If you like working with people and numbers, I’m sure you’ve considered becoming a bookkeeper or accountant. A bookkeeper’s tasks include, of course, bookkeeping, but they also advise clients and help them understand their business and ways to improve it. And if you’re not new to accounting, staying up-to-date with the latest trends and tools is a must.
Becoming a bookkeeper is not something that you can learn by yourself. This is mainly because clients often need a certificate that shows professionalism and creates trust. But where can I learn to become a bookkeeper?
There are various free accounting courses with certificates to make your new business seem trustworthy and, of course, give you the knowledge you need to become the best bookkeeper. Why not even a CPA one day?
What to look for in an accredited online bookkeeping course?
Accounting course credibility
First, ensure that the course is credible and helpful. Look for courses offered by recognized institutions, universities, or platforms with a reputation in education, such as Coursera, edX, or LinkedIn Learning. Yes, you might gain knowledge from other courses, but the certificates you’ll receive are not as valid to employers.
Accredited course instructor
This applies to the people teaching the course as well. Not everyone is qualified to teach bookkeeping, even for beginners. Verify the instructors’ backgrounds to ensure they have experience in bookkeeping or accounting. Professional certifications such as CPA, CMA, or accounting degrees indicate expertise.
Bookkeeping topics overage
The bookkeeping course should cover all of the basics of bookkeeping, like understanding bookkeeping and accounting concepts and accounting terminology, common bookkeeping tasks like payroll, double entry accounting system, debits and credits, how to read financial statements, finance ethics and integrity, using accounting software, and even the basics of dealing with clients.
Another point you should sort out is whether the bookkeeping course meets your country’s requirements. Laws and regulations differ, and you would not want to learn UK bookkeeping to serve clients in the United States.
Up-to-date course content
Tax laws change quite frequently. Any course will do if you’re looking for the basics of bookkeeping or its philosophy.
If you want to serve clients with bookkeeping knowledge, ensure that the course explains 2024 laws, regulations, etc.
A good online bookkeeping course has variety. Lessons are apparent but might not be enough. Practical tasks like tests, group work, etc., are vital for learning to do bookkeeping, not only get to know what it means. Also, using accounting software, like QuickBooks or Xero, is essential in 2024, so I recommend picking a course that helps you understand the software.
Is the free bookkeeping course certificate really free?
Some courses might seem free at first, but after completing everything and trying to receive the diploma, it’s not that free. Certificates provide trust and, therefore, are valuable. These courses use people, so avoid falling for a scam.
List of 9 recommended free bookkeeping courses with certificates in 2024
Here’s a list of the ten most recommended free online bookkeeping courses that a beginner should take in 2024 in no particular order.
- Coursera: “Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Professional Certificate”
- edX: ACCA: “Introduction to Bookkeeping”
- Accounting Coach: “We Make Accounting Easy for Anyone”
- FreshBooks: “Accounting Partner Program”
- OpenLearn: “Introduction to bookkeeping and accounting”
- Alison: “Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting Methods”
- Oxford Home Study Centre: “Bookkeeping (Short Course)”
Coursera: “Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Professional Certificate”
Coursera is a very popular course offering platform worldwide, offering hundreds, if not thousands, of courses. You bet it has many options for bookkeepers. Coursera has many users, and there’s a support system behind you every step of the way.
A beginner bookkeeper would gain the most from the “Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Professional Certificate”.
They promise to help launch your career in bookkeeping by gaining the professional skills you need to succeed in the bookkeeping field.
No degree or prior experience is required!
All you need to know about Courseras free online bookkeeping course:
- Beginner level
- Lasts 2 months
- Flexible
Coursera: “Principles of Accounts Payable and Receivable Management”
There’s another course by Coursera that is more of an advanced level than just learning the bookkeeping basics. It’s a free online accounts payable and receivable certification course called “Principles of Accounts Payable and Receivable Management”.
This course is part of the Tally Bookkeeper Professional Certificate and is for those interested in starting a career in bookkeeping. The course builds on the knowledge and skills covered in the first course in this professional certificate, Fundamentals of Accounting and Reporting, and dives deeper into accounts payable and receivable management.
By the end of the free online accounts payable and receivable certification course, you will be able to:
- Classify inventory
- Manage accounts receivable and accounts payable
- Manage purchase and sales orders
- Track costs of purchase
- Manage cost and profit centres
- Create and maintain budgets using TallyPrime
- Generate reports
All you need to know about Coursera’s accounts payable and receivable course:
- Intermediate level
- Free with coursera plus
- 35 hours long
- Flexible schedule
edX: ACCA: “Introduction to Bookkeeping”
Similarly to Coursera, edX is a platform with 4000+ courses, and bookkeeping is one of the topics covered. They offer courses by trusted education institutes like Harvard or Berkeley, making it an excellent platform to start your education journey.
edX offers a course made by The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). The name says it all – you’ll get the creme de la creme of accounting specialists to teach you everything you need about bookkeeping.
Look for the ACCA: Introduction to Bookkeeping when starting your bookkeeping journey. They promise you’ll get a qualification and a career in business and finance with this introduction-level course from ACCA-X.
All you need to know about edX free online introductiory bookkeeping course:
- Beginner level
- Lasts 6 weeks
- Progress at your speed
Accounting Coach: “We Make Accounting Easy for Anyone”
Accounting Coach might be the most recommended bookkeeping course platform. It focuses on teaching accounting for free to employees, bookkeepers, students, accountants, and small businesses.
Accounting Coach offers 33 courses that help you learn about accounting topics, from Accounting Basics to Standard Costing. The learning process includes explanations, practice quizzes, a questions-and-answers forum, crosswords, and word scrambles.
The Accounting Coach platform also has a paid version called PRO, where you can watch 13 video training courses, learn with flashcards, see visual tutorials, do quick tests and much more. The paid version also tracks your progress. The more expensive version, called PRO Plus, offers badges and points and gives you certificates.
There is a one-time payment for both PRO and PRO Plus, which makes them more affordable than accounting courses usually are.
All you need to know about the Accounting Coach free online accounting course:
- Beginner level
- 33 free lessons
- Progress at your speed
FreshBooks: “Accounting Partner Program”
FreshBooks is an invoice and accounting software for small businesses. Its accounting partner program is designed for accountants and bookkeepers who want to build deeper connections with their clients and work with them more strategically and advisoryly.
The Accounting Partner Program best suits modern accountants and progressive bookkeepers interested in a Collaborative Accounting model and actively building a cloud-based practice.
The FreshBooks partner program has many benefits:
- Comprehensive Collaborative Accounting™ certification and ongoing education
- Human-centric account management
- Dedicated support
- Client discounts
- Free data conversion
- Free FreshBooks Account
- Client referrals
OpenLearn: “Introduction to bookkeeping and accounting”
OpenLearn is a platform by OpenUniversity that offers hundreds of courses on different topics, including accounting and bookkeeping courses with certifications.
We recommend you choose the free course “Introduction to bookkeeping and accounting.” This course explains the fundamental rules of double-entry bookkeeping and how they produce the balance sheet and the profit and loss account.
And if you’re done with the first course, you have tens of other classes to learn more about bookkeeping in OpenLearn. Just choose the next one and get smarter.
All you need to know about the OpenLearn free online bookkeeping course:
- Level 1 introductory course
- 8 hours study
- Progress at your speed
Alison: “Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting Methods”
Alison is another course offering platform that offers certificates and diplomas on various topics. It has 40 million learners from 193 countries, which makes it a reliable source of knowledge.
We recommend the course “Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting Methods.” This course will introduce you to the various bookkeeping techniques, how to record transactions, and the critical financial statements involved. We will then explore the two approaches to accounting, the cash-based and accrual-basis methods, along with their advantages and disadvantages.
After completing the CPD-accredited course, you’ll get a certificate as well.
All you need to know about the Alison free bookkeeping and accounting course:
- Basic accounting course
- 3 hours study
- Progress at your speed
- CPD accreditation
Oxford Home Study Centre: “Bookkeeping (Short Course)”
Oxford Home Study Centre is a platform that offers hundreds of online accredited courses. The most certified categories are psychology, interior design, customer service, and risk management, but they also provide bookkeeping courses.
We recommend the free bookkeeping short course. It covers topics ranging from basic terminology to trial balance and guarantees a CPD-accredited certificate.
All you need to know about the Oxford Home Study Centre free bookkeeping course:
- Short course
- 20 hours duration
- Progress at your speed
- CPD accreditation
There’s also another course that Oxford Home Study Centre offers, which is more in depth than the short course.
Oxford Home Study Centre: “Certificate in Accounting and Finance”
The “Certificate in Accounting and Finance” course helps accountants and bookkeepers learn new skills and gain confidence to be the best accounting specialists for their clients. Whether pursuing a promotion at work or looking to start your own accountancy business, this free accounting course could help you take that next big step.
The intermediate-level accountancy course covers topics such as preparing cash flow statements, working with profit and loss accounts, preparing a balance sheet, subsidiary books in accountancy, and much more.
There are 5 units to this accounting course which you can study at your own pace:
- Introduction to Accounting
- Subsidiary Books of Accounting
- How to Create a Profit and Loss Account
- How to Prepare Cash Flow Statement
- How to Prepare a Balance Sheet
The course is 100% free of charge and provides you with a certificate at the end.
All you need to know about the Oxford Home Study Centre free accounting and finance course:
- Intermediate level
- 200 hours duration
- Progress at your speed
- CPD accreditation
The most recommended free online bookkeeping classes with certificates in 2024
I hope you found the free bookkeeping course you were looking for. Learning something new is a big step for a person, and a good course is crucial to make studying easier and more effective.
If you’re looking for accounting practice management software to support your bookkeeping and keep you on track, try Uku.
Book a demo so we can show you how a bookkeeper uses accounting management software to make work much easier.
