Looking to learn QuickBooks? QuickBooks is accounting software from Intuit that costs between $20-200 a month, depending on the subscription you choose and the features your business needs. Beyond this, something you’ll want to consider is the cost of QuickBooks training. There are free resources you can use to teach yourself QuickBooks and low-cost on-demand classes for around $15. Many people find it useful to learn QuickBooks from a reputable training facility, where on-demand classes cost around $300. Guided, hands-on training from a live instructor will often cost between $400-500 for a one- or two-day QuickBooks class. Read on to find out more about how much you can expect to spend on learning QuickBooks.
What is QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is a widely used accounting and bookkeeping software package from Intuit. Primarily used by small and medium businesses, QuickBooks helps businesses to track and manage everything to do with their finances. Using QuickBooks, businesses can monitor their cash flow and profits and losses by tracking sales, expenses, customers, and payments. QuickBooks is also often used to create and send invoices, manage the business’s inventory, and manage employee payroll. It also has budgeting, time tracking, and daily task features to keep businesses running efficiently.
QuickBooks helps businesses ensure the accuracy of their records by directly connecting sales channels to QuickBooks and reconciling bank transactions with the information one inputs. The software also has features to help with tax preparation and can be used as a way to collaborate and share documents with an accountant. QuickBooks is a subscription-based service with varied payment tiers that provide access to different features. The different versions of QuickBooks cater to different storage and employment needs as Intuit offers basic to premium plans of its cloud-based QuickBooks Online, a computer-installed QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise version for larger companies, and a version for freelancers and independent contractors called QuickBooks Solopreneur.
Read more about what QuickBooks is and why you should learn it.
What Can You Do with QuickBooks?
QuickBooks software has many different applications and uses across a wide variety of industries. Many small and medium-sized businesses use QuickBooks for its record-keeping features as it was originally designed for businesses without a dedicated accounting department. QuickBooks allows someone to track and categorize many things such as expenses, sales, transactions, and customer, vendor, and inventory lists. This makes QuickBooks a great option for those needing to keep all of their business records in one place.
Additionally, many people use QuickBooks to create and send invoices, manage employee payroll, help prepare their taxes, maintain a budget, and automate tasks. QuickBooks includes features to automate accounts payable and receivable. Many use QuickBooks to automate sending customer invoices or payment reminders or even keeping employees updated on crucial tasks and sending deadline reminders. These features of QuickBooks allow you to increase productivity and maintain efficient workflows so that you do not constantly need to task employees with work that can be done by the QuickBooks software itself.
Not only do businesses use QuickBooks, but QuickBooks is often used by self-employed people like freelancers and independent contractors. QuickBooks offers a specific version of the software called QuickBooks Solopreneur (formerly QuickBooks Self-Employed or SE). Many people find that once they link their accounts, it is easy to import their transactions and the QuickBooks software will automatically work to tag one’s income. Self-employed users will likely need to do a bit of extra work to categorize their transactions more effectively for their own needs, but QuickBooks can do much of the bookkeeping work automatically and make tracking finances easier for individuals.
In-Depth Review of the Training Cost
QuickBooks learners have a lot of different training options and many people choose to use a combination of paid and free resources to learn QuickBooks. Free resources are especially useful for beginners who want to learn basic familiarity with QuickBooks and paid classes are best for comprehensive and advanced instruction.
You can teach yourself to use QuickBooks for free. It will be hard to learn everything from only free resources, but free resources are great for beginners and those who want to learn how to use very specific features of QuickBooks. Not only are there free websites, courses, and guides to learning QuickBooks, but YouTube has many free video tutorials that will teach QuickBooks fundamentals and more specialized topics. Those with a library account can also often access a variety of on-demand QuickBooks classes through LinkedIn Learning (or Lynda.com) for free. One should also consider that QuickBooks Online Accountant is free for accounting and bookkeeping professionals and includes access to training materials such as videos, tutorials, and webinars that one can use to learn QuickBooks.
Those who have already learned QuickBooks often recommend QuickBooks novices seek out low-cost on-demand classes from providers like Udemy, which offers individual courses from a variety of instructors that are usually under $25, or Skillshare, which allows users to access their entire course library for a monthly subscription fee. One can also find on-demand classes from reputable digital skills training facilities like Certstaffix Training or ONLC Training Center for around $300 and $500, respectively. ONLC’s class looks more expensive but actually combines an advanced and a quickstart class into one comprehensive self-study class. On-demand classes are useful because they allow you to work through the course material at your own pace and are best for self-motivated learners who cannot commit to taking an instructor-led class.
Live online and in-person classes are still considered the best form of education, as these offer access to an expert instructor and guided, hands-on QuickBooks training. Most instructor-led classes will cost more than on-demand or asynchronous online classes, though one can find training options under $500 from Noble Desktop, NYIM Training, Certstaffix, and ONLC. Most QuickBooks classes and bootcamps are scheduled over one or two days, so you can often learn QuickBooks at a faster rate from a live online or in-person class than by using free materials or taking an on-demand class. Noble Desktop’s 12-hour QuickBooks Bootcamp is an especially useful option for those looking to learn QuickBooks comprehensively and quickly.
In addition to QuickBooks-specific classes, many accounting or bookkeeping classes will offer training in QuickBooks and most people find that they need to know some bookkeeping and accounting basics to use QuickBooks. You can find bookkeeping and accounting classes from many of the same providers as detailed above and you are also more likely to be able to find these classes locally. Check your local public library, community center, or community college to see if they offer any free or low-cost options to learn accounting or bookkeeping.
Free Introductory QuickBooks Course Online
For those not yet ready to take a full course on QuickBooks, one can start learning QuickBooks and related skills for free online. Noble Desktop’s comprehensive guide to accounting is one such free resource that covers introductory information about accounting and how to learn the skills necessary to become an Accountant. It is common for those interested in QuickBooks or accounting, either for use with their own business or for other clients, to start by learning about the software and familiarizing themselves with what it can do and what skills will allow them to optimize their use of it. Using free resources can help someone not only receive a basic overview of QuickBooks but also figure out what skills to learn, what courses to take, and what knowledge they still need to acquire before getting started with QuickBooks.
One can also find free introductory courses from different education providers online. Most of these courses will be on-demand, self-paced courses that will provide learners with access to video lectures or tutorials and allow for limited practice and skills testing. These courses range from providing beginners with tips and tricks for getting started with QuickBooks to more focused classes with modules on how to create invoices, use payroll, set up different kinds of accounts, or even customize the QuickBooks interface. LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) has many such offerings and can often be accessed for free through one’s local library.
Read more about free QuickBooks videos and online tutorials.
Learn QuickBooks with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop
Noble Desktop offers expert in-person and live online training for those interested in learning QuickBooks. Noble Desktop’s classes all include expert, hands-on guidance, small class sizes, and free retake options and many classes offer both part-time and full-time options so that one can find the QuickBooks or finance class that works best for their schedule. For fast and comprehensive training in QuickBooks, consider enrolling in Noble Deskop’s QuickBooks Bootcamp which teaches students everything they need to know about how to use QuickBooks to track and manage a business’s finances. This bootcamp uses hands-on training to teach students the basics of QuickBooks like configuring a company profile, working with customer, vendor, and inventory lists, and invoicing and processing payments as well as the more advanced management and customization features. Noble Desktop offers this bootcamp live online from any location and it can be taken in person at Noble Desktop’s training facility in New York City.
Noble Desktop also has accounting classes and bootcamps which are a great option for anyone interested in developing their skills or learning more about finance and accounting. The Intro to Financial Accounting & Financial Statements class uses hands-on exercises to teach students the fundamentals of analyzing financial statements and reports. After completing this introductory class, students can progress to the Intermediate Financial Accounting class which teaches more complex topics like earnings per share and deferred taxes. For those who want a comprehensive, accelerated class that tackles both beginner and intermediate topics of accounting, consider the Financial Accounting Bootcamp which teaches everything students need to know in two class sessions.
Noble’s finance and accounting classes are great for those who want to grow their financial literacy beyond learning about QuickBooks. These classes are also useful for those interested in turning their knowledge of QuickBooks into the first step to becoming a Bookkeeper or Accountant. If this is something that interests you, you can learn more about the career path of an Accountant by reading Noble Desktop’s comprehensive guide to accounting, a free resource that covers essential information about accounting and how to learn the skills necessary to make this one’s career. For those who want to work in finance in some capacity but are not entirely sure which direction they want to go in yet, Noble Desktop’s guide to finance is a useful way to read about different career options.