Accounting Tutorials: Learn Step by Step
Free lessons with downloadable PDF notes, from your first transaction to full financial statements. Pick a topic below, or follow the guided path.
New to accounting? Don’t pick randomly.
Our 9-step path puts the lessons in the right order, with a practice checkpoint after each level.
Also useful: Quizzes · Problems and Solutions · Short Questions and Answers · Accounting Terms · Calculators
Foundations
Start here if accounting is new to you.
Introduction to Accounting
What accounting is, who uses it, and why it is called the language of business.
12 lessons →Transactions
Events versus transactions, how to classify them, and capital versus revenue.
6 lessons →Accounts
Types of accounts, accrual versus cash basis, and how accounts are balanced.
5 lessons →Double Entry System
Debit and credit, the accounting equation, golden rules and the accounting cycle.
6 lessons →Recording
Put transactions into the books and prove they balance.
Journal Entries
Worked journal-entry problems and closing entries to practise with.
3 lessons →Ledger
How the ledger works and how it differs from the journal.
2 lessons →Cash Book
Single, two-column and petty cash books, discounts and contra entries.
11 lessons →Trial Balance
Prepare a trial balance, use a suspense account, and compare it with the balance sheet.
5 lessons →Bank Reconciliation
Match your cash book to the bank statement.
1 lesson →Single Entry System
The simpler bookkeeping method, its limits, and how it compares with double entry.
4 lessons →Reporting and standards
Close the books, produce the statements, and learn the rules behind them.
Adjusting Entries
Definition, examples and classification of period-end adjustments.
1 lesson →Assets and Depreciation
Depreciation methods and the depletion of natural resources.
2 lessons →Receivables and Payables
What receivables are and how accounts receivable is recognised and reported.
2 lessons →Financial Statements
Income statement, assets, liabilities, who uses statements, and their limits.
7 lessons →GAAP and Principles
Principles, concepts, conventions and constraints behind accounting standards.
5 lessons →Tax and VAT
Value added tax, and the difference between direct and indirect tax.
2 lessons →