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First of all, online learning is just so much more convenient that it’s not even funny.  You can log on anytime and learn at your own pace.  If you want something repeated, just rewind the video or scroll up through the text again and re-read.  In the real world you have to get dressed, fight your way through traffic, find a parking spot, walk to the classroom and hope that the computers are working.  To learn online, you don’t even have to be wearing pants!

In the classroom, I am using a projector to show my screen to the class.  They have to turn around in their seats in order to see what I’m doing and they can’t face their monitors and watch me at the same time (poor room design).  The online learning environment is usually pretty flexible and you can control what you see and where.  If you have multiple monitors you can have the lesson on one screen while you have QuickBooks open on the other.  Also, the internet is the perfect vehicle for multimedia presentations which can incorporate sound, video, graphics, screencasts, etc.  To work all of that into a physical classroom situation would be quite difficult.

The last major difference that I thought about last night is the cost for taking the class.  This particular class was between $400 and $500 and ran for 24 classroom hours.  Many online learning websites are totally free or charge a small monthly fee in the $30 – $75 range.  That is a much better value!

So this experience has reinforced what I already knew anyway.  That the future of education is not in stuffy old classrooms with outdated audio/visual equipment, but on the internet where you can interact with the lessons in the comfort of your own home while wearing only your boxer shorts.

Maybe you worked as a bookkeeper years ago before you had kids and now it’s time for you to get back into the workforce.  Or maybe you were recently laid off and are looking for a new job and want to add some new skills to your repertoire.

Even though the economy is not doing so well right now, accounting and bookkeeping professionals are still in demand.  Businesses still need their books to be done even if they aren’t making as much money as they used to.  And many businesses owners are looking to analyze their bottom lines much more closely than in the past, so they want to make sure that the books are correct.

If you take a quick look through the want ads in your local paper chances are pretty good that you’ll see some openings for bookkeepers and accountants.  Many of these ads will list what the job responsibilities are and will include things like “general ledger” or “full charge bookkeeper” and “quickbooks experience necessary”.  Many of the job listings in my paper list QuickBooks as one of the requirements.  The lessons that I teach here will help you qualify for one of these jobs.

I am currently teaching a QuickBooks training class at night and 3 out of the 4 people are all looking for bookkeeping jobs.  One person is re-entering the workforce after having kids and being out of the game for 6 or 7 years, one person was recently laid off and had been using another very specialized bookkeeping system and the third person just moved to the U.S. and isn’t familiar with QuickBooks but knows other European-based software packages.

So no matter what your reason for wanting to learn, I welcome you and look forward to interacting with you here.  Good luck in your journey and please let me know if you have any questions, comments or special requests for lessons.

With most of the other QuickBooks training websites, there’s nowhere to turn if you get stuck on a particular concept.  If you don’t understand something your only option is to re-read it over and over again and hope that it eventually sinks in.  That is not a very efficient method of learning.

That’s why here at Full Contact Accounting you’ll find some text lessons but also video tutorials and screencasts.  Some people learn better by hearing the lessons (auditory learners).  Others will benefit more from the screencast videos where you can see everything I’m doing on my computer.  You can watch or read the lessons in any order you want and as many times as you want.  The text lessons will help reinforce all of the concepts, so there’s a little something for everyone no matter what your personal learning style is.

Every lesson is placed on a page where you can post comments and questions that I will respond to.  There’s also a form to contact me privately, if you don’t wish for others to see your question.  I will try my best to answer all of your questions and address all of your concerns.  We’re in this together and I want you all to succeed in learning the basics of accounting and bookkeeping and most of all, learn how to use QuickBooks.

The most common set of financial statements include a Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Statement of Cash Flow.  The statements will include a report written and signed by the accountants (more on this later) and may include footnotes (these are optional).

The Balance Sheet shows the company’s assets, liabilities and equity.  Assets are things that the company owns, like bank accounts, equipment and inventory.  Liabilities are what the company owes to others, such as bank loans and credit card balances.  The Equity section shows how much stock or capital has been put into the company and is what makes the Balance Sheet balance.

The Income Statement shows the company’s revenue or sales and subtracts out the Cost Of Goods Sold (if applicable) and all of the other expenses.  The result is the Net Income (or loss).  It’s usually the last number on the income statement, which is where the phrase “the bottom line” comes from.  This is the report that most business people care about the most because it shows how much money the company has made (or lost).

The Statement of Cash Flow is a report that shows the sources and uses of cash.  If the other two statements are prepared on the accrual basis, this report converts the information to the cash basis so it becomes more apparent what areas of the business produced or used the most cash.  It is the most difficult statement for people to understand, and it requires it’s own long-winded explanation.  I’ll cover it in more detail in a later post.

Remember that signed report from the accountant that I mentioned earlier?  That’s the most important part of the whole set of financial statements.  The business owner can produce their own set of financial statements, but the bank (or whoever else needs the statements) usually wants them to be prepared by a third party.  This in theory makes the statements more reliable since the business owner could easily create misleading statements since they aren’t checked over by anyone else.

There are 3 different levels of service that an accounting firm can provide for financial statements.  A compilation provides the lowest level of assurance on the statements.  This means that the accountant takes account balances and figures that the management of the business gives them and they put them in proper financial statement format without auditing or examining them in any way.  If something looks obviously out of sorts, the accountants will question it, but with a compilation the accounting firm assumes almost no responsibility for the accuracy of the information.

The next step up is a set of reviewed financial statements.  This is basically just like a compilation but the accountants ask a lot of questions, compare the account balances from one year to the next and “poke around” to see if anything sticks out as a problem.  The accountant’s report in this case will state something like “On the basis of our review, we are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the accompanying financial statements in order for them to be in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles”.  This type of report provides limited assurance as to the accuracy of the financial information.

The highest level of assurance is obtained by audited financial statements.  This is a very involved process where the accounting firm determines areas of risk, test the company’s internal controls, asks a lot of questions and examines account balances in much more detail.  It is the most expensive option, but at the end of it all the accounting firm will issue a report that states that the financial statements are in conformity with GAAP standards.

So there you have it!  I hope that you find this information useful and that you now understand what financial statements are a little bit better.  Please leave a comment below if you have any questions or what to say anything at all about this post or the site in general.  There is much more to come!