Accounting Fundamentals Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Foundation to Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Accounts Assistants, Finance Officers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-A-132

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable with basic arithmetic, percentages and reading simple business documents such as invoices, purchase orders and bank statements.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Accurate accounting records are the basis for reliable financial statements, sound cash decisions and credible reporting to managers, lenders, regulators and auditors. Staff who work with invoices, journals, budgets or management reports need to understand how everyday transactions move through the accounting system. Without this foundation, errors in coding, cut-off, reconciliation or classification can distort reported profit, working capital and cash flow.

This course teaches the accounting cycle from source documents and double-entry bookkeeping through adjustments, financial statements, cash flow reporting and basic financial analysis. Participants learn to apply the accounting equation, post journals, prepare trial balances, recognise revenue and expenses on an accrual basis, account for inventory and fixed assets, and perform key reconciliations. They also calculate ratios, interpret variances and understand how accounting policies, internal controls and period-end processes affect reported results.

Instructor-led sessions combine short technical briefings with worked accounting cases, group calculations, financial statement review and reporting simulations. Cases use realistic transactions from service organisations, trading businesses, public bodies and project-based operations. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with reusable accounting templates, including journal-entry formats, reconciliation schedules, a month-end close checklist and ratio analysis model. The course is delivered over five days, from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online.

The course suits finance staff building formal accounting capability, as well as managers and operational professionals who need to read financial information, control expenditure and work effectively with finance teams.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply the accounting equation and double-entry rules to routine business transactions
  • Prepare journal entries, ledger postings and an adjusted trial balance
  • Calculate accruals, prepayments, depreciation and doubtful-debt allowances
  • Produce core financial statements from adjusted account balances
  • Reconcile bank, receivables, payables and selected general ledger accounts
  • Classify cash flows and prepare an indirect-method cash flow statement
  • Interpret financial performance using liquidity, profitability and efficiency ratios
  • Construct a month-end close checklist with controls, evidence and review points

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence posting and reviewing accounting transactions
  • Ability to identify errors before month-end reporting
  • Practical skill preparing reconciliations and adjusting journals
  • Stronger ability to explain financial statements to managers
  • Foundation for progression into accounting, finance or audit roles

For your organisation

  • Fewer coding, cut-off and reconciliation errors in financial records
  • More consistent application of accounting policies and period-end procedures
  • Improved quality of management reports, budgets and cash information
  • Earlier identification of control weaknesses and unusual account movements
  • Better collaboration between finance teams and operational budget holders

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain accounting information flows and classify transactions using the accounting equation.

  • Purpose of financial accounting, management accounting and stewardship reporting
  • Users of accounts and decisions supported by financial information
  • Accounting equation: assets, liabilities and equity maintained through transactions
  • Business events distinguished from non-accounting events using recognition criteria
  • Source documents traced from purchase order to accounting record
  • Chart of accounts structured by account class and reporting purpose
  • Ethical responsibilities, audit trails and segregation of duties

Participants can record transactions using debits, credits, journals and ledger accounts.

  • Debits and credits applied using the expanded accounting equation
  • Journal entries recorded for cash, credit and adjustment transactions
  • General ledger postings, account balances and cross-referencing conventions
  • T-accounts used to explain transaction effects and normal balances
  • Trial balance prepared from ledger balances before adjustments
  • Common posting errors identified through debits-and-credits logic
  • Control accounts reconciled to receivables and payables subsidiary ledgers

Participants can apply accrual accounting and prepare standard period-end adjusting entries.

  • Cash basis and accrual basis compared through timing differences
  • Revenue recognised when performance obligations are satisfied under IFRS 15
  • Matching principle applied to expenses incurred during reporting periods
  • Prepayments, accruals and deferrals calculated using period-end schedules
  • Depreciation charges calculated using straight-line and reducing-balance methods
  • Allowance for doubtful debts estimated from receivables ageing
  • Adjusting journals posted and reversed at subsequent period opening

Participants can account for inventory, property and equipment using common measurement methods.

  • Inventory cost determined using FIFO and weighted-average cost formulas
  • Lower of cost and net realisable value applied
  • Property, plant and equipment capitalised using recognition thresholds
  • Capital expenditure separated from repairs and routine maintenance
  • Useful lives, residual values and impairment indicators reviewed
  • Disposals recorded with accumulated depreciation and gain or loss
  • Intangible assets distinguished from research, development and goodwill

Participants can prepare and review the main financial statements from adjusted balances.

  • Statement of profit or loss assembled from adjusted account balances
  • Statement of financial position classified into current and non-current items
  • Statement of changes in equity reconciled from opening to closing balances
  • Notes to accounts linked to material balances and accounting policies
  • Financial statement presentation checked for consistency, classification and cross-casting
  • IFRS Accounting Standards compared with local GAAP reporting requirements
  • Management commentary distinguished from audited financial statements

Participants can prepare cash flow information and reconcile recorded cash to bank evidence.

  • Operating, investing and financing cash flows classified under IAS 7
  • Indirect cash flow method reconciled from profit to operating cash
  • Working capital movements interpreted through receivables, inventory and payables changes
  • Non-cash transactions excluded from cash flow statement calculations
  • Bank reconciliation prepared from cash book and bank statement
  • Cash control exceptions investigated using timing and documentation evidence
  • Thirteen-week cash forecast built from receipts, payroll and supplier payments

Participants can organise a controlled month-end close and investigate accounting differences.

  • Month-end close calendar sequenced from cut-off through management review
  • Cut-off tests applied to sales, purchases, payroll and inventory movements
  • Reconciliations prepared for bank, receivables, payables and intercompany balances
  • Materiality assessed when prioritising corrections and review attention
  • Error types distinguished: omission, commission, principle and compensating errors
  • Suspense accounts cleared through evidence-based investigation and correcting journals
  • Close checklist assigns preparers, reviewers, due dates and evidence

Participants can calculate and interpret key financial ratios for management discussions.

  • Common-size analysis compares financial statement components as percentage bases
  • Liquidity ratios calculated: current ratio, quick ratio and operating cash ratio
  • Profitability ratios calculated: gross margin, operating margin and return on assets
  • Efficiency ratios interpreted using inventory, receivables and payables days
  • Trend analysis identifies movements requiring management explanation
  • Ratio limitations assessed alongside accounting policies, seasonality and one-off items
  • Financial results translated into concise management questions and actions

Participants can use accounting information to analyse costs, budgets and performance variances.

  • Fixed, variable and mixed costs classified for planning decisions
  • Contribution margin calculated for products, services and volume scenarios
  • Break-even analysis modelled using price, volume and cost assumptions
  • Budget assumptions documented for revenue, staffing, procurement and overheads
  • Flexible budgets adjusted for actual activity levels
  • Variance analysis separates price, volume, rate and efficiency effects
  • Budget holders receive clear reports with causes and corrective actions

Participants can apply accounting evidence to reporting questions and define a workplace improvement plan.

  • Transaction-to-statement workflow mapped from source document to published report
  • Accounting policy choices evaluated against consistency, materiality and disclosure needs
  • Management questions answered using statements, reconciliations and ratio evidence
  • Month-end risks prioritised through control gaps and error consequences
  • Personal application plan targets one reporting, control or analysis improvement
  • Stakeholder communication tailored for finance teams, managers and non-finance colleagues
  • Reference resources identified for continued IFRS and policy research

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Double-entry journal-entry template
  2. Adjusted trial balance worksheet
  3. Bank and balance-sheet reconciliation pack
  4. Month-end close checklist
  5. Indirect cash flow statement model
  6. Financial ratio analysis template

Who should attend

  • Accounts Assistants — need reliable methods for journals, ledgers and reconciliations
  • Finance Officers — prepare reports, process transactions and support period-end close
  • Junior Accountants — require a structured grounding in accounting records and statements
  • Budget Officers — need to connect budgets, variances and accounting results
  • Procurement and Operations Managers — approve spending and need to interpret financial consequences
  • Project Managers — monitor costs, revenue recognition and financial reporting for funded work

Skills and tools covered

Double-entry bookkeepingFinancial statement preparationAccount reconciliationCash flow reportingRatio analysisMonth-end close

Tools and standards

IFRS Accounting Standards, IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers, IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows, COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce accounting rules, followed by worked examples, transaction cases and guided calculations. Participants analyse source documents, build journal entries, prepare reconciliations and assemble financial statement extracts. Group discussions examine accounting choices, reporting errors and control failures. Simulations focus on month-end close, cash flow classification and management review of reported results. Participants finish by identifying a practical accounting, reporting or control improvement relevant to their own role.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable with basic arithmetic, percentages and reading simple business documents such as invoices, purchase orders and bank statements. Some exposure to budgets, expense claims, bookkeeping, procurement or management reports is useful but not essential. No prior accounting qualification is required, and participants do not need to have prepared financial statements before attending. The course starts with the accounting equation and builds toward intermediate topics such as accruals, cash flow statements, ratio analysis and month-end controls. A calculator is useful for classroom calculations.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

No accounting qualification or prior bookkeeping role is required. Participants need basic arithmetic, confidence reading business documents and a willingness to work with financial examples.

Participants should bring a calculator and, if permitted by their employer, examples of non-confidential reports or accounting questions they encounter. Course materials and calculation templates are provided.

It is designed for accounts staff, junior finance professionals, budget officers and non-finance managers with financial responsibilities. It also suits professionals moving into finance, procurement or project control roles.

The course covers bookkeeping foundations but extends into accruals, financial statements, cash flow, controls and ratio interpretation. It is broader than a bookkeeping course and more foundational than an advanced financial analysis programme.

Participants can use the journal, reconciliation, close and ratio templates for recurring accounting tasks. They will also be able to ask better questions about unusual balances, coding errors, late invoices and cash movements.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The programme moves from transaction recording and adjustments through statements, cash flow, controls, analysis and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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