5 Online Accounting Courses for Beginners, Pros, and Everyone in Between

Are you completely new to accounting, or a CFA looking for continuing education credit? No matter where you fall within this spectrum, Udemy has an accounting course for you. This list is ordered by level of difficulty, going from easiest to most difficult. This makes it easy for you to jump directly to the course that interests you and fits your experience level. If you’re new to accounting, you may want to start with a 60-minute introduction. However, if you’re planning to become, or already are, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), then you may be interested in one of the courses toward the end of this list.

Accounting in 60 Minutes – A Brief Introduction

Are you confused by financial terms like net income, debits, credits, and balance sheets? Perhaps you just want to learn more about accounting to manage your personal finances more responsibly. If this is you, then Accounting in 60 Minutes – A Brief Introduction is the right course for you. This course will help you quickly make sense of accounting jargon and financial forms. It’s a great introduction to the world of accounting and a good way to get a handle on your own personal finances. However, if you would like a little more accounting knowledge than you can fit into an hour, keep moving down this list for more advanced courses.

Accounting 101 Principles Explained

The Accounting 101 Principles Explained course is perfect for college students who are struggling to get through an introductory accounting class. This is also a great course for managers and small business owners that would like to understand the information coming out of their accounting department. You’ll learn about things like assets and liabilities, journal ledgers, debits, and credits. You’ll also delve into the more nuanced aspects of adjusting and correcting entries, the effects of errors, and the big picture of accounting. If you’re looking for skills that are beyond the scope of this class, simply take a look at the next course down this list.

Introduction to Small Business Accounting Training Tutorial

Businesses have to deal with more than your entry level college accounting course covers. These topics include payroll taxes, financial statements, audits, profitability, and file storage. Not to mention the IRS. In Introduction to Small Business Accounting Training Tutorial, you’ll learn how to deal with each of these situations and more. This course covers everything you need to know about small business accounting if you’re not an accountant. That is, it covers all the basics of small business accounting. One of the sections also delves into what you should look for when hiring an accountant to manage the more nuanced aspects of your business finances. However, if you’re looking for a more advanced course, simply scroll a little further down the page.

Finance & Accounting

Though these courses are ordered by their level of difficulty, the difficulty of these last two depends on your perspective. The Finance & Accounting course offers two credits of continuing education credit if you are an CFA Institute member. When you are completely new to accounting, this course would be quite challenging. However, since it is designed for someone that has already earned their CFA credentials, it would be relatively easy for them. It would be far more difficult to earn the CFA credentials than to complete two credits of continuing education credit. For this reason, the CFA introductory course is considered the most difficult on this list.

CFA Level I Accounting Module

When you have decided that a job in accounting is your ultimate goal, then the CFA Level I Accounting Module is probably the right class for you. This course is the first in a three part series that will take you from entry level accounting to one of the most respected investment credentials in the world. This course helps you study for the CFA Level I exam. After that, you can continue on to the second and third levels of certification.

What accounting skills are you looking to develop? Share your thoughts in the comments below!