Writing a bookkeeper job description for your accounting firm might seem simple…
But if you want to attract highly qualified candidates, you need more than a recycled list of tasks.
In this article, I’ll break down exactly what to include in your bookkeeper job description.
I’ll also share a bookkeeper job description template you can copy, paste, and tailor to your next hire.
Let’s go!
Table of Contents
- Bookkeeper Job Description Template
- What Bookkeepers Do in Accounting Firms
- Things to Include in Your Bookkeeper Job Description
Bookkeeper Job Description Template
About Us
At [Your Firm’s Name], we’re on a mission to [insert mission/vision, e.g., “help small business owners gain peace of mind through clean books and smart financial systems.”]
We [include a few wins or differentiators, e.g., “work 100% remotely, use best-in-class tech, and prioritize work-life balance for our team.”]
About the Role
We’re looking for a detail-oriented Bookkeeper to manage day-to-day financial transactions for our clients.
In this role, you’ll handle everything from categorizing expenses to reconciling accounts and supporting clients with timely, professional communication. You’ll play a key role in maintaining accurate records, supporting smooth operations, and delivering a high level of service.
If you’re someone who enjoys systems, clean books, and working directly with clients, this role will be a great opportunity for you.
What Your Day-to-Day Will Look Like
- Record and categorize daily financial transactions using cloud-based bookkeeping software like [insert tools your firm uses].
- Reconcile bank and credit card accounts on a weekly or monthly basis.
- Manage accounts payable and receivable, including invoicing, payment follow-ups, and bill processing.
- Prepare and send monthly financial reports to clients, ensuring accuracy and clarity.
- Serve as the first point of contact for your assigned clients. This means answering questions, providing updates, and flagging issues when needed.
- Follow internal SOPs and help document new processes to ensure consistent, high-quality work.
- Collaborate with other team members and/or oversee junior or outsourced bookkeepers to maintain quality control.
- Work closely with onboarding specialists to clean up books and set up systems for new clients.
What You Need to Succeed
- You have a bookkeeping certification.
- You have at least [insert number] years of experience in a bookkeeping or accounting support role.
- You’ve worked with multiple clients at once and know how to keep everyone happy and well-informed.
- You know how to accurately record and reconcile financial transactions using cloud-based accounting software like QuickBooks Online or Xero.
- You understand basic financial regulations and can apply generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in your day-to-day work.
- You’re confident reviewing income statements, reconciling accounts, and making sure financial records are clean and ready for the month-end.
- You have excellent organizational skills and can keep tasks, deadlines, and communications in order across different clients.
- You’re comfortable communicating directly with clients and know how to communicate complex data in a way that makes sense to non-accountants.
- You’re not afraid to take ownership. When something’s off, you raise it, fix it, or ask for help.
- You’re the kind of person who’s always looking for a better, more accurate way to do things.
Why Join Us?
Note: The items in this section are examples, not part of the template. They may greatly vary depending on your organization.
At [Your Firm’s Name], we believe great work happens when people enjoy what they do and have the flexibility to do it well. We offer:
- [Insert the benefits of working at your firm — e.g., “Unlimited PTO and true flexibility around your schedule.”]
- A team culture that values outcomes over hours worked.
- Real opportunities to grow into senior or leadership roles.
- A chance to work with forward-thinking clients and modern tech.
- A firm that invests in its people and their long-term success.
Our Values
We’re not just looking for skills — we’re looking for people who align with our values:
- [Insert your firm’s real values. Below are examples:]
- We don’t micromanage. We set clear expectations and trust our team to follow through.
- We’re client-first. We believe in clear communication and solving real problems.
- We own our work. Mistakes happen, but what matters is that we take responsibility and fix them.
- We value continuous improvement. If there’s a better way, we want to hear about it.
Our Recruitment Process
We take hiring seriously because we want to find people who will thrive here.
Our process includes an application, a short questionnaire designed to learn how you think, and interviews with the team. We might also give you a small paid test project.
We believe in transparency: [Insert your hiring timeline and what applicants should expect — e.g., “If you’re selected for an interview, you’ll hear from us within 5 business days.”]
Apply using the form attached to this job post. We’re excited to hear from you!
What Bookkeepers Do in Accounting Firms
1. Handling Routine Financial Tasks
One of the most typical bookkeeper responsibilities is keeping a firm’s day-to-day financial records accurate and up to date.
This includes:
- Recording financial transactions
- Categorizing expenses
- Issuing invoices
- Staying on top of accounts payable and receivable
Bookkeepers also organize bank statements, keep payroll moving, and flag issues in the numbers before they turn into client headaches.
When done right, these daily tasks are invisible. They just run.
And that’s the goal: smooth, reliable operations that don’t require you to jump in and fix things.
2. Enhancing Client Communication and Service
Bookkeeping duties and responsibilities also include being the main point of contact for the client.
That means answering questions, explaining numbers in plain English, and sending timely updates on what’s going on behind the scenes.
When I ran my previous firm, my bookkeepers were all on the front line. They were the main point of contact for our clients.
That’s why — like I shared in this LinkedIn post — when I hired people in my firm, I put a bigger importance on McDonald’s experience (i.e., customer service) than previous firm experience.
Excellent oral and written communication skills go a long way in this role.
A knowledgeable, responsive bookkeeper makes your firm look good, frees you up from being the go-to person for every client email, and creates a great client experience.
This is what real delegation looks like. You can hand off client communication knowing your bookkeeper will represent the firm well without constant oversight.
When your clients feel taken care of, they stay longer, refer more, and are easier to upsell.
3. Automating Financial Processes
With the right tools in place, bookkeepers can automatically process accounts payable, manage invoices, and send payment reminders.
They can also set up rules to categorize financial data in real time, drastically cutting down on manual entry.
Xero is one of the tools that let you do this. You can set up specific criteria and automatically assign transactions to the appropriate accounts.
This reduces errors and speeds up delivery of financial statements. It also lets you maintain accurate financial records without burning out your team.
When bookkeepers are trained to manage financial data with tech in mind, your firm becomes easier to grow without constantly adding headcount.
That said, be careful. There is such a thing as too much automation.
If deadlines are slipping or quality is dropping, it’s not always a sign that you need more automation.
Sometimes it’s a workflow issue. Other times, it’s a workload issue — you’re asking too few people to do too much.
And in scenarios like this, I’ve seen a lot of firm owners lean on automation as a crutch and fall victim to shiny object syndrome (I talk about it in this LinkedIn post).
This is where capacity planning comes in.
It’s when you step back and look at how much work your team is responsible for and compare that to how much actual capacity (available hours between each team member) you have to get it done.
So instead of layering on more tech, take a step back and ask:
Do you need to automate more, or do you simply not have enough people in your team?
Because not even the greatest app ever can replace a team that’s stretched too thin.
4. Standardizing Internal Bookkeeping Processes
If you want consistent quality and fewer headaches, recurring job responsibilities like balance sheets and bank reconciliations, monthly reporting, and accounts payable management need to follow a clear process every single time.
This is where SOPs (standard operating procedures) come in. Here’s an example template — it’s the one we use at Future Firm.
By documenting how to reconcile bank statements, accurately record expenses, or even how to use your accounting software for things like pay runs or reporting, you create a repeatable system anyone on your team can follow.
It also makes onboarding easier and protects your firm when someone takes a vacation, gets sick, or moves on.
Why?
Because you’re not reliant on one person remembering how everything works.
Plus, it cuts down on mistakes from manual data entry or sloppy recording of financial data, which saves you from cleanup jobs later.
And when you have good bookkeepers on the team, they’ll not only follow these processes to the letter…
They’ll build upon and identify improvements to them too. 🙂
5. Training Junior Staff or Outsourced Bookkeepers
One of the most important job duties of a senior bookkeeper — and one that typically isn’t included in a bookkeeper’s basic administrative duties — is mentoring others.
If you have successful bookkeepers on your team, they shouldn’t just be doing the work. They should also be helping others do it right.
That means:
- Reviewing work from junior staff or outsourced bookkeepers
- Answering questions
- Reinforcing the way things are done in your firm
Essentially, you want quality control without everything having to flow through the firm owner.
It’s also how you start building a management team inside your bookkeeping function — which is an important component of a modern firm structure that can run without you.
Take the above illustration for example.
In a structure like this, a seasoned bookkeeper can completely manage a team of less experienced bookkeepers (i.e., 1 senior bookkeeper for every 4 or 5 junior bookkeepers).
This saves you a lot of time because these senior bookkeepers can take over reviewing work. You don’t need to constantly double-check everything.
In the long run, you’ll be able to remove yourself from client work and focus on firm growth.
Things to Include in Your Bookkeeper Job Description
Summary of the Role and Your Firm
A lot of applicants will skim the job title and jump straight to the salary or benefits.
That’s fine, but the ones you really want are those who take the time to read the full post.
This is why your summary matters. It is where you reach qualified candidates by showing them why your firm is worth their time.
Use this space to explain who you are, what kind of clients you serve, and why the bookkeeper role is important to your team.
Share your mission, your values, and a few standout things that make your firm different. That could include:
- Your working culture (i.e., fully flexible remote work)
- Your approach to client service
- The type of team environment you’ve built
Here’s an example of a firm summary that I like, from Acuity:
Great candidates don’t want vague promises. They want a role that feels like the right next step. This is where you help them see that.
Roles and Responsibilities
This section should be a 1:1 reflection of what the role actually looks like day to day.
What this means is you shouldn’t say you’re hiring someone to “help with the books”…
Instead, be direct. You’re hiring someone to record financial data accurately, monitor financial records, and support client communication. So your job description needs to be just as specific.
Here are a few tips:
- Use real language. Don’t say “responsible for financial documentation,” say “records transactions and reviews income statements monthly.”
- Be honest about pace and complexity. If this person will be expected to manage accounting figures across 10 to 15 clients, say so upfront.
- If the role involves client interaction (and it should), make sure you emphasize the importance of communicating complex data clearly and confidently.
- Include any SOPs or internal systems they’ll be expected to follow. Structure and consistency are part of modern bookkeeper duties, even if they’re not flashy.
If your job post is vague, the wrong people will apply, and the right ones won’t trust that the role is worth their time.
Skills and Qualifications
Since this section is meant to help the right candidates self-identify, it should be unambiguous.
Skip vague phrases like “detail-oriented” or “proficient in accounting software.” Instead, write the real capabilities needed to succeed in your firm.
If your bookkeepers handle multiple clients, explain that they need to stay on top of deadlines, follow through on tasks, and prioritize client satisfaction in every interaction.
If your reporting relies on GAAP, note that familiarity with generally accepted accounting principles is an absolute necessity.
Foundational requirements like a high school diploma or bookkeeping certifications should also be included, but only if they’re genuinely necessary.
Reasons to Join Your Firm
Too many firms say things like “competitive salary” or “fast-paced environment,” but that doesn’t tell candidates anything about what it’s really like to work with you.
Be transparent. What do you actually offer that makes your firm a great place to work?
Maybe you offer health insurance and let people set their own hours or work. Maybe you care more about outcomes than how many Slack messages someone sends in a day.
In my case, I give my Future Firm team members complete control over where and when they want to work. We also have unlimited paid time off.
Here’s our “Why Join Us” section for our job descriptions as an example:
Whatever your biggest offering is, write it exactly how you’d explain it to a peer. Don’t treat this like a corporate brochure.
Get this part right, and you’ll attract great applicants who stick around.
Company Values
Skills will tell you if someone can do the job, but values will tell you if they’ll thrive on your team.
A study by Leadership IQ found that 89% of failed hires come down to attitude, not ability. That’s why this section matters more than most firm owners think.
Don’t fall into the trap of writing vague lines like “We value teamwork” or “We have a positive culture.” That doesn’t tell applicants anything meaningful.
Instead, describe the behaviors you actually expect and what it’s like to work inside your firm.
Here are some examples:
- Instead of “We’re collaborative,” say: “We give direct, constructive feedback. If something’s off, we say it — and we expect you to take ownership and improve.”
- Instead of “We value autonomy,” say: “We don’t hand-hold. We’ll train you, but we expect you to own your work and speak up if something’s unclear.”
- Instead of “We’re flexible,” say: “We don’t track hours. We care that the work gets done and that clients are happy.”
This might not be nice to hear… But the goal here isn’t to sound nice.
It’s to repel the wrong people and attract the right ones.
Application Process
How you handle the application process says a lot about how your firm operates.
If you use a one-click “Easy Apply” button on LinkedIn, you’re inviting a flood of unqualified applicants who haven’t even read the post.
But if your process is too long or complex, you risk losing the right candidates before they ever hit submit.
You want a middle ground: a process that takes a bit of time to complete, but feels reasonable and fair to anyone who’s truly a good fit.
Here’s what that could look like:
- A short application form that includes 2 to 3 questions to help you see how the candidate thinks. Here are a few ideas to get you started (there are more in my accounting interview questions article):
- Could you tell me about a time when you made a major mistake that you made at work?
- What would success look like for you one year from now?
- Tell me about a time when you made an accounting or bookkeeping error.
- A clear outline of what happens next. If your process includes a screening call, followed by an interview, followed by a paid test project, say that upfront. Let applicants know what to expect, how long it takes, and when they’ll hear back after each stage.
- Follow through. If you say “We’ll respond within 5 business days,” then respond within 5 business days — even if it’s a no.
Remember that you’re here to show you respect the applicant’s time too.
Great candidates are evaluating you just as much as you’re evaluating them. Show them you run a firm worth joining.
Use This Job Description to Find Your Next Great Bookkeeping Hire
There you have it!
A modern, detailed bookkeeper job description you can use to build a stronger team.
Customize the template above to match your firm’s needs, save this post for later, and revisit it anytime you’re hiring.
Got a favorite question you always ask in interviews? A line in your job ads that always gets results?
Share them in the comments below!
