Difference between Restaurant Accountants and Restaurant Bookkeepers

A restaurant is a commercial venture which sells food and drinks to visitors. In the last few decades, restaurants have become very popular. For the well to do sections of the society visiting a restaurant twice a week has become an important recreational activity. In a popular restaurant, numerous people visit every day and there are many business transactions held.

Moreover, restaurant owners have to make purchases for various food items from their suppliers on a daily basis. Some of the other operating expenses of a restaurant would be the salaries of the staff and rent of the property. So clearly a restaurant owner needs to keep a proper record of its financial statements.

Many restaurant owners who have a non-commerce educational background often put them in turmoil whether they require a bookkeeper or an accountant. The main objective of this article is to offer an insight regarding the difference between restaurant accountants and restaurant bookkeepers.

1. A Bookkeeper only records the financial transactions of a business venture in an organized manner, whereas an accountant makes a proper record of the financial affairs of an organization for a certain period.

Bookkeeping is about keeping a track of all the transactions of a business through journals and ledgers. An accountant is involved in both keeping a track of the transactions and preparing a report regarding the financial status of a business through the balance sheet, profit & loss account, and cash flow statement.

So bookkeeping is basically a subset of accounting.

2. All the major financial decisions of a restaurant are taken on the basis of the accounting records rather than bookkeeping records as accounting shows the correct financial position of the business.

3. Bookkeeper is only involved in the preparation of journals and ledgers, whereas accountant is involved in the preparation of balance sheet, profit & loss account, and cash flow statement.

4. Bookkeeping is only about recording financial transactions whereas accounting involves grouping, summarizing, evaluating and reporting of monetary transactions.

5. Bookkeeper requires only basic knowledge of commerce whereas an accountant is a specialized one.

6. An accountant also performs the tax returns preparation functions of a restaurant whereas as a bookkeeper is not qualified enough to perform such functions.

So it can be concluded that restaurant bookkeeping is an initial step in the accounting procedure. If all the business transactions are recorded properly then there is a good chance of the later accounting processes being followed in the right manner.

For a small restaurant, keeping an accountant will be a good option as he will perform both the tasks. For a very large restaurant, both bookkeepers and accountants might be required as the number of transactions would be very high.

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Cogneesol has emerged as a leading provider of outsourced restaurant accounting services in the last eight years. To know more, contact us at [email protected] or call us at +1 646-688-2821.