Excel Accounting Problem
What you'll learn
- How to navigate Microsoft Excel or other computerized spreadsheet like Google Sheets
- How to create an accounting system in Excel from a blank worksheet including a general journal, trial balance, general ledger, subsidiary ledgers and more
- How to enter journal entries related to common transactions and list the data input forms often used to enter them into accounting software like QuickBooks
- How to enter two months worth of data input into our accounting system
- How to do two month of bank reconciliations, comparing the process to how accounting software like QuickBooks would accomplish the task
- How to enter period end adjusting journal entries
- Create financial statements
Requirements
- None
Description
This course will walk through a comprehensive accounting problem using Microsoft Excel in a step-by-step process. You may also use another spreadsheet software like Google Sheets.
Learners will learn how to navigate Microsoft Excel as well as how to create 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.
As we enter transactions into our Microsoft Excel worksheet, we will discuss how the data input would commonly be entered into accounting software like QuickBooks and what data input forms would normally drive the transactions.
The course will start out from a blank Excel Worksheet. We will build the outline for our accounting system from the blank spreadsheet.
For each new step 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.
Therefore, you can complete the entire problem starting from one blank spreadsheet, or you can jump forward in the problem and rework any component of the problem by downloading the related worksheet at that point in the process.
After constructing the outline of our accounting worksheet, the first section will discuss the most common accounting transactions and the data input form often used in accounting software, like QuickBooks, to enter them, common data input forms including invoice, bill, deposit. . .
We will then start our comprehensive problem, constructing a new Excel worksheet and entering beginning balances into it, imagining that we had a prior accounting system which we are now converting to our new accounting system in Excel.
We will then enter two-months worth of data input. When entering the accounting data we will create the journal entry, post it to the trial balance, giving us a good look at which accounts are impacted, post to the general ledger, and make adjustments to any subsidiary ledgers needed.
We will also update the financial statements periodically.
For the second month of operations, we create a bit more complex trial balance, allowing us to calculate both the year-to-date numbers, including both months of data input, and the current period numbers, showing income statement accounts for just the second month of operations.
After entering two months of data input, we will process two bank reconciliations, using mock bank statements. As we construct our bank reconciliations, we will discuss how accounting software often accomplishes this task.
Next, we will adjust our worksheet to enter period end adjusting journal entries as well as reversing entries. For each adjusting entry we will consider the reasons for it and how to set up the accounting system so that our adjusting entries do not mess up the data input process in the accounting department.
After entering the adjusting entries we will construct our financial statements.
Who this course is for:
- Anyone who wants to learn Excel, real world practice problems being the best tool
- Anybody learning accounting or bookkeeping
- Anybody who uses accounting software like QuickBooks and wants to understand what the software is doing
- Accounting students and professionals
Instructor
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 51,504 Reviews
- 902,173 Students
- 149 Courses
Through working with students from many different schools, Mr. Steele has learned best practices for helping people understand accounting fast. Learning new skills and finding the best way to share knowledge with people who can benefit from it is a passion of his.
Mr. Steele has experience working as a practicing Certified Public Accountant (CPA), an accounting and business instructor, and curriculum developer. He has enjoyed putting together quality tools to improve learning and has been teaching, making instructional resources, and building curriculum since 2009. He has been a practicing CPA since 2005. Mr. Steele is a practicing CPA, has a Certified Post-Secondary Instructor (CPI) credential, a Master of Science in taxation from Golden Gate University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Economics with an emphasis in accounting from The University of California Santa Barbara, and a Global Management Accounting Designation (CGMA) from The American Institute of CPA (AICPA).
Mr. Steele has also authored five books that can be found on Amazon or in audiobook format on Audible. He has developed bestselling courses in accounting topics including financial accounting and QuickBooks accounting software.
In addition to working as an accountant, teaching, and developing courses Mr. Steele has helped create an accounting website at accountinginstruction, a YouTube channel called Accounting Instruction, Help, and How Too, and has developed supplemental resources including a Facebook Page, Twitter Page, and Podcasts that can be found on I-tunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud. Mr. Steele's teaching philosophy is to make content applicable, understandable, and accessible.
Adult learners are looking for application when they learn new skills. In other words, learners want to be able to apply skills in the real world to help their lives. Mr. Steele’s formal accounting education, practical work experience, and substantial teaching experience allow him to create a curriculum that combines traditional accounting education with practical knowledge and application. He accomplishes the goals of making accounting useful and applicable by combining theory with real-world software like Excel and QuickBooks.
Many courses teach QuickBooks data entry or Excel functions but are not providing the real value learners want. Real value is a result of learning technical skills like applications, in conjunction with specific goals, like accounting goals, including being able to interpret the performance of a business.
Mr. Steele makes knowledge understandable by breaking down complex concepts into smaller units with specific objectives and using step by step learning processes to understand each unit. Many accounting textbooks cram way too much information into a course, making it impossible to understand any unit fully. By breaking the content down into digestible chunks, we can move forward much faster.
Mr. Steele also makes use of color association in both presentations and Excel worksheets, a learning tool often overlooked in the accounting field, but one that can vastly improve the speed and comprehension of learning accounting concepts.
The material is also made understandable through the application of concepts learned. Courses will typically demonstrate the accounting concepts and then provide an Excel worksheet or practice problems to work through the concepts covered. The practice problems will be accompanied by an instructional video to work through the problem in step by step format. Excel worksheets will be preformatted, usually including an answer tab that shows the completed problem, and a practice tab where learners can complete the problem along with a step by step presentation video.
Mr. Steele makes learning accounting accessible by making use of technology and partnering with teaching platforms that have a vision of spreading knowledge like Udemy.