To hate double entry bookkeeping?

[SunFlowerRose]

I’m really hoping you will be able to help me, because this is my last ditch attempt before I throw away 8 months worth of payments on a bookkeeping and accounting course which would cost even more in an early get out fee.

I work full time in finance for a small company, but they use an accounting software so most of it’s all done in the background.

I’m on the first model of the level 2 online course and I just cannot retain the information or make it sink in.

The double entry part and transactions just isn’t making sense and I’m about to lose all hope on it.

If anyone has any resources that helped them such as YouTube videos, links or books then please please do share them.

I’m off to WH Smith later to look at the books they have, in hopes to find one that may help. Along with A3 paper that I plan to right notes on and stick all over the house.

If any bookkeepers would be willing to inbox me and help me with this I’d be super grateful.

I’ve wasted 8 months on this so far and just feel incredibly stupid. And I want this so badly for my current career, it would help me progress so much.

Apologies for putting it in AIBU I was hoping more people would see it and maybe be able to help. Please be kind as I already feel crap enough.

Just to say OP, you aren’t stupid. Have read this thread with interest - I’m educated to postgrad level with a professional qualification and career, and this sounds incredibly confusing and counter-intuitive. I have no doubt it will click and you will get there, but you aren’t stupid because it hasn’t come naturally!

Thank you so much all!

Il admit my poor brain is battered from all posted on here, but I plan to note it all down and try all the links and videos then will pick which make more sense for me.

I suffer from depression and anxiety and also have thyroid issues, which all seem to effect my memory which also doesn’t help with this.

But I work very well with visual things so I may make some flash cards and posters to help. My house may look weird but no one will see it due to covid anyway!

I'm doing ACCA without any accounting previously and really struggled with financial accounting and Dr and Cr, and taccounts took forever to understand (and my teacher was brilliant, it just wouldn't sink in). Found wonderful YouTube videos that explain accounting that I kept rewatching until I understood. I'll add some links here. Also used a website called accoWtancy for basics. It took me forever but I also bought an a level accounting book and that helped too. On youtube there is a dry but clear presentation by Saheb Academy. One called 'accounting stuff' is really good for basics too,I used his videos the most as he does the basics so well. 'nuts accounting' is helpful too

You have my sympathies. I just couldn’t get my head around it at first. I remember the night it clicked and waking up the next morning being scared it would have gone from my mind again.

Very simplistically:

I sort of think of it as if it’s on income / expenditure then expenditure is a debit and income a credit.

On the balance sheet an asset is a debit and a liability is a credit.

Your bank account is (hopefully) an asset, so money coming in is a debit and money being paid out is a credit.

So, I want to buy something:
I debit expenditure
I credit liabilities

When I pay for it:
I debit liabilities
I credit bank account.

I just practiced with pretend scenarios until I got it.

I made it through my ACA without ever really understanding T accounts. I used to calculate everything along the lines of b/f + accrual - payment = c/f. Then I just learnt where to blindly put the numbers, following the DEAD CLIC method (have you learnt that yet?), and my own method would help me check if it was right or not.

You’ve just got to find a way for it to make sense to you. Or, if not make sense, for you to be able to learn the method to pass the exams. Nobody in real life does hands on double entry book keeping any more.

It also really helped when I realised there are certain rules that never change - sales are always a credit for example. I Google and found practice tests online where you look at transactions to decide which is the Dr and which is the cr and I kept practicing. I learnt DEA LER and PEARLS accronyms and would do the transactions slowly using one of the above. It eventually does sink in. I always thing - money in Dr, money out Cr.

OP - what finance role do you do currently? Do you have a Management Accountant in your team?

Merry.. I do admin and some financial tasks. All taught by the FD who is incredibly busy so it was done to free up some of their time.
I import invoices, reconcile payments in the bank and approve supplier invoices to reconcile payments out.
So I select accounts and catagorys daily on auto entry but it’s mostly automated.
Eg if we had an invoice from an electric company then it would be posted onto the company and also under electricity charges.

Sits super hard to get my head around what happens in the background because I’ve never had to even consider that before.

We use Xero for our accounting software.

I'm retired now but was an accountant for 35+ years. I love the double entry system and occasionally used to ruminate about how clever it was (a true accountant). Years ago (before computers) I used to manually keep all the company's ledgers - ultimately producing a manual trial balance - fabulous stuff 😀
Apologies, not much help to you.

I think you’re being too hard on yourself. Double entry takes a long time to sink in. Don’t beat yourself up but remember deadclic/pearls whichever you prefer and use it. When you do an exam or practice question first thing is to write deadclic or whatever on a piece of paper and then just follow it through. Eventually you won’t need to refer to it for every transaction but don’t force it.

Sorry, I wasn't as helpful as I could have been in my previous post. Have you looked at any of the free online course providers - futurelearn.com etc? They sometimes have accounting courses.

I worked in an accountancy firm doing admin after I finished college. I ended up helping out with bookkeeping and accounts etc. I left that role after I had my daughter as I found a job closer to home - working in am accounts department for an estate agents but no actual bookkeeping involved. I started a book keeping/accountancy course in September 2019 before covid in the hopes I could do some book keeping on the side for some extra cash but then covid came and cancelled the course and I spent so many months WFH and hating my job lol.

Now I'm going to college part time in September whilst continuing to work in my job to do an access to uni course to hopefully become a midwife 💖 being stuck at home during this pandemic has made me realise how much I hate my mundane job and has inspired me.to follow my dreams (I've wanted to be a midwife since my daughter was born)

If something in life is depressing you, you're hating it, it's mundane just let it go. It's your life you dot want to feel trapped!

Also meant to add in my earlier post that there are some good courses here:

www.reed.co.uk/courses/?sortby=PriceAsc&keywords=Double%20entry%20bookkeeping

I did a couple of courses from here during lockdown (not accountancy as wanted something completely different from my actual job) and my DS did a couple too. Some are free/cheap (£10) so might be worth looking at as one of them may ‘click’ with you and then you can move forward with the rest of your current course.

I’m aware there is a lot of info already on your thread for you to process so don't want to bombard you with too many links (there is a lot out there).

Find some printed examples of T sheets and transactions, run some copies off and keep going over them until you have it .

I also think if you are doing it around your existing job/family commitments then it can be difficult to find the headspace to fully concentrate. Step away from it for a day or two, it won’t click if you feel under pressure.

@PullAFace DH and I (both accountants) often reminisce about manual extended trial balances, we must be a very sad couple!

@DwangelaForever

She hasn’t said she finds her job mundane or that or depresses her - it’s that she’s struggling with an aspect.

Finding something hard doesn’t mean you hate it or that it’s not worth persevering with.

@SunFlowerRose

That’s a shame - small company I suppose so no wider team.

If you have an external accountant I’d consider asking if you could shadow one of their bookkeepers one day.

I had a different post a few days ago - I am recruiting for an assistant accountant but having real trouble as lots haven’t had practical bookkeeping experience.

It’s all well and good using software but I need people who can calculate prepayments, accruals, deferred income and dispose of assets etc. All basic double entry but easy to avoid if you work in a small business.

The bookkeepers at your accountants will likely do those entries for some clients monthly/quarterly and I think spending time with them watching them prepare schedules and calculating the amounts would be really useful.

Just as reassurance - I'm an auditor, so see the work done by a lot of qualified accountants, and there are a scarily high number of very highly paid qualified accountants who get it wrong.

That's not to say you won't get it. You're clearly willing to put in the work until it clicks for you. I suspect the bad examples I've seen are where they didn't try to get it right in the first place, because they tend to have taken short cuts in other areas as well

@ineedaholidaynow

I’m fairly sure that learning to keep a set of books in my big red ledger is a reason I found DE fairly intuitive.

I have an old manager who I send questions to when I come across something tricky - when she comes back saying ‘hmmmm, tricky’ I know it’s not an obvious one. You need people you can bounce things off.

I've been an ACCA for over 30 years, have taught book-keeping at a local college of FE and was responsible for training staff at a couple of accounting practices.

Double entry is hard, it's counter-intuitive. You shouldn't beat yourself up over it. The best staff/students I've had mostly struggled at first. The worst staff/students were the ones who just rote-learned the accounting equation, memorised the debits/credits, but didn't actually understand any of it.

There is only one way to beat it and that's practice, practice and practice some more. The more you do it, the more you start to understand it. Baby steps is the way forward. Don't progress until you've mastered the earlier basics.

I always strongly recommend the Frank Woods basic book-keeping book. You can pick the old ones up from ebay for just a few pounds. No need at all to buy a modern version. The basics of double entry havn't changed in the decades since his books were first written. Not only do they start at a very basic level, there's also lots of practice questions (with answers). The "official" text books for AAT, ACCA etc tend to skirt over the basics too much and move too quickly onto more complex things. That's why Frank Woods books are more useful as they go at a slower pace and concentrate more on the basics.

That's the key, just do loads and loads of practice questions, and once you've done that, do some more. Double entry is really something you can't learn successfully by reading - it's not an "academic" subject, it's a practical subject.

I'm currently doing this course OP.
I passed the first module (bookkeeping transactions) a couple of months ago.
Do you have the Kaplan manual and integrated workbook?
I do reading the manual first. And doing all the example questions and test your understanding questions one by one.
Then do the integrated workbook afterwards.

I'm actually struggling more with the second unit, Bookkeeping Controls.

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@PullAFace DH and I (both accountants) often reminisce about manual extended trial balances, we must be a very sad couple![/quote]
Funnily enough, my DS has just been doing an accounting module as part of his degree. He was struggling, not with the theory, but the layout of T accounts, etc. I have a pad of old A3 ETB paper from years ago, and showed him how it works. He took to it like a duck to water!

@123ZYX

In my first wholly accounting role I had zero quals. I was a bit shocked to get hired but my very excellent manager (ACA from big firm) told me months later that I had performed way better in the test than all the other candidates, several fully exam qualified. Because I’d worked ‘on the ground’ for a while my technical skills were just stronger.

I always consider QBE and test at interview. I’ve had fully qual applicants who can’t reconcile a bank account.

@ineedaholidaynow I still do manual extended trial balances and its probably my favourite part of my job - I am a very sad person too!

@SunFlowerRose

Merry.. I do admin and some financial tasks. All taught by the FD who is incredibly busy so it was done to free up some of their time. I import invoices, reconcile payments in the bank and approve supplier invoices to reconcile payments out. So I select accounts and catagorys daily on auto entry but it’s mostly automated. Eg if we had an invoice from an electric company then it would be posted onto the company and also under electricity charges.

Sits super hard to get my head around what happens in the background because I’ve never had to even consider that before.

We use Xero for our accounting software.

To be honest, I think you'd have been best having some advanced training on Xero specific to your employers' business. Formal book-keeping/accounting training covers a very broad spectrum and a lot of it won't be relevant to your boss's job, and lots of things that are relevant, won't be taught in the formal book-keeping course.

I've "taught" dozens of clients how to use Xero, Quickbooks, Sage and other software, but I teach it backwards from what they "need" to know as either the owner or book-keeping/administrator of the client firm. No point teaching them payroll matters if they have no staff, nor VAT if they're not VAT registered. But, if they have, say, CIS subbies, they need to know how to do that, but it's not covered in basic book-keeping courses!

If you're main motivation is being trained up to help your boss, then I think you/they have gone down the wrong road. A few hours with your firm's external accountant/auditor (someone who knows the business), would be far more useful to train you up to take some of the strain away from your boss/in-house accountant.