supervise, manage, or train others to accomplish goals. Examples include funeral directors, electricians, forest and conservation technicians, legal secretaries, interviewers, and insurance sales agents.

• Check figures, postings, and documents for correct entry, mathematical accuracy, and proper codes.
• Operate computers programmed with accounting software to record, store, and analyze information.
• Comply with federal, state, and company policies, procedures, and regulations.
• Debit, credit, and total accounts on computer spreadsheets and databases, using specialized accounting software.
• Classify, record, and summarize numerical and financial data to compile and keep financial records, using journals and ledgers or computers.
• Calculate, prepare, and issue bills, invoices, account statements, and other financial statements according to established procedures.
• Compile statistical, financial, accounting or auditing reports and tables pertaining to such matters as cash receipts, expenditures, accounts payable and receivable, and profits and losses.
• Code documents according to company procedures.
• Access computerized financial information to answer general questions as well as those related to specific accounts.
• Operate 10-key calculators, typewriters, and copy machines to perform calculations and produce documents.
• Reconcile or note and report discrepancies found in records.
• Perform financial calculations such as amounts due, interest charges, balances, discounts, equity, and principal.
• Perform general office duties such as filing, answering telephones, and handling routine correspondence.
• Prepare bank deposits by compiling data from cashiers, verifying and balancing receipts, and sending cash, checks, or other forms of payment to banks.
• Receive, record, and bank cash, checks, and vouchers.
• Calculate and prepare checks for utilities, taxes, and other payments.
• Compare computer printouts to manually maintained journals to determine if they match.
• Reconcile records of bank transactions.
• Prepare trial balances of books.
• Monitor status of loans and accounts to ensure that payments are up to date.
• Transfer details from separate journals to general ledgers or data processing sheets.
• Compile budget data and documents, based on estimated revenues and expenses and previous budgets.
• Calculate costs of materials, overhead and other expenses, based on estimates, quotations and price lists.
• Match order forms with invoices, and record the necessary information.
• Complete and submit tax forms and returns, workers' compensation forms, pension contribution forms, and other government documents.
• Maintain inventory records.
• Perform personal bookkeeping services.
• Compute deductions for income and social security taxes.
• Prepare purchase orders and expense reports.

• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

• Most employers require bookkeepers to complete high school and pursue additional training in bookkeeping. Employers expect some post-high school training from a technical, commercial, or community college. Course content will typically include courses in financial management techniques, including budget preparation and review; accounting; preparing reports; personnel management and payroll procedures. For related information and recommended courses to prepare for this occupation, Tennessee high school students may visit the Business and Information Technology Standards online.

  Military job training consists of 6 to 12 weeks of classroom instruction, including practice in accounting techniques. Course content typically includes accounting principles and procedures; preparation and maintenance of financial reports and budgets; statistical analyses to interpret financial data; and computation of pay and deductions.

• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
• Number Facility - The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.

• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships - Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work - Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
• Processing Information - Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.

• Conventional - Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
• First Interest High-Point - Primary-Rank Descriptiveness
• Second Interest High-Point - Secondary-Cutoff/Rank Descriptiveness

• Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
• Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical.
• Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
• Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
• Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
• Self Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
• Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
• Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
• Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
• Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
• Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
• Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

• Independence - Workers on this job do their work alone.
• Working Conditions - Workers on this job have good working conditions.
• Activity - Workers on this job are busy all the time.
• Company Policies and Practices - Workers on this job are treated fairly by the company.
• Working Conditions-Mean Extent - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.
• Security - Workers on this job have steady employment.
• Autonomy - Workers on this job plan their work with little supervision.
• Ability Utilization - Workers on this job make use of their individual abilities.
• Advancement - Workers on this job have opportunities for advancement.
• Supervision, Human Relations - Workers on this job have supervisors who back up their workers with management.
• Support-Mean Extent - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.
• Achievement-Mean Extent - Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
• Achievement - Workers on this job get a feeling of accomplishment.
• Moral Values - Workers on this job are never pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.

Wage and salary data provided by:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tennessee Department of Labor website
• TN Department of Labor & Workforce Development website
• Bureau of Economic Analysis website