The best bookkeeping courses for beginners

It’s important to grasp your finances to earn sufficient money and help your business succeed.  If you keep updated books with your financial transactions, you can manage your finances, understand your performance, and make better decisions. Plus, you need organised records for tax purposes. 

But if you find bookkeeping confusing and overwhelming, you’re not alone. Many small business owners struggle to manage their bookkeeping despite its importance. With that said, a beginner course on bookkeeping might be the right thing to help you organise and become confident with your financial transactions. 

This guide will list the best bookkeeping courses for beginners, including: 

• LinkedIn Learning 
• Coursera 
• Open Study College 
• Simply Cert
• Accounting Coach 
• How Countingup can help 

The first best bookkeeping course for beginners is LinkedIn Learning’s course in Accounting Foundations: Bookkeeping. This course is easy to do in your available time and at your own pace. It’s a video-based course with experienced instructors. With five sections, it covers bookkeeping essentials at a beginner level, from financial statements to the general ledger. Plus, you don’t have to leave the comfort of your own home to complete the course. 

Over 100,000 people have completed this course, and it’s only £25, which is a great deal compared to some other options. In addition, you earn a shareable certificate to show you built up these valuable skills at the end of the course.

Coursera’s Financial Accounting Fundamentals course is another great option if you want something a bit more involved. The University of Virginia developed this course through their Darden School of Business, and they offered it entirely online. It also has a 4.8/5 average review. 

The course has five weeks of lessons and takes about 14 hours to complete. It combines video instruction, reading, and activities taught by highly experienced and qualified professors. At the end of the course, you’ll know how to record, maintain, and manage your small business bookkeeping. But, keep in mind that since this is a US-based course, any information on taxes and regulations may vary from the UK. 

Another great bookkeeping course for beginners is Open Study College’s AAT Bookkeeping Level 1 and Level 2. Though it’s a bit pricier at £799, this course offers a recognised qualification with a Level 1 Access Award and a Level 2 Foundation Certification in Bookkeeping. 

With this course, you can learn more extensive skills at a beginner level so that you can manage your small business with strong bookkeeping skills. The course lasts 18 months and 150 hours, and you’ll need some basic maths and IT skills to complete it. It also offers marked assignments throughout and tutor assistance to track your learning progress. 

The next course is the Bookkeeping & Office Skills training by Simply Cert. This online course, at £99, offers expert-led instruction with marked assessments, simulations, and multimedia presentations. You have 12 months to complete the course on your own time, but it should take about 35 hours altogether. 

The course will cover the essentials of bookkeeping and financial management and how to use technology to manage your business finances. When you complete the course, you earn a completion certificate from Microsoft.

Lastly, one of the most highly rated bookkeeping courses for beginners is Accounting Coach’s Accounting Basics. This website offers free course materials that cover essential information. This is a great option for anyone new to bookkeeping, but it’s also great if you don’t want to pay a lot for a course. 

This site covers everything you need to know with 38 sections to read through. Each section ends with a quiz to see how you’re doing. You can read them online, or print out a PDF. Then, mark each section ‘complete’ as you go through. As you learn at your own pace, Accounting Coach tracks your progress with a percentage at the top of the page. The amount of information may seem overwhelming, but there are buttons to hit if you get confused.

By organising your time well, you can complete the course in just a couple of months. You only need to set yourself a certain amount of learning time each week. Plus, there is a premium option if you want a more extensive experience.  

As a small business owner, the right accounting software will help you better understand and manage your bookkeeping. Even with foundational knowledge, financial management can still be stressful and time-consuming when you’re self-employed. That’s why thousands of business owners use the Countingup app to make their financial admin easier. 

Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. The app offers features to track your business transactions, including earnings and expenses. With features like automatic expense categorisation, you can easily find and organise your expense records. Even more, the receipt capture tool lets you quickly take a picture of and record expenses. 

Plus, using the app, you can create and send unlimited invoices on the go. Countingup will notify you when you receive the invoices and automatically match them to payments. This will help you be aware of and track your profits. 

Countingup’s tools do more than just streamline and save time with financial management. They can also provide valuable information on your bookkeeping. The app generates year-round tax estimates so you can plan for it. The app also generates cash flow insights so you can confidently keep on top of your business finances wherever you are. 

You can also share your bookkeeping with your accountant instantly without worrying about duplication errors, data lags or inaccuracies. Seamless, simple, and straightforward! 

Find out more here and start your 3 month free trial today.