When I first started learning bookkeeping, I understood the concepts. Pretty much everything that happens in a business comes down to 1 of these 3 categories: Assets, Liabilities, Equity. I knew that and could recognize that easily in the courses.
But outside of that, I didn’t feel confident.
It wasn’t until a few specific things clicked that bookkeeping stopped feeling like memorization and started feeling logical.
If you’re in that early learning phase right now, here are the 5 things that made the biggest difference for me.
1. Every Transaction Has a Home (And It's Not Random)
In the beginning, categorizing transactions felt like guessing. Is this expense office supplies? Software? Professional services? Does it even matter?
Then I realized: categorizing isn’t about picking the “closest” option. It’s about telling the financial story of the business and consistency in categorizing matters.
Every transaction has a home because every dollar answers one of these questions:
– Did we earn it?
– Did we spend it?
– Do we own it?
– Do we owe it?
Once I started thinking that way, accounts stopped feeling like a list and started feeling organized.
2. The Balance Sheet Isn't Scary... It's Just a Snaphot
I avoided the balance sheet at first. Mainly because I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at or how to spot an error.
The Profit & Loss made sense though. Income minus expenses. Easy.
But the balance sheet felt complicated. Then I learned to see it as a snapshot:
- What the business owns (assets)
- What the business owes (liabilities)
- What’s left over (equity)
That’s it. Now when I review a balance sheet, I don’t panic. I just ask, “Does this snapshot make sense?”
That shift alone changed everything.
3. Reconciliation Is Where Confidence Is Built
At first, reconciliation felt like a chore. It was intimidating, especially when things didn’t magically reconcile and I didn’t know why.
Now? It’s one of my favorite parts. Because reconciliation is proof. When your bank balance matches Quickbooks, you know your foundation is solid. If something doesn’t match, it’s not failure…. it’s a clue.
And learning to treat discrepancies like clues instead of stress made bookkeeping feel investigative (which is right up my alley) instead of overwhelming. I will go more in depth on the nuances of reconciling in future posts.
4. QuickBooks Isn't the Boss... You Are!
When I started using QBO, I assumed the software “knew” more than I did. If it suggested an account, I thought it must be right. Not always!
QuickBooks is a tool. It doesn’t understand context like you do. That was actually a big moment for me – realizing bookkeeping requires judgment and not just clicking buttons.
Once I stopped blindly trusting suggestions and started trusting my own judgement on how to categorize items, my confidence grew quickly.
QuickBooks is more than just where categorization happens. There are so many cool features to it and reports to create (either for yourself or clients)… but you are still the boss.
5. Patterns Are Everywhere
This might be the biggest one… and it actually took me the longest to recognize. Bookkeeping looks complicated because there are so many transactions.
But most businesses repeat the same types of transactions over and over, month after month:
- Monthly software
- Dues & Subscriptions
- Rent
- Payroll
- Owner draws
- etc….
It doesn’t actually take long to recognize these patterns and once you do, bookkeeping becomes less about “figuring out” and more about confirming and consistency. And confirming feels a heck of a lot better than just guessing!!
If You're Just Starting......
If bookkeeping still feels confusing, that’s okay.
You’re not behind.
You’re not bad at it.
You’re just in the early pattern-recognition phase.
It does get clearer.
The more transactions you see.
The more reconciliations you do.
The more financial statements you review.
Eventually, the pieces connect. And when they do? It’s actually pretty satisfying.
In my next few posts, I’ll start breaking down some of these elements in more detail….. especially reconciliation and financial statement review because those are the skills that truly build confidence.
If you’re learning too, I’m really glad you’re here! We’re building this one element at a time.
