Accounting and bookkeeping are the backbones of any organization. Understanding how it works comes in handy for boosting the financial growth of your business. The niche is growing fast and is a potential hub for job seekers. Gaining knowledge from online bookkeeping courses is an excellent way to ensure you have lucrative offers at your disposal. Learn the skills from scratch, become an expert, and boost your career.
Updating financial statements and recording all kinds of monetary transactions ensure accuracy. Whether you are an individual running a business or a top corporate house, bookkeeping training principles and techniques are needed everywhere. Online courses have made it easy to grab knowledge from the comfort of our homes.
What Makes A Good Bookkeeping Course?
There are various bookkeeping classes online to choose from. Going for a free bookkeeping course online is a safe bet if you are aiming for personal development. However, if the ulterior motive is to pursue a career in bookkeeping, it is best to go for paid options that offer top-notch training and certification. We’ve enlisted the factors that will help you select the correct online bookkeeping course.
Instructors: It is best to learn bookkeeping from instructors who are well-versed in finance as they share handy tips, real-life experiences, and useful financial hacks. The method of teaching should be fun, engaging, and interactive.
Fundamental concepts: Get your hands on bookkeeping courses online that teach you the basic concepts first. Getting the fundamentals right is the stepping stone of becoming an expert. Opt for online bookkeeping courses that lay the framework for new entrants to the field.
Self-paced learning: For freshers, certain bookkeeping concepts might look a bit intimidating. However, the best part about an online bookkeeping course is that it offers flexibility. So, even if you take the time to comprehend some principles and find a particular section challenging, you can learn at your own pace.
Accreditation and certification: It is essential to opt for online bookkeeping courses that are accredited and recognized professionally. Accredited bookkeeping courses ensure authenticity and quality. Similarly, opting for a tutorial that offers a bookkeeping certification online is crucial if you want to learn the subject to advance in your career.
13 Best Online Bookkeeping Courses To Choose From
We’ve scoured the internet and brought you the top online bookkeeping courses. These include both free and paid options from credible learning websites. Some are for beginners, while the other tutorials teach you advanced techniques. Make sure to pick the one that suits you best and take your professional game one one-notch higher.
1. Bookkeeping Basics #1: Understand the Fundamentals From Udemy
Ron Trucks is an excellent instructor, and the tutorial enables you to start from scratch and build a strong foundation in bookkeeping. You get simple explanations of complex concepts and understand accounting terms better. Ron gives you some handy tips which will help you indulge in more positive interactions with investors, customers, employees, and tax advisors.
It is one of the best online bookkeeping courses, where you get access to video lectures, downloadable resources, and illustrative examples. Ron’s over two decades of industry experience provide you valuable insights into the bookkeeping world and make you more knowledgeable.
Key Highlights
- Learn how to track income
- Get to know the five W’s of bookkeeping
- Understand financial reports and figure the type of expenses
- Learn the difference between terms like equity, assets, and liabilities
- Avail of handy bookkeeping tips
- Avoid making the top 10 bookkeeping mistakes.
Online course duration: 4.5 hours
No. of students enrolled: 9800+
Ratings: 4.4
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Managers and small business owners.
Check price and sign up for Bookkeeping Basics #1: Understand the Fundamentals
2. Bookkeeping Online Training from Accounting Coach
If you are looking for online bookkeeping courses that are free of cost, the Accounting Coach is an incredible resource. It offers training in bookkeeping and teaches you how to prepare income statements, debits and credits, and accounting basics. You also learn activity-based costing, bookkeeping fundamentals, and balance sheet preparation.
Students get hands-on learning on how to adjust entries, bank reconciliation, and non-profit accounting. One of the best free online bookkeeping courses with certificates enables you to earn a certificate as you progress through and learn each sub-section. The comprehensive course boasts several components. You can earn up to a maximum of four certifications for completing learning the top 4 parts.
Key Highlights
- Get your hands on accounting and bookkeeping fundamentals.
- Learn how to create income statements and balance sheets
- Understanding the workings of all sorts of financial statements
- Know about adjusting entries, bank reconciliation, and financial ratios
- Understand depreciation, bonds payable, and stockholder’s equity
Online course duration: Self-paced
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Beginners
Price: Free
Sign up for Bookkeeping Online Training from Accounting Coach
3. Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting from Udemy
If you are a new entrant in finance, this is one of the most reliable online bookkeeping courses to start with. It begins with teaching you accounting and bookkeeping basics and makes sure to pick up the skills required for mastering the niche. Once the course is complete, you get a fair understanding of how accounting and bookkeeping are connected and indispensable.
Identify business documents that are regularly used, learn how to deal with cash and credit transactions, and know the difference between single and double-entry accounting. Sign up for the tutorial even if you have no prior knowledge of bookkeeping and understand the importance of a bookkeeper in the business accounting process.
Key Highlights
- Understand the importance of bookkeeping
- Get to know what’s common between bookkeeping and accounting; how the two are connected
- Quickly identify and deal with business documents that are commonly used
- Learn the usage of accounting equations and carry out computations
- Record all types of financial transactions
- Understand the nitty-gritty of revenue, assets, and liabilities
- Know why filing, security, and document retention is important
Online course duration: 37 mins
No. of students enrolled: 3400+
Ratings: 4.4
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Beginners
Check price and sign up for Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting
4. Introduction to Bookkeeping from edX
If you are interested in starting your career in business, this tutorial is an excellent introductory lecture. Available on edX, the course is from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. You cover a wide range of topics, including learning how to prepare the trial balance, double-entry system, and the workings of ledger accounts. You learn about the various kinds of business transactions and bookkeeping fundamentals.
Understand the payroll, banking system, and bank reconciliation from top professionals. Learn at your own pace and prepare yourself well for the first level of chartered accountancy or ACCA’s exam. It is also one of the best online bookkeeping courses for people planning to launch their start-ups.
Key Highlights
- Learn double-entry bookkeeping
- Reconcile and prepare a trial balance
- Understand the workings of payroll
- Work with ledger accounts
- Be fully prepared for ACCA’s exam in Recording Financial Transactions
- Understand what it takes to start a new business
- Kickstart your career in finance or accountancy
Online course duration: 6 weeks/ 4-5 hours per week
No. of students enrolled: 55000+
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for: Managers and small business owners
Price: Free
Sign up for Introduction to Bookkeeping by edX
5. 2020-21 Updated: Bookkeeping & Accounting Complete Course from Udemy
It is essential to learn finance from scratch and then move on to the expert techniques, and this Udemy tutorial does precisely that. You start from the basics and progress towards learning advanced concepts. It is one of the best online bookkeeping courses with handy notes, simple explanations, and quiz videos.
Record financial transactions and learn accountancy rules. Interpret, report, classify, summarize, and analyze financial data. Understand how various kinds of business organizations deal with accounting and master the fundamentals. By the end of this class, you will have a solid understanding of all bookkeeping processes. Do not forget to participate in the quizzes and test what you’ve learned.
Key Highlights
- Learn everything about company accounting
- Master the fundamentals of accounting and bookkeeping
- Understand advanced techniques and complex concepts with the help of simple explanations
- Get to know how to prepare financial statements in a sole proprietorship
- Learn the art of managing accounts for non-profit organizations and partnership firms
- Avail of useful tips that enable you to do accounting from incomplete records
Online course duration: 16 hours
No. of students enrolled: 2400+
Ratings: 4.2
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Beginners, Students, and professionals
Check price and sign up for 2020-21 Updated: Bookkeeping & Accounting Complete Course
6. Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting from Open Learn
Open Learn offers one of the best online bookkeeping courses that prepares you well for an accounting or bookkeeping job. You acquire many skills, get your hands on the basics, and apply them to check what you have learned. There are practice exercises and quizzes as well that test your knowledge.
Learn how to record financial transactions and understand how double-entry bookkeeping is related to accounting equations. Prepare profit and loss statements and tally balance sheets. Work with ledger accounts to know how it functions.
The tutorial is very informative and easy to understand.
Key Highlights
- Gain valuable insights about basic bookkeeping and accounting principles
- Get to know all kinds of financial statements and the importance of each one of them.
- Prepare and tally balance sheets.
- Work with ledger accounts.
- Understand the workings of profit and loss statements and trial balance
- Apply the skills you have acquired
- Ascertain how is double-entry bookkeeping related to accounting equations
- Record financial transactions
Online course duration: 8 hours
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Beginners
Price: Free
Sign up for Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting
7. Bookkeeping for Freelancers: How to Handle Your Finances from Skillshare
If you are a freelancer and want to handle your finances well, you must avail of this tutorial. Instructor Emily Simcox has made bookkeeping easy for you, and the subject will no longer be intimidating. The class is simple to follow and shows how to manage your income and expenditure. The step-by-step processes that Emily illustrates enable you to plan your actions well, understand the options available, and make financial decisions accordingly.
You will be able to decide upon which bookkeeping method suits your business the best. Having accurate data of client records always helps in better maintenance of business’s expenses and profits. You will learn how to stay organized, track your finances, and categorize them.
Key Highlights
- Differentiate between personal and business expenses
- Understand why bookkeeping is important
- Learn single entry and double-entry bookkeeping
- Organize your documents
- Get to know the difference between cash and accrual accounting
- Categorize transactions
Online course duration: 38 mins
No. of students enrolled: 5500+
Best suited for – Freelancers
Price: Free for the first two months, then a recurring annual charge of $63
Sign up for Bookkeeping for Freelancers: How to Handle Your Finances
8. Intermediate Bookkeeping from edX
One of the best online bookkeeping courses for students who want to learn beyond the basics, this edX tutorial makes you business-ready. The course is curated by ACCA and is the second part of the introductory class we first wrote. It is meant for everyone wanting to build their accounting, bookkeeping, and finance skills.
You get to learn expert techniques that expand your knowledge. Explore financial statements and learn the correct methods of recording them with the utmost accuracy. If you already have a good understanding of bookkeeping fundamentals, opt for this tutorial to enhance your skills further. You will be ready to apply for jobs where there are vacancies for a bookkeeper or accounting administrator.
Key Highlights
- Improve upon your already existing finance, accounting, and bookkeeping skills
- Learn expert principles and techniques frequently used in the niche
- Explore and record financial statements
- Get your hands on natural explanations of complex concepts.
- Prepare well for the FA2 or Maintaining Financial Records exam.
- Understand what it takes to be job-ready
- Prepare financial statements
- Maintain accurate records of business transactions
- Learn reconciliation of control accounts
Online course duration: 6 weeks/ 4-5 hours per week
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Intermediate and expert levels
Price: Free
Sign up for Intermediate Bookkeeping from edX
9. 12 Simple Steps to Get Started with Bookkeeping from Skillshare
If you find bookkeeping annoying, enroll in this class, and you will start noticing that the subject is interesting. One of the best online bookkeeping courses from Skillshare is an excellent choice for those who find numbers daunting. Instructor Michelle Cornish guides you through 12 easy steps that help in getting you started with bookkeeping.
The class is short and to the point. By the end of this course, you will feel more confident with the niche and understand why it is essential to maintain accurate records. You will come across handy tips that will help you in choosing the correct bookkeeping program.
There is a PDF that you can avail of at the end of the tutorial. It consists of the 12 points you learned; so that you can always refer to it.
Key Highlights
- Get started with bookkeeping in 12 simple steps
- Learn how to research your options and settle on the best bookkeeping program
- Understand the importance of accounting and maintaining financial records
- Avail of handy tips that enable you always to have updated records
- Know how often should bookkeeping be done
- Understand what kind of business information should be recorded
- Create business accounts
- Record income and expenditure
- Understand tax deductions
- Learn how to reconcile accounts
Online course duration: 25 mins
No. of students enrolled: 500+
Best suited for – Beginners
Price: Free for the first two months, then a recurring annual charge of $63
Sign up for 12 Simple Steps to Get Started with Bookkeeping
10. Professional Bookkeeping and Accounting 1 – Sales and Purchases from Alison
Alison is an exceptional online learning center. The website boasts a variety of classes and tutorials in multiple subjects, including business, science, and arts. It offers one of the best online bookkeeping courses that teach you basic skills and enhances your CV.
You get your hands understanding how to keep and maintain accurate records of sales and purchase transactions. The tutorial is free, self-paced, and taken by professionals. You get a certificate at the end and become well prepared for any accounting or bookkeeping job.
You learn how to deal with sales tax and invoices. There is a section that introduces you to finance management. The course makes several downloadable resources available.
Key Highlights
- Master the art of recording sales and purchase transactions
- Learn how to read and prepare purchase and sales invoices
- Understand the nitty-gritty of dealing with sales tax
- Learn basic accounting and bookkeeping techniques
- Get an introduction to financial management.
Online course duration: 2-3 hours
No. of students enrolled: 20,000+
Ratings: 3.4
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Beginners
Price: Free
Sign up for Professional Bookkeeping and Accounting 1 – Sales and Purchases
11. Accounting Foundations: Bookkeeping from LinkedIn Learning
Jim and Kay Stice are expert instructors with several decades of experience in accounting and bookkeeping. They have brought this LinkedIn Learning course for all the beginners who want to excel in getting the fundamentals right first. You get a thorough understanding of the basics.
The two instructors’ combined knowledge makes it one of the best online bookkeeping courses that give you a lifetime of unparalleled knowledge.
You learn how to analyze financial statements and understand how accounting cycles work. Prepare financial reports and know everything about business revenue and expenses.
Key Highlights
- Understand the order in which you must record journal entries
- Know the purpose of a trial balance
- Learn how a company’s balance sheet reflects the accounting equation
- Define a journal
- Get your hands on understanding debit and credit transactions.
- Analyze and record financial transactions
- Know why bookkeeping is essential for entrepreneurs
Online course duration: 1 hour 39 minutes
No. of viewers: 48000+
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Beginners
Price: 1-month free trial/buy the subscription for $29 per month
Sign up for Accounting Foundations: Bookkeeping
12. Bookkeeping – Step by Step Mastery – Complete Course from Udemy
One of the best online bookkeeping courses from Udemy; this one acts as a step by step guide. You start learning from the basics and go on to getting your hands on advanced techniques and expert details. Take up the tutorial even if you have no prior knowledge of the subject and be job-ready in no time.
Learn how to deal with everyday financial transactions and record the same. Maintain accurate books of accounts like ledgers. Understand the A-Z of year-end accounts like balance sheets and profit and loss accounts. Build a solid foundation and avail of useful information that will help you in dealing with financial issues.
With excellent explanations of complex concepts and practical examples, you will be at ease with bookkeeping. Let us avail of this course and make the subject easy.
Key Highlights
- Manage sales and purchase transactions
- Maintain ledgers
- Create and tally balance sheets
- Make profit and loss statements
- Understand the VAT return
- Create day books
- Get your hands on all the critical bookkeeping concepts
- Manage small business finances
Online course duration: 6 hours
No. of students enrolled: 2200+
Ratings: 4.3
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Anyone looking to master bookkeeping basics.
Check price and sign up for Bookkeeping – Step by Step Mastery – Complete Course
13. Bookkeeping Basics #2: Understand the Mechanics from Udemy
The first course that we listed was bookkeeping basics part 1, and the last one is bookkeeping basics part 2. If you are ready with the basics and want to dive deeper into the subject, avail of this tutorial, and you won’t be disappointed. It is one of the best online bookkeeping courses that goes a step beyond teaching you the fundamentals.
Record all sorts of financial transactions quickly and with utmost accuracy. The instructions are simple, clear, and easy to understand. Ron Trucks has almost three years of industry experience and guides you through all your pitfalls. With the usage of common terms and everyday examples, he makes complex concepts understandable.
Key Highlights
- Understand what do debit and credit mean in bookkeeping
- Avail of easy explanations of advanced techniques
- Dive deeper into accounting and bookkeeping principles and go beyond the basics
- Learn the meanings of commonly used accounting terms
- Understand assets, liabilities, and equity
- Track income and expenditure
Online course duration: 3.5 hours
No. of students enrolled: 1600+
Ratings: 4.6
Completion certificate: Yes
Best suited for – Intermediate level learners
Check price and sign up for Bookkeeping Basics #2: Understand the Mechanics
Conclusion
Earning yourself a bookkeeping certificate online is sure to give your career a professional boost. You become well prepared for entry-level exams and job training sessions. If you already have a bachelor’s degree in commerce, accounting courses or a bookkeeping certificate will further enhance your CV. It is also imperative to learn some additional skills and have them up to your sleeve.
If you wish to pursue chartered accountancy, CFA, or actuaries, these online bookkeeping courses come in handy too. The courses listed above enables students to learn a subject they like without any campus requirements. Getting to know the workings of the niche from industry experts imparts incredible and long-lasting knowledge. All this from the comfort of your homes; what more can you ask for?
