Bookkeeping is the activity of tracking, recording, and monitoring all financial transactions done by a company. By financial transactions, we mean the movement or flow of money in the company.

A special employee or contracted personnel, called a bookkeeper, is responsible for doing all these things. A bookkeeper makes sure that all the accounts entered into the company's books are accurate and up to date. This is important since the company's financial statements will be based on these accounts.

Bookkeeping is a demanding, challenging, exciting, and rewarding job. Indeed, a lot of bookkeeping jobs regularly appear in newspaper ads. Also, a lot of new businesses open up every year, looking for bookkeepers for their finance department.

Since bookkeeping is a somewhat specialized kind of job, a bookkeeper should take bookkeeping classes. Even small-scale business owners who do not really need a full-time bookkeeper are advised to attend basic bookkeeping classes to have an idea on how to basically record, track, and monitor accounts. These classes also allow them to understand how the financial aspect of a business works, and how to interpret the data in the accounts.

One does not have to be an accounting student or graduate in order to enroll in bookkeeping classes, although such students do have a few advantages over those who do not have any formal training on the course.

However, he should have a good background of mathematics. Although most people know about numbers and basic math operations, a bookkeeper should be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, rather quickly and accurately. That's because bookkeeping involves a lot of mathematics.

Bookkeeping classes can vary in schedule, from one hour to a whole eight hours. It really depends on the course that the person enrolls in.

Typically, a course covers bookkeeping classes that are held twice a week. Bookkeeping classes can be held in shifts, normally from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., or 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. A person can choose which bookkeeping or accounting course he takes by checking a school's website or by calling them for information.

Typically, a course can be finished in fifteen sessions, or seven and a half weeks. That is equal to two weeks. Night classes, however, can take longer, usually around twenty sessions.

After the training that is taught in bookkeeping classes, the student is required to pass a final exam. Upon passing, the student will receive a certificate of completion issued by the school, or even an accredited bookkeeping agency.