Course description

If you're starting with Sage Accounting for your small business, or you look after the books for someone else, this course takes you from signing up to submitting a Making Tax Digital VAT return, one clear step at a time.

You learn how to choose a plan, set up your business details, accounting dates and VAT, review the chart of accounts and enter opening balances. You connect a bank feed, deal with bank lines and set up bank rules with care. You add customers, suppliers, products and services, send quotes and invoices, record receipts and credit notes, enter supplier invoices and receipts, and pay suppliers safely. Then you reconcile your bank accounts, prepare and submit a VAT return from Sage, run your profit and loss, balance sheet and aged reports, and follow a month-end routine that makes year end straightforward for you and your accountant.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with a worked example, common slips, questions people often ask and a short exercise to try, and each section ends with a short quiz. You follow Thandeka, a picture framer in Hexham, through her first three months in Sage and her first VAT return, with help from Diarmuid, a junior bookkeeper. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, example answers and a cheat sheet, plus checklists, sample invoices, CSV files and spreadsheets: bank statements, invoices, supplier invoices and receipts, a reconciliation worksheet, a VAT return worked example, a reports worksheet, a month-end checklist and a project workbook, with answer keys.

What you'll learn

• Getting started with Sage Accounting: what Sage does for a small business, choosing a plan by the jobs you need, the bookkeeping words you'll meet, signing in safely and planning your move.
• Setting up your business in Sage: business details and invoice settings, accounting dates and VAT settings, the chart of accounts, opening balances and a final set-up check.
• Bank accounts, bank feeds and bank rules: adding each account, connecting a bank feed or importing a statement, dealing with bank lines, bank rules, transfers and drawings.
• Customers, suppliers, products and services: contact records with the right terms and defaults, products and services, importing lists and keeping them tidy.
• Quotes, sales invoices and getting paid: quotes and estimates, raising and sending invoices, recording customer receipts, credit notes, refunds, deposits and chasing payment.
• Purchases, expenses and paying suppliers: purchase invoices, payment runs and checking bank details, costs with no invoice, receipts and record keeping, and supplier credit notes.
• Reconciling your bank accounts: what a reconciliation proves, reconciling step by step, finding a difference, cash, cards and savings, and a monthly routine.
• VAT and Making Tax Digital returns: VAT basics, the VAT schemes, rates of VAT on every transaction, connecting Sage to HMRC, and preparing, submitting, paying and correcting a VAT return.
• Reports, month end, year end and your accountant: profit and loss, balance sheet, aged debtors and creditors, trial balance, a month-end routine, year end basics and working with your accountant.
• Practice company project: a month's books for a made-up window cleaning business, from set-up to reconciliation, VAT figures and reports, with full answers.

Who it's for

Small business owners and junior bookkeepers in the UK who are new to Sage Accounting, or who've started and want to be sure they're doing it right. You don't need any bookkeeping experience. If you'd like the bookkeeping ideas first, Bookkeeping for Beginners: Keep Clear, Accurate Records for Your Small Business is a good place to begin, and VAT for Small Businesses: Registering, Charging and Filing VAT Returns in the UK covers the wider VAT rules.

What this course is, and isn't

This course shows you how to use Sage Accounting for everyday bookkeeping. It isn't tax, accounting or legal advice, and it isn't made or endorsed by Sage. Sage's screens and plans change, so the lessons describe what each screen does and point you to Sage's own help pages. VAT and Making Tax Digital rules come from GOV.UK; check the current guidance before you rely on them. Thandeka, Diarmuid and every other person and business in the course are fictional.

What will I learn?

• Choose a Sage Accounting plan by the jobs you need, and plan a clean move with the right start date
• Set up business details, invoice settings, accounting dates and VAT, review the chart of accounts and enter opening balances
• Add bank accounts, connect a bank feed or import a statement, deal with bank lines and use bank rules with care
• Add customers, suppliers, products and services with the right terms and defaults, and keep the lists tidy
• Send quotes and sales invoices, record customer receipts, credit notes and deposits, and chase overdue invoices
• Enter purchase invoices and costs with no invoice, keep receipts, and pay suppliers safely
• Reconcile bank, savings, card and cash accounts, and find and fix a difference
• Choose the right rate of VAT on every transaction, set your VAT scheme, connect Sage to HMRC, and prepare, submit and pay a VAT return
• Read the profit and loss, balance sheet, aged debtors, aged creditors and trial balance, and follow a month-end and year-end routine
• Keep a month of books for a practice business from set-up to reports, and check it against full answers

Frequently asked questions