Unit 1: Basic Accounting Fundamentals & Manual Accounting
Lesson 3: Bookkeeping Basics
Now that you’ve learned the fundamentals of accounting, it’s time to understand how bookkeeping works. In this lesson, you’ll learn the bookkeeping process, source documents, double-entry accounting, the bookkeeping workflow, the Chart of Accounts, journals, ledgers, and reconciliation.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Explain the bookkeeping process.
- Identify common source documents.
- Describe the bookkeeping workflow.
- Understand the purpose of the Chart of Accounts.
- Bookkeeping records daily financial transactions accurately.
- Every transaction begins with a source document.
- Transactions move from the Journal to the Ledger before appearing in financial statements.
- Reconciliation helps verify that accounting records are accurate.
Common Mistakes
❌ Recording transactions without supporting documents.
❌ Skipping bank reconciliation.
❌ Recording transactions in the wrong account.
Practice Activity
Arrange the bookkeeping process in the correct order.
- Financial Statements
- Journal
- Ledger
- Chart of Accounts
Then identify which of the following are source documents:
- Receipt
- Invoice
- Bank Statement
- Payroll Record
- Calculator