What you should know before watching this course

- For over 35 years, accounting has been at the center of my professional development. I enjoy the process of analyzing the financial statements of companies. I enjoy knowing how those financial statements are produced, as well as their strengths and limitations. I have also enjoyed teaching accounting for lo, these many years. So you can imagine my surprise when I found out that not everyone shares my fondness for the intricacies of accounting. People say that those accountants speak a foreign language. They talk about debits and credits and balance sheets and amortization and impairment and a bunch of other top secret code words.

Well, I'm here to tell ya that those words aren't top secret. Those words aren't in a code, but those words are associated with a language, commonly called the "language of business." And is the case with learning any new language, there is a learning curve. But if you are willing and will put in the time, you can become fluent in those top secret code words. Before you know it, you can be speaking accounting. Now in this course, we will cover the mechanics of accounting, commonly called bookkeeping. Bookkeeping is the routine, systematic method of accumulating financial information, analyzing that information, inputting it into the accounting system, and summarizing the resulting information into reports that can be used by decision makers.

We will learn about an ingenious system that was developed over 500 years ago, and is still in use today. We will learn about the mystery terms debits and credits. We will see how debits and credits are just shorthand for accounts increasing and decreasing in value. We will learn about journal entries, T-accounts, ledgers, and trial balances. Before you know it, you will become comfortable with these terms, what they mean, and how they are used. Now that's not to say that this course is going to be a walk through the park.

Just as learning any new language requires some diligence, so it is with the language of accounting. But hang in there, you can do it. Now before taking this course, I would encourage you to have a look at the course "Accounting Fundamentals" that is taught by my brother Kay Stice. That course provides an overview of the field of accounting and helps you see where bookkeeping fits in the grand scheme of accounting things. This course is designed to be self-contained, but the "Accounting Fundamentals" course would provide you with some helpful context.

So, are you ready? Are ya excited to learn a new language? Are you ready for the challenge? Well, ready or not, let's go.