Bookkeeping for Beginners
Bookkeeping is about collecting information, recording events, and organizing those records to make better decisions. Accountants use the financial transactions recorded in ledgers or "books" to create a company's income statement and balance sheet. In this course, we walk you through the four key steps in the bookkeeping process: analyzing transactions, recording the effects, summarizing the effects, and preparing financial reports. They explain the components of a journal entry—debits and credits—and the essential questions a bookkeeper/accountant asks in reviewing those transactions. They also explain how accountants translate ledger information into financial statements and the role of computer programs in helping businesses manage their accounts.
In this course, we introduce you to the essential skills and concepts of bookkeeping and accounting. To start with you will gain some practical skills in numeracy including learning about rearranging simple equations as well as some important calculator skills. Afterwards, you will gain knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles that underpin bookkeeping and accounting. You will learn the time-honoured rules of double-entry bookkeeping and also how to prepare a trial balance and the two principal financial statements: the balance sheet (also known as the statement of financial position) and the profit and loss account (also known as the income statement).
