In this course we will enter common financial transactions for the first month of operations into an accounting system set up using an Excel worksheet.

Learners will learn how to navigate Microsoft Excel as well as how to use a well-designed accounting worksheet, complete with a general journal, trial balance, general ledger, subsidiary ledgers for accounts receivable, accounts payable, & inventory, financial statements and much more.

Excel is a very good tool to learn accounting because it is much more transparent than a database program, like accounting software, QuickBooks being a common example of accounting software.

For most new steps in the process, you will have access to a downloadable Excel Workbook, containing at least two tabs, one with the answer, the new steps being completed, the other starting out where the prior presentation left off.

As we enter financial transactions, we will discuss common data input forms used to enter the transactions by accounting software like QuickBooks. We post and analyze the impact of each financial transaction on the general journal, the general ledger, subsidiary ledgers, trial balance, and financial statements.

New businesses often need to generate capital, cash, they can then use to invest in property plant and equipment, inventory, and start up costs. The first few transactions we will enter will be related to the owner putting personal funding into the business and the business taking out a loan from a financial institution.

We will then consider financial transactions related to the purchase of inventory and the purchase of short-term investments like stocks and bonds.

Learners will know how to enter transactions related to selling inventory items, tracking inventory using a perpetual inventory method, adjusting the inventory subledger with each sale and purchase of inventory.

The course will discuss the financial transactions related to receiving payments from a customer, decreasing the accounts receivable, and tracking the accounts receivable subledger, recording accounts receivable by customer.

We will also discuss the use of undeposited funds as a tool to group our deposits in the same way we expect them to show on the bank statement, making the bank reconciliation process, a very important internal control, easy.

The course will demonstrate entering transactions related to writing checks for expenses like utilities and the telephone, and prepaid expenses like insurance.

Learners will also enter transactions related to payroll, requiring us to withhold employee payroll taxes, and enter employer payroll taxes.

After entering a months’ worth of data input will create and adjust our financial statements, the balance sheet and the income statement.