Bookkeeping Resources: 45+ Courses, Tools, Sites, and More!

Bookkeeping is challenging because every business has its own unique needs. Whether you’re working from home or in an office, one of the biggest hurdles of bookkeeping is finding the support or resource you need to help you overcome the obstacle you have just run across while doing your books.

Here, we have put together the “best of everything bookkeeping” to help save you some time. From bookkeeping resources for beginners to more advanced topics for seasoned pros. Bookmark this article, so you no longer have to spend hours searching the web for bookkeeping resources while you’re in the middle of doing your books.

See also: Bookkeeping Job Description 101: Everything You Ought to Know

Best books on bookkeeping

There is a large assortment of accounting books on the market. Some are purely text-based, and some feature more of a workbook format. Ideally, it’s good to have a mix of the two so that you can actively practice the concepts.

1. Accounting QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Financial & Managerial Accounting For Students, Business Owners and Finance Professionals by Josh Bauerle, CPA

This book reaches a large audience from accounting students to small business owners or finance professionals. You’ll learn the fundamental principles of financial and managerial accounting, along with controlling cash flow, and increasing your profits through basic bookkeeping examples and relevant, real-world examples.

2. Accounting Made Simple: Accounting Explained in 100 Pages or Less by Mike Piper, CPA

This is a very intuitive and comprehensive accounting book that covers the accounting equation, generating financial statements, calculating financial ratios, depreciation & amortization expenses, cost of goods sold, inventory, and cash method vs. accrual method.

3. The Accounting Game: Learn the Basics of Financial Accounting by Darrell Mullis and Judith Orloff

This book will take you back to your childhood days. The bookkeeping examples included in this book make accounting seem less intimidating by simplifying the accounting principles and equating them to running a lemonade stand.

4. Accounting for Non-Accountants: Financial Accounting Made Simple for Beginners by Wayne Label

Looking for a resource that lends itself to bookkeeping for beginners? This is a great book for those who don’t have any accounting experience whatsoever. It covers financial statements, cash flow, budgets, ratios, and audits.

5. Accounting for Small Business Owners by Tycho Press

This is a great book for teaching basic accounting to those who are looking to start their own small business. It covers setting up & running a business, managing & selling products & services, and generating month-end financial statements.

Best bookkeeping blogs

There are a number of valuable blogs online that will provide answers to your bookkeeping questions, teach you basic and complex accounting principles, and keep you up-to-date on bookkeeping and accounting topics.

6. Accounting Coach

Accounting Coach is not your typical blog. Harold Averkamp has created his blog around a comprehensive curriculum based on accounting concepts and tutorials.

7. 5minutebookkeeping.com

Veronica Wasek simplifies complex accounting concepts and offers bookkeeping tips in her short and succinct blogs. Each blog also includes a video tutorial. Here, you can learn just about anything in 5 minutes or less.

8. Dancing Accountant

Nancy McClelland is known as “The Dancing Accountant.” Her blogs cover taxes, accounting, and bookkeeping tips and resources.

9. Bookkeepers.com

Ben Robinson’s blogs cover topics such as sales, marketing, pricing, and basic bookkeeping skills. Bookkeepers.com is a great blog for anyone who is starting a small business.

10. Accounting Department.com

Various bloggers contribute to Accounting Department.com. Topics include bookkeeping workflow procedures, billing, job costing, identifying discrepancies, and the treatment of certain transactions.

Best bookkeeping paid courses

Many companies offer online bookkeeping courses to prepare you for a career in finance. They will teach you everything you need to know to become a professional bookkeeper and some even offer certification upon the completion of the course.

11. NACPB Online Bookkeeping Classes

NACPB is a very structured bookkeeping course that lasts 13 weeks with one session a week. The course consists of video lectures, bookkeeping basics worksheets, quizzes, and textbook lessons.

12. U.S. Career Institute

The U.S. Career Institute is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission and offers personalized coaching. This course covers subjects such as tax accounting, economics, business law, small business management, and accounting principles.

13. Udemy

Udemy offers a variety of detailed bookkeeping classes taught by experienced instructors. The courses typically consist of videos divided into different sections. There’s also a mobile app available.

14. Skillshare

Skillshare offers a wide selection of bookkeeping courses that are highly rated. They offer a basic course on bookkeeping, along with a class on starting a bookkeeping business, bookkeeping for small businesses, and courses using specific accounting tools.

15. Penn Foster Bookkeeping Course Review

Penn Foster’s bookkeeping course is an online self-study course. The course consists of text-based material, video lectures, and different support options from instructors and other students.

Best free bookkeeping courses

Just because a course is free doesn’t mean it’s lacking in value or quality. There are plenty of free bookkeeping courses offered online that will help you kickstart a career in bookkeeping.

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16. AccountingCoach

AccountingCoach offers courses that are self-paced on bookkeeping fundamentals. The free version provides text-based material and quizzes at the end of each section. Even though they offer free courses, they also have two paid options as well. This is a great option for how to learn bookkeeping for free.

17. OpenLearn University

OpenLearn University focuses on double-entry bookkeeping and generating financial statements. It’s a self-paced course, but there is no access to an instructor. Along with the fundamental bookkeeping course, they also offer instruction in business accounting, risk management, and liquidity management.

18. edX

edX offers self-paced courses through the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Their courses include introductory bookkeeping, intermediate bookkeeping, and management accounting.

19. Alison

Alison offers a large selection of free bookkeeping courses. These include business accounting, payroll, and double-entry bookkeeping. The courses focus on recording business transactions, classifying transactions, and analyzing business performance. 

20. Oxford Home Study Centre

The Oxford Home Study Centre offers self-paced courses covering topics such as payroll, inventory, journals, assets, liabilities, equity, and the different accounting methods.

Best bookkeeping YouTube channels

If you’re a visual learner, YouTube is a great resource for accounting lessons and lectures. The following channels offer the best in educational videos and instructors.

21. Farhat’s Accounting Lectures

This channel takes complex accounting concepts and breaks them down so that they’re easily understood. Some of the topics covered include profitability ratios, consolidation accounting, audits, accounts payable, payroll taxes, and business law.

22. CPA Strength

This channel is from the perspective of a CPA who had a tough time with accounting when he started out. In his channel, he tries to make it easier for those pursuing a financial career by simplifying the more complex principles of accounting.

23. Accounting Stuff

Accounting Stuff also lays a solid foundation of basic accounting principles for more advanced study. This is a great channel for those new to accounting since they break down the most basic accounting concepts.

24. Else Grech Accounting

This channel is a little more technical and offers a more in-depth approach to accounting. Else Grech covers topics such as ethics in managerial accounting, activity-based costing, preferred share dividends, and materiality.

25. Bench Accounting

The Bench Accounting channel hosts a weekly Q&A series where individuals get to ask a tax advisor their tax questions. Other popular videos include guides on bookkeeping and accounting topics, as well as other helpful knowledge for small business owners.

Best bookkeeping podcasts

Podcasts have risen in popularity over the last several years. Bookkeeping podcasts are no exception. Here are some of the “best of the best” to listen to.

26. Cloud Accounting Podcast

The Cloud Accounting Podcast is one of the most popular among bookkeeping and accounting professionals. Hosted by Blake Oliver and David Leary, the focus is mainly on progressive bookkeeping such as the latest trends and the future of the bookkeeping profession.

27. The Successful Bookkeeper

This podcast focuses on how to build your business and career as a business owner and as a successful bookkeeper. Hosted by Michael Palmer, his podcast offers listeners plenty of encouragement and secrets to success.

28. Earmark Podcast

Earmark Podcast is a relatively new channel hosted by Blake Oliver. This is a good continuing ed channel for accounting professionals where you can even earn CPE credit.

29. I Love Bookkeeping

This podcast consists of a community of bookkeeping professionals who offer their advice on accounting and bookkeeping in the small business arena. This is a great podcast for those who are already in the business or those just looking to start out.

30. Lydia G. Miller, MBA

While outsourcing your bookkeeping is perfectly acceptable in the accounting industry, it’s also important to have a good grasp of it from a small business owner’s perspective. Lydia G. Miller covers DIY bookkeeping and outsourcing.

Best bookkeeping forums

If it takes a village to raise a child, then it’s fair to say it takes a community to support an accountant or bookkeeper. Online forums are a valuable resource for those bookkeepers looking to bounce ideas off of each other and to gain some expertise.

31. Reddit Accounting

Reddit Accounting is a great resource for discussing obstacles that you run up against as a bookkeeper. This forum covers anything from informal bookkeeping chats to professional learning topics.

32. Accountant Forums

Accountant Forums is a great place to go to find the answers to technical bookkeeping questions. The site is divided up between conversations about accounting and conversations about taxes.

33. AccountingWeb

AccountingWeb is set up with a somewhat different format than most forums. Bookkeepers and accountants can submit their own post and watch it play out in real time with other CPAs discussing the post in the comment section.

34. Proformative

Proformative is a popular forum for accountants, bookkeepers, and financial professionals to discuss financial topics such as cash management, technology, and more. They also offer live CPE accredited webinars.

35. Intuit ProConnect

Intuit ProConnect started out as a support group for Intuit products but has expanded into a great resource for small business accounting and bookkeeping questions in general.

Best free websites on bookkeeping topics

While there are a lot of articles online dealing with accounting and bookkeeping topics, not all of them are free. Here are some free articles that provide insight into bookkeeping, accounting, and how to run a successful small business.

36. Accounting Today

Accounting Today is a trade magazine that has been around for many years. A paid subscription is necessary for full access to the magazine, but the free account allows you to read most of the financial articles.

37. 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy is published by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. This free bookkeeping resource is geared toward the general public, but it also covers a lot of topics useful for bookkeepers and accountants with its general articles on money management.

38. Insightful Accountant

Insightful Accountant is geared for bookkeepers and accountants and provides the latest updates in software, has a “Niche Market” section for industry-specific bookkeeping, and an education hub on its website. Their digital magazine is free.

39. Journal of Accountancy

Journal of Accountancy has a lot of free and valuable articles on its website on accounting and bookkeeping. It is an affiliate of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

40. The CPA Journal

The CPA Journal is more of a technical publication that caters to accountants or anyone in a financial profession. It is highly respected and recognized internationally. It covers various financial topics relevant to small businesses.

Best bookkeeping tools

Our bookkeeping resources list would not be complete without listing tools that will make your life as a bookkeeper much easier. Because the right bookkeeping tools can lend themselves to a more efficient process.

41. Shoeboxed

Shoeboxed is a receipt and expense tracking app that will save you lots of time, money, and frustration. It will help you maximize your tax deductions and get reimbursed quickly. The app scans your receipts, organizes the receipts, and creates expense reports. You can also send your receipts in a prepaid Magic Envelope to effortlessly digitize years of receipts in one go.

42. QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks offers plenty of accounting tools all in one package. The software includes dashboards with financial data, customizable financial reports, an online payment processor, and an invoice generator.

43. Gusto

Gusto is a payroll accounting tool that comes with lots of extra features. Along with the standard payroll features, you can enroll in health benefit plans, manage human resources, and manage retirement plans.

44. TSheets

If you’re looking for one of the best time-tracking tools out there, then TSheets is everything you will need and more. Timesheets can be tracked from anywhere at any time, and it integrates with QuickBooks Online or Xero.

45. Expensify

Expensify automates the process of recording expenses. Expensify will take a snapshot of your receipt, categorize it as a business expense, code the expense, and automatically report the expense. It also features a rapid automatic reimbursement system.

See also: Shoeboxed vs. Expensify: Which One Is for You?

Frequently asked questions on bookkeeping resources

In closing

There are so many valuable bookkeeping resources out there if you just know where to look. Hopefully, this list will save you the trouble of having to spend a lot of time looking for just the right resource.

Caryl Ramsey has years of experience assisting in different aspects of bookkeeping, taxes, and customer service. She uses a variety of accounting software for setting up client information, reconciling accounts, coding expenses, running financial reports, and preparing tax returns. She is also experienced in setting up corporations with the State Corporation Commission and the IRS.

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