Accounting–Financial Accounting Total-Beginners to Advanced

Description

Recently updated with A LOT of added content.

Includes downloadable e-book in multiple formats so you can open it on your tablet or Kindle – Formats (EPUB, MOBI, PDF).

 

This course is an excellent supplement for students or anybody who wants to learn accounting and also have something they can refer back to in the future. Udemy generally provides lifetime access to the course.

Many accounting students do not receive a physical book, they get to keep from their school, and even if they did, the information could become dated. Students who want a useful reference tool they can keep, and one that can be more easily updated then a textbook, will benefit from a resource such as this.

Financial accounting is a LARGE topic and is not something that can be done well in 5, 10, or 20, hours of content, as you may see claimed elsewhere. We will cover accounting theory because theory and concepts are what accounting is. We need to learn theory so we can make appropriate adjustments in the real world. Learning procedures without understanding the theory will make us inflexible and unable to adapt to the ever-changing environment. We will learn the theory while we apply them to procedures.

Financial accounting is relatively standardized in format. In other words, most accounting institutions will cover much the same topics, often in much the same order. We suggest looking up a standard accounting textbook, checking the index, and comparing the topics to the courses you are considering purchasing. We believe this course will line up well to anybody’s needs who want to learn financial accounting.

Below is a list of topics by section:

Section SEC 1 An Introduction to Accounting, The Double Entry Accounting System, & Recording Transactions using Debits and Credits

Section SEC 2 – Recording Period End Adjusting Entries

Section SEC 3 – Recording Closing Entries

Section SEC 4 – Merchandising Transactions – Transactions Involving Inventory

Section SEC 5 – Inventory Cost Flow Assumptions (FIFO, LIFO, Weighted Average Methods)

Section SEC 6 – Subsidiary Ledgers & Special Journals

Section SEC 7 – Bank Reconciliations & Cash Internal Controls

Section SEC 8 – Accounts Receivable – Allowance Method & Direct Write Off Methods

Section SEC 9 – Depreciation Methods & Property Plant & Equipment

Section SEC 10 – Payroll Accounting

Section SEC 11 – Partnership Accounting

Section SEC 12 – Accounting for Corporations

Section SEC 13 – Bonds Payable, Notes Payable, & Long-Term Liabilities

Section SEC 14 – Statement of Cash Flows

The course will start off at the basics and work all the way through the financial accounting topics generally covered in an undergraduate program.

First, we will describe what financial accounting is and the objectives of financial accounting. We will learn how the double-entry accounting system works by applying it to the accounting equation. In other words, we will use an accounting equation to record financial transactions using a double-entry accounting system.

We well learn all topics by fist having presentations and then applying the skills using Excel practice problems. If you are not familiar with how to navigate through Excel, it is OK. We will use preformatted worksheets, have step by step instructional videos, and will start off relatively slow.

The next step is to apply the double-entry accounting system using debits and credits. Debits and credits are a new concept to most people not familiar with accounting, or possibly worse, many people have misconceptions about the meaning of debit and credit due to its use in areas like bank statements, credit cards, and debit cards.

We will cover the rules related to debits and credits in a lot of detail. We will then record similar transactions we had done using the accounting equation, but now using debits and credits.

After we get good at recording transactions using debits and credits, we will learn period end adjusting entries. Adjusting entries are used to adjust the books to represent an accrual basis at the period end better, and they are a great tool for enforcing the concepts of accrual accounting.

Next, we will use the data we have learned to put together by recording financial transactions into financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of equity. We will learn to construct a statement of cash flows much later in the course.

After completing the financial statements, we will learn how to journalize and post-closing entries. Closing entries are used to clean out temporary accounts and prepare for the transactions that will be recorded in the next period.

The steps we have just outlined are critically important to all accounting, and we will need a reasonably good understanding of them to move forward. In other words, the better we understand these concepts, the more natural learning the rest of financial accounting will be. We recommend spending a good deal of time on these concepts and reviewing them often. Think of these skills as a baseball player thinks of playing catch or a musician thinks of playing the basic scales. We should put in some practice with the basics every day.

Next, we will add inventory to the mix. All the skills we have learned will still apply, but we will now record transactions related to the purchase and sale of inventory.

We will also learn to track inventory using different methods. We can use specific identification. In other words, we can track the exact unit of inventory that was sold as a car dealership would do. However, companies generally use a cost flow assumption with smaller items that are the same in nature, assumptions like First In Fist Out (FIFO) or Last In Last Out (LIFO). A company may also use a weighted average method.

Next well will consider subsidiary ledger and special journals. Our main focus is on subsidiary ledger related to accounts receivable and accounts payable. Accounts receivable represents money owed to the organization.

The general ledger will provide the transactions that make up the accounts receivable account balance by date. However, we will want to see this data reported by customers, so we know who owes the company money and how much, and this is the accounts receivable subsidiary ledger.

We have a similar situation with accounts payable. Accounts payable represent vendors the company owes money to. We will want to sort this information by vendors, so we know which vendors we owe money to and how much.

Next, we will cover bank reconciliation and internal controls related to cash. The bank reconciliation is one of the most important internal controls outside of the double-entry accounting system itself. All businesses, large and small, should perform a bank reconciliation. The bank reconciliation will reconcile the cash balance on the company’s books to the cash balance reported by the bank as of a specific date, the date of the bank statement, typically the end of the month.

The bank statement balance will not agree to the book balance due to outstanding items, items recorded by the company, but which have not yet cleared the bank. The outstanding items will be the reconciling items in a bank reconciliation.

Next will learn how to value accounts receivable and deal with those accounts we will not be able to collect on. In other words, accounts receivable represent money owed to the business for work done in the past. However, some of those receivables may not ever be paid. How do we account for the a customers we do not think will pay and how do we value the accounts receivable account if we believe some of the receivable will may not be collected in the future, but we do not know which ones?

GAAP generally requires the use of what is called the allowance method to value accounts receivable. We will compare the allowance method to the direct write off method, an easier method but one that does not conform to accrual accounting as well.

Next, we will cover property plant and equipment. The most difficult concept related to property plant and equipment is calculating and recording depreciation. Deprecation can be calculated using different methods, including the straight-line method, the double-declining balance method, and the units of production method. We will compare and contrast each method in detail.

We will also consider how to record the purchase and sale of property plant and equipment.

Next, we will discuss the tracking and reporting of payroll. Payroll is a very large topic because of the payroll laws included in it. We will discuss how to calculate payroll taxes, including federal income tax FIT, social security, and Medicare. We will record journal entries related to payroll. Payroll journal entries are some of the longest and most complex journal entries recorded in the standard accounting cycle.

Next, we will learn partnership accounting. The concepts we learned related to the double-entry accounting system will apply to partnerships. Our focus now will be on those transactions unique to a partnership form of entity. For example, we will discuss how to allocate net income to each partners capital account. A partnership type of entity is very flexible, and there are many different ways partners can agree on to allocate income.

We will discuss how to record transactions when a new partner is added to a partnership or when an existing partner leaves a partnership.

We will also cover how to record the liquidation of a partnership. Much of the liquidation process will apply to the closing of other business entity types as well. However, the partnership type of entity has the added difficulty of allocating the final proceeds to the partners in accordance with their capital accounts.

Then we will consider transaction unique to a corporation format of entity. Like the partnership form of entity, the corporation will use the same double-entry accounting system we learned at the beginning of the course. In this section, we will learn how to record the sale of capital stock and the sale of preferred stock. We will record transaction related to the purchase of treasury stock. We will discuss how to record cash dividends and stock dividends.

Then we will learn concepts related to bonds payable, notes payable, and long term liabilities. Many people are familiar with bonds as a type of investment. We will consider bonds from the other side of the transaction with the issuance of bonds. Bonds are often used as a tool to understand the time-value of money concept and interest rates at a deeper level. Therefore, even if you do not plan on recording many transactions related to the issuance of bonds, it is a useful process to learn valuable concepts. Bonds are often issued at a premium or a discount. The premium or discount is then amortized over the life of the bond.

We will discuss how to record the initial sale of the bond. We will talk about how to amortize the bond discount and premium. We will record transactions related to bond interest, and we will discuss transactions for the dissolution of the bonds.

The course will also cover the recording of notes payable. One of the most complex components of notes payable is the breaking out of interest and principal portion of the payment. For the task of breaking out interest and principal, we will need an amortization schedule. We will build amortization schedules from scratch, a useful skill to understand.

The second complication with notes payable is breaking out the current and long term portion of the note. We will use the amortization schedule to perform the task of calculating the current and long term portion of the notes payable.

Finally, we will discuss how to create a statement of cash flows. The statement of cash flows is on the of primary financial statements along with the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of equity, but the statement of cash flows can be more complicated to construct.

The statement of cash flows represents the flow of cash broken out into three categories, operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities. We have constructed the financial statements using an accrual basis rather than a cash basis. We can think of the statement of cash flows as converting the accrual basis to a cash basis.

We can use two methods when constructing the operating section of the statement of cash flows, the direct method, and the indirect method. The indirect method is more common and often required, even if we also add the direct method. The indirect method starts with net income in then backs into cash flow from operations.

Sample of part to test in the book that comes with the course:

The first questions asked when introduced to any new topic are often:

• What is it?

• Why do I need to know it?

We will address the second question first: why do I need to know accounting?

Answer: Because it’s fun. Because accounting is fun is likely not the first thing that popped into your mind, but we want to start off with this concept, the idea of thinking of accounting as a kind of game, a sort of puzzle, something we can figure out. Thinking of accounting as a game will make learning accounting much more enjoyable.

Accounting can be defined as an “information and measurement system that identifies, records, and communicates relevant information about a company’s business activities” (John J. Wild, 2015).

The process of accounting includes the accumulation of data into a relevant form, which can be used for practical decision making.

Data is often identified using forms and documents such as bills, invoices, and timesheets. Once identified information is input into an accounting system, often an electronic one. The end goal of financial accounting is the creation of financial statements including a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of equity. The financial statements are used to make relevant decisions.

There are many reasons to learn accounting concepts, other than it being fun, although we always want to keep the fun factor in mind. Some of the most obvious reasons for learning accounting include:

· Accounting provides a format to understand business whether we are in the accounting department or not. Accounting is the language of business, a way of communicating business objectives and performance. All areas and departments benefit from understanding accounting because it provides a way to communicate between departments and communication is critical to business success.

· Accounting concepts apply to our personal finances. We all need to deal with our personal finances and learning basic accounting concepts and recording techniques helps ease our mind when dealing with our financial tasks.

Other reasons for learning accounting, which are not so obvious, include that accounting is a great tool to help develop critical thinking skills. Accounting requires reasoning to work through problems, and the p