Bookkeeping is not a regulated industry, but it is gaining momentum. There are no minimum set prerequisites that need to be achieved to set your self up as a bookkeeper, so experience at this stage is sufficient. The issue with this is that many people find they can not get employment, without experience and people wont give them the chance to get experience. Fortunately with the increase in the profession, more courses are available which specialize in bookkeeping and also offer work placement opportunities.

Mentor programs are also a good way of getting vital information and skills to become a bookkeeper. It is important in anyones career to have good support and finding a mentor can give you an advantage. If it is suitable, someone at your first place of employment or your supervisor might be a good choice. A good mentor can assist you with your career choices, appropriate work experience, professional development and even with course material if you are continuing your bookkeeping studies whilst employed.

There are a number of courses on offer starting at certificate level to get the foundation knowledge required to be successful in bookkeeping. These courses often involve bookkeeping with an accounting package as well as learning about double entry bookkeeping and keeping manual records.

It is beneficial to undertake a bookkeeping course which is a recognized bookkeeping qualification; this is because of the foundation and training you will receive in fundamentals of bookkeeping and accounting principles. If you just attend a software course, you can learn how to use a software package, but it will not give you the foundation of knowledge required to actually understand why you do certain functions or what the ramifications are.

Most basic bookkeeping software packages have functions like spend money or receive money, but it does not explain why the accounts in your chart of accounts is effected. It only teaches you how to perform a transaction, not what the transaction does behind the scenes.

Ultimately if you want to become a successful bookkeeper who can undertake a full range of services for any employer, you will need to understand the fundamentals of bookkeeping and the best choice to have a long lasting career in the industry is to undertake study to increase your career prospects.

20 Years ago, bookkeeping was not really a profession of its own. It was somewhere between being a secretary and working in an accounts department. As a profession it has taken off over the last two decades and in particular in Australia, with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1^st 2000, it has really increased in popularity. This is not only due to increasing small businesses, but also in the compliance work which was created with the introduction of GST.

The new tax on goods and services meant that businesses suddenly needed to understand their accounts on a quarterly, if not a monthly basis. Although this is a great business improvement from a management point of view, it did increase the small business owners paper load and compliance.

On a positive note however these changes have increased the demand for bookkeepers and improved the profile of the profession and it is an increasing career choice for people. Instead of being told you can be an accountant or a secretary, bookkeeping suddenly gets offered.

Bookkeeping is also becoming recognized as a quasi profession. It is becoming more regulated and there are a number of professional organizations available for bookkeepers to join. Historically this was not the case as it was only offered to accountants. Now though, bookkeepers can join membership based organizations and improve their professional bookkeeping profile. Additionally these professional organizations also offer professional development and additional education to improve the members skills.

There will always need to be bookkeepers in small and medium business. Many bookkeepers even start their own business endeavors and become their own boss by starting their own bookkeeping business. This is often popular with mothers who stop their careers for family commitments and only want to continue working pat time. Rather than finding an employer they fall into their own business by taking on a few small clients and gradually grow from there.

Additionally, if bookkeepers want to start their own business, it is possible to still be employed part time by an organization and start working for themselves on a part time basis until they build up a client base which is sufficient to sustain their financial commitments and not need an employer.