Business & Finance

Posts Tagged ‘online colleges for accounting’

When you’re starting your own business, you need to know a little bit about everything. But of course, most entrepreneurs don’t have a background in “everything” so we have some things to learn along the way. Here are five good online resources to help you master the accounting end of your new business – and for free!

Accounting Coach – This site is dedicated to teaching everyone the basics of accounting, so that you can use the principles for your own business or personal use. There are plenty of great courses. The only cost for the information here is if you want to download their package, which will allow you to print materials easily for making notes and studying offline. This package is not necessary to use the online courses. You can begin with their basics accounting course and move to more complex and in-depth courses as you need them.

Bean Counting 101 – This is a free online accounting course for non-accountants. It’s perfect for the person who needs to learn the basics in a simple and easy to use format. While this site’s courses don’t go into as much depth as you’ll find on Accounting Coach, it’s a great beginning and may be all that’s needed for small business owners just getting started. And, though it’s a beginner’s course, it does cover all the basics, such as payroll, fixed assets and depreciation, and accrual accounting.

Simple Studies – This site offers tutorials in lots of accounting topics. The site also allows you to take diagnostic tests so that you can see the areas in which you need instruction. This tool allows the busy business owner to focus in on the areas where he is most lacking and skip areas he already understands.

Bean Counter.com – This site offers lots of resources for accountants and other people who want to understand accounting better. One of the resources they offer is accounting tutorials. You’ll find self study classes in every aspect of accounting. There’s also software and a special section devoted to taxes, too. In particular, their tutorial “So, you want to learn bookkeeping” is a great reference for the business owner just getting started. It helps give you the most important and basic bookkeeping skills for starting your business on the right accounting foot.

Bookkeeping Course.com – This is a set of tutorials designed to give the beginner an overview of accounting principles from balance sheet debits and credits to tax preparation. It is really designed for the student who may want to later further his education in accounting, but would work well for the small business owner, too.

M. Ward blogs about how to choose amongst online colleges for accounting.