As per other articles on our website the advent of the GST Act in 2000 exponentially changed the role of the bookkeeper from basic data input for accounts payable and receivable and basic payroll to a much more complex one.

In addition given the new regulations underpinning the GST, both the reporting and compliance requirements created the need for more accurate and more frequent reporting. To this extent, the bookkeepers’ role morphed into an advisory role as well as managers needed to be kept up to date on their obligations and liabilities.

This then crossed the boundaries of the accountants’ role as bookkeepers became embedded with their employers or clients and consequently had a more intimate relationship than that of the traditional accountant.

To this extent, the bookkeeper has been increasingly relied on to produce appropriate reports for management to assist in the running of the business.

Because of the increasing sophistication of accounting software, much more data is now available to produce a wider variety of reports.

Traditional reports are necessary such as:

• Profit and Loss
• Balance Sheet
• Cash Flow Analysis
• Activity Statement
• GST Reconciliation
• PAYG Report
• Taxable payments annual report
• Bank Reconciliation report
• Business intelligence systems

As mentioned above in addition to these examples the data now allows the bookkeeper to produce a myriad of reports required by managers which may relate to metrics that have been set or strategy milestones.

The bookkeeper must therefore be adept at creating reports that assist management. This could be as simple as a return on investment report related to new business derived from an advertising campaign to something much more sophisticated such as a compilation sales report on a multi-location business that tracks particular revenue streams and the associated cost of sales.

Historically none of these issues were the purview of the bookkeeper however as the role has evolved there has been both increased education and qualification requirements for bookkeepers to assist with coping with the demands and legislative framework that now surrounds bookkeeping activities.