Accounting course
About the course
This course gives a practical introduction to accounting, from receipts to VAT and reporting. You will learn how to record transactions correctly and set up good routines.
What you will learn
- Debits and credits in practice
- Receipts and documentation requirements
- VAT codes, rates and return periods
- Bank and ledger reconciliation
- Accruals and fundamental principles
Bookkeeping examples
| Event | Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales invoice | 1500 Trade debtors | 1,250 | 0 |
| Sales invoice | 3000 Sales revenue | 0 | 1,000 |
| Sales invoice | 2700 Output VAT | 0 | 250 |
| Customer payment | 1920 Bank | 1,250 | 0 |
| Customer payment | 1500 Trade debtors | 0 | 1,250 |
Digital ways of working
| Scenario | ReAI feature | Learning objective |
|---|---|---|
| Manual receipt handling | AI-suggested coding | Evaluate and quality-check automated postings |
| Payment matching | Machine learning for matching | Reduce discrepancies and ensure traceability |
| Supplier invoices | Integrated invoice reader | Identify fields that need quality checking |
| Project accounting | Automated accruals | Identify variances in project margins |
To practise skills without risk, participants get sandbox access where you can import test receipts and practise reconciliation. The course also shows how to build an approval workflow with authorisation, posting and release so that multiple roles can collaborate effectively.
Practical exercises
- Set up an opening balance with open items and test bank reconciliation against a CSV file
- Complete a VAT return period and document the controls in a checklist
- Evaluate coding suggestions from automated bookkeeping and give feedback to the system
- Create a simple KPI report using metrics from the KPI guide
Next steps
- Invoicing, reminders and late fees: see Invoicing course
- Payroll, RTI and employer’s NI: see Payroll course
- Year-end and tax return: see Year-end course