Accounting for Non-Accountants Course

Accounting is the language of business. By attending this course, you will learn the fundamentals of accounting, reading, and analyzing financial statements. You will also appreciate the relationship between accounting and finance and understand the use of debits and credits. Finally, this course will help you to record financial transactions accurately and summarize them in financial statements.

Course Methodology

This course uses a mix of interactive techniques, such as brief presentations by the consultant and the participants, in addition to demonstrating theoretical core accounting topics. The course also features real-life case studies that are discussed, solved, and presented by participants.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Define accounting and the accounting cycle.
• Identify the major rules and principles of accounting under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
• Demonstrate knowledge of the basic accounting equation, double-entry bookkeeping, and the new automated accounting systems
• List the key financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, changes in shareholders’ equity and cash flow statement) and their components.
• Practice financial statements’ adjustments at month and year-end

Target Audience

Managers, supervisors, and staff from any function including the accounting department who need to improve understanding, application, and techniques of the language of numbers.

Target Competencies

• Accounting for business transactions
• Preparing income statements
• Interpreting balance sheets
• Analyzing cash flow statements
• Preparing adjustment entries
• Using debits and credits
• Applying international financial reporting standards

Course Outline

Introducing accounting and financial statements

• Definition of accounting
• Users of accounting information
• Basic financial statements
• The corporation defined.
• Presentation of accounting information by different business entities

International financial reporting standards

• The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
• Introduction to IFRS
• Main differences between IFRS and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

Double-entry accounting

• The accounting equation
• Traditional double-entry bookkeeping
• Your asset is his liability.
• The chart of accounts
• The general journal
• The general ledger
• The trial balances.
• Modern bookkeeping: automating transactions

Income statements

• Defining the income statement
• Defining revenue and its recognition
• Defining expenditures and their classifications
• Calculating profit
• Gross profit
• Operating profit
• Net profit
• The income statement illustrated.

Net equity

• Defining capital stock
• Dividends are not an expense.
• Cash dividends, stock dividends and stock split
• Definition of treasury stock
• Retained earnings - not the same as cash.

The balance sheet and its components

• Defining the balance sheet
• Assets
• Liabilities
• Equity
• Current versus non-current assets and liabilities
• The balance sheet illustrated.

Cash flow statement

• Defining the statement of cash flows
• Cash and cash equivalents
• Classification of cash flows
  • Operating activities
  • Investing activities
  • Financing activities
• The cash flow statement illustrated.

Adjustments to financial statements

• The accrual concepts.
• Accruals and prepayments
• Depreciation
• Bad debts