Learning Basic Accounting via Online Accounting Software

If you are a devoted business owner you need to know at least the basics of accounting. And we are here to guide you where and in what way you can learn accounting 101: education centers, webinars, guides, local trainings and video tutorials.

Education centers

Every accounting solution provider has some sort of support base where FAQs, blog articles, useful tips are collected; however, not all of them have education centers. Here the companies collect materials that are there to explain the use of the software in a more detailed way, and additional materials to help you understand the basics of running a business and how to be more successful. Education centers, like the ones maintained by Xero, Sage and QuickBooks, are basically nice collections of guides, webinars, video tutorials, and list of nearby local trainings, so you can easily choose which learning methods fit you the most.

Webinars, local trainings and live events

Big sites provide countless webinars detailing various subjects from the use of accounting software to, of course, accounting 101. There are two types of webinars: the ones that you have to attend in real time and those which are pre-recorded and can be watched on-demand. Xero, for instance, prefers pre-recorded webinars, which anyone can see without paying a dime, Sage materials can be downloaded from the Sage University, while QuickBooks has both live webinars and pre-recorded ones for self-studies, but both solutions cost around $450–$550 per occasion.

You also have the option to go and attend classes personally: QuickBooks regularly organizes live classes around America, while Xero and Sage – two major companies that prefer providing pre-recorded materials – offer Xerocon and the Sage Summit respectively, where you can learn directly from the product developers and other professionals.

Guides

If you are more of a silent reader type, you can always turn to countless guides in different subjects – one of which is accounting for business owners like you. Xero and FreeAgent, for instance, has smaller guides which can be read in 10–15 minutes and in Xero’s case a complete section dedicated to the accounting behind the software in the company’s Help Center. QuickBooks, on the other hand, straight out put up an over 800-page long manual of its 2015 desktop version which contains everything about the software, but like the articles in the Small Business Center many of its chapters and paragraphs can be used for learning the basics of accounting as well. But if you want something lighter, and shorter, Wave Accounting has a free of charge guide for accounting, too.

Video tutorials