What the bookkeeper numbers cover
The official statistics do not count bookkeepers on their own. They fall under occupation 43-3031, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, which also includes accounting clerks, accounts payable and accounts receivable clerks, and auditing clerks who check other people's postings. Sample job titles for the group range from account clerk to accounting technician and accounts payable specialist. The figures on this page, 1,532,400 jobs and a median wage of $50,670, describe that whole group. A full-charge bookkeeper who runs a company's entire ledger and an entry-level clerk who only enters vendor bills sit in the same statistic, so expect a wide range of pay and responsibility behind the median.
How the job differs by employer
In a small business, the bookkeeper is often the whole finance department. You keep the general ledger, prepare deposits, run payroll, pay bills, chase overdue invoices and hand clean books to an outside accountant at year-end. The job is broad and you work closely with the owner. In larger companies, the work is split: accounts payable clerks process bills, accounts receivable clerks handle invoices and payments, and auditing clerks check figures and coding. Entry-level clerks post transactions and calculate interest charges; more advanced clerks balance billing vouchers and check that account data are complete.
About 14% of jobs are in professional, scientific and technical services, the industry that includes accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll firms. There, you keep the books for several clients at once and may visit their offices. Construction (8%), retail trade (7%), wholesale trade (7%) and healthcare and social assistance (6%) are the other large employers. About 5.6% of workers are self-employed, usually freelance bookkeepers serving small businesses.
Pay and where the jobs are
The middle half of workers earn between $43,520 and $61,470, and the hourly median is $24.36. California has the most jobs (151,870, median $59,230), followed by Texas (122,400, median $48,910), Florida (88,670, median $49,330), New York (84,280, median $58,160) and Illinois (51,470, median $49,560). The highest medians are in the District of Columbia ($65,180), Connecticut ($59,970) and Massachusetts ($59,830). Official wage data are not broken down by years of experience, so be skeptical of any "entry-level bookkeeper salary" you see quoted elsewhere. In practice, the move from clerk to full-charge bookkeeper, and the size of the employer, account for much of the spread.
The automation question
This is the honest downside, and the projections are blunt about it. Software has automated many of the tasks these workers perform, so the same amount of work can be done with fewer people. Employment is projected to decline 6% over the next decade, a loss of 85,600 jobs. The task list shows why: recording data in accounting software, coding documents, performing financial calculations and checking postings are digital and repetitive, and 68% of workers say repeating the same tasks is extremely important in their job.
The picture is not all bad. About 144,100 openings a year are still projected, all from workers who retire or move to other occupations, and the bookkeepers who remain are expected to take on a more analytical and advisory role: reviewing a client's books and pointing out where they can work more efficiently rather than keying in data by hand. If you are entering the field now, aim for that version of the job.
What employers look for on a resume
Employers generally prefer a high school diploma plus college courses in accounting, so list relevant coursework even if you did not finish a degree. Show the software you know: bookkeeping packages, spreadsheets and databases, and any expense or ERP systems. In-demand technologies for this occupation include SAP Concur, Microsoft Access, Oracle Database and Yardi, plus healthcare systems such as Epic and MEDITECH for medical offices. Name the tasks you owned, such as bank reconciliations, payroll, month-end close or accounts payable, and the size of the books you kept.
Accuracy and trust are the two things a hiring manager is really screening for. About 81% of workers say being exact or accurate is extremely important, and integrity is one of the key work styles because bookkeepers control financial records and sometimes cash. A certification such as the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper or the Intuit Bookkeeping Certification is optional but gives an employer independent proof of your skills. For long-term earnings, the clearest step is more education: with experience and additional education, some clerks become accountants or auditors.