Money & investing · course 69 of 105

Accounting Basics That Balance

Keep a small business’s books right, from the accounting equation and debits and credits to a full month of journal entries balanced to a trial balance.

4 modules

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What it teaches

The bookkeeping every small-business owner and new bookkeeper has to get right: the accounting equation, the five account types, which side a debit and a credit go on, writing journal entries for a whole month (cash and “on account”, loans, the owner putting money in and taking it out), account balances, net income, a trial balance, and which mistakes a trial balance catches and which it doesn’t. All on one made-up business, Maya’s Bakery. The AI asks 3 questions, places you, shows a short card per module, then gives you one transaction or question at a time and checks your answer against keys produced by a double-entry engine, naming the slip when it is one of the listed wrong answers (“nothing was paid yet: on account means you owe it”); any other wrong answer gets the key and the working.

Not tax or accounting advice. It teaches the mechanics; your own books and taxes are for an accountant who knows your business.

How long

42 items. About 35-55 rounds for a beginner (about 15-20 if you already know the basics) plus a 12-item final: 2-3 sessions (estimate, not timed with a real student). The tutor gives a one-line save code at the end of each session.

From the answer key · M2, row E5

Maya’s Bakery: It caters an event for $2,000; the customer will pay next week. Give the journal entry (account, debit or credit, amount).

Think first, then show the answer

AnswerDr Accounts Receivable 2,000; Cr Service Revenue 2,000

WhyAccounts Receivable (asset) up → debit; Service Revenue (revenue) up → credit.

The wrong answer it catchesDr Cash 2,000; Cr Service Revenue 2,000 → No cash came in yet; the customer owes it: debit Accounts Receivable.

“On account” = no cash yet: buying on account creates Accounts Payable; selling on account creates Accounts Receivable.
“Debits increase the value of assets and expense accounts and reduce the value of liabilities, equity, and revenue accounts.”
“Conversely, credits increase the value of liability, equity, and revenue accounts and reduce the value of asset and expense accounts.”

The modules

4 modules, drilled one item at a time.

M0
The words
Concept questions
M1
Account types and debit or credit
One-word answers
M2
Journal entries
Write the entry
M3
Balances, the trial balance and errors
Totals and spot the error

Before it teaches, it asks

1
What brings you here: your own small business, a bookkeeping job, a class, or curiosity? Have you used debits and credits before?
AI voice (ElevenLabs)
2
To increase Cash: debit or credit?
3
Maya’s Bakery: It buys $600 of supplies on account (to pay the supplier later). Give the journal entry (account, debit or credit, amount).

What’s exact, and what isn’t

Show

Straight from the course’s own notes.

Computed by script: Every entry, balance and total, by a double-entry engine that checks debits = credits on every entry, Assets = Liabilities + Equity after every transaction, and that the trial balance agrees; three of the error questions are simulated by posting the mistake and measuring it; the listed wrong answers are checked to differ from the key (3 of them are also run through their mistake).
Sourced: The debit/credit rules, normal balances and trial-balance limits from Wikipedia (Debits and credits, Accounting equation, Trial balance); short quotes matched word for word on 2026-10-10.
Simplified on purpose: One owner, cash and “on account” only; no adjusting entries, depreciation, inventory or taxes.
Not in it yet: Adjusting entries, depreciation, inventory and cost of goods sold, corporations, the full financial statements (see the Reading Financial Statements course).