QuickBooks is an accounting and bookkeeping software solution designed from the ground up to manage sales, invoices, inventory, payroll and many other small business accounting requirements. The QuickBooks software package contains various tools that are designed specifically for various industries for example it has marketing tools, merchant services, product and supplies, training solutions. According to the Journal of accounting more than 4.5 million companies use QuickBooks, thus it’s by far the most widely used accounting system in the world.

This post is a road map for anyone willing to start learning QuickBooks online for free from scratch, the post will present and compare between the best online sources where beginners can start from and follow along, the sources stated in this post are full structured courses so you won’t find a link to a single video or a group of unrelated tutorials.

If you just want the bottom line (the road map to learn QuickBooks) and you don’t wish to read the entire article then go to the “Bottom Line” section at the end of the article.

Start Learning QuickBooks for Free from Scratch

Free QuickBooks Lessons

Free QuickBooks Lessons is the first free online outlet where beginners can start learning QuickBooks through video tutorials. You don’t need to register in order to have access to the course, just visit the website and you’re ready to go.

Structure: The course is divided into 8 chapters and each chapter is divided into lessons and each these lessons covers certain topics in QuickBooks, each of the lessons is available as video as well as text which makes it very easy for beginner to start and follow along.

Interface: The interface is very simple, click on the lesson you’re interested in and you’ll be directed to the lesson’s window where you shall find the video and text tutorial.

Now, the pros and cons:

Pros

1. Free.
2. The course is well-structured and organized for beginners.
3. The organization of the course makes it easy for beginners to follow along.
4. The course is available as text as well as video.

Cons

1. The course covers an old version of QuickBooks (2013), the latest version is 2014. Though that won’t be a big problem for beginners.

Verdict: This is the best place for any beginner to start learning QuickBooks.

Learn QuickBooks Free

Learn QuickBooks Free is the second free online outlet where beginners can start learning QuickBooks. As Free QuickBooks Lessons you don’t need to register in order to have access to the course.

Structure: The course is divided into 12 sections and each section is divided into lessons and each of these lessons covers certain topics in QuickBooks.

Interface: The interface is very simple, just click on the lesson you’re interested in and you’ll be directed to the lesson’s page where the video resides.

Now, the pros and cons:

Pros

1. Free.
2. The course is well-structured for beginners.

Cons

1. The course covers an old version of QuickBooks.
2. Both QuickBooks 2013 and 2012 are used throughout the course which might be a little bit confusing for beginners.

Verdict: This is a good outlet for beginners to start learning QuickBooks through video tutorials for free.

AQB

AQB is the third free online outlet where beginners can start learning QuickBooks through video tutorials, as the above two outlets you don’t need to register in order to have access to the course. But you’ll need to register if you want to have the quizzes that tests your understanding of the course.

Structure: The course is divided into 4 main sections; 3 sections are dedicated for the lessons of QuickBooks and the fourth section is dedicated for examining your understanding of these lessons (quizzes).

Interface: The interface is very simple, just click on the lesson you’re interested in and you’ll be directed to a new page where all of the videos of that lesson resides.

Now, the pros and cons:

Pros

1. Free.
2. The course is well-structured and organized for beginners.
3. The course organization makes it suitable for those who wants to get an overview about QuickBooks and maybe compares it to another software solution.
4. The quizzes are helpful in measuring your understanding of the software.

Cons

1. The same drawback of the above outlets, the curse covers an old version of QuickBooks.

Verdict: This is a good source to start learning QuickBooks, especially for beginners who prefer quizzes to test their comprehension of the software and it’s also suitable for those who want to get an overview about the software.

Small Biz Accounting Software (Update: Closed)

Small Biz Accounting Software is the fourth free online outlet where beginners can start learning QuickBooks. This is a text-based training and there are no videos.

Structure: The training is divided into 11 tutorials, each tutorial covers a certain topic in QuickBooks. The training is more of a very brief overview about QuickBooks.

Interface: The interface is very simple, just click on the lesson you’re interested in and you’ll be directed to a new page where the tutorial resides.

Now, the pros and cons:

Pros

1. Free.

Cons

1. The training is more of an overview, not a complete source for beginners.

Verdict: This outlet isn’t suitable for beginners to start learning QuickBooks, as it’s more of an overview about QuickBooks.

Bottom Line

The recipe for learning QuickBooks for free

1. Free QuickBooks Lessons is the best place for beginners to start learning QuickBooks through video tutorials.
2. AQB is suitable for beginners who want to learn and test their understanding through quizzes.

Remember that the first step is always the toughest step, and the aim of this post is to provide you with resources that will help you take your first step in QuickBooks.