Accounting Basics: Online Course with Internship Agreement
Accounting Basics teaches you to read and build the three core financial statements of a European SME, post transactions using double entry, value inventory, calculate ratios, apply EU VAT rules and check numbers produced by software or AI. It is aimed at beginners heading for a junior finance role. The course runs 100 % online over 180 days, includes an internship agreement and costs €200.
- 180 days of access
- 100 % online, at your own pace
- Level: beginner · No prior accounting experience required
- Assessment: 10 quizzes (50 questions) and a final project
- Internship agreement included
- Certificate with a verifiable QR code
- Languages: Spanish, English, French
- Price: €200
Who it is for
- Beginners who want a first junior role in an SME finance or accounting office
- Graduates who know some theory but have never worked with a real balance sheet or ledger
- Office and administration staff who handle invoices and want to understand the accounts behind them
- Anyone preparing to start an entry-level accounting qualification such as the ACCA Diploma
What do you need to start?
Prior knowledge
- No prior accounting knowledge is needed: the course starts from the reporting framework and the accounting equation
- Comfort with basic arithmetic such as percentages, addition and division
- Good reading English, because all the materials are written in English
Software and equipment
- A computer with an internet connection
- The course compares Xero, QuickBooks, SAP Business One and Exact Online, but no licence for these programs is included
What you'll be able to do
- Read and build a balance sheet, classifying items as current or non-current using the 12-month horizon
- Record transactions with debits and credits and check that the books balance to the cent
- Prepare an income statement down to net profit and calculate corporate income tax under a two-bracket system
- Value inventory with FIFO or weighted average and explain why LIFO is not used
- Build a cash flow statement that shows where the money went, separately from profit
- Calculate and interpret current, quick, debt-to-equity, net margin and return on equity ratios
- Apply the correct VAT treatment to domestic, intra-EU business and cross-border consumer invoices
- Verify an AI-generated or automated figure by tracing its formula and inputs and checking its order of magnitude
Skills you will practise
- Balance sheet
- Double-entry bookkeeping
- Income statement
- Cash flow statement
- FIFO and weighted average
- Financial ratios
- EU VAT and reverse charge
- E-invoicing
- Bank reconciliation
- IFRS vs local GAAP
Syllabus
- Accounting for a European SME: the framework question — Why currency and the applicable accounting framework must be settled before a single number is recorded for a European small business.
- The balance sheet — Assets, liabilities and equity, the 12-month current/non-current split, IFRS vs local GAAP and the EU micro, small and medium size classes.
- The accounting equation and double-entry bookkeeping — How each document becomes a debit and a credit, and why the books must balance exactly, not roughly.
- The income statement — From revenue to net profit: cost of sales vs operating expenses, depreciation, and corporate income tax under a two-bracket system.
- Inventory valuation: FIFO, weighted average — and why not LIFO — How the inventory valuation method changes reported figures and how to justify the chosen method against the applicable framework.
- The cash flow statement — Why a profitable business can run short of cash, and how to build a statement showing where the money actually went.
- Reading and using financial ratios — Liquidity, solvency and profitability ratios, judged against trends and the decision at hand, never as a single verdict.
- VAT and e-invoicing across the EU — Domestic sales, intra-EU business sales and purchases, the reverse charge, the EU-wide distance-selling threshold for consumer sales, and e-invoicing requirements.
- Accounting software for European SMEs — What software automates and what still needs judgement, choosing between Xero, QuickBooks, SAP Business One and Exact Online, and bank reconciliation.
- Entry-level accounting careers in Europe, and validating AI-generated numbers — The ACCA Diploma in Financial and Management Accounting, reading junior job postings, and a four-step check for automated or AI-produced figures.
Internship agreement
An intern with this course could support the accounting or finance office of an SME: posting purchase and sales invoices to the ledger, reconciling bank lines, and checking the VAT treatment of domestic and cross-border invoices. They could also help prepare balance sheet, income statement or cash flow figures, compute ratios for internal reports and double-check summaries produced by accounting software.
The internship can run at the same time as the course, within the 180 days of access.
Frequently asked questions
Will this course make me a qualified accountant?
No. Accounting Basics prepares you for junior accounting and bookkeeping work in a European SME. The course itself explains the entry-level ACCA route — the Diploma in Financial and Management Accounting, RQF Level 2, with exams FA1 and MA1 — and makes clear that even that part-qualification does not make you a qualified accountant, nor is it the same as the more advanced Level 4 Diploma in Accounting and Business.
Do I need to master a specific accounting program before applying for junior roles?
Not according to the course materials. A common belief is that a junior role requires expertise in one named product. The course shows that employers look for an understanding of the underlying debit/credit mechanism and the ability to learn whichever tool they use. Module 9 explains what software automates, where judgement is still required, and how Xero, QuickBooks, SAP Business One and Exact Online suit different SMEs.
Which standards, rules and methods does the course actually cover?
It covers double-entry bookkeeping, the difference between IFRS and national local GAAP (including Regulation (EC) 1606/2002), EU company size classes, FIFO and weighted-average inventory valuation, two-bracket corporate income tax, EU VAT for domestic, intra-EU and distance sales including the reverse charge and the single EU-wide distance-selling threshold, e-invoicing, and liquidity, solvency and profitability ratios.
What could I do during the internship, and who finds the company?
You find the host company yourself; the school then issues the internship agreement and its annex, which the company signs electronically, usually within one to two working days. With this course you could help in a finance office by posting invoices, reconciling bank statements, applying VAT treatment to cross-border invoices, preparing ratio summaries or checking figures generated by accounting software before they are passed on.
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Content updated: 07/10/2026