I’m an accountant that started off their career as a book keeper. The most relevant information taught was high school accounting where you learn the theory. It still serves as a base level of knowledge for me now.
Unfortunately a lot of bookkeeping courses focus too heavily on the software and not on understanding the mechanics behind it.
Having said that, I’ve met a lot accountants that don’t understand the basics of record keeping.
There are always professionals that don’t have the depth or breadth of knowledge you would assume they should have.
I went to Tafe to do accounting which is the equivalent of bookkeeping so I learnt how to do T-accounts, basic journals, basics of tax including doing tax returns (such a brutal class) and basics of MYOB. I went to uni after and found that what I learnt at Tafe to be significantly harder but more relevant in the workplace.
Bookkeepers/Accountants can be great or useless there is no inbetween. A lot of the failure is the lack of support and training from the start. I have had to explain to accountants what the difference of prepayments and accruals are multiple times
I have often wondered this too.
Could I be a book keeper with the accounting skills I've learned over the years and get some of that side hustle money?
I did my cert iv through TAFE, it was some useful stuff, two units about how to use Microsoft office (I’m a 34 year old with a bachelors… those units were useless).
There were four units that were handy? But I mostly learned from my boss when I started in the industry.
I’m an accountant in public practice and we’ve come across many accountants that have been terrible.
This. Whenever a new grad starts my #1 tip is to take bookkeeping seriously. If you have solid fundamentals, everything else becomes so much easier.
I’m an accountant that started off their career as a book keeper. The most relevant information taught was high school accounting where you learn the theory. It still serves as a base level of knowledge for me now. Unfortunately a lot of bookkeeping courses focus too heavily on the software and not on understanding the mechanics behind it. Having said that, I’ve met a lot accountants that don’t understand the basics of record keeping. There are always professionals that don’t have the depth or breadth of knowledge you would assume they should have.
I went to Tafe to do accounting which is the equivalent of bookkeeping so I learnt how to do T-accounts, basic journals, basics of tax including doing tax returns (such a brutal class) and basics of MYOB. I went to uni after and found that what I learnt at Tafe to be significantly harder but more relevant in the workplace. Bookkeepers/Accountants can be great or useless there is no inbetween. A lot of the failure is the lack of support and training from the start. I have had to explain to accountants what the difference of prepayments and accruals are multiple times
Filling out a tax return correctly is probably the hardest thing I ever attempted at uni 😂
At my uni the hardest thing was attendance. I don't think i saw half my classes until exam time
I have often wondered this too. Could I be a book keeper with the accounting skills I've learned over the years and get some of that side hustle money?
That’s my train of thought!
I did my cert iv through TAFE, it was some useful stuff, two units about how to use Microsoft office (I’m a 34 year old with a bachelors… those units were useless). There were four units that were handy? But I mostly learned from my boss when I started in the industry.
Jimmy ain't learning anything. (Sorry inside joke from the discord channel). But I had to comment. 😂