Bookkeeping / Office Administration

This foundational course prepares adult learners for the bookkeeping and office administration workplace by building competency in OSHA 10 general industry safety, first aid and CPR, trade-specific math, professional communication, and career readiness. Students develop the habits, vocabulary, and digital literacy that underpin every subsequent technical course. All content is contextualized to accounting offices, records rooms, and business environments rather than general examples.

How the course runs. 7 blocks: Workplace Safety in the Office: OSHA 10 General Industry and Hazard Recognition; First Aid, CPR, and AED for the Office Professional; Trade Math for Bookkeeping and Office Administration; Reading Trade Documents: Charts of Accounts, Invoices, Registers, and Regulatory Forms; Digital Tools for the Office: Word, Outlook, Cloud Storage, and File Organization; Professional Communication: Writing, Speaking, and Workplace Etiquette; Career Readiness: Resume, Job Search, and Professional Portfolio for Bookkeeping Roles.

What competent looks like. Complete OSHA 10-Hour General Industry training and demonstrate correct identification and reporting of office-environment hazards including ergonomics, electrical safety, and emergency evacuation. Perform first aid and CPR/AED procedures to current American Red Cross or American Heart Association standards. Apply arithmetic, percentage, ratio, and basic algebraic operations accurately in bookkeeping contexts such as invoice calculation, payroll proration, and sales-tax computation. Read and interpret trade documents including chart-of-accounts lists, payroll register excerpts, vendor invoices, and OSHA 300 logs with full comprehension. Use Microsoft Word, Outlook, and cloud file-sharing tools to compose, format, and transmit professional business correspondence and organized digital records. Develop a career portfolio containing a resume, a professional LinkedIn profile draft, and a completed job-application packet targeted to bookkeeping and office administration positions.

Students learn to set up, operate, and maintain a complete company file in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, covering the full accounting cycle from chart of accounts through financial reporting. Instruction maps directly to the Intuit/Certiport QuickBooks Certified User exam domains so that every lab hour builds testable, employer-ready competency. Emphasis is on accurate data entry, audit-ready records, and professional file management consistent with AIPB Certified Bookkeeper standards.

How the course runs. 10 blocks: Accounting Cycle Review and QuickBooks Orientation; Company File Setup and Chart of Accounts; Customer Center: Invoicing and Receiving Payments; Vendor Center: Bills, Purchase Orders, and Paying Bills; Banking: Bank Feeds, Transfers, and Reconciliation; Adjusting Journal Entries and the General Ledger; Payroll Setup in QuickBooks; Financial Reports and Business Analysis; File Maintenance, Security, and Error Correction; Integrated Simulation: Full-Cycle Client Engagement.

What competent looks like. Create and configure a new QuickBooks company file with an appropriate chart of accounts, fiscal year, and tax settings for a small business. Record and reconcile the complete accounting cycle—journal entries, invoices, bills, payments, bank feeds, and bank reconciliations—with fewer than 1% data-entry errors. Generate and interpret core financial reports (Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, A/R Aging, A/P Aging) and export them to Excel for further analysis. Set up payroll items, employees, and vendor records; process sample payroll runs; and describe QuickBooks payroll tax-form outputs. Identify and correct common QuickBooks errors (undeposited funds, duplicate transactions, misclassified accounts) using audit trail and transaction history tools. Demonstrate file-security practices—user roles, permissions, passwords, and backup/restore procedures—that protect client data in a professional bookkeeping environment.

Students learn to calculate gross and net pay, apply federal and state payroll tax withholding rules, complete required payroll tax forms, and process payroll accurately using manual methods and QuickBooks Payroll. Emphasis is placed on compliance with IRS Publication 15 (Employer's Tax Guide) and Fair Labor Standards Act requirements, connecting directly to the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper exam areas covering payroll and the QuickBooks Certified User exam areas covering payroll transactions.

How the course runs. 10 blocks: Payroll Law, Office Safety, and Data Confidentiality; Gross Pay: Hourly, Salary, Overtime, and Piece-Rate; Federal Income Tax Withholding and the W-4; FICA Taxes: Social Security, Medicare, and Employer Match; State and Local Payroll Taxes and Unemployment Insurance; Net Pay, Voluntary Deductions, and the Complete Payroll Register; Payroll Journal Entries and Payroll Liability Accounts; Payroll Tax Forms: W-2, W-3, and Form 941; Processing Payroll in QuickBooks: Setup, Runs, and Reports; Payroll Audit, Error Correction, and Compliance Review.

What competent looks like. Calculate gross pay for hourly, salaried, and overtime employees using FLSA overtime rules and reconcile net pay after all required withholdings. Apply current IRS withholding tables and Publication 15 rules to determine federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare withholdings accurately. Complete Forms W-4, W-2, W-3, 941, and 940 without errors, meeting IRS filing requirements and deadlines. Record payroll journal entries and employer payroll tax entries in a general ledger and reconcile payroll liability accounts. Process a complete payroll run in QuickBooks Desktop or Online, including employee setup, pay schedules, tax table updates, and payroll reports. Identify and apply basic workplace safety practices relevant to office payroll environments, including ergonomics, data security, and confidentiality obligations.

This course develops the full AR/AP cycle used in small-to-medium businesses, covering invoice creation, cash receipts, vendor bills, purchase orders, payment runs, and reconciliation using both manual ledger methods and QuickBooks. Students apply GAAP-based double-entry bookkeeping to real business scenarios, producing accurate aging reports, vendor statements, and period-end reconciliations. Lesson content maps directly to AIPB Certified Bookkeeper exam areas covering adjustments and error correction, and to QuickBooks Certified User exam objectives covering customers, vendors, and banking.

How the course runs. 10 blocks: AR/AP in the Accounting Cycle: Double-Entry Foundations; The Sales and Revenue Cycle: Invoices and Credit Memos; Cash Receipts and Applying Payments to Open Invoices; AR Aging Reports and Collections Management; Internal Controls, Separation of Duties, and Office Safety in AR/AP; The Purchase Cycle: Purchase Orders, Receiving, and Vendor Bills; AP Payment Runs: Check Writing, ACH, and Early-Payment Discounts; Vendor Statements, Debit Memos, and AP Reconciliation; Period-End AR/AP Close: Cutoff, Accruals, and Control Account Reconciliation; Integrated AR/AP Simulation: Full Monthly Cycle.

What competent looks like. Record and post customer invoices, credit memos, and cash receipts using the full accounts receivable cycle with no more than one error per transaction set. Record and post vendor bills, purchase orders, debit memos, and payment runs using the full accounts payable cycle in compliance with double-entry bookkeeping rules. Produce accurate AR and AP aging reports and use them to identify overdue balances and cash-flow risk. Reconcile AR and AP subsidiary ledgers to the general ledger control accounts and identify and correct common errors. Apply internal controls related to AR/AP, including separation of duties, authorization limits, and documentation retention, consistent with standard office safety and security practices. Navigate the QuickBooks Customer Center and Vendor Center to enter transactions, run built-in reports, and export data to Excel, supporting both the QuickBooks Certified User and AIPB Certified Bookkeeper credential exams.

Students develop proficiency in Microsoft Excel as a core tool for bookkeeping, financial reporting, and office data management, building from fundamental navigation through advanced functions used daily in accounting environments. Instruction is aligned to the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Excel exam objectives and reinforces skills applicable to QuickBooks data export, payroll summaries, and AR/AP schedules covered elsewhere in the program. By course end, students produce professionally formatted financial workbooks that meet employer standards for accuracy, clarity, and auditability.

How the course runs. 10 blocks: Excel Interface, Workbook Navigation, and Ergonomic Workspace Setup; Entering, Editing, and Formatting Cell Data for Financial Records; Formulas, Arithmetic Operators, and Cell References; Core Bookkeeping Functions: SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, COUNT, and COUNTA; Logical and Lookup Functions: IF, IFERROR, VLOOKUP, and XLOOKUP; Excel Tables, Structured References, and Data Sorting and Filtering; PivotTables and PivotCharts for Financial Summarization; Data Validation, Conditional Formatting, and Worksheet Protection; Professional Report Formatting and Print-Ready Output; Integrated Financial Workbook Build: Bookkeeping Simulation.

What competent looks like. Navigate the Excel interface and manage workbooks, worksheets, and cell data with keyboard shortcuts and ribbon commands at a professional production pace. Build and audit formulas using arithmetic operators, absolute and relative cell references, and core functions including SUM, AVERAGE, IF, VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, and IFERROR. Create and format professional financial tables—including general ledger summaries, accounts receivable aging schedules, and payroll registers—using Excel table tools and structured references. Construct PivotTables and PivotCharts to summarize and analyze bookkeeping data such as monthly expense totals and vendor payment histories. Apply data-validation rules, conditional formatting, and worksheet protection to maintain the integrity of shared bookkeeping workbooks. Produce print-ready reports with correct headers, footers, page breaks, and number formats that satisfy standard bookkeeping documentation requirements.

Students develop professional writing skills specific to the bookkeeping and office administration workplace, including emails, memos, reports, client correspondence, and financial summaries. Emphasis is placed on clarity, accuracy, tone, and document formatting standards expected by employers and clients in accounting and business settings. Writing assignments are tied directly to real bookkeeping contexts such as collections letters, expense report narratives, and internal policy memos.

How the course runs. 10 blocks: Foundations of Professional Business Writing; Grammar, Mechanics, and Proofreading for Business Documents; Email and Memo Writing for Internal Workplace Communication; Business Letters: Format, Tone, and Purpose; Writing Effective Collection and Payment Correspondence; Negative Messages and Sensitive Communication; Financial Narratives and Report Writing; Microsoft Word: Professional Document Formatting and Templates; Digital Communication: Professional Email Etiquette and Workplace Messaging Standards; Integrated Business Writing Portfolio and Workplace Readiness Review.

What competent looks like. Compose clear, accurate, and professionally formatted business emails, memos, and letters appropriate to bookkeeping and office administration contexts. Write financial summary narratives and expense report descriptions that correctly interpret and explain numerical data without errors. Apply standard proofreading and editing techniques to eliminate grammatical, factual, and formatting errors before distribution. Produce client-facing collection and payment correspondence that is firm, respectful, and legally cautious in language. Select the correct document type, tone, and channel for a given workplace communication scenario. Use word-processing software (Microsoft Word) and professional templates to produce documents that meet employer formatting expectations, supporting the Microsoft Office Specialist credential.

Students learn to create, classify, store, retrieve, retain, and securely dispose of physical and electronic business records in compliance with standard retention schedules and privacy requirements. Emphasis is placed on document control procedures, file system design, digital recordkeeping tools, and the regulatory context that governs financial and administrative records. Lessons connect directly to the organized, audit-ready file practices tested in the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper and QuickBooks Certified User credentials.

How the course runs. 10 blocks: The Records Life Cycle and the Role of the Bookkeeper; Physical Filing Systems: Alphabetic, Numeric, and Subject; Records Retention Schedules and Legal Hold; Confidentiality, Privacy, and Regulatory Context; Secure Destruction and Chain of Custody; Digital Document Management: Folder Structure and Naming Conventions; Version Control and Document Access Permissions; Filing and Retrieving Records in QuickBooks: Attachments and Document Center; Office Safety for Records Areas: Ergonomics, Shredder and Equipment Safety; Records Management Simulation: End-to-End Office Records Audit.

What competent looks like. Design and implement a numeric, alphabetic, or subject filing system for a simulated small-business office using standard ARMA rules. Apply a legally defensible records-retention schedule to a set of financial and administrative documents, identifying hold, archive, and destroy dates. Demonstrate secure destruction and chain-of-custody procedures for confidential records, including cross-cut shredding and electronic media sanitization. Organize and maintain a cloud-based document management folder structure with version control, naming conventions, and access permissions. Explain privacy and confidentiality obligations that apply to employee, payroll, and customer records under general US regulatory guidance. Retrieve requested records accurately and within a defined time standard using both physical index systems and digital search tools.

Students build a complete, simulated small-business financial record from the ground up, integrating QuickBooks, payroll, accounts receivable/accounts payable, Excel reporting, professional correspondence, and records management into one cohesive client file. The course culminates in a written portfolio documenting every deliverable and a formal oral defense before a panel of instructors and at least one industry reviewer. All work is held to professional accuracy standards required for the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper, QuickBooks Certified User, and Microsoft Office Specialist credentials.

How the course runs. 4 blocks: Project Kickoff, Scenario Analysis, and Work Plan; Full-Cycle Bookkeeping Build: Transactions, Payroll, and Reconciliation; Financial Reporting Package, Correspondence Set, and Records Binder; Portfolio Assembly and Oral Defense.

What competent looks like. Set up a complete QuickBooks company file for a simulated small business, including chart of accounts, vendors, customers, payroll items, and opening balances, with zero unresolved errors. Process a minimum of three months of simulated transactions—including sales invoices, vendor bills, payroll runs, bank deposits, and journal entries—and reconcile all accounts to a provided bank statement with a variance of zero dollars. Produce a professional deliverable package containing an Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, accounts aging reports, and a payroll register, all formatted in Excel and tied to the QuickBooks source data. Compose and file a complete business correspondence set—including a client engagement letter, a collection notice, and an internal policy memo—using correct format, grammar, and document retention labels consistent with course standards. Assemble and organize a client records binder (physical or digital) that follows a documented filing system with an index, retention schedule, and security classification for each record type. Defend all financial decisions and documentation in a structured oral presentation, answering panel questions with accurate references to source transactions and authoritative bookkeeping standards.

Students complete 243 supervised hours at an approved employer site—such as an accounting firm, small business, nonprofit, or corporate finance department—applying bookkeeping and office administration skills learned in the classroom to real business operations. A credentialed on-site supervisor evaluates daily performance across bookkeeping accuracy, software proficiency, professional conduct, and communication. This field experience bridges classroom training and entry-level employment and satisfies the practical-experience component required before sitting the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper examination.

How the course runs. 4 blocks: Pre-Placement Orientation and Worksite Safety Review; Weeks 1–4: Supervised Worksite Integration; Weeks 5–10: Independent Task Performance and Expanded Responsibility; Final Week: Portfolio Completion and Employer Evaluation.

What competent looks like. Perform assigned bookkeeping tasks—including data entry, bank reconciliations, accounts payable and receivable processing, and payroll support—accurately enough to meet employer quality standards with no more than a 2 percent error rate over the placement period. Operate QuickBooks or the employer's equivalent accounting software and Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook) competently as rated at 'meets expectations' or higher on the employer evaluation rubric. Apply OSHA general-industry workplace safety practices, including hazard identification, emergency procedures, and ergonomic workstation setup, without incident throughout the placement. Maintain organized, confidential paper and electronic records in compliance with employer retention policies and applicable privacy requirements. Demonstrate professional workplace conduct—punctuality, appropriate communication, responsiveness to feedback, and ethical handling of financial information—as rated 'satisfactory' or above by the site supervisor on all five conduct categories. Produce a reflective placement portfolio documenting tasks performed, skills applied, challenges encountered, and professional growth, sufficient to support job-search readiness upon program completion.

This 68-hour course prepares students to sit and pass the QuickBooks Certified User, AIPB Certified Bookkeeper, and Microsoft Office Specialist credential exams by conducting structured domain-by-domain review of every tested competency area. Students practice with timed, exam-realistic question sets, identify and remediate personal weak areas, and complete full-length mock exams under simulated testing conditions before their scheduled credential sittings.

How the course runs. 4 blocks: Diagnostic Assessment and Exam Blueprint Orientation; Domain-by-Domain Review: QuickBooks Certified User and AIPB Certified Bookkeeper; Domain-by-Domain Review: Microsoft Office Specialist (Excel, Word, Outlook); Full-Length Mock Certification Exams and Exam-Day Readiness.

What competent looks like. Demonstrate mastery of all QuickBooks Certified User exam domains—company file setup, banking, sales, purchases, payroll, and reporting—by scoring 80% or higher on timed practice sets. Apply the six AIPB Certified Bookkeeper competency areas (adjusting entries, error correction, payroll, depreciation, internal controls, and inventory) accurately on written and scenario-based practice items. Perform exam-level tasks in Microsoft Excel, Word, and Outlook aligned to the Microsoft Office Specialist role-based exam objectives for each application. Use targeted diagnostic data from practice exams to direct personal remediation across all three credential bodies before the live exam dates. Complete full-length, timed mock exams for each credential under testing-center conditions and meet or exceed each credential's published passing benchmark. Describe the registration process, testing-center rules, and exam-day strategies for Certiport-delivered and AIPB-administered exams.