Bookkeeping, Accounting, Review and Audit: What’s the Difference?

When you’re running a small charity or community group, it can be hard to figure out what financial support you actually need. Terms like bookkeeping, accounting, review and audit get thrown around a lot — and sometimes even used interchangeably.

To make things more confusing, some professionals can do multiple tasks. For example, many accountants also offer bookkeeping. But bookkeepers can’t provide accounting or audit services.

Here’s a short, simple guide to help you understand the differences and choose the right support for your organisation.

Bookkeeping / Bookkeepers

Bookkeeping is the day-to-day keeping of your books — literally.

A bookkeeper usually looks after:

• Categorising (reconciling) your transactions
• Collecting and tracking receipts
• Matching receipts to payments
• Keeping your financial records up to date throughout the year

While there are bookkeeping qualifications available, there is no legal requirement for someone to hold a qualification in order to call themselves a bookkeeper. Anyone can do bookkeeping, and many organisations do it themselves.

Accounting / Accountants

Accounting is a step up from bookkeeping. It involves interpreting your financial information and preparing reports.

Accountants typically work on:

• Preparing end-of-year financial statements
• Providing financial advice
• Helping with budgeting and forecasting
• Supporting governance and compliance

Important:
To call yourself an accountant in Aotearoa, you must hold a relevant qualification and maintain registration with a professional body (e.g., CA ANZ). Some tasks such as preparing financial statements can usually be done by anyone, but providing financial advice requires the person to be appropriately qualified and registered.

Review and Audit / Reviewers and Auditors

A review or audit is a specialist process that happens after your end-of-year financial statements are prepared.

These services are typically required when your organisation:

• Spends more than $500,000 in a financial year (audit or review mandatory)
• Has a trust deed or constitution that requires review or audit
• Receives certain types of funding or contracts that require it

Reviewers and auditors must:

• Hold specific professional qualifications
• Be registered to perform these services
• Follow strict independence rules

Only qualified reviewers or auditors are allowed to carry out reviews or audits.

Making Sense of It All

It’s understandable why these terms feel confusing — they do overlap. Here are a few common real-world scenarios to help you see how they fit together.

Scenario 1

Your organisation pays a bookkeeper to track spending and receipts during the year.
At year end, you pay an accountant to prepare your financial statements.

Scenario 2

You do your own bookkeeping.
You pay an accountant at year end to prepare the financial statements.
Then you pay a reviewer or auditor to complete the required review/audit.

Scenario 3

You do your own bookkeeping and prepare your own end-of-year financial statements.
You then pay an auditor to complete the annual audit.

Scenario 4

You use the Good Numbers app to prepare your financial statements — saving time, reducing stress, and spending far less than any of the options above!