About this course
A complete first course in accounting for people who have never studied it before. You need no knowledge of bookkeeping or business, and no maths beyond adding, subtracting and working out a percentage. Every new word is explained in plain English before its technical definition, and every technique is shown step by step. The course runs through 15 chapters: what accounting is and who uses it; the accounting concepts; the accounting equation and double-entry bookkeeping; source documents, day books and ledgers; sales, purchases, VAT and control accounts; inventory; non-current assets and depreciation; cash, bank and bank reconciliations; the trial balance and correcting errors; accruals, prepayments and irrecoverable debts; capital structure and finance costs; and preparing financial statements for sole traders and limited companies, finishing with events after the reporting period, provisions and contingencies. Each chapter has short lessons, real-world examples, graded worked examples, diagrams, the common mistakes to avoid, practice questions with full solutions, an exam focus page, a chapter summary and a quiz that marks itself. In total there are 123 worked examples, 152 diagrams and 254 quiz questions, with a glossary of more than 200 key terms at the end. Written by a Big Four senior audit manager and accounting lecturer (FCCA, ACA, CIA). Start with Before You Start, then work through the chapters in order. When you finish a chapter, try its questions in the Accounting Fundamentals Practice Questions course, and finish with the free mock exam.