Learn accounting for free
accountingcoach.com
Learn accounting for free
1–10 of 121 posts
Re: Learn accounting for free
#2This is really cool!
I constantly hear people complaining about accountants creating problems by not understanding how "things really work" so it would be great to be able to see things from an accounting perspective!
Re: Learn accounting for free
#3I'm a software engineer who moved into freelance consulting a few years ago (I do back-ends and front-ends for mobile and web, nothing finance specific other than occasional credit card payment integrations). It's been a roller-coaster in many regards and one of the highlights is having learned a lot about bookkeeping, taxes, financial planning and everything that comes with running a small business in general. (Aspects which I initially despised but now I've accepted as necessary and doing them as routine.)
During these years I started playing with the idea of training myself in basic/intermediate accounting and/or finance. The motivation is twofold: run my own business better (and maybe stop paying an accountant to do my taxes) and maybe work on software projects in finance (where I suspect there is good money to be made).
I'd be interested hearing stories from fellow software engineers who did similar training!
Re: Learn accounting for free
#4I'm a software engineer who moved into freelance consulting a few years ago (I do back-ends and front-ends for mobile and web, nothing finance specific other than occasional credit card payment integrations). It's been a roller-coaster in many regards and one of the highlights is having learned a lot about bookkeeping, taxes, financial planning and everything that comes with running a small business in general. (Aspe…
Yeah I got stuck running a startup solo and would lose a ton of sleep stressing about any possible unknown unknowns on the accounting and legal side, reading through a few business law and accounting / bookkeeping books really helped ease that stress.
Re: Learn accounting for free
#5Is there an eBook version of this?
Re: Learn accounting for free
#6I'm a software engineer who moved into freelance consulting a few years ago (I do back-ends and front-ends for mobile and web, nothing finance specific other than occasional credit card payment integrations). It's been a roller-coaster in many regards and one of the highlights is having learned a lot about bookkeeping, taxes, financial planning and everything that comes with running a small business in general. (Aspe…
Imho anyone working on business applications could do with this. I get frustrated how naive so many software tools are regarding fincial controls and how developers dont know that so many data reconciliation issues were solved decades or centuries ago by accountants.
Same goes for basic infrastructure and configuration knowledge to a certain extent:)
Re: Learn accounting for free
#7Is there an eBook version of this?
Looks like there is are PDFs available if you pay for them.
From https://www.accountingcoach.com/about :
> PDF versions of all our Core Materials
From clicking through the "Learn More" link, seems like a one-time fee of $49 gets you the PDFs. (As Patio11 would say, the author should raise his prices.)
Re: Learn accounting for free
#8This is really cool! I constantly hear people complaining about accountants creating problems by not understanding how "things really work" so it would be great to be able to see things from an accounting perspective!
haha, few things from my experience:
1)its terrifying how many people in c-suite roles (including purported CFOs and CEOs), and commercial/sales/product development roles don't actually understand accounting and finance basics.
2) the number of bookkeepers that pretend to be real accountants, but really they are just power users of a given accounting system
3) the massive miscommunication that takes place when two people that don't know what they are talking about try to tell the other what to do.
Re: Learn accounting for free
#9Background: I'm a qualified accountant, and have taught courses on accounting and finance.
My thoughts on OP:
I read through the first two parts of the first course on this site:
- Part 1 Introduction to Accounting Basics, A Story for Relating to Accounting Basics
- Part 2 Income Statement
Based on what I read, I could not recommend this. You could get to the end of the 'income statement' part, without encountering any definition of 'profit', which is the very thing that the income statement is meant to show.
If you want a solid introduction to accounting, I'd recommend Frank Wood's book "Business Accounting 1". You don't need the latest (15th edition). The principles haven't changed. I used the 10th edition: Business Accounting Volume 1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0273681494/
Re: Learn accounting for free
#10I'm a software engineer who moved into freelance consulting a few years ago (I do back-ends and front-ends for mobile and web, nothing finance specific other than occasional credit card payment integrations). It's been a roller-coaster in many regards and one of the highlights is having learned a lot about bookkeeping, taxes, financial planning and everything that comes with running a small business in general. (Aspe…
I say: do it!
I am also a freelance consultant but in the cloud infra space. I appreciate the freedom it gives me and the insight on the operations of running a business are invaluable.
As a software engineering I always looked suspiciously at accounting and finance, but I have to admit I've been wrong. I discovered a practical and theoretical elegance that is very pleasing for someone like me.
I ended up enrolling in an MBA because I wanted to learn more about the business side of things. I had a few courses about corporate finance, valuation and accounting which filled many gaps I had.
I still don't trust myself running my own finances completely, so I do pay an accountant to take care of the details. But I am very happy I know financially what is what when deciding where to take my little business.
Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to finance.