Bookkeeping, Tax, Accounting, QuickBooks

School is key for learning accounting basics

Home-based bookkeepers can receive specific training from local trade school

Figuring out a career path is a lot more taxing than most people expect. Even after getting a good education or launching a profitable business there are plenty of potholes and detours along the way that can derail a promising career. That’s one of the reasons why on any given night everyone from small business operators and CPAs to homemakers and college students can be found in one of the classrooms at Universal Accounting.

A specialized bookkeeping trade school, Uni-versal’s classrooms fill up with people from different backgrounds who have come to learn the basics of accounting. Some are picking up new skills to help them in their small business, some come from a strong accounting background but need more specific training, and others have aspirations of starting a home-based business as a freelance bookkeeper.

Founded in 1979 with the intent of helping small business operators learn the basics of bookkeeping, the school has perfected the art of revamping a career or putting some spark in a small business.

“What we teach are the principles and practices of accounting,” says Allen Bostrom, president of Universal Accounting. Universal’s most popular course is an all-inclusive, four-week class that covers the fundamentals of bookkeeping with an emphasis on small business. The proprietary material used in the course familiarizes students with accounting practices in several principa lindustries and gives them some hands-on experience doing common small-business accounting, like setting up a book from scratch, doing payroll and creating quarterly reports.

“The students create nine original sets of books during the course. They get exposure to several different industries,” Bostrom says. “We believe a person learns best by doing, so all the courses are very hands-on and practical.”

Catering to working adults, the course is taught either at night, four times a week; or on a flexible schedule where students go at their own pace with a combination of a weekly course and video classes that are done at home.

“All backgrounds qualify for the course,” Bostrom adds. “The short length is intensive, but the courses go at a comfortable pace.”

Students taking the course usually break down equally into three categories: small-business owners who want stronger bookkeeping skills, accountants looking to expand their skills and novices looking for new career skills.

“Even people with degrees come away from the first day feeling like they take something away from the course,” Bostrom says.

Although actual course work only lasts a month, help at Universal doesn’t end there. Students taking the course also qualify for a year of free assistance from Universal’s support staff. This includes weekly “brown bag” seminars, which serve as continuing education and are held during the lunch hour; a staff of coaches that are available to help with any technical questions that may arise during that first year; and a marketing staff that helps students pursuing freelance careers build up a clientele.

“For hundreds of years accounting has been done as a freelance industry. It’s a real-life home business,” Bostrom explains. “There are tons of businesses out there that need bookkeepers and Universal has a course for setting up a home business.”

During the last 25 years, the accounting courses at Universal have proven very popular and the school has expanded to include campuses in Denver; Baltimore; Buffalo, N.Y.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Portland, Ore.; as well as the Murray location. For more information, visit the Web site at www.knowaccounting.com or call (801) 265-3777. Financing is available for qualifying students.

Article contributed by Jared Mendenhall, NAC staff writer.

Universal Accounting caters to a variety of backgrounds. Some students want to pick up new skills to help them in their small business. Others want more specific training to help in their accounting career.