Discover the Best Accounting Classes Near Me
Someone once defined an accountant as a person who fixes a problem you didn’t know you had in a way you don’t understand. The practice of accounting breaks down into such fields as financial accounting (the preparation of reports for shareholders and regulators), management accounting (the collection of financial data for a company’s internal use), tax accounting (the dealing with that most arcane of topics), and cost accounting (the measuring of the costs a business incurs, such as those of flour, tomatoes, cheese and pepperoni if you’re a pizza maker.) All these fields involve a lot of numbers along with specialized people who can both compile and interpret them, and there is some truth to the joke above in that what accountants do can seem utterly baffling to the lay mind while still being essential to any business. Even if you only look at the last (bottom) line in a report to determine whether your business has made or lost money, you still need someone to make out the report with all the line items so there can be a bottom line: an accountant.
As long as there’s money, there’ll be a need for accountants to keep track of it. It’s perhaps not the most exciting career in the world, but it is unquestionably a steady one and, as such, is not to be despised. All joking aside, there’s a good living to be made in accountancy, and, if you’re an orderly number person, a fulfilling one, too.
Why You Should Learn Accounting
First and foremost, accounting can make for a stable, remunerative, and interesting career. Accountants, especially the CPAs at the top of the profession, are well-paid and provide a necessary service. No business can operate without an accounting department, and there will always be a similar need for auditors, who are the accountants who verify other accountants’ work. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, roles for accountants ought to increase by 6% between 2021 and 2031, just a tad better than the average for all occupations. The median annual salary for accountants is a highly respectable $77,000, and it is a paradigmatic “good, steady job” in a world of uncertainty. For college graduates looking for something that will keep food on the table and their kids in soccer uniforms, there are far worse choices than growing up to be an accountant. Perhaps it’s not what you dreamed of as a child, but it’s a remarkably practical choice to be made by an adult.
Not only accountants need to study accounting. The people who receive their reports, from CEOs to small shareholders, need to know how to interpret them. Some basic knowledge of accounting procedures and terminology is required in a wide range of business roles, many of them managerial.
You don’t have to be a full-fledged CPA (Certified Public Accountant) to make a career in accounting. Those who don’t hold a four-year degree in accounting can still work in the field in introductory roles such as bookkeeper or clerk. These roles require some knowledge of accounting procedures as well and can lead to a degree of advancement and, perhaps, the impetus to pursue the requirements for becoming a very well-paid CPA.
Finally, small business owners need to have a grasp of accounting principles. Entrepreneurs whose organizations are in their infancy should know how to keep their own books. Until you can afford an accountant, you’ll have to know how to be your own accountancy department for a while, and that calls for some specialized knowledge.
5 Ways to Learn Accounting
The customary way to make a career in accounting is by obtaining a bachelor’s degree in the subject. Be aware that, in order to qualify for the CPA exam, you’re required to have 150 college credit hours, while a regular bachelor’s degree usually calls only for 120. There are, therefore, graduate certificate and master’s degree programs in accounting to make up the shortfall. Following the required schooling, you’ll have to have some professional experience under your belt (the exact amount varies by state) and then pass the daunting four-part CPA exam (for which the pass rate traditionally hovers around 50%, according to AICPA figures.)
Whether your eyes are on becoming a CPA or if you need to have more accounting knowledge for your current line of work, you should, by all means, attend a live class. These come in two varieties, live in-person and live online. The live in-person class is the kind of class you’ve been attending since you started going to school: teacher and students in the same room, a whiteboard and maybe an overhead projector, and a bunch of uncomfortable plastic chairs. The uncomfortable chairs notwithstanding, this is how you learned to learn and still are able to learn, be it for an occasional class or to obtain an entire university degree.
The prime alternative to live in-person learning is the live online class. Here, the instructor teaches in real time to live students; the only difference is physical proximity. Online students are scattered across the internet, and follow the class using Zoom or another teleconferencing platform, just as you probably learned to do during the COVID years. While there are no longer any public health reasons for taking an online class, convenience and comfort remain two exceptionally good reasons for choosing one. You won’t have to contend with uncomfortable plastic chairs (unless you need to redecorate your home) or a commute to a class that is either far from home or on the other side of a wall of traffic and public transportation hassles.
A third way to learn accounting—in this case, only the basics, since you can’t get a bachelor’s of accounting from watching YouTube videos— is the so-called “self-paced” online tutorial. These can come paid (as with Udemy or Coursera) or free (on YouTube) and consist of you and a computer screen, with a teacher giving a pre-recorded class to which you listen attentively. These are generally more affordable than live classes but have the consummate defect that they don’t allow for any contact with the teacher, who, therefore, can’t tell you when you’re erring. For something as involved as accounting, these on-demand courses are best used as a means of testing the proverbial waters and seeing whether you have any aptitude (or tolerance) for the subject. Exactitude and precision are qualities prized by all accountants, and you’re unlikely to learn how to keep exact and precise accounts from a talking head of questionable vintage on your computer monitor.
A perhaps better course of action for learning about accounting is investing in a few books on the subject. You’ll find that there’s no shortage of these, from college textbooks to volumes for dummies, idiots, and other unenlightened folk to books for small business owners right down to a book that teaches you accounting principles based on running a lemonade stand. You obviously don’t get a certificate of completion from a home-study program like this, but it is a way to pursue the subject with some of the seriousness and thoroughness it requires. If you do want to teach yourself how to be an accountant (for example, if you’re a small business owner just starting out), this is probably a more recommendable course of action than the video tutorial.
Finally, you can also learn a lot about accounting on the job. There are internships for those finishing their undergraduate degrees that equip accounting students with practical experience solving real-world accounting problems. For those who aren’t going the university route but who want to advance as much as they can in the field, you can pick up a lot just by listening and watching what senior accountants are doing. Moreover, and if you’re lucky, you may hit upon a clerk job where you’ll be shown how to keep books and perform other more advanced accounting tasks. That could even lead to pursuing a degree in accounting and the career path that goes with it.
In-Person Accounting Classes
As one of the world’s leading financial capitals, New York City offers plenty of accounting classes. For those starting out in the field, such as small business owners who need to learn to keep track of their finances, a solid foundation in accounting is to be had from Bookkeeping Basics, given by the Technical Institute of America at their Garment District location. The class ranges from how to set up a filing system through the mechanics of double-entry bookkeeping (the standard method for recording transactions since the 15th century) and on to payroll and tax forms. Designed for absolute beginners, the class will have you accounting-literate by the end of three all-day weekend sessions.
A different kind of beginner class is Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Executive. Hosted by Columbia Business School’s Executive Education venture, the class is designed for experienced mid- to senior-level executives who wish to deepen their knowledge of finance and accounting. The program lasts five full weekdays and includes coverage of everything from understanding balance sheets and income statements (and why they’re not the same thing) to the valuation of companies based on their financial statements. Each day’s lesson is accompanied by a hands-on application, and the class concludes by teaching participants how to talk coherently to financial professionals. The course is also suitable for executives with some financial background seeking a thorough brush-up course on principles of corporate accounting. The class is held on Columbia Business School’s premises in Morningside Heights.
Something of a different nature can be had from Noble Desktop in the form of its FinTech Bootcamp. This course, geared towards beginners with only the most basic knowledge of finance, introduces students to the intricacies of the rapidly-expanding world of financial technologies (FinTech). Python, data science, data visualizations, and statistical models are all covered in this wide-ranging course, which prepares students to assume roles such as financial analyst and data scientist. Noble Desktop is a leading information technology school based in New York City; this class is offered at their Midtown Manhattan location. (Note that an online version of this class is available as well.)
On the other coast, in the Greater Los Angeles area, Los Angeles City College, located on the Eastern marches of Hollywood, has a class in Bookkeeping/Accounting Analysis and Concepts. The one-day (weekend) course teaches students the financial fundamentals of business record-keeping, including preparation of balance sheets, financial reporting, and even how to prepare a profit-or-loss schedule C for when tax time rolls around. The class is offered by LACC’s continuing education endeavor and doesn’t count for credit. You do get a certificate at the end of the class, however.
Another Greater Los Angeles community college, Santa Monica College, teaches a brief (two-and-a-half hour) but intensive Investment Bootcamp. Geared to those with IRAs and 401(k) accounts who don’t know what to do with them, the class introduces participants to the ins and outs of annuities and mutual funds, as well as how to evaluate investment choices before taking the plunge. The class takes place at SMC’s Bundy Campus, which is a fancy name for the Santa Monica Airport.
Small business owners in Chicago will be able to profit (literally) from the Intro to Bookkeeping class offered on weeknights by Discovery Center. The class will help small business owners get over their anxiety when it comes to financial statements and balance sheets and will teach them basic bookkeeping methods so they can take control of their business’ finances and be able to know how much money they actually have. The Discovery Center is devoted to lifelong learning for Chicagoans and teaches classes on a very wide variety of subjects, from practical Spanish to wine tasting to Design Your Own Stained Glass and beyond.
Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting is available to the good citizens of Beantown under the auspices of the American Management Association, a global leader in professional development. The class, designed for non-financial managers, is a crash course in the finance and accounting skills that so many otherwise qualified people lack. The course covers everything from journals and ledgers through cost accounting and such concepts as discounted cash flow and payback method, all in only two all-day weekday sessions. By the end of the class, you’ll be accounting-literate and find that a lot of the guesswork will have departed from your financial decision-making process.
The American Management Association has a wide reach across the country, and Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting is also available in Houston. Managers who don’t work in a financial capacity residing in Bayou City will benefit from the class as much as their confreres in Boston.
Also on offer from the American Management Association is a 5-Day “MBA” Certificate Program, this time in Washington, D.C. (the course is also available in New York City, Atlanta, and San Francisco.) The program gives participants a set of immediately usable skills in a range of business contexts, including finance, management, marketing, and leadership. The course alternates lectures, case studies, exercises, and activities to help cement the wealth of information covered into participants’ brains. On-demand lessons are available to those who have completed the program in order to reinforce key skills. The Washington class takes place in Arlington, not far from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Small business owners in San Diego may avail themselves of QuickBooks Desktop Beginning, a one-day class from Computers Etc. Software Training Center. The course covers all the basics of the software, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, reconciling statements, creating reports and graphs, and budgets. Specializing in small classes and a friendly atmosphere, Computers Etc. has been teaching software such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and QuickBooks to residents of America’s Finest City since 1994. QuickBooks Desktop Intermediate/Advanced is also available from Computers Etc.; it covers topics such as payroll, job costing, and, as a suitable finale, the year-end close. (Online versions of both classes are available as well.) Computers Etc. is located in Miramar.
Virtual Accounting Classes
Thanks to the internet, you aren’t limited by classes in your immediate vicinity if you wish to learn accounting. The virtual classroom brings learning to you, quite literally, into your living room or any other comfortable space you may have in your home or elsewhere. The convenience of the online class is enormous: you won’t need to trudge around town to get to your class, you can wear your most comfortable clothes (some classes require you to keep your camera on, so you’ll need to wear at least some clothing), and you’ll have an entire world of classes in multiple time zones from which to select.
A frequent drawback to online classes is that you need to equip yourself with whatever would be available in a classroom in a brick-and-mortar school. If you were trying to learn stained glass in an online class, you’d need to provide yourself with glass cutters, pliers, and a soldering iron before getting started. The start-up equipment for an accounting class is a great deal simpler and consists of the computer you already have, a calculator, and, possibly, some software, such as QuickBooks, if you’re taking a QuickBooks class.
The American Management Association, based out of New York City, teaches several online accounting classes, beginning with How to Speak Accounting, a quick two-and-a-half-hour dash through basic accounting principles and terminology. The class is designed for non-financial managers, in particular those who find themselves increasingly stymied by their inability to understand such things as the accounting equation and those who speak that language.
Also originating from New York City are several accounting classes offered by the IT school Noble Desktop. These include a Financial Modeling Bootcamp and a Financial Analyst Training Program. Both accelerated programs are designed to prepare graduates to assume roles in the financial sector.
Owners of small businesses who are new to having employees on staff will be interested in a class such as Payroll Fundamentals, which shows how to manage to pay your staff using QuickBooks. The class is given by the Digital Workshop Center, which has its on-the-ground location in Fort Collins, CO.
What Will I Need to Learn Accounting?
Since most accounting procedures these days are conducted on the computer, the most important thing you’ll need is some form of accounting software installed on your machine. Inquire when registering for a class to determine what the class might require and which version of, say, QuickBooks you’ll need to have. Aside from that, you’re going to need a stand-alone accounting calculator (a standard mathematical calculator can’t handle complex accounting functions like depreciation; neither is your old graphing calculator from math class.) Throw in pencils and paper, and you should be fully outfitted for your journey into the world of corporate finance.
Is it Difficult to Learn Accounting?
If you can add, subtract, divide, and multiply, you can become an accountant, although there’s obviously more to it than that. Basic accountancy calls as much for organization as it does for complex mathematical operations, and that’s all relatively easily learned. If you have your eyes on becoming a CPA, on the other hand, you’re going to have to put in substantial effort, starting with those 150 credit hours in a college or university garnering more than your bachelor’s of accounting and leading up to the dreaded CPA exam with its 50% fail rate. That will test your mettle, but with application, determination, and some sheer grit, you can succeed and make your accounting ambitions become reality.
What to Learn After Accounting
When you’re at work and asked to provide an accounting report, you can’t just cut and paste a bunch of numbers and expect people to understand them. You’re going to have to do some writing in between the numbers. The American Management Association’s 2-Day Business Writing Workshop should help with that by giving you a set of formats for everything from emails to reports and teaching such important writerly techniques as editing and proofreading your own copy.
Written communication is one thing, but in today’s business environment, you’re likely also to be called upon to make oral presentations, which involves public speaking, which often involves a great deal of anxiety on the would-be presenter’s part. Facing a room of expectant (or, worse, bored) faces can be very intimidating. To that end, a class such as Overcome Your Public Speaking Fear would be in order to help you stand up in front of an audience and speak convincingly and coherently. This online class is given by the Zenspeak Public Speaking Center, which lays claim to a 100% success rate with best-man speeches over the past 20 years, and, one supposes, comparable results with business clients. Zenspeak offers a trial class as well for those seeking to decide whether the complete ten-session program is right for them.
A third skill anyone working in accounting would do well to develop is verbal communication. Accountants don’t just sit under fluorescent lights and tap away at their calculators: they have to interact in the workplace, and while they’re traditionally infamous for their lack of ability to communicate in anything but numbers, the reality is that talking is an integral part of any business role today. Something along the lines of the Business Communication Certificate Program would be in order for anyone who wishes to advance in their chosen career. Given by the American Management Association, the online course runs for three consecutive weekday all-day sessions and employs such techniques as role-play scenarios and real-time feedback as means of developing your personal communication style.
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