Salaries are typically based on education, certification, years of experience, credentials, industry or employer, job description, location, and complexity of work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2021, the national average salary for bookkeepers was $45,560 and for accountants was $77,250.

Bookkeepers and accountants sometimes do the same work, but have a different skill set. In general, a bookkeeper's role is to record transactions and keep you financially organized, while accountants provide consultation, analysis, and are more qualified to advise on tax matters.

The top three skills for a finance assistant include customer service, data entry and payroll. The most important skills for a bookkeeper are payroll tax returns, customer service, and reconciliations.

While bookkeeping is all about recording of financial transactions, accounting deals with the interpretation, analysis, classification, reporting and summarization of the financial data of a business.