Reddit reviews Schaum's Outline of Principles of Accounting I, Fifth Edition (Schaum's Outlines)

I've found that Schaum's Outlines are great for both understanding the material and providing practice problems, particularly in the beginning when nothing made sense. There are a number of YouTube channels that are helpful for accounting courses in general (such as Edspira and Farhat), but I don't think they're geared for the introductory accounting courses. You could give AccountingCoach a try; I've used the site for alternate explanations a few times. Investopedia has been useful for referencing terminology and putting it into context.

In addition to accounting resources, I'd suggest that you either obtain an accounting calculator (the BA II Plus is the recommended calculator) or if you've already got a TI-83/84, you learn to use the financial functions. You'll spend a fair amount of time on the time-value-of-money (TVM) functions in some of the courses, and it'll help you tremendously to understand how to use your calculator.


FWIW, I had no real accounting background, so debit/credit was kind of a weird thing to wrap my head around. It's not debit (as in subtract money) and credit (as in add money) but rather a notation (convention?) to signify what side of the t account to place the amount in. Each account (cash, accounts payable, expenses, etc.) has a normal balance on one side or the other. Cash, for example, is an asset and has a normal debit balance. Accounts Payable (a liability account) has a normal credit balance. In double entry accounting, each debit recorded will have a corresponding credit recorded, to ensure that the accounting equation (assets = liabilities + owner's equity) remains balanced. At the end of any particular period of time, you can prepare what's called a trial balance to ensure that all of the debits you've made equal all of the credits you've made, which keeps mathematical errors out of your books.


Good luck to you! I've really enjoyed all of the things I've learned about accounting so far, and I hope you enjoy them too!

Visit your local library and look for bookkeeping/accounting books not prescribed for college. They tend to be more concise and easier to understand if you're new to accounting. Something like this.

Thank you. Do you think that working from the Schaum's book will be sufficient? It's this one: https://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-Principles-Accounting-Fifth/dp/0071635386