COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Double Entry Principles & Journal course. This program will equip you with the foundational accounting knowledge and practical techniques required to understand, record, and interpret financial transactions using the double entry bookkeeping system. You will explore why double entry underpins all modern accounting, how debits and credits function, how journals and ledgers are constructed, and how accurate record-keeping supports financial reporting integrity. This course also covers the full accounting cycle, from initial entries to adjustments and closing procedures.

This course begins by examining what a double entry system is and why it serves as the core structure for reliable accounting. You will explore the features of double entry, the accounting equation, and the double entry principle, which ensures that every transaction affects at least two accounts in a balanced manner. This section also introduces the rules of debit and credit and explains how financial events are categorised within the classification and rules of accounts. You will examine personal accounts—including natural, artificial, and representative personal accounts—real accounts, intangible real accounts, fictitious assets, and nominal accounts. This learning area concludes with a review of the advantages of double entry bookkeeping and how it creates accuracy, accountability, and transparency.

The next learning area focuses on the accounting cycle. You will explore the sequential steps in an accounting cycle, from identifying transactions to preparing financial statements. This section covers the rules of journalising and the process of journalising, highlighting how transactions are analysed and recorded. You will examine the general journal, how journal entries are written, how they transfer into the general ledger, and how the trial balance is prepared to ensure mathematical accuracy in posted accounts. You will also explore common errors, balancing checks, and key markers of journal quality.

A further section examines adjusting entries and their role in accurate period-end reporting. You will explore how to adjust journal entries for prepaid insurance, depreciation expense, and interest expense, ensuring that revenues and expenses align with the correct accounting period. This area also examines how accounts receivable write-offs are handled and how these adjustments flow through to create the trial balance after adjustments. You will explore why adjustments are essential under accrual accounting and how they inform the final financial statements.

The final learning area focuses on closing journal entries and the completion of the accounting cycle. You will examine how revenues, expenses, and drawings or dividends accounts are closed, how balances transfer to capital or retained earnings, and how temporary accounts reset for the next accounting period. This section provides insight into how closing entries reinforce financial accuracy and prepare the organisation for new transactional activity.

By the end of this course you will be able to apply the double entry principle, classify accounts correctly, record transactions accurately using journals and ledgers, prepare trial balances, complete adjusting and closing entries, and understand how each step supports the accuracy, transparency, and reliability of an organisation’s financial information.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

• What is a double entry system?
• The features of double entry
• The accounting equation
• The double entry principle
• The rules of debit and credit
• The classification & rules of accounts
• The personal accounts
• The natural personal accounts
• The artificial personal accounts
• The representative personal accounts
• The real accounts
• The intangible real accounts
• The fictitious assets
• The nominal accounts
• The advantages of double entry book-keeping
• The accounting cycle
• The sequential steps in an accounting cycle
• The rules of journalising or process of journalising
• The general journal
• The journal entries
• The general ledger
• The trial balance
• How to adjust journal entries?
• Prepaid insurance
• Depreciation expense
• Interest expense
• Accounts receivable write-offs
• The trial balance after adjustments
• Closing journal entries

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.