7 Free Online Bookkeeping Courses With Certificates (2024 Edition)

A great way to start your bookkeeping career is by taking free online bookkeeping courses with certificates offered upon completion. 

Online bookkeeping courses can teach you the basics of how to record and report financial information for businesses. These courses can also give you confidence by allowing you to test your skills and gain hands-on experience.

In this post, we’ll review 7 free online bookkeeping courses, most of which offer a certificate upon completion. We’ll also help you navigate through questions commonly asked when getting started with bookkeeping.

Table of Contents

• OpenLearn University
• Coursera
• AccountingCoach
• Alison
• edX Courses
• Oxford Home Study Centre
• Corporate Finance Institute (CFI)
• FreshBooks Accounting Partner Program
• Wrapping Up
• Frequently Asked Questions

1. OpenLearn University

OpenLearn University offers a variety of free finance courses, including a free 8-hour long course called Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting.

This course helps you understand the fundamentals of double-entry bookkeeping and how it relates to the balance sheet and the profit and loss statement. Other topics that OpenLearn covers include managerial accounting, how to do accounting for organizations, and essential numerical skills that you’ll need as an accountant or bookkeeper. 

OpenLearn University offers interactives, videos, and text for all types of learners. Their accounting courses range from 2-20 hours and are grouped into level 1, level 2, and level 3 for your convenience. 

With an OpenLearn profile, you can easily track progress, take quizzes, and earn a statement of participation or a badge of completion.

2. Coursera

Coursera is an online course platform with hundreds of courses for business, including a professional certificate course series in bookkeeping. This series is offered in partnership with Intuit and covers all of the professional skills needed to launch a career in bookkeeping—no degree or prior experience is required.

The course is offered in 4 parts, which can be completed on a flexible schedule. At 10 hours of coursework per week, you would earn your employer-recognized bookkeeping certificate in 2 months. 

One unique aspect of Coursera’s bookkeeping series is their Applied Learning Project, in which participants will dive into realistic customer scenarios to help better prepare them for the realities of the bookkeeping profession. The courses cover all foundations of the field, including double-entry bookkeeping, bank reconciliations, and interpreting and analyzing financial statements. 

Coursera offers a free, 7-day trial. After the trial ends, you’ll need to pay $39 per month to keep taking the course. This means the faster you complete the course, the less expensive it will be.

3. AccountingCoach

AccountingCoach offers self-paced courses to help you learn bookkeeping fundamentals and grasp key concepts better. The site is run by Harold Averkamp, who is a former senior lecturer emeritus in accounting at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The site is known for the way Harold simplifies the explanation of complex topics. 

In addition to their paid offerings, AccountingCoach offers a number of free features, such as explanations of accounting basics, practice quizzes, FAQs, and crosswords and word scrambles to help you learn terminology. 

There are two paid options for AccountingCoach: ‘PRO’, which gives you access to more in-depth learning materials for a one-time fee of $99, or ‘PRO Plus’, which allows you to take 10 accounting certification courses (in addition to everything else) for a one-time fee of $159.

The 10 certifications offered by AccountingCoach are:

• Debits and Credits
• Adjusting Entries
• Financial Statements 
• Balance Sheet
• Income Statement
• Cash Flow Statement
• Working Capital and Liquidity
• Financial Ratios
• Bank Reconciliation
• Payroll Accounting

4. Alison

Alison hosts a variety of free accounting and bookkeeping video training courses, including certificate and diploma courses on sales and purchases, basics of accounting, payroll basics, and software.

There is a range of available courses on Alison, from 2 to 3-hour certificate courses on payroll computation and bookkeeping to 15-hour diploma courses in effective bookkeeping and payroll. 

Alison offers a free bookkeeping course, but you will have to watch ads throughout your learning with the free version. Additionally, you’ll have to pay if you want a copy of your diploma or certificate ($22-$43 for a certificate and $69-$143 for a diploma), but you can always share your learner record or learner achievement verification as a free way to demonstrate your knowledge to potential employers. You can also choose to pay for the pro version of Alison to remove ads. This costs approximately $8.65 per month, $85 per year, or $540 for life.

5. edX Courses

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) offers free courses on edX. One example is the free Introduction To Bookkeeping introductory course that takes roughly 30-48 hours to complete. 

They offer a suggested timeline to pace you, but ultimately, it’s flexible and you can move due dates around to better fit your schedule. Although it is self-paced, courses do end at specific dates, which means that the course will no longer have an active discussion board, some links may no longer work, and you can no longer upgrade to get a certificate.

EdX’s Introduction To Bookkeeping will help you feel more confident about your knowledge surrounding double-entry bookkeeping. Some specific topics covered in the syllabus include the trial balance, types of business transactions, and ledger accounts.

Once you’re done with the introductory level course, you can move on to the free intermediate bookkeeping course covering topics such as reconciling control accounts and the cashbook.

ACCA also offers additional quizzes for free to self-assess your underlying math skills, which are critical for accounting. They also offer free quizzes to help you self-assess your general knowledge and prepare for the ACCA exam. 

Unfortunately, to get a certificate for this learning program, you will need to become an ACCA student, which costs roughly $150 per year. You’ll also have to pay the relevant test fee, which is about $100. Some tests are held in person while others are computer-based.

6. Oxford Home Study Centre

The Oxford Home Study Centre (OHSC) is a leading provider of professional, distance-learning courses in the UK. OHSC offers both free and paid bookkeeping courses to help learners build the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in a bookkeeping career. 

The OHSC’s free online bookkeeping course is a 20-hour program that covers the fundamentals of bookkeeping, including basic terminology, essential financial records, double-entry bookkeeping, ledger preparation, and more. The course is completely free to complete, though you’ll need to pay a small fee ranging from £25 to £45 for a copy of the certificate.

For those looking for something more in-depth than the free bookkeeping course, OHSC also offers 5 levels of bookkeeping certification endorsed by the Quality License Scheme (QLS). These courses offer a flexible pace as you learn essential accounting principles.

The Level 1 course takes approximately 80 hours to complete, while the Level 5 course takes approximately 450 hours. All 5 of these courses cost £99.99 to take (plus the fee to get a copy of your certificate).

7. Corporate Finance Institute (CFI)

For people interested in beginning a career in bookkeeping, the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) offers a free course in Accounting Fundamentals. The course covers all major financial statements, explains the importance of financial statements and related terminology, covers essential skills like double-entry bookkeeping, and teaches you how to accurately and efficiently keep financial records.

This bookkeeping course is a part of CFI’s more specialized, long-form certification programs. It’s a required course to receive their Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst certification, Commercial Banking & Credit Analyst certification, Financial Planning & Wealth Management Certification, and FinTech Industry Professional program. While these personal and business accounting certification programs are paid, the Accounting Fundamentals course is free. 

CFI estimates the Accounting Fundamentals course takes approximately 5 hours to complete.

FreshBooks Accounting Partner Program

FreshBooks is a commonly used software among freelancers and small business owners. 

Learning accounting software like FreshBooks is a must nowadays for accounting professionals. This is because many business owners have traded spreadsheets for accounting software as a way to make their lives easier.

If you’re a bookkeeper or accountant new to FreshBooks, joining the free Partner Program is the fastest way to learn the software and get access to the FreshBooks Accounting Certification. Learning to use FreshBooks enables you to reach more prospective clients and grow your firm.

When you join the Program, you get access to ongoing skills training, tools, resources, dedicated support, and personalized education. You can also be added to the Partner Directory where you and FreshBooks customers can be matched up. 

Wrapping Up

Free online bookkeeping courses that offer certificates upon completion are a great way to get started with a bookkeeping career, boost your confidence, and enhance your resume and expertise. 

Once you’re a certified bookkeeper or accountant, you can grow your practice, learn new skills, and become FreshBooks certified by becoming a FreshBooks Accounting Partner for free.

FAQs About Online Bookkeeping Courses

Are you thinking of getting into bookkeeping or starting your own accounting business from scratch? Here are some common questions new bookkeepers ask when first getting started.

What are basic bookkeeping skills?

Freelancers, business owners, and those aspiring for a career in bookkeeping can benefit from understanding basic bookkeeping skills. These skills include:

• How to record financial transactions 
• How to use common accounting software
• How to create sales invoices and purchase invoices
• How to prepare financial statements 
• Understanding sales tax and value-added tax
• How to do payroll

What do online bookkeeping classes include?

Bookkeeping classes cover a wide range of topics, from understanding the different types of financial statements to knowing how to record financial transactions. You’ll also find a variety of courses on software. This can range from Excel basics to more sophisticated accounting software programs that businesses use today, such as FreshBooks.

These classes are usually organized into cohesive programs followed by short quizzes to test your knowledge. Some learning platforms deliver the bookkeeping course through videos or text whereas others offer a more hands-on experience, including having you work on sample balance sheets and prepare trial balances.

Is bookkeeping right for you?

Every business can benefit from having a bookkeeping professional or someone who understands bookkeeping fundamentals. Learning bookkeeping is a good idea for anyone with a business, even if your primary goal is not to become a professional bookkeeper.

If your career goals include offering bookkeeping services either for yourself or another firm, bookkeeping can be a rewarding career with many flexible options. Some benefits of the career path include plenty of remote work possibilities and the ability to work in a wide range of industries. 

Is a bookkeeping certificate worth it?

A bookkeeping certificate acts as proof that you understand basic accounting and bookkeeping concepts. This is good for new bookkeepers who don’t have much real-world experience nor a degree to back up their hours of study. Getting additional bookkeeping certificates can also help those who already have bookkeeping experience because it can serve as proof that you’re keeping up with best practices and the newest technology. 

Certificates on your resume can help show off your expertise and boost your confidence when looking for work. 

Additionally, free courses and certifications are a good place to get started as you eventually aim to tackle some of the more recognized certifications. One of the more recognized certifications includes the bookkeeping certification by the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers, to become a certified bookkeeper. However, to become certified by the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers, you need at least two years of experience. 

How long does it take to learn bookkeeping?

It takes about 6 months of training and experience to learn how to do bookkeeping effectively. However, you can build up some basic knowledge to get started in as little as 5 hours with some of the many online courses available.

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