Bookkeeper Job Description Template (2026)

Full JD (copy-ready)

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# Bookkeeper — Job Description

## Role summary
A Bookkeeper owns the day-to-day financial record-keeping of the business: categorizing transactions in QuickBooks Online or Xero, reconciling bank and credit card accounts weekly, running accounts payable and receivable, producing monthly profit and loss and balance sheet reports, and handing clean, audit-ready books to our CPA at tax time — all while keeping the chart of accounts consistent and the paper trail tight.

## Responsibilities
- Categorize daily bank, credit card, Stripe, PayPal, and Shopify transactions in QuickBooks Online or Xero using the approved chart of accounts.
- Reconcile bank and credit card feeds weekly and flag any uncleared or mis-posted items for review before month end.
- Process accounts payable — receive vendor bills via Bill.com or Dext, match to purchase orders or receipts, route for approval, and schedule payment.
- Manage accounts receivable — send invoices, follow up on aging receivables past 30 days, and apply customer payments against the correct invoices.
- Run monthly close by the 5th business day: accruals, prepaids, depreciation schedules, intercompany entries, and locking the prior period.
- Prepare and deliver monthly financial packages — P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, and AR/AP aging reports — with variance commentary against budget.
- Maintain the chart of accounts, class or location tracking, and department tagging so reports slice clean for management review.
- Reconcile payroll from Gusto, Rippling, or ADP into the general ledger, including employer tax liabilities and 401(k) match.
- Handle sales tax filings (Avalara or TaxJar), 1099 collection and filing, and year-end close prep for the CPA.
- Maintain the digital document vault in Dext, Hubdoc, or a shared drive with receipts tied to every expense line.

## Must-have skills
- 3+ years of full-cycle bookkeeping experience for US-based clients.
- QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor certification or equivalent Xero certification.
- Solid grasp of US-style accrual and cash-basis accounting and when to use each.
- Comfort with multi-entity bookkeeping, intercompany transfers, and class tracking.
- Bank reconciliation discipline: finds uncleared items and chases them to resolution.
- Familiarity with 1099 preparation, sales tax filing workflows, and year-end CPA handoff.
- Written English strong enough to ask vendors for missing receipts and explain variance to a non-finance founder.

## Nice-to-have skills
- Experience with Bill.com, Dext, Ramp, Brex, or Divvy expense platforms.
- Payroll reconciliation experience with Gusto, Rippling, or ADP.
- Industry-specific experience: ecommerce (Shopify/A2X), SaaS (deferred revenue), agencies (project accounting), or real estate (property-level P&L).
- Light month-end FP&A: budget-to-actual variance commentary.
- QBO App Store ecosystem fluency (Fathom, Jirav, LiveFlow).

## Tools and technology
- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- Bill.com
- Dext / Hubdoc
- Ramp / Brex
- Gusto / Rippling
- Avalara / TaxJar
- A2X (for Shopify/Amazon)
- Excel / Google Sheets
- Slack

## Reporting structure
Reports to the Controller, Head of Finance, or directly to the Founder/CEO in smaller teams. Collaborates with the CPA firm for tax filings, with AP approvers in Operations, and with Payroll for reconciliation.

## Success metrics (KPIs)
- Monthly close completed by the 5th business day every month.
- Bank and credit card reconciliations current within 7 days at all times.
- AR days sales outstanding (DSO) trending down or stable.
- Zero material adjusting entries from the CPA at year end.
- All expense transactions have a matched receipt in the vault (>98% match rate).
- Response time on vendor and internal finance questions under 1 business day.