Accounting Fundamentals

About This Course

Demand for accounting professionals currently exceeds supply. If you're interested in increasing your financial awareness while also gaining a marketable skill, this course is for you. You'll learn the basics of double-entry bookkeeping, as well as how to analyze and record financial transactions. You'll get hands-on experience with handling accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll procedures, sales taxes, and various common banking activities. We'll cover all the bases, from writing checks to preparing an income statement and closing out accounts at the end of each fiscal period. Whether you're a sole proprietor looking to manage your business finances or you simply want to gain an understanding of accounting basics for career advancement, this course will give you a solid foundation in financial matters.

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Charlene Messier.

With more than 20 years of teaching experience to her credit, Charlene Messier had 12 years of practical experience in business following her college training. She now teaches business subjects to over 100 students a year at the quaint New England Village High School from which she graduated 35 years ago. She specializes in teaching adult education courses in accounting, word processing, business law, and business economics.

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Welcome to Accounting Fundamentals! In this first lesson, you'll learn all about account classifications, debits, credits, and T accounts. You'll learn the difference between a liability and an asset, and you'll find out how to determine an owner’s equity.

Friday - Lesson 02

Here's where you'll begin your hands-on accounting practice: You'll start by creating an imaginary company for which you'll be the accountant. You'll learn how to analyze your company's transactions to determine which amounts go into which accounts, then you'll create your company's own General Ledger forms and post a few transactions into those accounts. You'll also prepare a Balance Sheet to prove your accounting equations.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Now that you have an understanding of the functions of the General Ledger, you're ready to move on to the next phase of recording transactions: the Journal. In this lesson, you'll learn how to enter transactions into an 11-column journal and then post or transfer those amounts into appropriate General Ledger accounts.

Friday - Lesson 04

In this lesson, you'll learn all about Accounts Payable--money that you owe your vendors and suppliers. You'll practice journalizing cash purchases and purchases on account, and you'll get hands-on practice transferring those purchases to their corresponding Accounts Payable Ledger accounts.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

In this lesson, you'll learn about Accounts Receivable, which is another name for money owed to your company by its customers. You'll learn how to journalize and post those sales on account, how to enter charge sales into the journal, and how to transfer the information into an Accounts Receivable Ledger.

Friday - Lesson 06

It's payday! This lesson will teach you how to determine gross pay, deductions, and net pay. You'll learn how to prepare a payroll, write payroll checks, and how to prepare and maintain accurate payroll records.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

In this lesson, you'll learn all about banks and banking services: You'll learn the proper way to write checks, make out deposit tickets, and reconcile your company's checking account with the bank statement--skills you'll find valuable in both your business and personal life!

Friday - Lesson 08

This lesson will teach you how to prepare a Schedule of Accounts Payable and a Schedule of Accounts Receivable. These reports can be used to compare the amount of money your business owes its creditors with the amount of money your customers owe your business.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

In this lesson, you'll prepare a worksheet showing the net income or net loss for the fiscal period. The worksheet will show all income and expenses for the fiscal period as well as the assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity account balances.

Friday - Lesson 10

In this lesson, you will learn how to prepare various reports that are vital to the well-being of your company. You'll learn how these reports can be used to make sound financial decisions in the next fiscal period. You will discover how to put together an Owner’s Equity Statement, an Income Statement, and a Distribution of Net Income.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

In this lesson, you'll prepare for the end of the fiscal period by adjusting your asset account balances to accurately reflect the assets remaining at the end of the year. You will also find out how to journalize and post adjusting and closing entries to bring your company's General Ledger up to date.

Friday - Lesson 12

In our final lesson, we will prepare a Post Closing Trial Balance report to ensure that all of our debits and credits in the General Ledger balance out in preparation for the new fiscal period.

Requirements

Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader). Acrobat Reader, and access to a calculator or adding machine, and a printer.