Using Excel for Accounting: Introduction to Accounting

Name: Using Excel for Accounting: Introduction to Accounting
Author: Bob Akbar

Learn about the use of automation in accounting

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 3 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hello. My name is Bob Akbar. And in these lessons we are going to cover 'Introduction to Accounting'. In this lesson you will learn the evolution of accounting with automation. So let's take a look at our data here. And as you can see, if we were doing this by hashtags or counting with our fingers, back in the stone age we're counting the number of sheeps that our tripad who would break it down by saying there's John and there's Jane. John has one plus one, which is two. Jane has two plus three, which is not three. However, if we made a mistake and only wrote down three, that's what's going to show up. And then we would add those numbers together and we would get five. As you can see, we've already made a mistake. Because we're doing this manually and not doing this by automation or software as we do in nowadays. So let's say something happens to Jane and she loses a sheep. Now we have to start all over. None of this updated automatically so we are going to have to count this again. One plus three is four. Thank goodness. This time it'll be correct at least. And it'll be two plus four and we add those together. Two plus four will be six. Can you imagine trying to run a company with 50 employees, 12 vendors, and each technician or employee is doing 35 jobs a week. Impossible to keep things correct. There's manual errors as you saw that can be made when you're trying to keep track of this. If one of the numbers gets updated or revised, we're in trouble. We have to start everything over. Absolute nightmare. The good news is humans have been smart for a while and they came up with something called the Amicus. And this was the first way of them trying to make things more accurate. And they could if they added simply one, they could move one if the number places changed and so forth. As we moved on into the technology age we came up with the accounting room. Lovely place and there were a lot of people employed. As you can see the sign says this was the original computing division. This is where the work computer comes from. We're now getting into technology and automation. People would get receipts, they would put them in, the machine will tabulate the results, they will collect those results, take them to somebody else to tabulate the tabulation. In other words, answer the answers, add the adds and it was still a mess, but it was a lot easier. We are making progress. Then we move on to the first computers. Here we are. As you can tell, this is not a portable system. And there was one in the office. However, by this time they're using punch cards. They are able to store the data. As rudimentary as it was, it was still better than it was. If you messed up, you didn't have to start from scratch. There was one error, you could fix the error. I'm sure you have heard the nightmare stories of people dropping those cards. Because if those cards were not in order then the calculations would be off. So comes along the evolution of VisiCalc. VisiCalc if you notice, I have circled up here, B3 plus B4. That looks very familiar to us that use Excel. And if you notice here it says B5. B5 is this cell right here. And B5 is positive B3 minus B4. And now we're starting to recognize a spreadsheet. If there's any simple mistakes made as far as us inputting the data, all we have to do is correct one cell and it automatically updates. And we are not going to make any manual mistakes because the spreadsheet is doing the calculation for us. This evolved into something that some of you may be familiar with called Lotus 123, which the fans still love that as one of the best out there. However, that was discontinued and a lot of the features were incorporated into what we use now as Excel. And as you can see, Excel goes back quite a ways. So 1985. And the Excels that we are using now, they're both available on the desktop version as well as Microsoft Office 365. We are using the desktop version, which is the downloaded version. And this provides us now with the ability of being able to put in what we did earlier. We're going to put John's Sheeps, Jane's sheeps and we can simply add them together. We also have functions now. And look at that. And if we want to change one number, say one of Jane's Sheep's gave birth, we simply update that one number. And there it is. Our total updates automatically. Stay tuned for the next lesson where I will show you managing multiple worksheets. Thanks for watching.

Intermediate Provider : Bob Akbar 3 Lessons · 24m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

In these lessons we will explore how accounting has developed from the earliest stages of automation to contemporary programs like Microsoft Excel. We will discuss why manual accounting can be filled with errors and be difficult to revise. We’ll explain which functions can be automated in Excel, and why this is one of the best tools we can use for accounting today. This course will explore how to use multiple worksheets grouped into workbooks to organize accounting data. We will look at how this can help the user to easily update references when core inputs are changed, or data needs to be revised. We will also discuss the predictive and reactive approaches to accounting and discuss some of the predictive accounting abilities available in Excel, from simple calculations to full statistical modeling.

This course explores how accounting automation has evolved with the development of Microsoft Excel. It discusses how worksheets and workbooks can be automated for ease of use and shows how to use excel for financial predictions.

What You'll Learn

Understand the importance of automation for accounting
Trace how accounting has evolved from early automation to programs like Microsoft Excel
Use multiple worksheets grouped into workbooks to organize accounting data effectively
Distinguish between predictive and reactive approaches to accounting
Explain how predictive models help accounting, from simple calculations to full statistical modeling

Key Takeaways

Manual accounting can be filled with errors and difficult to revise, which automation helps address.
Microsoft Excel is presented as one of the best tools available for accounting today because of the functions it can automate.
Grouping worksheets into workbooks helps users easily update references when core inputs change or data needs revising.
Excel supports predictive accounting abilities ranging from simple calculations to full statistical modeling.
The course covers both predictive and reactive approaches to accounting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

It explores how accounting automation has evolved with the development of Microsoft Excel, how worksheets and workbooks can be automated for ease of use, and how to use Excel for financial predictions.

What skills will I gain from this course?

The course covers Microsoft Excel, Accounting, Accounting Management, Accounting Software, Computerized Accounting, and Microsoft Office Accounting.

What lessons are included?

The course includes three lessons: Evolution of Accounting with Automation, Managing Multiple Worksheets, and Predictive vs. Reactive.

Why use Excel for accounting instead of manual methods?

Manual accounting can be filled with errors and difficult to revise, while Excel can automate functions and is presented as one of the best tools available for accounting today.

Does the course explain predictive accounting?

Yes. It discusses the predictive and reactive approaches to accounting and the predictive accounting abilities available in Excel, from simple calculations to full statistical modeling.