Accounting software basics: bank feeds, matching, roles and closed periods

Skills you'll practise

• Decide whether a bank-feed line should be matched to an existing record, recorded as a new transaction, or queried
• Explain why creating a new transaction for money already recorded duplicates income or expenses
• Attach source documents to transactions and describe what makes a record supportable
• Choose the least-privilege user access for a given job and recognize duties that should be separated
• Explain what a closed period (lock or closing date) and the audit trail protect, and when to involve the accountant

Course outline

1. 1.Accounting software basicsVideo · 2 min
2. 2.How the software holds your booksLesson · 13 min
3. 3.Bank feeds: match before you createLesson · 14 min
4. 4.Controls: roles, closed periods, the audit trail and the accountantLesson · 13 min
5. 5.Accounting software basics: bank feeds, matching, roles and closed periods: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 18 questions
6. 6.Final exam8 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• IRS Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records (US example: supporting documents for entries in your books)
• U.S. GAO: Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government (the "Green Book"): segregation of duties, reconciliations and access controls as control activities
• General bookkeeping practice (double entry, reconciliations, review and sign-off)