Bookkeeping and Accounting – Differences & Important Functions

Posted On January 21, 2022

Although the terms bookkeeping and accounting may appear to be identical, they serve a variety of purposes. Bookkeeping is involved with recording financial transactions, while accounting gives you insights into your business’s financial health based on accounting data.

Bookkeeping is more operational and also administrative in nature. Accounting is more subjective. For a business, making a distinction between bookkeeping and accounting is vital because both are necessary for making wise decisions. Bookkeeping is regarded to be the foundation of accounting, whereas accounting is a part of finance.

Bookkeeping

It is the process of recording an organization’s daily financial transactions. This recording is done in Journal or Subsidiary books, also known as primary books. Book-keeping covers the process of generating financial information along with the preparation of trial balance.

The stages in the bookkeeping process are as follows:

• Determining the existence of a financial transaction
• Keeping a record of a financial transaction
• Setting up a ledger account
• Preparing trial balance

Bookkeeping is an integral part of accounting as the process of accounting starts by first identifying the events and transactions which are of financial character and then be recorded in the books of account.

The functions are as follows:

1.Recording of Expenses:

Recording of expenses is the most essential function of Book keeping. Expense recording help business owners to track their expenditure in relation to their earnings.

2. Manage Accounts Receivable:

After recording all the expenses, the next step is to focus on the accounts receivable. Accounts receivable are the amounts owed by customers for goods or services purchased on credit. Managing accounts receivable is important because many businesses do not get paid on the spot and hence it is helpful to keep the record of money that is yet to receive and it gives an advantage to have a better understanding of the business profitability

3. Manage Accounts Payable:

Another important function of bookkeeping is Accounts Payable. Accounts payable are the amounts due to vendors or suppliers for goods or services that have not yet been paid. Accounts Payable is important to manage company’s cash flow. A good Accounts Payable system can help you to identify areas that need cash and when it will be needed.

4. Payroll:

Payroll is also considered as an important function of bookkeeping. The payroll management system handles all aspects of employee pay and tax filing. It is also a crucial aspect of every business’s operations. If the payroll management process is effective and accurate, a company’s financial viability and also employee motivation can be readily maintained.

5. Preparation of Financial Reports:

It is concerned with the preparation and presentation of the classified data in a manner useful to the internal as well as the external users of the financial statements. This process leads to the preparation of financial statement such as Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement and other reports. 

6. Accounting

Accounting is the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgements and decision by the users of accounts. The function of accounting is to provide quantitative information, primarily of financial nature, that is needed to be useful in making economic decisions. Thus, accounting may be defined as the process of recording, classifying, summarizing, analyzing and interpreting the financial transactions and communicating the results thereof to the persons interested in such information.

It also plays a key role in the smooth operation of a business organization by documenting business transactions in a systematic manner. Through the systematic maintenance of books of accounts and access to these accounts as and when required, it also provides various information to company and its stakeholders such as creditors, bank, tax officials, investors, and suppliers.

The steps of the accounting process are listed below.

• Financial transactions identification
• Keeping track of financial transactions
• Creating a trial balance
• Financial Statements Preparation
• Financial Statement Analysis

The functions are as follows:

1.Record of financial transactions:

Recording of financial transactions is the basic objective of accounting. It also covers all the financial aspects that helps to identify the financial condition of the business.

2. Financial Position:

The main object of accounting is to record the financial transactions in a systematic way and ascertain the financial position of the business on the basis of management information regarding profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, past data and also by analyzing trends. 

3. Decision Making:

Accounting provides the relevant information and statistical data to management and users of accounts to aid rational decision making.

4. Evaluate Financial Data:

Accounting assesses the accounting data by following the analytical procedure. Analytical procedure are the process of evaluating the relationship between financial and non-financial data.

5. Laws, Rules and Regulations:

Accounting ensures that the financial statements are being prepared by following the applicable accounting standards and rules. Accounting provides necessary information to government to exercise control on the entity as well as in collection of tax revenues.

Distinction between bookkeeping and accounting:

Why choose us?

Komplytek believes outsourcing expert operations services can magnify the efficiency and output of your business. With a team of professionals, we can also help you attain brilliance in your finance and accounting operations.

Our main focus is to understand your business model, work tactics, and financial goals before the beginning of the project to meet your requirements effortlessly. The main emphasis is on taking pre-emptive measures at every phase so that you get more results in a short period.