Course for new bookkeepers
Bookkeeping Fundamentals
A college-level first course in bookkeeping that you do, not just watch. 12 modules and 53 lessons, 93 journal entries the page checks line by line, a month-long practice set, and a certificate when you pass the final.
Enroll for $79Try a free lesson
One payment. No time limit. Works on any device.
What you will learn
12 modules, from the first debit to the month-end close
- Module 1: What Bookkeepers Do and the Accounting Equation. Meet Dana Ruiz as she opens Brightline Studio, learn what a bookkeeper actually does, and use the accounting equation to see how every business event changes what a business owns, owes and is worth to its owner.
- Module 2: Debits, Credits and Double-Entry. Learn the language of debits and credits, use T-accounts to track each account, and see why every correctly recorded transaction has equal debits and credits, using Brightline Studio's first two weeks.
- Module 3: The Chart of Accounts and the General Ledger. Organize a business's accounts with a numbered chart of accounts, post transactions to a general ledger with running balances, and prepare a trial balance, using Brightline Studio's records through March 20.
- Module 4: Journal Entries for Everyday Transactions. Turn source documents into properly formatted general journal entries for the transactions every small business has: owner investments and draws, purchases, bill payments, sales and collections, finishing Brightline Studio's first month.
- Module 5: Accounts Receivable and Invoicing. How a business records sales made on credit, collects what customers owe, handles allowances and early-payment discounts, and accounts for the customers who never pay.
- Module 6: Accounts Payable and Paying Bills. How a business records the bills it receives, pays them on time and at the right amount, takes early-payment discounts, checks vendor statements, and keeps the vendor records needed at year end.
- Module 7: Bank and Credit Card Reconciliation. How to prove that the cash and credit card balances in the books agree with the bank and card company, find and explain every difference, and record the entries the reconciliation reveals.
- Module 8: Payroll Bookkeeping Basics. How to get from an employee's gross pay to net pay, record the employer's own payroll taxes, pay the employees and the tax agencies, and tell employees and independent contractors apart in general terms.
- Module 9: Adjusting Entries. Why the ledger is never quite right at the end of a period, and the adjusting entries that fix it: prepaid expenses, supplies, unearned revenue, accrued revenue, accrued expenses and straight-line depreciation, ending with the adjusted trial balance.
- Module 10: Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold. Brightline Studio starts selling printed merchandise, which brings inventory, cost of goods sold, gross profit and sales tax into the books. You learn the perpetual and periodic systems, three cost flow methods, and how sales tax is collected and remitted.
- Module 11: Financial Statements and Closing the Books. Turn Brightline Studio's adjusted trial balance into a complete, linked set of financial statements, see the basic idea of a cash flow statement, then record the closing entries and prove the books with a post-closing trial balance.
- Module 12: Working as a Bookkeeper. How the skills in this course become a job: a month-end close checklist, correcting entries, internal controls and fraud red flags, ethics and client communication, the line between bookkeeping and CPA work, and the practical steps of starting a bookkeeping practice.
Plus a practice set where you keep a month of books for Harbor Lane Coffee, and a final exam covering every module.
Free lesson
What a bookkeeper does
Every business, from a one-person design studio to a factory with a thousand workers, needs an accurate record of its money. Someone has to note each sale, each bill, each paycheck and each loan payment, and has to do it in a way that another person can follow later. That person is the bookkeeper.
Bookkeeping is the work of recording a business's financial transactions completely, accurately and in an organized way. A transaction is any event that changes the business's financial position and that can be measured in dollars: buying a computer, sending an invoice, paying rent, borrowing from a bank. A phone call with a possible client is not a transaction. Signing a contract and finishing the work for that client is.
Bookkeeping and accounting
People often use the two words as if they mean the same thing. They overlap, but they are different jobs.
- Bookkeeping focuses on recording and organizing. A bookkeeper captures transactions, keeps the accounts up to date, reconciles bank statements, tracks what customers owe and what the business owes, and prepares reports such as a trial balance.
- Accounting is broader. An accountant uses the bookkeeper's records to analyze results, prepare and interpret financial statements, plan for taxes, design systems and advise owners. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) holds a state license and can do work that a bookkeeper may not, such as auditing.
Good accounting depends on good bookkeeping. If the records underneath are wrong, every report built on them is wrong too.
The rhythm of the work
Bookkeeping follows a predictable cycle. Some tasks happen every day or week, others once a month, and a few once a year.
| How often | Typical tasks |
|---|---|
| Daily or weekly | Collect source documents (receipts, invoices, bank notices), record transactions, send customer invoices, enter vendor bills, record deposits |
| Monthly | Reconcile bank and credit card accounts, record adjusting entries, run payroll, prepare a trial balance and monthly reports |
| Yearly | Close the books for the year, organize records for the tax preparer, prepare year-end information forms for vendors and workers as the law requires |
You will learn each of these tasks in this course. For now, notice that the cycle always starts the same way: with a source document, the paper or electronic record that proves a transaction happened. A sales receipt, a vendor's bill and a bank deposit slip are all source documents. A bookkeeper never records a transaction from memory or guesswork.
Who relies on the records
The owner uses the records to see whether the business is making money and whether there is enough cash to pay next month's bills. A bank looks at them before lending. A tax preparer uses them to prepare returns. A buyer looks at them before purchasing a business. Each of these readers needs to trust that the numbers are complete and correct, which is why accuracy, honesty and confidentiality are the core values of the profession.
Meet Brightline Studio
Throughout this course you will follow one business from its first day. Dana Ruiz is a graphic designer who has decided to leave her agency job and work for herself. She is opening Brightline Studio, which will design logos, brochures, websites and packaging for local businesses.
Brightline is a sole proprietorship, a business owned by one person that is not set up as a separate legal company such as a corporation. Even so, the bookkeeping treats the business as separate from Dana. This idea is called the business entity concept: the business keeps its own records, and Dana's personal groceries, car payment and household bills do not belong in them. When Dana moves money between her personal bank account and the studio's account, that movement is recorded, but her personal spending is not.
Dana has opened a business checking account and plans to start work on March 1. She has hired you to keep the books. In the next lesson you will learn the single equation that organizes everything you will record for her.
Try an exercise
This is how every exercise works: choose the accounts, enter the amounts, and check. The page tells you which lines are right.
Enroll
Bookkeeping Fundamentals, $79 once
- 12 modules and 53 written lessons
- 93 journal entries the page checks, with explanations
- A quiz for every module and a 40-question final exam
- A certificate of completion with a link anyone can check
- No time limit, any device
Already enrolled? Email me my access link.
FAQ
Questions before you enroll
Who is this course for?
People who want to work as bookkeepers or keep books for clients: career changers, people starting a side business doing books, and students who want a clear first course before a certification. No accounting background is needed.
How is it different from watching videos?
You do the work. Each module has journal entries you enter and the page checks line by line, plus a quiz. A month-long practice set has you keep a coffee shop's books from the opening balances to the adjusted trial balance.
Is there a certificate?
Yes. Pass the final exam with 80% or better and you get a certificate of completion from MCC Solutions with a link anyone can open to check it. It is a course certificate, not a professional license or a certification from an industry body.
Which software does it use?
None is required. The course teaches the bookkeeping underneath every program, so what you learn carries over to QuickBooks Online, Xero or a spreadsheet.
How long do I have access?
There is no time limit. Your access link works on any device, and your progress is saved in the browser on each device you use.
Is this tax or legal advice?
No. It is education in standard US bookkeeping practice. Tax rules and dollar limits change each year, so the course tells you where to check current figures.