Bookkeeping
Hard
Skills
1
Double
-
entry
bookkeeping
2
General
ledger
management
3
Journal
entry
preparation
4
Adjusting
and
reversing
entries
5
Chart
of
accounts
design
6
Accrual
-
basis
accounting
7
Cash
-
basis
accounting
8
Trial
balance
preparation
9
Month
-
end
close
10
Year
-
end
close
11
Cleanup
and
catch
-
up
bookkeeping
12
Fixed
asset
register
and
depreciation
13
Accounts
payable
processing
14
Vendor
onboarding
and
W
-9
collection
15
Invoice
matching
and
three
-
way
match
16
Expense
report
processing
17
Petty
cash
reconciliation
18
Accounts
receivable
management
19
Cash
application
20
Billing
and
invoice
generation
21
Collections
and
dunning
workflows
22
Aging
analysis
(
AP
and
AR
)
23
Bank
reconciliation
24
Credit
card
reconciliation
25
Merchant
gateway
reconciliation
26
Balance
sheet
account
reconciliation
27
Intercompany
reconciliation
28
Internal
control
design
29
Segregation
of
duties
30
Fraud
detection
and
prevention
31
Financial
statement
preparation
32
Management
reporting
packages
33
Budget
vs
.
actual
variance
analysis
34
Cash
flow
forecasting
35
Trend
and
ratio
analysis
36
KPI
reporting
(
DSO
,
DPO
,
margin
,
burn
)
37
Break
-
even
analysis
38
Consolidations
and
eliminations
39
Payroll
processing
40
Payroll
tax
filings
(941, 940,
state
)
41
Form
W
-2
and
W
-3
preparation
42
Form
1099-
NEC
and
1099-
MISC
preparation
43
Worker
classification
(
W
-2
vs
.
1099)
44
Sales
and
use
tax
returns
45
Economic
nexus
monitoring
46
Business
tax
form
familiarity
47
GAAP
compliance
48
Record
retention
policy
49
QuickBooks
Online
50
QuickBooks
Desktop
51
Xero
52
Sage
50
and
Sage
Intacct
53
NetSuite
54
Dynamics
365
Business
Central
55
Bill
.
com
and
Expensify
56
Receipt
capture
tools
(
Dext
,
Hubdoc
)
57
Payroll
platforms
(
Gusto
,
ADP
,
Rippling
)
58
Bank
feed
,
CSV
,
and
import
mapping
59
Advanced
Microsoft
Excel
60
Pivot
tables
and
data
modeling
61
XLOOKUP
,
VLOOKUP
,
INDEX
/
MATCH
62
SUMIFS
and
conditional
aggregation
63
Power
Query
64
Google
Sheets
65
Excel
macros
and
VBA
basics
66
Workflow
automation
67
Inventory
accounting
(
FIFO
,
LIFO
,
average
)
68
Cost
of
goods
sold
calculation
69
Revenue
recognition
(
ASC
606)
70
Deferred
revenue
schedules
71
Multi
-
entity
and
multi
-
currency
bookkeeping
72
Nonprofit
fund
accounting
73
Legal
trust
accounting
(
IOLTA
)
74
Construction
accounting
75
E
-
commerce
accounting
76
Property
management
accounting
02
Skills
by
Category
Each
skill
carries
a
one
-
line
definition
of
what
it
actually
means
on
the
job
—
the
version
you
can
defend
in
an
interview
or
paste
into
a
job
description
.
1 / 7
A
Core
Bookkeeping
&
Accounting
Mechanics
Skills
1–12
01
Double
-
entry
bookkeeping
Recording
every
transaction
as
balanced
debits
and
credits
so
the
ledger
always
reconciles
to
itself
.
02
General
ledger
management
Maintaining
,
reviewing
,
and
cleaning
the
master
ledger
across
every
account
,
department
,
and
class
.
03
Journal
entry
preparation
Writing
and
posting
standard
entries
for
revenue
,
expense
,
transfers
,
and
owner
activity
with
clear
memos
.
04
Adjusting
and
reversing
journal
entries
Posting
period
-
end
accruals
,
deferrals
,
and
reversals
so
each
month
opens
clean
.
05
Chart
of
accounts
design
Building
and
restructuring
the
account
tree
so
reporting
maps
to
how
the
business
actually
operates
.
06
Accrual
-
basis
accounting
Matching
revenue
and
expenses
to
the
period
they
belong
to
,
not
the
period
the
cash
moved
.
07
Cash
-
basis
accounting
Recording
income
and
expenses
only
when
money
is
received
or
paid
,
with
a
clean
conversion
to
accrual
.
08
Trial
balance
preparation
Pulling
and
reviewing
the
trial
balance
to
confirm
debits
equal
credits
before
the
period
is
locked
.
09
Month
-
end
close
Running
the
close
checklist
,
tie
-
outs
,
and
adjustments
to
lock
a
period
on
schedule
and
on
budget
.
10
Year
-
end
close
Final
adjustments
,
retained
earnings
roll
-
forward
,
and
handing
clean
books
to
the
tax
preparer
.
11
Cleanup
and
catch
-
up
bookkeeping
Rebuilding
months
or
years
of
neglected
books
into
an
accurate
,
fully
reconciled
ledger
.
12
Fixed
asset
register
and
depreciation
Tracking
capitalized
assets
,
useful
lives
,
disposal
dates
,
and
monthly
depreciation
schedules
.
B
Accounts
Payable
&
Accounts
Receivable
Skills
13–22
13
Accounts
payable
processing
Coding
,
approving
,
and
scheduling
vendor
bills
for
payment
against
agreed
terms
.
14
Vendor
onboarding
and
W
-9
collection
Setting
up
vendors
with
correct
tax
identification
,
remit
-
to
details
,
and
payment
terms
.
15
Invoice
matching
and
three
-
way
match
Tying
purchase
orders
,
receiving
documents
,
and
invoices
together
before
releasing
payment
.
16
Expense
report
processing
Auditing
employee
submissions
against
policy
,
coding
them
correctly
,
and
processing
reimbursement
.
17
Petty
cash
reconciliation
Counting
and
documenting
the
petty
cash
float
,
then
replenishing
it
against
retained
receipts
.
18
Accounts
receivable
management
Tracking
what
customers
owe
and
keeping
the
AR
subledger
accurate
and
current
against
the
GL
.
2 / 7
19
Cash
application
Matching
incoming
payments
and
remittance
advice
to
open
invoices
,
clearing
short
-
pays
and
deductions
.
20
Billing
and
invoice
generation
Producing
accurate
customer
invoices
on
schedule
with
correct
terms
,
tax
,
and
revenue
coding
.
21
Collections
and
dunning
workflows
Following
up
on
overdue
balances
with
a
structured
,
escalating
,
and
documented
cadence
.
22
Aging
analysis
(
AP
and
AR
)
Reading
aging
reports
to
surface
problem
accounts
,
prioritize
follow
-
up
,
and
spot
payment
drift
.
C
Reconciliation
&
Internal
Controls
Skills
23–30
23
Bank
reconciliation
Matching
every
bank
statement
line
to
the
ledger
and
documenting
each
unresolved
timing
difference
.
24
Credit
card
reconciliation
Reconciling
corporate
and
merchant
card
statements
line
by
line
against
receipts
and
coding
rules
.
25
Merchant
gateway
reconciliation
Tying
Stripe
,
Square
,
and
PayPal
payouts
back
to
gross
sales
,
refunds
,
and
processing
fees
.
26
Balance
sheet
account
reconciliation
Reconciling
every
balance
sheet
account
with
a
supporting
schedule
each
close
period
.
27
Intercompany
reconciliation
Confirming
reciprocal
balances
between
related
entities
and
clearing
them
before
consolidation
.
28
Internal
control
design
Writing
the
approvals
,
thresholds
,
and
review
steps
that
prevent
errors
and
misuse
before
they
post
.
29
Segregation
of
duties
Separating
custody
,
recording
,
and
reconciliation
so
no
single
person
controls
cash
end
to
end
.
30
Fraud
detection
and
prevention
Spotting
duplicate
payments
,
ghost
vendors
,
rounding
schemes
,
and
unusual
journal
entries
.
D
Financial
Reporting
&
Analysis
Skills
31–38
31
Financial
statement
preparation
Producing
the
profit
and
loss
statement
,
balance
sheet
,
and
cash
flow
statement
from
closed
books
.
32
Management
reporting
packages
Assembling
monthly
reporting
packs
with
written
commentary
the
business
can
act
on
.
33
Budget
vs
.
actual
variance
analysis
Explaining
why
actual
results
diverged
from
budget
,
by
how
much
,
and
which
drivers
caused
it
.
34
Cash
flow
forecasting
Projecting
inflows
and
outflows
on
a
rolling
basis
to
show
how
long
the
cash
on
hand
will
last
.
35
Trend
and
ratio
analysis
Reading
gross
margin
,
turnover
,
and
liquidity
ratios
across
periods
to
catch
drift
early
.
36
KPI
reporting
(
DSO
,
DPO
,
margin
,
burn
)
Tracking
days
sales
outstanding
,
days
payable
outstanding
,
gross
margin
,
and
burn
as
standing
metrics
.
3 / 7
37
Break
-
even
analysis
Calculating
the
revenue
level
at
which
the
business
covers
its
fixed
costs
and
starts
contributing
.
38
Consolidations
and
eliminations
Combining
multiple
entities
into
one
clean
set
of
statements
with
intercompany
activity
removed
.
E
Payroll
&
Tax
Compliance
Skills
39–48
39
Payroll
processing
Running
accurate
,
on
-
time
payroll
including
wages
,
tips
,
deductions
,
and
garnishments
.
40
Payroll
tax
filings
(941, 940,
state
)
Preparing
and
filing
federal
and
state
payroll
,
unemployment
,
and
withholding
returns
on
schedule
.
41
Form
W
-2
and
W
-3
preparation
Issuing
annual
wage
statements
to
employees
and
the
accompanying
transmittal
to
the
SSA
.
42
Form
1099-
NEC
and
1099-
MISC
preparation
Collecting
W
-9
s
and
filing
annual
contractor
payments
with
the
correct
box
reporting
.
43
Worker
classification
(
W
-2
vs
. 1099)
Distinguishing
employees
from
independent
contractors
under
IRS
common
-
law
and
state
rules
.
44
Sales
and
use
tax
returns
Calculating
and
filing
multi
-
state
sales
and
use
tax
on
the
correct
jurisdiction
and
schedule
.
45
Economic
nexus
monitoring
Tracking
revenue
and
transaction
thresholds
that
create
new
state
registration
and
filing
obligations
.
46
Business
tax
form
familiarity
Working
knowledge
of
Form
1120,
Form
1065,
and
Schedule
C
so
books
hand
off
cleanly
to
the
preparer
.
47
GAAP
compliance
Applying
U
.
S
.
generally
accepted
accounting
principles
to
everyday
recording
and
presentation
decisions
.
48
Record
retention
policy
Keeping
and
destroying
financial
records
to
a
documented
,
defensible
,
and
audit
-
ready
schedule
.
F
Accounting
Software
&
Systems
Skills
49–58
49
QuickBooks
Online
Daily
QBO
work
:
bank
feeds
,
bank
rules
,
recurring
entries
,
class
tracking
,
and
period
locks
.
50
QuickBooks
Desktop
Desktop
company
files
,
list
management
,
backups
,
and
year
-
end
close
procedures
.
51
Xero
Xero
setup
,
bank
feeds
,
tracking
categories
,
repeating
invoices
,
and
fixed
asset
registers
.
52
Sage
50
and
Sage
Intacct
Sage
chart
setup
,
journal
posting
,
allocation
rules
,
and
multi
-
entity
reporting
structures
.
53
NetSuite
Entering
transactions
,
running
saved
searches
,
and
reconciling
accounts
inside
an
ERP
environment
.
54
Dynamics
365
Business
Central
Posting
journal
entries
,
managing
dimensions
,
and
running
financial
reports
in
Business
Central
.
4 / 7
55
Bill
.
com
and
Expensify
Automated
AP
approval
routing
,
vendor
payments
,
and
employee
expense
capture
with
GL
sync
.
56
Receipt
capture
tools
(
Dext
,
Hubdoc
)
OCR
receipt
-
to
-
ledger
workflows
,
including
AutoEntry
,
with
publish
rules
and
exception
handling
.
57
Payroll
platforms
(
Gusto
,
ADP
,
Rippling
)
Running
payroll
cycles
,
managing
tax
registrations
,
and
reconciling
wage
reports
to
the
ledger
.
58
Bank
feed
,
CSV
,
and
import
mapping
Cleaning
raw
bank
and
processor
data
into
a
postable
journal
import
without
breaking
the
ledger
.
G
Spreadsheet
,
Data
&
Automation
Skills
59–66
59
Advanced
Microsoft
Excel
Building
reusable
workbooks
for
schedules
,
tie
-
outs
,
and
reporting
that
others
can
maintain
.
60
Pivot
tables
and
data
modeling
Summarizing
thousands
of
transaction
lines
by
account
,
period
,
and
class
without
manual
totaling
.
61
XLOOKUP
,
VLOOKUP
,
INDEX
/
MATCH
Joining
transaction
lists
to
master
data
reliably
,
with
error
handling
for
missing
records
.
62
SUMIFS
and
conditional
aggregation
Totaling
by
account
,
period
,
vendor
,
or
class
in
a
single
formula
across
a
full
year
of
data
.
63
Power
Query
Cleaning
and
reshaping
recurring
data
imports
automatically
instead
of
by
hand
every
month
.
64
Google
Sheets
Collaborative
reporting
,
shared
approval
workbooks
,
and
client
-
facing
schedules
that
update
live
.
65
Excel
macros
and
VBA
basics
Automating
repetitive
formatting
,
reconciliation
,
and
report
-
packaging
steps
with
recorded
macros
.
66
Workflow
automation
Using
Zapier
,
Make
,
and
native
platform
rules
to
route
documents
and
update
the
ledger
automatically
.
H
Specialized
&
Industry
Bookkeeping
Skills
67 –7 6
67
Inventory
accounting
(
FIFO
,
LIFO
,
average
)
Valuing
stock
and
cost
of
sales
under
first
-
in
first
-
out
,
last
-
in
first
-
out
,
or
weighted
average
.
68
Cost
of
goods
sold
calculation
Building
a
defensible
COGS
figure
from
purchases
,
freight
,
duty
,
returns
,
and
shrink
.
69
Revenue
recognition
(
ASC
606)
Applying
the
five
-
step
model
to
contracts
with
multiple
performance
obligations
and
variable
consideration
.
70
Deferred
revenue
schedules
Releasing
unearned
revenue
to
income
on
the
correct
schedule
across
the
life
of
each
contract
.
71
Multi
-
entity
and
multi
-
currency
bookkeeping
Handling
intercompany
activity
,
foreign
currency
transactions
,
and
period
-
end
revaluation
.
72
Nonprofit
fund
accounting
Separating
restricted
from
unrestricted
funds
and
reporting
results
by
program
and
grant
.
5 / 7
73
Legal
trust
accounting
(
IOLTA
)
Running
three
-
way
reconciliation
across
the
bank
,
the
client
ledger
,
and
the
trust
control
total
.
74
Construction
accounting
AIA
progress
billings
,
retainage
tracking
,
change
orders
,
and
per
-
job
cost
accumulation
.
75
E
-
commerce
accounting
Reconciling
gross
sales
,
marketplace
fees
,
refunds
,
chargebacks
,
and
platform
settlements
to
net
payouts
.
76
Property
management
accounting
Rent
rolls
,
CAM
reconciliations
,
tenant
ledgers
,
and
per
-
property
operating
statements
.
03
Proficiency
Benchmarks
Use
this
to
turn
a
flat
skill
name
into
a
defensible
proficiency
claim
.
Read
down
each
row
and
pick
the
column
that
describes
what
you
can
do
without
supervision
.
SKILL
C LU ST ER
ENT RY
· 0–2
YEA RS
M ID
· 3 –5
YEA RS
SENIOR
· 6 +
YEA RS
Journal
entries
and
ledger
Posts
prepared
entries
accurately
with
support
attached
Prepares
,
codes
,
and
reviews
entries
independently
Owns
the
close
calendar
and
the
review
process
Bank
and
balance
sheet
reconciliation
Reconciles
straightforward
accounts
with
a
prior
template
Reconciles
every
balance
sheet
account
to
support
Designs
reconciliation
templates
and
control
steps
Accounting
software
One
platform
,
following
documented
workflows
Two
or
more
platforms
,
independently
,
including
setup
Multi
-
entity
ERP
setup
,
migration
,
and
cleanup
Month
-
end
close
Completes
assigned
close
tasks
on
deadline
Runs
the
close
end
to
end
without
a
checklist
prompt
Redesigns
the
close
to
remove
days
from
the
calendar
Reporting
Runs
existing
report
templates
and
checks
totals
Builds
custom
reports
,
schedules
,
and
tie
-
outs
Owns
the
reporting
pack
and
presents
it
to
leadership
Tax
and
compliance
Gathers
and
organizes
documents
for
the
filer
Prepares
1099
s
,
W
-2
s
,
and
sales
tax
returns
Manages
filings
across
states
and
defends
positions
Spreadsheets
and
data
Reliable
formulas
,
formatting
,
and
formula
hygiene
Pivot
tables
,
lookups
,
and
monthly
cleanup
workbooks
Power
Query
models
,
automation
,
and
reusable
tooling
Internal
controls
Follows
controls
and
flags
exceptions
Audits
compliance
and
documents
exceptions
Designs
and
implements
the
control
environment
04
Grouping
for
a
Resume
Hard
skills
read
better
in
three
tight
clusters
than
in
one
long
undifferentiated
block
.
Use
these
groupings
as
the
column
headers
in
your
skills
section
.
6 / 7
SO FT WARE
&
SYST EM S
Platform
names
belong
in
their
own
cluster
—
recruiters
and
applicant
tracking
systems
scan
for
them
first
.
T ECHN ICAL
ACCO UN T IN G
The
day
-
to
-
day
ledger
and
close
work
.
Lead
with
these
if
the
role
is
a
full
-
charge
or
staff
accountant
position
.
CO M PLIAN CE
&
CO N T RO LS
Signals
judgment
and
risk
awareness
.
Keep
this
cluster
short
unless
the
role
is
audit
-
adjacent
or
in
a
regulated
industry
.
QuickBooks
Online
&
Desktop
Xero
·
Sage
Intacct
·
NetSuite
Bill
.
com
·
Expensify
·
Dext
Gusto
·
ADP
·
Rippling
Stripe
·
Square
·
PayPal
reconciliation
Advanced
Excel
·
Power
Query
Google
Sheets
·
Power
BI
Month
-
end
and
year
-
end
close
Bank
and
balance
sheet
reconciliation
Accounts
payable
and
receivable
Journal
entries
and
accruals
Financial
statement
preparation
Fixed
assets
and
depreciation
Inventory
and
cost
of
goods
sold
GAAP
application
Sales
and
use
tax
filing
Form
1099
and
W
-2
preparation
Payroll
tax
filings
(941, 940)
Internal
controls
and
segregation
of
duties
Audit
preparation
and
support
Record
retention
policy
7 / 7
