Questions, answered.
The things people ask us most, and where to read more about each one. If your question is not here, a person answers the contact form.
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- Chapter 4
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What this is, and where to begin.
The short version of what you are looking at, and what it costs to look.
What is QuickBooks Online Step-by-Step?
One textbook and one practice course, taught in QuickBooks Online itself. You read a chapter, then do the same work in a real QBO company file: sales, expenses, banking, reconciliation, payroll and reporting. It is written by Alicia Katz Pollock and published under the Sleeter Group imprint.See the textbookAbout usMeet the author
Can I read some of it before I pay?
Yes. Chapter 4 is free to everyone, with no account and no card. It is a full chapter from the middle of the book, not a sample of the introduction, so you see the real teaching before you decide.Read chapter 4 freeCompare the editions
Do I need an account?
Not to read the free chapter. You need a free account for anything the site has to remember: your place in the book, your quiz scores, your progress, and joining a class. Creating one takes an email address and a six-digit code. There is no password to invent.Create a free accountStart with chapter 4
Do I need accounting experience?
No. The book starts at the accounting equation and builds from there, so a first-time bookkeeping student and a small-business owner doing their own books can both start at chapter 1.The self-paced path
Do I need my own QuickBooks Online subscription?
Not for Lite. All of its work happens in Craig’s Landscaping, Intuit’s free QBO Test Drive file, which anyone can open. Standard needs a QuickBooks Online account, and a free one works: its end-of-chapter DIY exercises and the YinYang Graphic Design case study and capstone happen in companies you build yourself. If you are in a class, your instructor will tell you which file to use.What each tier includesDesktop vs Online, explained
What each tier includes, and what it costs.
Two tiers, two ways to pay, and how long access lasts once you have it.
What is the difference between Lite and Standard?
Whose company file the work happens in. Lite is chapters 1–8 and 10, all of it in Craig’s Landscaping, the free QBO Test Drive, so it needs no QuickBooks account. Standard is chapters 1–16, and adds chapters 9 and 11–16 (the YinYang Graphic Design case study, job costing, inventory, year-end, payroll and the capstone) and every end-of-chapter DIY exercise, the work you do in companies you build yourself.Side-by-side comparisonPrices for both tiers
What does it cost?
Lite is $34.95 a month, or $114.95 as a one-time payment for a year. Standard is $59.95 a month, or $179.95 for a year. The E-Learning Companion, a printed copy of the book, adds $60 to either; it is not sold on its own. Yearly access does not renew automatically; monthly access renews until you cancel it.Prices and termsPricing for a class or a team
How long does my access last?
Yearly access runs for a year from the day you start reading, and then stops. It does not quietly renew. Monthly access continues until you cancel, and you keep it to the end of the period you have already paid for. Either way your progress, scores and notes stay on your account.Pricing and terms
I have Lite. Can I move up to Standard?
Yes. Your progress, quiz scores and reading position carry across, so you are not restarting the book, you are unlocking the rest of it. If you pay yearly you pay only the difference; if you pay monthly, switch plans from My Account and the new price starts with your next month.See both tiersAsk us
Can I buy access for a class or a team?
Yes. Seats are bought in bulk and handed out: either you assign them from your dashboard, or students claim one with a class code. Volume pricing starts at 15 seats, and a seat’s clock starts when it is assigned to a person, not when you buy it.Seat pricingHow seats workFor firms and teams
Is there a refund policy?
Yes, and the details sit on the pricing page next to what you are buying. If something has gone wrong with an order, write to us rather than working it out from the small print, and a person answers.Refund termsContact us
Adopting the book, and running a class on it.
Evaluation copies, setting a class up, grading, and the LMS.
Can I get an evaluation copy before adopting the book?
Yes. Verified instructors get the whole textbook and the instructor materials to evaluate, normally within one business day of asking. You do not have to commit to anything to look.Request instructor accessHow instructor approval works
I have never taught QuickBooks Online, only Desktop. How different is it?
Different enough to plan for, and less frightening than it looks. The accounting is the same; the navigation, the bank feeds and the reporting are not. Two articles cover the switch honestly, including what confuses students first.How teaching QBO differs from QBDTHow will I learn QBO to teach this class?Intuit is discontinuing the Desktop education program
How do I set up a class and get my students in?
You create the class in a short wizard, then invite students with a class code, a link, or an emailed invitation. If some of your students cannot use email, you can create their accounts yourself.Create a classInvite studentsStudents who cannot use emailTry the demo class first
How is student work graded?
Chapter quizzes are marked automatically. Exercise files students upload are checked by the smart grader against a rubric, and you can override any check, adjust a score, or hold grades back until you have reviewed them. Written answers are yours to read and mark. The machine does not guess at those.How the smart grader worksHow chapter quizzes are gradedAdjust a gradeHold and release grades
Can I choose which chapters my class sees?
Yes. You decide which chapters are open, whether quizzes show answers, whether the smart grader runs, and what students can see of their own progress. The defaults are sensible for a first class, and every one of them is a switch.Choose which chapters your class seesEvery class control, explained
Does it connect to Canvas, Blackboard or Moodle?
Yes, over LTI, so students launch the book from your LMS and scores can travel back to your gradebook. Setup is one connection per course.Connect your LMS
Is there an instructor manual?
Yes: solutions, answer keys, chapter guides and teaching notes, readable inside the same reader your students use rather than as a separate download you have to keep track of.The Instructor's Manual in the readerEverything for teachers
The reader, your progress, and QuickBooks moving under you.
How you actually read it, what it remembers, and what to do when a page looks wrong.
Do I read this in a browser, or download a PDF?
Both are there. The Modern reader is the main way to read: it reflows to your screen, remembers where you were, carries the in-software step guides, and holds your quizzes and progress. The Classic view is the printed page as a PDF, for when you want exactly what is on paper.Modern and Classic readerOpen the free chapter
Will it remember where I stopped?
Yes, once you have a free account. Your position, your quiz scores and your progress follow you between devices, and the Modern and Classic views stay in step with each other.Create a free account
My QuickBooks screen does not match the screenshot in the book. Why?
QuickBooks Online changes continuously, and Intuit rolls changes out to different accounts at different times, so a button occasionally moves between an edition being printed and you reading it. The workflow underneath is almost always the same. There is an article on handling it without losing class time, and you can flag a page that looks wrong from inside the reader.Why your QBO file may not match the bookTell us about a page
Is the book current with the 2026 QuickBooks Online interface?
Yes. The 2026 edition is written against the current interface, and it is corrected in place as Intuit ships changes. An online textbook can be fixed in a week, which is the main reason to read this one rather than a printed edition from two years ago.See the current editionsWhat's new in the 2024 editions
Is there help while I am reading?
Yes. Chapters carry step-by-step guides for the work you are doing in QuickBooks, and an AI tutor can answer questions about the material you are on. It is there to explain, not to do the bookkeeping for you. Check its answer against the chapter before you rely on it.Open the free chapter
I bought a printed copy. Where are the exercise files?
On the downloads page, listed by book title, the same place the printed book points you to.Downloads
Can I use a screen reader, or read this with the keyboard?
The reader is built to be used with a keyboard and a screen reader, and there is a text-to-speech mode for listening to a chapter. If something is in your way, tell us. Accessibility problems get fixed rather than logged.Accessibility statementReport a problem
What the book prepares you for, and what it does not issue.
The QuickBooks Certified User exam, and who actually awards it.
Does this prepare me for the QuickBooks Certified User exam?
Yes. Certiport lists the book as in line with the QuickBooks Certified User exam. A free practice quiz shows you where you stand.QBCU practice exams
Do you issue the certification?
No, and be wary of anyone who says they do. The QuickBooks Certified User credential is issued by Intuit through Certiport; we are an independent publisher whose book is in line with the exam. You sit the exam with Certiport and buy the voucher from them.
Getting a person, and what happens to your data.
When something has gone wrong, and what we keep about you.
Something is wrong with my order or my access. Who do I talk to?
Write to us and a person answers: order problems, access that has not arrived, a class you cannot join, or a page in the book that looks wrong. Include the email address on the order if you have one.Contact usInvitations not arriving
What do you do with my data?
We keep what running your account and your course needs, and we do not sell it. Students’ work is visible to their own teacher, and to nobody else’s.Privacy policyTerms
Where to go next.
Every answer above links to the page that goes deeper. Here they are together.
For teachers
The instructor documentation, written as plain how-to.
- How instructor approval works
- Try the demo group
- Create a class
- Invite students
- How the smart grader works
- Reading your group dashboard
From the blog
Longer reads on the switch to QBO, and what changed in each edition.
- Desktop vs Online: the differences
- How teaching QBO differs from QBDT
- How will I learn QBO to teach this class?
- Why doesn’t my QBO file match the book?
- Intuit is discontinuing the Desktop education program
- Meet the author
The book and the offer
What is in each tier, what it costs, and what you get on paper.
- Pricing
- Pricing for a class or team
- Compare the editions
- The textbook
- QBCU practice exams
- Exercise file downloads
Read a chapter before you answer any of this.
Chapter 4 is open to everyone. No account, no card. A full chapter from the middle of the book, so you can judge the teaching rather than the introduction.
Still stuck? Ask us directly. A person answers.