Accounting vs. Bookkeeping

Many people who are unfamiliar to the business world think that financial accounting and bookkeeping are one and the same; they believe that the words are synonymous. Upon further research, however, it is evident that the financial accountant and the bookkeeper are dissimilar in some respects but also have some overlapping traits. To clarify these occupations further examination of the responsibilities of each job within a company, the different personal and educational requirements and the effect that technology has had on their jobs is required. Both bookkeeping and financial accounting deal with numbers, the dollars and cents made or paid by a business. The two occupations differ in what services they perform once they have obtained the business numbers. On the average, bookkeeping is more tedious then financial accounting as it usually involves the recording of transactions and adjustments into a journal or ledger (Kennedy, 1966, p. 36). Often in small businesses, the bookkeeper is responsible for issuing paychecks to employees and maintaining all of the books. In larger companies, bookkeepers may be responsible for only one aspect of the business, such as accounts receivable (Meigs, 1981, p. 6). Financial accountants ar