¶ … bookkeepers are the ones that work with T-accounts and journal entries. This information, therefore, is already complete when the accountant takes over and works with the numbers. However, it is very important for accountants to have a strong understanding of both the journal entries and the T-accounts. If they do not have this knowledge they will not be able to catch mistakes that might have been made by the bookkeeper. Accountants often prepare complicated documents and provide a great deal of financial information for companies. These companies use that information in many areas such as taxes, payroll, insurance payments, bonuses, paying bills, and others. Because of this, the information provided to them by the accountant needs to be accurate. This information, though, is only as accurate as the figures that the accountant was provided with.
If the accountant does not understand how journal entries and T-accounts work and are supposed to be calculated and presented, he or she can easily overlook a mistake that was made by the bookkeeper - either accidentally or deliberately - and could strongly affect the bottom line that the company has. The financial resources that a company has are very important to them, and because of this many companies, especially larger ones, consult with their accountant quite frequently. Some companies even have an accountant that works exclusively for them if the company is large enough to support that.
Accountants that understand journal entries and T-accounts are also very good at spotting embezzlement and deceit that might be taking place through the bookkeeper. Without this knowledge many of these kinds of problems would go unnoticed because the accountant would not notice the error or understand why the numbers were presented as they were. It would seem impossible that an accountant would not catch this, but not all accountants have the understanding of T-accounts and journal entries that they actually need today.
