Accountant Assistant Program 
(Certificate)
The Accounting Assistant Program is a two course combo program that will provide you with a certificate upon successful completion. In this program, you will learn the following:
Accounting Fundamentals I
Learn the basics of double-entry bookkeeping, while also learning how to analyze and record financial transactions, as well as prepare various financial reports at the end of the fiscal period. Accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll procedures, sales taxes, and various common banking activities will be discussed. We’ll cover all the bases, from writing checks to preparing an income statement and closing out accounts at the end of each fiscal period. Suitable for either a small business or an individual household, this course is sure to increase financial awareness and accountability.
Week One
Wednesday – Lesson 01
Welcome to Accounting Fundamentals! In this first lesson, you’ll learn all about account classifications, debits, credits, and T accounts. You’ll learn the difference between a liability and an asset, and you’ll find out how to determine an owner’s equity.
Friday – Lesson 02
Here’s where you’ll begin your hands-on accounting practice: You’ll start by creating an imaginary company for which you’ll be the accountant. You’ll learn how to analyze your company’s transactions to determine which amounts go into which accounts, then you’ll create your company’s own General Ledger forms and post a few transactions into those accounts. You’ll also prepare a Balance Sheet to prove your accounting equations.
Week Two
Wednesday – Lesson 03
Now that you have an understanding of the functions of the General Ledger, you’re ready to move on to the next phase of recording transactions: the Journal. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to enter transactions into an 11-column journal and then post or transfer those amounts into appropriate General Ledger accounts.
Friday – Lesson 04
In this lesson, you’ll learn all about Accounts Payable–money that you owe your vendors and suppliers. You’ll practice journalizing cash purchases and purchases on account, and you’ll get hands-on practice transferring those purchases to their corresponding Accounts Payable Ledger accounts.
Week Three
Wednesday – Lesson 05
In this lesson, you’ll learn about Accounts Receivable, which is another name for money owed to your company by its customers. You’ll learn how to journalize and post those sales on account, how to enter charge sales into the journal, and how to transfer the information into an Accounts Receivable Ledger.
Friday – Lesson 06
It’s payday! This lesson will teach you how to determine gross pay, deductions, and net pay. You’ll learn how to prepare a payroll, write payroll checks, and how to prepare and maintain accurate payroll records.
Week Four
Wednesday – Lesson 07
In this lesson, you’ll learn all about banks and banking services: You’ll learn the proper way to write checks, make out deposit tickets, and reconcile your company’s checking account with the bank statement–skills you’ll find valuable in both your business and personal life!
Friday – Lesson 08
This lesson will teach you how to prepare a Schedule of Accounts Payable and a Schedule of Accounts Receivable. These reports can be used to compare the amount of money your business owes its creditors with the amount of money your customers owe your business.
Week Five
Wednesday – Lesson 09
In this lesson, you’ll prepare a worksheet showing the net income or net loss for the fiscal period. The worksheet will show all income and expenses for the fiscal period as well as the assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity account balances.
Friday – Lesson 10
In this lesson, you will learn how to prepare various reports that are vital to the well-being of your company. You’ll learn how these reports can be used to make sound financial decisions in the next fiscal period. You will discover how to put together an Owner’s Equity Statement, an Income Statement, and a Distribution of Net Income.
Week Six
Wednesday – Lesson 11
In this lesson, you’ll prepare for the end of the fiscal period by adjusting your asset account balances to accurately reflect the assets remaining at the end of the year. You will also find out how to journalize and post adjusting and closing entries to bring your company’s General Ledger up to date.
Friday – Lesson 12
In our final lesson, we will prepare a Post Closing Trial Balance report to ensure that all of our debits and credits in the General Ledger balance out in preparation for the new fiscal period.
Accounting Fundamentals II
In this course, you’ll explore such topics as special journals, uncollectible accounts receivable, plant assets, depreciation, notes and interest, accrued revenue and expenses, dividends, retained earnings, and various financial reports for corporations.
A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.
A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.
Week One
Wednesday – Lesson 01
In this lesson, you’ll learn all about accounts payable, which is a group of accounts that shows how much your business owes its vendors. You’ll be journalizing and posting your company’s purchases and preparing a Schedule of Accounts Payable. Keeping track of what your company owes others is a vital part of operating a business. This lesson will give you the tools you’ll need to successfully track those accounts.
Friday – Lesson 02
We’ll take a close look at accounts receivable in this lesson. This is the money that your customers owe your business. After completing this lesson, you’ll know how to enter charge sales into your Sales Journal and then post them to your General Ledger. Knowing what your customers owe you can make the difference between your company’s success or failure.
Week Two
Wednesday – Lesson 03
Today, we’ll be dealing with uncollectible accounts receivable. While we’d all like to think that our customers will pay what they owe, it’s not always the case. You’ll learn how to account for long overdue receivables that probably won’t ever be paid. While this doesn’t happen often, it’s a fact of business, so you’ll need to know how to account for it in your company’s books.
Friday – Lesson 04
In this lesson, we’ll look at plant assets and depreciation. Most all businesses have assets they use to determine their income. Just like your car, business assets depreciate over time, so you’ll need to know how to account for that expense in your records. And you’ll need to record these assets and calculate their depreciation in a timely manner to keep accurate records for your business.
Week Three
Wednesday – Lesson 05
This lesson is all about notes payable and notes receivable. A business might need a little extra time to pay a bill beyond the usual terms offered by the vendor. Or a customer may need an extension of credit beyond what your business usually offers its charge customers. You’ll find out all you need to know about accounting for these situations as we look at how to record the issuance and payment of these notes payables and notes receivables.
Friday – Lesson 06
Today, you’ll learn how to deal with accrued income and accrued expenses. Accrued income is money that the company earns in one fiscal period that it doesn’t receive until after another fiscal period begins. Similarly, accrued expenses are expenses that are incurred during one fiscal period that aren’t paid until the next period. To get a true picture of the net income or net loss of your business, you’ll need to account for the accrued income and accrued expenses within the period they’re incurred.
Week Four
Wednesday – Lesson 07
In this lesson, we’ll be dealing with dividends, which is money paid to the company’s stockholders on their investment. You’ll learn how the business accounts for the dividends it pays to its stockholders. We’ll also look at retained earnings, or the amount of profit the corporation retains for future use. Then we’ll begin to prepare the worksheet, possibly the most important financial report a business compiles each year.
Friday – Lesson 08
Today, we’ll determine if our business has a net income or a net loss by completing the worksheet we started in the previous lesson. And because many General Ledger accounts change throughout the fiscal period—supplies are used, insurance premiums are depleted—we’ll need to bring these accounts up to date to reflect their current values. So we’ll also take a close look at how to make adjusting entries to update our General Ledger accounts for the beginning of the new fiscal period.
Week Five
Wednesday – Lesson 09
It’s time to begin wrapping up our books for the end of the fiscal period. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to compile most of the various financial reports a corporation needs to complete at the end of the fiscal period. You’ll prepare an Income Statement, Stockholders’ Equity Statement, Balance Sheet, and more. These are the reports that really demonstrate the success of a business.
Friday – Lesson 10
In this lesson, we’ll get the books all caught up and ready for the next fiscal period. You’ll go back and journalize those adjusting entries you entered into your worksheet, then you’ll enter closing entries into your journal. Finally, you’ll post these journal entries to the General Ledger to prepare it for the new fiscal period.
Week Six
Wednesday – Lesson 11
Today, we’ll cover every employee’s favorite subject: Payroll! You’ll learn about various mandatory and voluntary deductions from employees’ pay, as well as how to journalize and post an entire payroll. As an added bonus, after this lesson, you’ll be able to check the accuracy of your own paycheck.
Friday – Lesson 12
We’ll finish up by preparing a variety of end-of-year tax reports. Here’s your chance to go step-by-step through a multitude of IRS forms with instructions that are much easier to understand! You’ll fill out the federal Form 941, then learn how to make federal income tax deposits. Then we’ll look closely at Form W-2s and Form W-3s. Finally, we’ll look at how to calculate and report the company’s Federal Unemployment Tax payment. This lesson is jam packed with valuable tax information!
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