While the roles of a bookkeeper and an accountant are different they do tend to overlap. For example, a bookkeeper will keep an accurate and complete record of the financial transactions of the business whilst accountants apply further financial analysis to the financial records kept by bookkeepers.
If you have spoken to a few bookkeepers you may have found that some may provide slightly different services depending on their experience. For example, some may only provide data entry, bank reconciliations and submission of VAT returns, whilst others may make the additional adjustments required (for example, depreciation, accruals, prepayments, payroll) ready for the financial year end to help reduce the burden on the accountant and hopefully save you money. In addition to this a good bookkeeper should also be able to provide valuable management reports and/or cashflow forecasts.