Occupation guide · 43-3031.00
Bookkeeping clerks: explore the work and your evidence
This work combines entering records with finding discrepancies. Use the inventory below to distinguish the evidence you already have from tasks you want to try. Start with a document-checking task and a reconciliation task; handling amounts alone does not cover the whole role.
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.
Turn your task shortlist into a learning plan →
Choose tasks to investigate
Core and supplemental labels below come from the source and can vary by workplace. Select one to three tasks and record an example, a question or evidence you would want to examine. Use fictional or anonymized notes.
Core · Task 2487 · 07/2017
Operate computers programmed with accounting software to record, store, and analyze information.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2486 · 07/2017
Check figures, postings, and documents for correct entry, mathematical accuracy, and proper codes.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2488 · 07/2017
Comply with federal, state, and company policies, procedures, and regulations.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2495 · 07/2017
Operate 10-key calculators, typewriters, and copy machines to perform calculations and produce documents.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2500 · 07/2017
Receive, record, and bank cash, checks, and vouchers.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2493 · 07/2017
Code documents according to company procedures.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2497 · 07/2017
Perform financial calculations, such as amounts due, interest charges, balances, discounts, equity, and principal.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2496 · 07/2017
Reconcile or note and report discrepancies found in records.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2498 · 07/2017
Perform general office duties, such as filing, answering telephones, and handling routine correspondence.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2494 · 07/2017
Access computerized financial information to answer general questions as well as those related to specific accounts.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2490 · 07/2017
Classify, record, and summarize numerical and financial data to compile and keep financial records, using journals and ledgers or computers.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2489 · 07/2017
Debit, credit, and total accounts on computer spreadsheets and databases, using specialized accounting software.
Source: Incumbent.
Core · Task 2509 · 07/2017
Match order forms with invoices, and record the necessary information.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 18561 · 07/2017
Prepare and process payroll information.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2499 · 07/2017
Prepare bank deposits by compiling data from cashiers, verifying and balancing receipts, and sending cash, checks, or other forms of payment to banks.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2501 · 07/2017
Calculate and prepare checks for utilities, taxes, and other payments.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2505 · 07/2017
Monitor status of loans and accounts to ensure that payments are up to date.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2503 · 07/2017
Reconcile records of bank transactions.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2507 · 07/2017
Compile budget data and documents, based on estimated revenues and expenses and previous budgets.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2502 · 07/2017
Compare computer printouts to manually maintained journals to determine if they match.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2506 · 07/2017
Transfer details from separate journals to general ledgers or data processing sheets.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2510 · 07/2017
Complete and submit tax forms and returns, workers' compensation forms, pension contribution forms, and other government documents.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2491 · 07/2017
Calculate, prepare, and issue bills, invoices, account statements, and other financial statements according to established procedures.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2508 · 07/2017
Calculate costs of materials, overhead, and other expenses, based on estimates, quotations and price lists.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2514 · 07/2017
Prepare purchase orders and expense reports.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2504 · 07/2017
Prepare trial balances of books.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2492 · 07/2017
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.
Source: Incumbent.
Supplemental · Task 2511 · 07/2017
Maintain inventory records.
Source: Incumbent.
Read your shortlist
A useful shortlist contains different activities and a specific reason to investigate each one. Identify where you already have an example, where you need more context and which task you can try with the fictional practice cases below. Your notes are exploration, not a hiring assessment.
Try related work
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Source and practice material
Occupational context uses the O*NET® 31.0 Database from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, under CC BY 4.0. View the occupation.
Skill Workbench selected and adapted the occupational information and added its own fictional cases, calculations, guidance and worksheets. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these additions. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.