This course walks accountants, bookkeepers, and small-business owners through the critical first phase of working with QuickBooks Online 2026: laying the foundation of a company file before any day-to-day transactions are entered. Most QuickBooks problems can be traced back to a setup decision made (or skipped) at the very beginning, so this course is dedicated to getting that foundation right.
Using a hands-on practice company called Get Great Guitars, the instructor demonstrates the full setup workflow inside an empty QuickBooks Online 2026 file. You'll start by exploring the different ways to gain access to a practice environment — the 30-day free trial, the free student version, the sample company test drive, and discounted purchase options — and learn which option best fits your situation, whether you're a practitioner, a student, or evaluating the software for a real business.
From there, you'll get a guided tour of the QuickBooks Online interface, including the left-hand navigation, the gear icon (where the "permanent" company-level settings live), and the new desktop application that lets you run QuickBooks Online in a dedicated window outside the browser. You'll then go tab by tab through every section of Account and Settings — Company, Usage, QuickBooks Checking, Sales, Expenses, Payments, Time, and Advanced — so that the file is configured correctly before any forms, invoices, or bank feeds are touched.
The second half of the course tackles one of the most underestimated parts of any QuickBooks implementation: migrating from a prior system. You'll learn how to think about cutoff dates, how to handle historical data from QuickBooks Desktop or other software, and the cleanest way to bring in opening balances for customers, vendors, and inventory without bloating the new file. The course closes with a practical breakdown of inventory tracking methods (periodic vs. perpetual, FIFO vs. weighted average, and when to track inventory inside QuickBooks vs. in a separate system), followed by a step-by-step walkthrough of setting up service items and inventory items along with their beginning balances.
By the end of this course, you'll be able to open a brand-new QuickBooks Online file and confidently configure it end-to-end — with the right settings, the right item list, and the right opening balances — so that the books you build on top of it are clean from day one.
Who this course is for: bookkeepers, public accountants, CPA / CPD candidates, small-business owners, and accounting students who want a structured, no-shortcuts approach to setting up QuickBooks Online 2026.
This course includes:
