Accounting Fundamentals for Employers and Employees

Does financial information confuse you? Do financial statements and accountants send chills up your spine? Do you feel overwhelmed by accountancy? Do you find yourself clueless when presented with a set of financial statements? Do you feel frustrated about not being able to follow a finance related issue during a team meeting at work? Do you ever feel in the dark whenever a finance related topic is discussed with family or friends?

Imagine yourself being able to connect all the dots of financial accountancy and understand the accounting aspect in setting up a business. Visualize yourself speaking the language of finance and finally being taken seriously by others in the business field. Picture a world where your financial vision has been so vastly improved that you can actually read and analyze financial statements and effectively contribute, during work meetings, by asking challenging questions surprising your colleagues!

This course embraces the idea that accounting is the language of business so unless you hone your financial literacy skills you will not be able to spot current and future opportunities.

Whether you are an entrepreneur, a small business owner or perhaps considering starting your own business, then this course is perfect for you. If you occupy a middle management post and need to understand what the organization you work with is trying to achieve then this is the appropriate course to follow. This course is also suitable if you are a prospective MBA student who needs to be introduced to accounting before taking on deeper accounting courses. Maybe you just want to get your feet wet in accounting and the business world!

This course progresses in an entertaining, engaging and relatable manner. You will not be exposed to complex language or accounting jargon unless really necessary and most of the time metaphors and stories that stir your imagination are used to facilitate understanding and learning. Whilst numbers do have an important role, it is a supporting rather than a leading one. So, through pictures and drawings I will try to visually stimulate you to understand me better, learn and retain more.

A particular study on learning retention concluded that we retain 11% of what we hear; 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear and 70% of what we do. So, I have included at the end of each section/module a Quiz Challenge that I urge you to take as it will further consolidate your understanding. Please, treat the Quiz Challenge as an integral part of the course.

The learning experience this course offers is scaffolded so that you can build on concepts one at a time and lessons build up on the preceding ones.

At the end of this course, you will amongst other things, be in a position to read, understand and analyze financial statements, be able to tell the difference between profit and cash and understand why a balance sheet actually balances. It is not my scope to teach you about trial balance, ledgers or debits and credits. I leave that to the accounting profession. My aim is to help you develop into a more financially intelligent person who is no longer scared of numbers. If you hate mathematics, please be aware that accounting only uses, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and percentage and no complex arithmetic is involved.

We will start off by defining accounting and looking at who the users are. We will proceed to define the accounting equation, which is the foundation stone of accounting. In the 3rd, 4th and 5th sections/modules we will be looking at the different forms of business that an individual can set up, at some of the most important accounting rules and at depreciation respectively. In sections/modules 6, 7 and 8 we will be looking at the financial statements before proceeding with the analysis of financial statements through accounting ratios in section 9.

In conclusion, even though this course is mainly aimed at improving your financial intelligence in business thus contributing towards enhancing your career, I strongly suggest that you apply what you learn in your personal life too!