Online Course Content

There are six phases to the course. You can review a summary of the course content by clicking on each phase listed below.

Phase I – Accounting Environment
Phase II – Accounting Principles
Phase III – Accounting Elements
Phase IV – Accounting Tools
Phase V – Accounting Practice Example
Phase VI – Accounting Analysis

Phase I – Accounting Environment

What YOU Can Learn in PHASE I of the Course:

1. Learn and understand the general purpose of a Balance Sheet, Statement of Income & Expense, and a Statement of Cash Flows. Find out which ones you really need to have.
2. There are six ways in which you can legally choose to organize a business:
• Sole Proprietorship
• Partnership
• C-Corporation
• S-Corporation
• Non-Profit Organization
• Limited Liability Company

You can review the table listing the advantages and disadvantages of each type; plus tips on selecting which type of organization is right for you.

3. Find out who sets the standards for financial statements and whether you have to abide by them or not.
4. Discover eight good reasons to prepare financial statements for your business.
5. Know the six traps business owners fall into by not having financial statements to guide them.
6. Identify who the users of financial statements are and how they may be important to you.
7. Identify who the accounting professionals are and what they can and cannot do. Why some are licensed and others are not.
8. Distinguish the differences between "audited", "reviewed", and "compiled" financial statements and determine which ones you need.
9. Learn about four different check writing systems from manual to computerized to help pick the best one for you.
10. Learn why computer software programs offer only a partial solution to your accounting needs and how this course can fill the missing gap

Phase II – Accounting Principles

What YOU Can Learn in PHASE II of the Course:

1. Master the principles of accounting in a concrete, straight-forward way by comparing them to the blueprints of a house.
2. Find out two simple, primary objectives of financial statements.
3. Discover six basic common sense assumptions that form the foundation of financial statements.
4. Know the four obvious, but invisible, primary qualities that must be included in financial statements.
5. Learn the five "rules of operation" that, if followed, make financial statements useful, written in simple, 2 + 2 = 4 language.
6. Learn what the difference between "accrual-basis" and "cash-basis" financial statements mean. Find out if one or the other works for you or a combination of both.
7. Know when it is ok to record revenue in your books and when it is not.
8. Determine when an expenditure becomes an expense.
9. Eliminate the confusion between "Realization" and "Recognition" of revenue and expense. Do you really have to know about such things?
10. Recognize what "full disclosure" is and whether it means anything to you.

Phase III – Accounting Elements

What YOU Can Learn in PHASE III of the Course:

1. Learn the "Accounting Equation" and discover that you are already familiar with it.
2. Be amazed that the skeletal framework for a balance sheet and statement of income & expense consists of only five parts.
3. Learn how to classify the basic accounts of the balance sheet and statement of income & expense. Ascertain how each account functions in relation to each other.
4. Solve the mystery of how to depreciate an asset, using the two most common methods. It’s not that hard.
5. Know the difference between a "true lease" and a "contract of sale" and how to set it up on your books.
6. Finally, receive a clear-cut explanation of:
• How the "equity section" of your balance sheet works for all forms of business organization.
• Why you don’t pay tax on your draw if you are a sole proprietor. How partners can get confused about their draw accounts, profit or losses and capital accounts.
• How double-taxation can occur in a C-Corporation.
• How profits and losses are "passed through" to owners of businesses.
• How non-profit equity accounts can work for small operations.
• What the accounting equation is for a statement of income & expense.
• The difference between "income" and "revenue".
• The difference between "direct" and "indirect" costs.
• The difference between "gross profit" and "net profit".
• How to "mark up" your goods for sale.
• How to figure out whether you have a gain or a loss when you have disposed of an asset. And what the trap is if you don’t do it.
• What a general ledger is.
• What a chart of accounts is.
• How to number your chart of accounts.

Phase IV – Accounting Tools

1. Learn the simplified "accounting model" of debits and credits.
2. Discover how to use "T-Account" templates to analyze transactions. It’s as easy as telling up from down.
3. Learn the basic formulas for accounts payable and accounts receivable. If you can add and subtract, you can run these formulas.
4. Payroll accounting a mystery? It won’t be, when you use a step-by-step method for proving payroll account balances.
5. Ever find yourself getting mixed up with cost of goods sold and inventory? You won’t anymore when you become familiar with the accounting formula.
6. Pin down how to handle a petty cash fund, or out-of-pocket expenses. There are several easy ways to do it.
7. Know why a business bank reconciliation shouldn’t be done on the back of your bank statement. Learn why bank reconciliations are the "heart" of the accounting process.
8. Once and for all, learn how to write journal entries. Accounting will no longer be a mystery to you. Find out how to think out transactions using accounting common sense. After that, writing journal entries will be like writing your name.
9. Learn how all the journals function, including; cash receipts, cash disbursements, general journal, sales journal, purchase journal. Discover which ones are important to you.
10. Learn about ledgers, accounts receivable ledgers, accounts payable ledgers and the general ledger. What they are used for and why they are important.
11. Discover techniques accountants use to make their work easier. For instance, learn how to:
• Spot transposition errors
• Use cash as a reference point
• Compare physical reality with accounting reality
• Test for reasonableness
• Know when to rest
• Do a percentage distribution
• Convert percentages to figure out sales tax or cost of goods sold.
• Trusting your own mind
• Proving your work

Phase V – Accounting Practice Example

What YOU Can Learn in PHASE V of the Course:

Learn how to:

• Do a quick valuation of your business.
• Set up the books of a new company from scratch.
• Record a loan from a bank.
• Use a Cash Disbursements journal.
• Code checks from your Chart of Accounts.
• Use a Bank Reconciliation to write journal entries.
• Spot mistakes, analyze them, make corrections using the General Journal.
• Prove your balances for accuracy.
• Evolve from a sole proprietorship to a partnership.
• Record transactions that are unique to a partnership.
• Evolve from a partnership to a C-Corporation.
• Record transactions that are unique to a corporation.
• Prepare financial statements for small businesses.
• Close the books at the end of the year.
• Reference your year end financial statements.

Phase VI – Accounting Analysis

What YOU Can Learn in PHASE VI of the Course:

1. Learn what the key indicators are on a financial statement, and how to ask intelligent questions of your accounting staff or accountant.
2. Be able to use and understand ratios to measure the health of your business such as the acid-test ratio or the debt-to-equity ratio and several others. Know which ratios apply to your business and can actually help you.
3. Find out how to:
• Set up a simple budget and determine whether you really need one.
• Determine the health of your business.
• Determine whether your financial statement makes sense.
• Know which documents are important to retain and when you can throw the others away.