Bookkeeper
Bookkeepers record the day-to-day financial transactions of a business and keep the ledgers behind its accounts accurate and up to date.
- Median salary
- $72,800
4.1%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 91,800
0.7%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +5.9%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- High
- 8 out of 10
- Average hours
- 41/wk
+1h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- Not in shortage
national
- Most bookkeepers work in a small accounting or bookkeeping practice, look after the books for one or two businesses in-house, or run their own practice with a handful of clients.
- The role stops short of an accountant's: you record and reconcile transactions, run payroll entries and get the records ready for activity statements, while an accountant prepares the tax return and interprets the figures.
- Lodging activity statements for a client requires registration with the Tax Practitioners Board, which takes a relevant qualification and supervised experience.
How much do bookkeepers earn?
The median full-time salary for a bookkeeper is $72,800 per annum, before tax, up $15,300 since 2018.
An in-house bookkeeper draws a salary under an award or enterprise agreement, while running your own practice means charging clients by the hour or month and covering the software costs yourself. Plenty of bookkeepers work part time, so check whether a quoted figure covers full-time hours and whether the employer expects you to be a registered BAS agent, since registration changes what you can charge for.
What does a bookkeeper do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Coding transactions from bank feeds, supplier invoices and receipts into the ledger
- Reconciling bank, credit card and supplier statements, and tracking down the entries that don't line up
- Chasing clients for missing receipts and invoices as the activity statement deadline closes in
- Preparing activity statements and lodging them through the ATO where you are registered to do so
- Setting up accounts, payroll entries and reports in Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks and keeping the chart of accounts tidy
What skills do bookkeepers need?
Employers look for bookkeeping and ledgers, payroll processing, regulatory compliance, backed by Xero fluency and strong attention to detail.
Specialist skills
- Bookkeeping and ledgers
- Payroll processing
- Regulatory compliance
Software and tools
- Xero
- MYOB
- QuickBooks
- Excel
General skills
- Attention to detail
- Time and deadline management
- Client relationships and advisory
Is the job growing?
About 91,800 people work as bookkeepers in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 5.9% over the decade to 2035. That's modest growth: demand is steady rather than booming.
How do you become a bookkeeper?
Here's the path most bookkeepers take, step by step.
- 1Study accounting and bookkeeping
The Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping is the qualification most employers and clients recognise, and it takes about a year of part-time study at TAFE or a private provider. It covers ledgers, payroll, GST and the software you'll use every day.
- 2Learn the platforms properly
Employers and clients hire on software fluency, and Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks each offer low-cost certification. Set up a trial company file and practise bank feeds, reconciliation and reporting so you can talk through the process at an interview.
- 3Work under someone who checks your work
Most bookkeepers start in a practice or an in-house finance team, where a supervisor reviews what they file, and build their own client list later. This is also how you accumulate the supervised hours that registration asks for.
- 4Register as a BAS agent if you want to lodge
The Tax Practitioners Board registers agents to prepare and lodge activity statements for a fee, and it requires a relevant qualification plus 1,000 hours of experience in the past four years.
- 5Keep current
Award rates, GST rulings and software releases change every year, and registered agents have to complete continuing professional development to hold their registration.
Study routes we have checked
Qualifications that are a recognised way into this role, and what else you need.
- Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping
A recognised route into this role
Bookkeeping is not licensed, but anyone charging a fee to prepare BAS statements must be a registered BAS agent with the Tax Practitioners Board, which has its own qualification and experience rules. The award alone does not confer registration; check that the provider's programme includes the BAS agent units.
Ready to apply as a bookkeeper?
Whether you're working toward becoming a bookkeeper or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a bookkeeper move to?
Moving into Accountant typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $31,400 a year more on average.
- AccountantRecorded move$104,200+$31,400
- Office ManagerRecorded move$90,000+$17,200
- Payroll OfficerRecorded move$83,500+$10,700
- Accounts OfficerRecorded move$75,000+$2,200
Thick lines are moves people were recorded making in Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility (income tax records, 2011-12 to 2020-21). Thin lines are moves we suggest from skill overlap and entry requirements.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
Accountant Bookkeeping experience plus an accounting degree opens accountant roles, where ledger knowledge supports reporting and compliance.Known move | +$31,400 | 17% | requalify |
Office Manager Someone in bookkeeping can move into office management, using financial and administrative oversight to run small business operations.Known move | +$17,200 | 24% | reskill |
Payroll Officer Payroll work builds on bookkeeping's transaction accuracy and award knowledge, needing only familiarisation with payroll systems.Known move | +$10,700 | 85% | minimal |
Accounts Officer Bookkeeping skills in ledgers, reconciliations and invoicing carry directly into accounts officer work with little extra training.Known move | +$2,200 | 62% | minimal |
BAS Agent Registration as a bas agent lets bookkeepers provide business activity statement services, extending their compliance role. | +$0 | 50% | requalify |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a bookkeeper?
The typical bookkeeper is 52 years old; 89% are women, 40% work full-time, and full-timers average 41 hours a week.
- 52
- Median age
- 89%
- Female share
- 40%
- Full-time
- +1h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a bookkeeper?
A normal week is steady work: bank feeds land, you code transactions, reconcile accounts and follow up the receipts a client hasn't sent. Then quarter-end arrives and the pressure lands at once, because activity statement and payroll dates don't move for anyone. You'll deal with people more than the title suggests, reminding clients, explaining why a personal expense can't go through the business and keeping the accountant happy with clean records. If you like order, quiet concentration and the moment a reconciliation balances, this work will appeal; if chasing other people's paperwork grates, or you'd rather be on your feet with a team around you, it wears thin fast.
What people like
- A reconciliation that finally balances. An account that won't agree is a puzzle with a definite answer, and finding the entry that broke it gives you a clean finish to the day.
- Hours that fit around the rest of your life. Part-time and school-hours work is common, and a lot of bookkeepers do it from home for clients they've looked after for years.
- You see how small businesses actually run. Sitting across several clients shows you cash flow, margins, pricing and hiring at close range, which is useful if you ever want to run something of your own.
- Clients who trust you with the awkward numbers. Long-standing clients ask whether they can afford equipment or take on a new hire, and that relationship is what keeps the work coming.
What people find hard
- Chasing paperwork. Late receipts and unanswered emails hold up the close, and the follow-up lands on you. One client who is three weeks behind can turn a quiet week into a scramble.
- Quarter-end and year-end stack up. Activity statement deadlines, payroll and June 30 work arrive within the same few weeks, which makes it hard to take leave when everyone else does.
- The repetition of high-volume coding. Hundreds of similar transactions still have to be checked line by line, and a bank feed that mis-categorises quietly needs you to catch it.
- Income that plateaus in a salaried role. Salaried bookkeeping tops out well below accounting, and the bigger steps in pay mean taking on your own clients and the admin, insurance and software costs that come with them.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ bookkeepers?
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services employs the largest share of bookkeepers, followed by Construction.
Top employing industries
- 1Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- 2Construction
- 3Education and Training
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Year 12 or below | 31.4% | |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor degree | 19.9% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 18.8% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 17.3% | |
| Postgraduate | 7.1% |
Will AI replace bookkeepers?
High exposure. A large share of this job is work AI already does well. Expect it to shrink or change shape.
Much of the routine work here has already been automated. Bank feeds, receipt scanning and categorisation rules in Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks code most everyday transactions and match the simple accounts, so typing speed is no longer what a client pays for; what holds value is checking whether a code is right, running payroll for staff on awards and talking a worried client through their cash flow. If you're starting now, lean into payroll and BAS work rather than typing speed.
How a typical week splits
- Coding bank feed transactions40% of the week
Most lines arrive with a suggested category, and the checking is where the errors and the judgement sit.
- Reconciling bank and supplier statements20% of the week
Software closes a simple account quickly, so your time goes on the duplicated payment or the few dollars that won't agree.
- Preparing and lodging activity statements20% of the week
The figures are assembled from the ledger, but whether an expense is fully deductible or partly private is a call you make and can defend to the ATO.
- Untangling messy records and client questions20% of the week
Sorting two years of mixed personal and business spending, or explaining why cash is tight, needs a conversation and knowledge of that particular business.
How we work this out
We break each job into its main tasks, estimate the share of a typical week each one takes, and judge how far current AI and automation tools reach into it. The score out of 10 starts from the job's overall rating (low is 1 to 3, moderate 4 to 6, high 7 to 10) and the task split places it within that range. Source: Career Tips analysis of each role's main tasks.
Common questions about becoming a bookkeeper
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much do bookkeepers earn in Australia?
$72,800 per year before tax is the median for full-time bookkeepers. Registration as a BAS agent, the range of work you take on and whether you build your own client base all move that figure.
How do you become a bookkeeper in Australia?
Start with the Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping, get confident in Xero or MYOB, then work under an experienced bookkeeper or accountant while you learn the compliance side. No degree is required, and the certificate takes roughly a year part time.
Are bookkeepers in demand?
Bookkeepers are currently not in shortage, and employment is projected to grow 5.9% over the decade to 2035. Look for a practice or employer with a steady client list across a few industries, since your workload follows how many small businesses around you are trading.
Will AI replace bookkeepers?
Software handles the routine entry, so the question is what you get paid for once it does. That is increasingly the checking, the payroll, the GST judgements and the client conversations, and those skills are worth building early.
What can a bookkeeper move into?
Payroll officer work builds on the same transaction accuracy and award knowledge, and pay is $10,700 more. Accounts officer uses the same ledgers and reconciliations, and an accounting degree is the gate into accountant roles. Plenty of bookkeepers end up running their own practice, which pays better once you have a client base but means finding the work, invoicing and covering your own software and insurance.
Can you work from home as a bookkeeper?
Yes, and many do, especially those with their own clients, though you'll need reliable internet and a secure setup for client data. Working from home for a practice usually means set hours and logging into their systems, while your own clients are yours to find and keep.
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