How To Learn Accounting: Practice Makes Perfect!

Are you a student who is struggling with how to learn accounting?  If you are, you most likely know very well that there’s a huge difference between learning from a textbook and actual real-world accounting.  Many beginner bookkeepers struggle with their self-confidence when it comes time to find a job in their field.

This is due to the way most accounting courses are structured.  Typically, the student works their way through a course and only tackles each topic individually, rather than learning in a more linear fashion.  This means starting a set of books from scratch and dealing with every aspect of accounting that typical bookkeepers encounter as they work on a company’s files.  In other words, “doing” versus “learning”.

So what are the benefits to the student when learning accounting this way?

You get to discover all the “tricks” that most textbooks don’t explain.  For example, what you need to do when you are missing some paperwork.


You get to see the “big picture”.  Typically, it makes more sense if one can see what they are doing step by step rather than just doing smaller portions of bookkeeping.  For example, you’ll notice any glaring discrepancies on the financial statements much faster if you have actually posted all the transactions yourself.


You can improve rusty accounting skills.  If you have not done any bookkeeping for a very long time and need to polish your skills in order to gain enough confidence to apply for a bookkeeping job, then being able to practice becomes critical to your success.


You get to feel like you are doing real-world work rather than just make-believe bookkeeping.  This helps give you the confidence to take on actual bookkeeping work sooner rather than having to struggle at a new job (and potentially embarrassing yourself.)


You can expand your range of bookkeeping skills.  If you only have experience in certain areas of accounting (Accounts Receivable, for example) you can practice doing a set of books from start to finish to get the experience you need before applying for positions as a full-charge bookkeeper.


You get to practice on different types of companies.  Since individual businesses have specific accounting requirements, you’ll want to make sure you understand what needs to be done.  For example, corporations require you to post to a Shareholder account while a proprietorship has an Owner’s Drawing account.

Sadly, most accounting programs don’t have sufficient sample companies available which makes it difficult to fully practice your skills in accounting through typical college courses.  So if you truly want to know how to learn accounting, you’ll need to practice using sample companies that you create yourself.

 

Find out how to learn accounting by practicing on four companies at “BookkeepingSkillsAcademy”.   You’ll learn how to handle a set of books from start to finish using real-world companies.  Developed by a bookkeeper with 20 years of experience, check it out today for only $7.00:

http://bookkeepingskillsacademy.com