What You'll Learn

The foundation every bookkeeper needs.

✓ What bookkeeping is, and why the bookkeeper matters to every business.

✓ The five categories every business uses, and how to build a chart of accounts.

✓ The rules of debits and credits, and why they work the way they do.

✓ The accounting equation, the accounting cycle, and cash vs. accrual accounting.

✓ The four-step process for recording transactions using source documents and journals.

✓ How to record assets, liabilities, owner's equity, revenue, and expenses, then balance your journals and accounts.

No memorizing. No guessing. Just clarity.

Course Curriculum

    1. Welcome!

    1. Week 1 - Agenda

    2. Module 1: Introduction to Bookkeeping For Small Businesses

    3. Module 1 - Presentation

    4. Module 1 - Quiz

    1. Week 2 - Agenda

    2. Module 2: The Rules of Accounting

    3. Debit and Credit Hepful Visual

    4. Module 2 - Presentation

    5. Module 2 - Quiz

    1. Week 3 - Agenda

    2. Module 3 ~ The Process of Recording Transactions

    3. Module 3 - Presentation

    4. Module 3 - Quiz

    1. Week 4 - Agenda

    2. Module 4 ~ Recording Transactions

    3. Module 4 - Presentation

    4. Module 4 - Quiz

About this course

  • $185.00
  • 18 lessons

This Course Is Step 1 of a Certificate Program

The Bookkeeping Essentials Certificate Program

Understanding Debits & Credits is the first of three courses that take you through the complete accounting cycle.

Step 1: Understanding Debits & Credits
Step 2: General Ledger & Month-End Procedures
Step 3: Closing Procedures & Financial Statements

Get all three for $445 and save $110. A payment plan of 2 payments of $222.50 is available on the full program.
See the Full Program

Hi, I'm Sharon.

Your instructor, and your biggest cheerleader.

I spent 10 years in corporate accounting before I started teaching, and I've now been teaching bookkeeping and accounting for 22 years through continuing education and workforce development programs at universities and colleges.

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Business Education from Temple University, a Pennsylvania Department of Education teaching certificate in Accounting, and I'm a Certified Online Instructor.

But here's what matters most: so many of my students walk in convinced they're "not a numbers person." Most of them are wrong. They just never had it explained clearly.

That's my job. Plain English, step by step, until it clicks.
Read My Story
Sharon deFonteny, Bookkeeping and Business Finance Educator

Questions? Good. Here Are the Answers.

  • Do I need any bookkeeping experience?

    No. This is where it all begins. The course starts with what bookkeeping is and builds from there, one step at a time.

  • Do I need accounting software?

    No. You’ll learn the manual system first, which is exactly the point. Once you understand what’s happening behind the scenes, any software becomes easy.

  • Is the Bookkeeping Community included?

    Yes. It’s a place for students across all of my courses and Certificate Programs to ask questions, share what they’re working on, and connect with others learning the same material.

  • What should I take after this course?

    General Ledger & Month-End Procedures, the second course in the Bookkeeping Essentials Certificate Program. It picks up right where this one leaves off.

Ready to Learn the Language of Bookkeeping?

Start with the foundation. Everything else builds on it.