New Port Beach Business Daily

what is the difference between book- keeping and accounting?

I want to take a course but want the best one; book-keeping or Accounting. This is for a home business so want to get the most benefit out of the course. Isn't book-keeping a part of Accounting? Please Help!

Public Comments

1. Accounting follows GAAP or Generally Accepted Accounting principles, while a book keeper may do the same work, he is not governed by GAAP, or often times as educated as an accountant. If its a home business your running, you would probably be better off taking book keeping and cutting away alot of the red tape that comes with accounting.
2. Your are right, bookkeeping is a part of accounting. A bookkeeper is to an accountant like a nurse is to a doctor. You should take a bookkeeping course to keep the books of your business and hire a CPA to do the accounting. To really understand what you should be doing in your business, get the book "Winning in Biz"
3. Really nothing to the commonfolk. When most of us think accounting, we mean 'bookkeeping'. The work is essentially the same. Professional accountants have codes of ethics by which they must govern their work -- laws, auditing procedures etc etc. But for those with their own business, the record keeping (or bookkeeping) is essentially accounting. Unless you plan on incorporation for your business, you will get more out of a bookeeping course than accounting. Accounting covers many areas of study that do not pertain to you, such as internal control, consolidation, financial statement requirements, GAAP, auditing, investments etc and on and on. You will get more out of the straight-forward bookeeping course.