Bookkeeping for Beginners course in Amsterdam

No prior knowledge is required for the Bookkeeping for Beginners course. The course is designed for beginners and covers all the basic concepts from scratch, such as setting up an administration, working with accounts receivable and payable, VAT returns and the general ledger. During the course you build up a working set of accounts step by step, using your own practical examples.

In the Bookkeeping for Beginners course you learn the basics of setting up a complete set of accounts. Topics include financial terminology, debtors and creditors, drawing up an opening balance sheet and financial journal, working with the general ledger, VAT returns, payroll administration, depreciation, loans and interest. You practise straight away with recognisable real-life cases, so that you apply the material immediately in your own work situation.

The Bookkeeping for Beginners course is intended for entrepreneurs and employees who want to gain a deeper understanding of the financial and administrative process. No prior knowledge is required. During the course you learn how to set up an administration, work with VAT, keep a general ledger and produce reports. Ideal if you are just starting out as an entrepreneur or have just become responsible for the bookkeeping.

The Bookkeeping for Beginners course is taught in a classroom setting in a small group. You work straight away with recognisable practical cases and may bring your own records or files to practise with. The experienced trainer offers plenty of personal attention, so you can apply what you learn immediately in your own working situation.

Yes, you can bring your own practical examples and files to the Bookkeeping for Beginners course. Send your documents to Learnit by e-mail in advance or bring them along on a USB stick. During the classroom training you work with your own input, so that what you learn ties in directly with your own working situation and you apply the material straight away.

A classroom course makes more sense if you want to set up your own records and need targeted feedback on them. At Learnit, in a small group with an experienced trainer. You work on the basis of your own figures and cases, and you can ask questions straight away about situations such as VAT returns, debtor management or drawing up an opening balance sheet. Online self-study is cheaper and more flexible, but lacks that personal check: you don't know whether your journal entries or ledger structure are correct. Choose the classroom course if you want working knowledge quickly that you can apply directly in your own bookkeeping. Choose self-study if you mainly want to pick up general theory without guidance on your own records.

The Bookkeeping for Beginners course focuses on the accounting principles themselves, not on operating one specific software package. You learn concepts such as debit and credit, drawing up an opening balance sheet, keeping a general ledger, VAT returns and depreciation. During the course the trainers do introduce commonly used bookkeeping methods and programmes, but the focus is on understanding the financial and administrative process. A package-specific course (Exact or Moneybird, for example) assumes that you already know the underlying bookkeeping logic and mainly teaches you which buttons to press. Take this course if you want to understand what you are recording and why; choose a package-specific course if you have mastered the theory and simply want to work more efficiently in a particular tool. This course is taught in a classroom setting.

You can immediately set up and maintain the basics of your own bookkeeping. By then you will have practised setting up an administration, processing accounts payable and receivable, recording financial transactions in the general ledger, filing VAT returns and producing simple reports. Because you work with your own practical examples during the course (which you can submit in advance), you apply what you learn directly to your own situation. The course is classroom-based. For more complex areas such as payroll administration, depreciation of assets and loans with interest, the following applies: you will master the principles, but implementing these in a larger company usually requires more experience or the guidance of an accountant.