Bookkeeper
Record transactions, reconcile accounts and support financial reporting.
- Duration10 to 12 weeksat 8 to 10 hours a week
- LevelEntry-levelFinance
- AccessStart freeFull pathway in NIBS Plus
- Workplace Lab8 tasksReal work, assessed
What you'll do every day
- Record income, expenses and journals
- Reconcile bank accounts
- Manage creditors and debtors
- Maintain ledgers and the trial balance
- Prepare reports for the owner or accountant
- Support VAT and tax processes
Skills you'll build
5 skills, each with its own courses and the other careers that use it.
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Bookkeeping
Used in 1 career path
-
Accounting systems
Used in 2 career paths
-
Microsoft Excel
Used in 9 career paths
-
Compliance and POPIA
Used in 6 career paths
-
Business communication
Used in 8 career paths
Tools you'll use
- Accounting software
- Microsoft Excel
- Online banking exports
- Document storage
Named as the tools the job uses. NIBS claims no relationship with any vendor.
Your pathway, step by step
10 to 12 weeks, at your own pace. Start free; NIBS Plus opens the full pathway and the Workplace Lab.
- Foundation Digital Workplace Foundation: the systems, files and communication every office runs on.
- Skill Courses The skills this role needs, one short course at a time.
- Workplace Lab 8 practical tasks in the software the job uses.
- Portfolio The documents, spreadsheets and records you produced, kept as evidence.
- NIBS Credential Assessed against the NIBS standard and recorded on your Skills Passport.
- Professional Recognition CIBA: what membership means and how a designation works.
- Formal Progression The Bookkeeper occupational qualification, where it is offered.
The full Role Pathway for this career is in development. The courses below already cover its core skills and count toward it.
Start with these courses
- Finance Bookkeeping Basics A short practical skill in finance. Learn it, show it in a practical task, and have it recorded on your Skills Passport. Included in NIBS Plus View course
- Finance Excel for Bookkeeping A short practical skill in finance. Learn it, show it in a practical task, and have it recorded on your Skills Passport. Included in NIBS Plus View course
- Office Productivity Excel Essentials A short practical skill in office productivity. Learn it, show it in a practical task, and have it recorded on your Skills Passport. Included in NIBS Plus View course
- Compliance POPIA Essentials A short practical skill in compliance. Learn it, show it in a practical task, and have it recorded on your Skills Passport. Included in NIBS Plus View course
Workplace Lab: the 8 tasks
Your simulated employer sends the brief and the files. You do the work in the real software; a facilitator assesses it against the NIBS standard.
- 1 Set up a new business in accounting software
- 2 Capture a month of transactions from source documents
- 3 Reconcile a bank statement with unmatched items
- 4 Age the debtors and chase what is overdue
- 5 Prepare a supplier reconciliation
- 6 Produce a trial balance and an income statement
- 7 Prepare the VAT working papers
- 8 Hand over the month to the accountant with a close checklist
Where it leads
Job titles employers use for this work.
- Bookkeeper
- Junior Bookkeeper
- Accounts Administrator
- Finance Administrator
- Accounts Clerk
Vacancies, learnerships and internships are posted in NIBS Campus as they come. NIBS does not guarantee placement.
Professional recognition
Learning can lead to a profession. Here is what that means for this career.
CIBA
Chartered Institute for Business Accountants
Finance, bookkeeping and accounting
- Why join
- A professional community for people who keep the books, technical resources, continuing professional development and a route from membership to a designation as your experience grows.
- Membership
- CIBA admits members before they hold a designation; a designation can be applied for later, on the institute's requirements.
- Possible designation
- Chartered Bookkeeper, on CIBA's requirements
CPD: CPD recognition subject to approval. Designations carry ongoing CPD requirements set by CIBA. Relationship: Relevant professional body. NIBS has no partnership with it and holds no CPD approval from it. Membership is between you and the body, on its own requirements.
Formal progression
Where a formal qualification is offered, this career leads toward it. A separate programme with its own registration, assessment and fees, never included in NIBS Plus.
Become a Bookkeeper.
Join NIBS Campus free and take the first course today. Add NIBS Plus when you want the full pathway and the Workplace Lab.