Accounting & Bookkeeping Masterclass – Beginner to Advanced
From first principles to period-end adjustments, ledgers and financial statements
What you'll learn
- Explain the purpose of accounting, bookkeeping and financial reporting, and identify the main stakeholders who rely on accounting information.
- Distinguish key accounting terms, the accounting equation, major types of accounting, and the role of accounting rules and standards in consistent reporting.
- Apply cash and accrual accounting concepts to classify and record business transactions accurately.
- Record transactions using double-entry bookkeeping, including entries affected by discounts, sales tax and routine business documents.
- Post entries to the general ledger, prepare a trial balance, and analyse the types of errors a trial balance can and cannot reveal.
- Prepare and account for period-end adjustments, including accruals, prepayments, depreciation, inventory, and bad and doubtful debts.
- Prepare a Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet from ledger balances and adjustments.
- Complete a bank reconciliation, explain basic accounting for leases, and relate manual accounting steps to common accounting software workflows.
This course includes
- 3h 44m of learning
- 26 lessons
- 7 quizzes
- Access on mobile and desktop
- Full lifetime access
- Certificate of completion
Course content
7 sections • 27 lectures • 3h 44m total length
- Introduction to accounting, bookkeeping and financial reporting 7m
- Why accounting follows rules and what standards do 8m
- Types of accounting, core terms and the accounting equation 9m
- Quiz: Accounting Foundations 6 questions
- Cash accounting and accrual accounting 9m
- Double-entry bookkeeping and source documents 9m
- Recording transactions with sales tax, trade discounts and cash discounts 8m
- The general ledger and chart of accounts 9m
- Quiz: Recording Business Transactions 6 questions
- Posting to ledger accounts and balancing entries 9m
- Preparing and checking the trial balance 8m
- Bank reconciliation 9m
- Quiz: From Ledger to Trial Balance 6 questions
- Accruals and prepayments 8m
- Depreciation methods and accounting for depreciation 8m
- Bad debts and doubtful debts 7m
- Inventory valuation methods and inventory accounting 9m
- Quiz: Period-End Adjustments 6 questions
- Preparing the Profit & Loss Statement 7m
- Preparing the Balance Sheet 7m
- Closing process and adjusted final accounts 9m
- Quiz: Preparing Financial Statements 6 questions
- Accounting for leases 9m
- Applying the accounting cycle in accounting software 12m
- Interpreting outputs for managers and external stakeholders 9m
- Quiz: Advanced Applications and Software Workflows 6 questions
- Final assessment: Accounting & Bookkeeping Masterclass – Beginner to Advanced 12 questions
Requirements
- No prior accounting knowledge is required.
- Comfort with basic arithmetic, percentages and simple calculations.
- Ability to read tables and work carefully with figures.
- Access to a calculator or spreadsheet is helpful for practice.
Description
This course starts from scratch and builds step by step into the core accounting work that students and junior finance professionals are expected to perform. You will learn how transactions are recorded, why accounting follows rules, how double-entry works, and how bookkeeping feeds into financial statements such as the Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet.
The course then moves into the practical areas that often cause difficulty in study and at work: discounts and sales tax, accruals and prepayments, depreciation, inventory valuation, bad and doubtful debts, bank reconciliation, and leases. The emphasis is on doing the work correctly, not just memorising terms, so each lesson focuses on entries, calculations, adjustments and report preparation.
It is designed for Accounting and Finance students who want a clear, structured route from basics to more advanced topics. In around 12.5 hours of guided study, plus practice, you will build a working grasp of the accounting cycle that also transfers well to common accounting software workflows.
Who this course is for
- Accounting and Finance students who need a structured path from introductory bookkeeping to period-end adjustments and financial statement preparation.