Meaning & use
bookkeeper
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablebusiness
A person whose job is to record a business's money coming in and going out, including sales, bills and payments.
Grammar: Takes an article: a bookkeeper, the bookkeeper.
Patterns
- a bookkeeper for somewhere
- hire a bookkeeper
The bookkeeper checked every invoice before the end of the month.
Our small bakery hired a part-time bookkeeper.
As a bookkeeper, she keeps track of payments and receipts.
Word forms
| plural | bookkeepers |
|---|
Common combinations
- hire a bookkeeper
- We decided to hire a bookkeeper for the shop.
- part-time bookkeeper
- A part-time bookkeeper visits the office on Fridays.
- bookkeeper and accountant
- The bookkeeper and accountant prepared the tax return.
- company bookkeeper
- The company bookkeeper found the error.
- freelance bookkeeper
- She works as a freelance bookkeeper for several clients.
Synonyms and how they differ
- accountant
- An accountant usually has broader training and handles taxes and analysis, while a bookkeeper mainly records daily transactions.
- clerk
- Clerk is a general office job, while bookkeeper is specifically about financial records.
- auditor
- An auditor checks the records for accuracy, and a bookkeeper creates them.
Word family
- bookkeeping noun
- the work of recording finances
- bookkeep verb
- to keep financial records, rare
- book noun
- the ledger in which accounts are kept
- keeper noun
- one who looks after something
Commonly confused: bookkeeper or accountant?
bookkeeper vs accountant
An accountant analyzes finances and prepares reports and taxes, while a bookkeeper records daily transactions.
Practice
Which job mainly involves recording a company's daily income and expenses?
Choose one answer.
A bookkeeper keeps the financial records. An auditor checks them, and a cashier handles payments at the till.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bookkeeper”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.