Sign up to receive more well-researched small business articles and topics in your inbox, personalized for you. After you’ve decided to pursue one of these professional designations, you must complete the following steps. To become a CB, AIPB asks for a registration fee of $25 for members and $60 for nonmembers. The organization also offers one-, two-, and three-year memberships at discounted prices. We help you build a highly profitable bookkeeping business partnering with Accounting Analytics.

• On Coursera, enroll in the Intuit Bookkeeping Professional Certificate program to dive into financial statement analysis, assets, liability, and equity.
• Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.
• QuickBooks Live connects bookkeepers with small businesses that need help doing their books.
• If you’re looking to gain a competitive advantage in the world of accounting, look no further than a bookkeeping certification.
• Also worth considering is whether the exam itself is scheduled online or in person, and how often it’s administered.

While these requirements may sound tedious, they could benefit your career in the long term. What’s more, a bookkeeping certification will help you hone your skills and provide more in-depth job training. This also provides a competitive advantage for bookkeepers beginning their careers. If you’re just launching your bookkeeping career, a professional certification can set you apart from the competition. This credential can boost your credibility in the eyes of potential employers, especially if you’re just breaking into the job market. The answer depends on where you are in your career, along with a few other factors.

Questions About How to Become a Bookkeeper

The organization offers both a bookkeeper license program and a bookkeeper certification. Certificate and degree programs may help candidates bypass some junior-level experience requirements. Even so, building your knowledge of essential bookkeeper duties through practice always helps. Hands-on learning opportunities like internships and practicums allow aspiring bookkeepers to gain education and experience at the same time. Unlike other accounting professionals, bookkeepers do not need any licenses or certifications.

A typical bookkeeping certification course takes several weeks to complete. For example, NACPB’s certification course takes 13 weeks, and AIPB’s certification course usually takes six months to complete. A client’s financial activities will include all transactions related to their income and expenses and a bookkeeper is responsible for recording all of these transactions accurately. Some bookkeepers may also have to facilitate financial transactions and ensure  transactions are legally compliant.

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After completing a program and/or passing a certifying exam, display your credential on LinkedIn and add it to your resume. Featuring your credentials online means you can visually represent your skills and knowledge and potentially attract employers’ attention. Once you’ve chosen a program, complete the coursework or training material. According to Payscale, people in the US with a bookkeeping certification can earn, on average, $55,000 per year [2]. They typically manage a company’s financial accounts and maintain accurate records. Whether you’re interested in working as a bookkeeper or would like to learn about fundamental bookkeeping processes, a bookkeeping certification can be a worthwhile credential to earn.

However, you’ll receive a certificate from an accredited institution that shows you have the knowledge and skills to perform the duties required of a bookkeeper. For example, a certification from California State University, historical timeline Fullerton costs $2,195. As for certification from AIPB, members pay $479, and nonmembers pay $574. The price of this certification includes the cost of enrollment, workbooks and the four-part national certification exam.

Career Benefits

When students obtain one year of bookkeeping experience, they receive their Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB) license. Accounting Analytics provides the intern bookkeeping and payroll process tools, support, and supervision. On Coursera, enroll in the Intuit Bookkeeping Professional Certificate program to dive into financial statement analysis, assets, liability, and equity. Or explore relevant courses, like Bookkeeping Basics, to develop key skills. Think about each factor and prioritize the ones that are most important to you. For example, perhaps you can be flexible about cost but need a certificate that you can complete relatively quickly.

• If you want to retake either of the first parts of the CB exam, the fee is $60.
• If you’re looking online for bookkeeping certifications, you’ve probably already run into information about accounting programs.
• After you have completed everything, you’ll schedule the certification exam.

Once you’ve identified what matters most out of a bookkeeping certification program or a bookkeeping certificate, start researching which options align most closely with your priorities. In this section, we’ll cover two primary bookkeeping certifications and two popular bookkeeping certificates. Additionally, the options outlined in the table below can be completed online, and many are self-paced, meaning you can work on them around your other responsibilities. The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers reports that graduates of its Certified Bookkeeper program have experienced career advancement.