Our next guest performs vital tasks related to the financial transactions of a business. If you're organized and are good with numbers, you might consider a career as a bookkeeper. Hi, I'm Karen. Welcome to Tricorp. Let me show you around. Sounds good. I am Karen Adams. I am the bookkeeper of Tricorp, here in Prince Rupert, B.C. A bookkeeper is someone who takes information from bank statements, from cheques written, and enters it into the accounting system. So, this is Tricorp. What happens here? Tricorp offers loan services to First Nations and offers funds to access training to gain employment. And you balance the books here? Yes, I do. I check my emails, and then from there I do accounts payable. I do accounts receivable. I post deposits. I do the bank reconciliations. I oversee the data entries, ensure the data entry gets into the accounting system correctly, and create financial statements for management. A bookkeeper is the person who enters all the financial information into the accounting system. An accountant reviews that. I work Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 12, and then one to four o'clock. There is no overtime, except around the year-end time when I'm preparing for audit. So this is your desk? We've got some paperwork here. What are we doing, today? We're going to do a bank reconciliation, and what I need you to do is give me the cheque number and the amount, and then what I'll do is check mark it to clear it out of the bank account. When I was younger, I took a job re-entry program for women, and one of the components was accounting, and I fell in love with the accounting. You need to take accounting courses for two years. You can get your accounting certificate, then go on to take the business administration program. You need to know how to use a computer and you need to know the accounting software. You can take more education, take a major in accounting and then go from there, if you want to be a CGA or CFO. So, what's next? So, we're going to code this invoice we have here. So, what I'll get you to do is stamp the invoice. All right, and then we're going to code the invoice, so I need you to take the total, less the GST. I think people think you have to be a CGA to do a bookkeeper job. All you require is to know computer programs and Excel, and use office equipment. With my skills, I probably can do my own bookkeeping business or I can go work for another company as accounts payable clerk or accounts receivable clerk, or do the bookkeeping job. So, what do we have here? We have a statement of account from one of our vendors, and I need to check with the program officer to ensure that the invoices have been received or paid. It is important to be organized and maintain your documents and have them accessible to management. I need all the invoices filed in case, well, a vendor calls and says, you know, you didn't pay this, so you need to go look into your files. Your general ledger is all numbers. Debits and credits balance the books. So we need to read the accounts, you need to know how to get loan interest, and when you're doing payroll, you need to be totally detail-oriented. You need to know what people are earning or if they're losing a day. You need to be accurate. I find that after the audit, I always look through the reviews as how I did my job and looking for the least amount of adjustments that they have to do... is my reward. I love it. I love making sure the numbers get into its correct place, and I enjoy doing that. I enjoy entering numbers into the accounting system. Karen, thanks so much for showing me around. I finally understand what it means to balance the books. Thank you for coming. Once again, I'm Viviana with Career Trek, reminding you that this career could be yours. We'll see you next time.
