General Accounting and Finance
A great deal of finance work is done by people who were never formally trained to do it. They learned the system from whoever held the job before them, which means they learned the steps without the reasoning. That works until something unusual happens, and then the error enters at capture and is discovered months later at year end.
1
Assess
What the team does
2
Foundations
Why, not just how
3
Practice
Real transactions
4
Close
Month end discipline
5
Interpret
Read the statements
How the Training Works
01
Understanding the Roles
We establish what each attendee actually does before designing the content. A creditors clerk and a person capturing cash need different emphasis, and a generic course serves neither of them well.
- Roles and responsibilities of attendees established
- Current processes and systems reviewed
- Recurring error types identified with the supervisor
- Content weighted to what the group actually handles
02
Accounting Foundations
Double entry taught as a logic rather than as a rule to memorise. Once somebody understands why both sides move, they can reason about an unfamiliar transaction instead of guessing at a code.
- Double entry as a logic rather than a memorised rule
- The accounting equation applied to real transactions
- Debits and credits worked through in context
- Chart of accounts structure and why coding matters
03
Transaction Practice
Worked examples using your own document types. Recognising an actual supplier invoice from your files is a different skill from recognising a textbook illustration.
- Purchases, sales, cash and journals worked through
- Your own source documents used as examples
- Accruals and prepayments explained practically
- Common coding errors and how to spot them
04
Reconciliation and Month End
Reconciliation taught as a control rather than an administrative chore. Understanding what a reconciliation proves changes how carefully people do it.
- Bank, debtor and creditor reconciliations
- What a reconciliation actually proves
- Investigating and clearing reconciling items
- Month end close sequence and cut off discipline
05
Reading Financial Statements
Finally, what all of it produces. People who process transactions rarely see the statements their work generates, and seeing the connection changes how they treat the detail.
- How transactions flow through to the statements
- Reading an income statement and balance sheet
- How their own work affects the reported result
- Basic ratios and what they indicate
What You Receive
- Content weighted to what the group actually does
- Worked examples using your own source documents
- Reference material retained after the session
- Reconciliation and month end checklists
- Attendance record for CPD or skills development purposes
- Defined follow up period for questions
Indicative Timeline
Two days covers the foundations properly. Running them a week apart works better than consecutively, because attendees apply the first day in between and arrive at the second with real questions.
- Role assessment and content scoping: three to five days
- Delivery: two days, ideally a week apart
- Practical application between the two days
- Follow up period: agreed at booking
Who This Suits
Foundational training aimed at people doing finance work without a formal accounting qualification.
Finance Administrators
Staff capturing transactions who learned the system rather than the accounting behind it.
Bookkeepers
Experienced processors who want the reasoning behind the routine they already follow.
Office Managers
People in small organisations who handle finance alongside several other responsibilities.
Non Finance Managers
Budget holders who need to read the statements their decisions appear in.
New Appointments
Staff moving into a finance role from elsewhere in the organisation.
Governing Bodies
School and NPO committee members responsible for finances without a finance background.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this suitable for someone with no accounting background?
Yes, that is who it is designed for. We start from why the system works the way it does rather than assuming prior knowledge, and the pace is set by the room rather than by a syllabus.
Our team has done this for years. Would they benefit?
Frequently more than beginners do. Experienced processors often follow a routine correctly without knowing why, which works until something unusual arrives. Understanding the reasoning is what lets them handle the exception.
Can it cover our specific accounting system?
We can use your system for the practical work, though the training is about accounting rather than software. Where the need is genuinely system training, we would say so rather than delivering the wrong course.
Will this reduce our errors?
It reduces the class of error caused by not understanding the transaction, which is a large share of them. Errors caused by process gaps or missing documentation need a process fix rather than training, and we would flag that distinction.
How many people can attend?
Up to about fifteen for foundational content. Larger groups work for lecture style delivery but the exercises are where the learning happens, and those need a manageable room.
Do you train governing bodies and committees?
Yes, and the emphasis shifts toward reading statements and asking useful questions rather than processing transactions. School governing bodies and NPO committees are frequent requests.
Related Services
This sits inside our Training practice. Related work: Monthly Accounting and Reporting where the function is outsourced rather than trained, and Advanced Excel for the tooling side of the same work.
