Course description

Receipts in a shoebox, a bank app you're scared to open, and a tax return you dread every January? This course shows you, step by step, how to keep clear and accurate books for a small business, even if you've never done it before and don't think of yourself as a numbers person.

It's a full course, not a quick list of tips. There are 10 sections and 52 step-by-step written lessons, and every lesson ends with a practical task. Every section has a practice pack of spreadsheets with working formulas, templates and checklists. Throughout the course you follow a dressmaker in her first year of trading as she turns a shoebox of receipts into tidy, reconciled books.

What you'll learn

• The basics: what bookkeeping is, the key words, and the records UK businesses need to keep.
• Records and invoices: receipts, sales invoices, bills and a filing system that works.
• Your cash book: a spreadsheet cash book with running balances, categories and monthly totals.
• Expenses: what you can and can't claim, mixed-use costs, mileage and bigger purchases.
• Getting paid: invoicing, chasing late payments politely and a simple cash flow forecast.
• Bank reconciliation: checking your books against the bank and finding mistakes.
• Double-entry: debits, credits and the trial balance explained in plain words.
• Software and the future: moving to bookkeeping software, Making Tax Digital, VAT, payroll and year-end in outline.

Two final projects

You'll keep a full month's books from a set of real-looking transactions, then reconcile the bank and put together a month-end pack, with complete answers to check your work.

Who this course is for

• Sole traders and small business owners doing their own books.
• People who help with the paperwork for a family business, club or charity.
• Office and admin staff who've been handed the books.
• Anyone thinking about bookkeeping as a career or side business.

How the course works

Read each lesson, then do the Try it task with your own figures or the course example. The workbooks open in Excel, Google Sheets or similar. This course teaches bookkeeping, not tax advice: it explains UK rules in plain terms and shows you where to check the latest details on gov.uk. You keep lifetime access, so you can come back at year-end or whenever you need a refresher.

What will i learn?

• Understand the key bookkeeping words and the records UK businesses must keep
• Organise receipts, sales invoices and bills in a system that works
• Keep a spreadsheet cash book with running balances and category totals
• Tell business expenses from personal costs and drawings
• Invoice clearly, track who owes you and chase late payments politely
• Reconcile your books with the bank and find common mistakes
• Understand debits, credits and the trial balance in plain words
• Move to bookkeeping software and understand Making Tax Digital, VAT and year-end in outline

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