Free Online Bookkeeping Courses With Certificates

Bookkeeping is one of those professions and skills that, at first, can seem exceptionally daunting. All businesses – whether it is an individual as a sole trader or a multi-chain international company that is continually expanding – have some form of bookkeeping ongoing even if it isn’t described as that. This is because all businesses, at least ones that are above board and legal, will be recording their incomings and outgoings and paying the appropriate taxes for the country that they are in. Bookkeeping includes balancing the books, preparing for the upcoming financial year, helping to calculate what taxes are due, among other things. Some bookkeeping is done by the owner of the business if they are a sole trader and some will use an accountant to make sure that everything is in the green.

How high tech someone’s bookkeeping is depends on their preferences and budget. With the increase in digitization regarding tax assessments, Excel is a popular choice. There are also specialized programs available that do all the legwork for you. While it is possible to do the bookkeeping you require by yourself, bookkeepers and accountants have the specialist knowledge required to wrangle things with confidence that may otherwise be daunting and something of a learning cliff to deal with.

Accounting courses and bookkeeping-accounting combination courses have been included in this list as they are, while separate professions, closely related. It is best to have an understanding of the skills and knowledge required by both in order to approach the subject with competence.

Why Study Bookkeeping Online?

Studying online comes with a whole host of advantages. From working around your schedule – whether that is employment or the responsibilities of being a stay at home parent – to being accessible compared to classrooms and other workplaces if disabled, studying online is adaptable and adjustable for many. Bookkeeping online allows you to engage with the material on your own terms, depending on the course. For people who are disabled who find that classroom-based learning comes with a lot of barriers, online studying can facilitate learning in a more flexible manner. If further adjustments are required, these should be directed to the course provider or to your employer as appropriate.

Covid-19 and Doing Bookkeeping Courses With Certificates Online

Covid-19 has resulted in many people changing their employment patterns. Some have been sacked outright, some are on furlough and some are working from home. Some are still made to go into the office despite the ongoing circumstances. Online bookkeeping courses with certificates are ideal for those looking to add a string to their bow, for those looking for new employment and even for those who already do their own bookkeeping who want to know how to do it more competently. The ability to do courses online is increasing as time goes on, opening up a whole world of courses available at range of levels from diplomas to postgraduate degrees.

2021\’s Best Online Bookkeeping Courses & Training

[1] Online Accounting and Bookkeeping Certification Course

• Cost: Free for 4 weeks.
• Course Type: Online. Self-paced, limited free access.
• Certification: Diploma.

This bookkeeping course run by the Shaw Academy involves 32 lessons each with their own assessment. In total, the course runs for 16 weeks. The first 4 weeks are available and equate to a diploma. The course includes but is not limited to describing and applying core accounting concepts, learning how to measure and balance transactions via journals and ledgers both digital and paper, how to identify errors and how to interpret and create financial statements. This is ideal for those who are interested in accounting but may not be sure whether they want to commit to a full course. This gives you the chance to test the waters.

[2] CFI (Corporate Finance Institute) – Accounting Fundamentals

• Cost: Free.
• Course Type: Self-paced.
• Certification: Certificate if other courses are taken.

This is another course that can be considered a ‘taster’ for bookkeeping and accounting to let you decide whether to proceed to the paid parts. There is a certificate at the end of it but only if you complete additional paid courses as part of a set pathway with a qualification at the end of it. This course, however, is free. Therefore it serves as an ideal way of deciding whether you want it to stand alone as a bite-sized module or whether you want to expand and invest in your learning.

[3] Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting

• Cost: Free.
• Course Type: Self-paced. Approximately 8 hours study time.
• Certification: Statement of participation if account created.

OpenLearn is the free course ‘arm’ of the Open University, one of the world’s leading online higher education providers. It provides free courses of varying levels. This course includes modular information on the essential numerical skills needed for bookkeeping, the accounting-bookkeeping relationship, how to balance ledgers and how to create income and cash flow statements – and more. This will give you a good foundation of understanding of just what bookkeeping is to help you decide if you want to progress your learning further.

[4] Bookkeeping (Short Course)

• Cost: Free.
• Course Type: Self-paced. Estimated 20 hours of study.
• Certification: OHSC course completion certificate.

This course is provided by the Oxford Home Study Centre. The course covers tracking business accounts, working with balance sheets, and organizing and understanding the payroll. It is essentially a bite-sized introduction to bookkeeping as the name implies and is ideal for you to use to find out whether it is something you want to engage with.

[5] Bookkeeping for Personal and Business Accounting

• Cost: Free.
• Course Type: Self-paced over 4 weeks.
• Certification: £30 for a certificate.

Reed is the course compiler in this case; the course itself is provided by FutureLearn. FutureLearn provides a broad range of courses that people can use to either learn about a subject out of curiosity or engage with academically to broaden their understanding with a paid-for certificate at the end. The interface is easy to use and breaks the course down into manageable chunks with the chance for quizzes throughout to test your ongoing understanding.

[6] Advisor Certification Equivalency Course

• Cost: Free.
• Course Type: Self-paced. 6 hours suggested study time.
• Certification: Level 3 equivalent.

This course is something of a specialist one. Xero, to provide context, is a Cloud-based platform used for accounting – therefore, to an extent, it is a useful thing for bookkeepers to wrangle as well. It involves 12 modules with knowledge checks throughout. The course is designed to equip the course-taker to be able to support Xero users. The platform makes the bookkeeping and accounting workflow smoother.

[7] Professional Bookkeeping and Accounting – Sales and Purchases

• Cost: Free.
• Course Type: 1.5 – 3 hours suggested study time.
• Certification: Certificate of participation if you complete the course with an 80% pass mark.

This course is a short introduction to bookkeeping and accounting in a professional context, and in relation to sales and purchases specifically. This is ideal if you want to brush your knowledge up in just one area rather than covering the entire foundation of bookkeeping. It covers, among other topics, how to read and prepare sales and purchase invoices, the importance of logging purchases, sales and sales tax, and using and balancing ledgers. The latter is particularly pertinent to bookkeeping.

[8] Effective Bookkeeping and Payroll

• Cost: Free.
• Course Type: 10 – 15 hours of study suggested.
• Certification: Certificate of participation if you complete the course with an 80% pass mark.

This is another course provided by Alison, like the one above. It is mobile-friendly, an added bonus for those who prefer to study on the move or who don’t have a dedicated laptop or PC. It includes how to do accounting for a company, budgeting and strategies for doing so and payroll, including deductions and earnings. It is important for a bookkeeping to understand accounting as well as bookkeeping so then they have an awareness of the entire financial landscape with which they are dealing.

Are Free Bookkeeping Courses and Training Good For Inclusion On A Resume?

Yes! Even if you don’t get a certificate of accreditation at the end of it, putting the bookkeeping courses that you have attended on your CV shows that you are interested in continuing your personal and professional development and want to stand out from the crowd. While qualifications are good, dipping a toe into new subject material with a statement of participation still demonstrates that you are willing to dedicate time and effort to learning, which is an important and prized transferrable skill for employers.

Do Online Courses Come With A Qualification?

It depends on the course, on the course level and on the course provider. Certificates or statements of participation are just as valuable as accredited qualifications in their own way. Higher level courses will come with a qualification but they will not necessarily be free. Free courses with certificates are an ideal way to decide whether or not you want to invest in paid-for courses. Depending on your age, employment status and other factors, even if the course you are looking at after this one is paid for, you may be able to get the funding partially or fully covered. It is definitely worth looking up payment options as well; some courses want you to pay in full and some will allow you to pay per module, like the Open University. This is ideal for people who want to earn their money for study as they go along or whose finances may not be suited for bigger, bulkier payments.

Types of Courses

Courses are often able to be broadly divided into either being self-paced or scheduled, just like a course would be if you were attending it at university or another similar institution. Self-paced courses allow you to dip in and out of the material at your leisure with no deadline at the end of it. This is ideal for those of you who have quiet periods and busy periods who may not be able to set aside the same amount of time every single day, or every single week, to dedicate to the course. Some courses have assessments throughout or at the end, and some don’t. Some will ask miniature quizzes at the end of each section to make sure that you have been paying attention and some will be happy for you to just tick the box saying that you’ve complete the material. Whatever your needs and preferences when it comes to studying online, there is bound to be a course to suit you.

Conclusion

When it comes to bookkeeping courses online with certification, we hope that our selection of courses meets your needs and whets your appetite for more learning. Bookkeeping is useful in just about every professional setting that you can think of, so if you want to be highly employable, this is one career path that remains in demand. It is also useful for self-employed people who want to understand how to balance their books better so then they aren’t caught out on tax day. We hope that you will find the courses we have selected to be of interest. We have tried to include courses that range in size and intensity to let you find which one suits you best. Whether you end up deciding to become a bookkeeping professional or just want to understand the subject a bit more, there is a course for you.