QuickBooks Online Step-by-Step · Self-pacedBeginner friendly

Learn QBO fundamentals.At your pace.

Read the lesson, then do the same work in Intuit’s free QuickBooks Online sample company. No class schedule. Go at your own speed.

8 chapters + 2 bonus
Practice in QBO
Quizzes and exams

Try Chapter 4 free See pricing See pricing

Start with Chapter 4 · No card or paid QBO license required

Listed by Certiport for QBCU prep · Alicia Katz Pollock · 20+ years publishing · The Sleeter Group imprint

Built for the current QBO

QuickBooks Online Step-by-Step 2026

2026 edition · Online textbook

Open the free lesson

Who this is for

QuickBooks skills for your work

For bookkeepers, business owners, career changers, and students.

Bookkeepers and office managers

You keep the books, or you are about to. Learn how an accountant actually sets these workflows up.

Small-business owners

Do your own books with confidence: invoicing, bills, bank feeds, reconciliation, and a profit and loss you can actually read.

Career changers

Do the work hands-on, then study for the QuickBooks Certified User exam.

Students on their own

Using the book in a course? Sign in and your class, your progress and your teacher’s messages are on one account. Studying solo? Same book, your pace.

How it works

Learn one chapter at a time

Read the lesson, complete the exercises, and check your understanding.

1
Read the chapter
The concept, the accounting behind it, and screenshots of the current QuickBooks Online interface. Practice quizzes sit inside the page, so you answer where you read.
2
Do it in QuickBooks Online
Follow the practice steps beside the lesson to complete exercises in QuickBooks Online.
3
Check your understanding
Use practice quizzes and chapter exams to find the topics worth revisiting before you move on.
4
Keep going when it suits you
Your place and scores are saved to your account.

Chapter assignments in the online textbook

The curriculum

Chapters 1–8 plus two bonus chapters, from your first login to a reconciled bank account.

Start with the accounting basics, then customers, vendors, banking, reconciliation and reports.

Lite8 chapters + 2 bonus

1Introducing QuickBooks Online
2Setting Up QBO
3Customizing QuickBooks Online
4Customer Sales
5Vendor Expenses
6Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable
7Banking and Reconciliation
8Reports
9Case Study: YinYang Graphic DesignStandard only
10Advanced WorkflowsBonus chapter
11Projects and Job CostingStandard only
12InventoryStandard only
13Year-End ProceduresStandard only
14Payroll SetupStandard only
15Payroll ProcessingStandard only
16Capstone Project: YinYang Graphic DesignStandard only

What you will be able to do

Learn why each entry goes where it does.

Set up a clean QuickBooks Online company
Record sales, expenses, bills, and payments
Work with bank feeds and reconcile accounts
Read a profit and loss and other key reports

Want to build companies of your own, through the case study and capstone? You can move up to Standard when you are ready.

See what Standard adds

Certification

A study path to the QuickBooks Certified User exam.

Certiport lists the book as in line with the QuickBooks Certified User exam, and a free practice quiz shows you where you stand before you book it.

Questiva publishes QBCU exam prep, but we are an independent publisher (not Intuit), and we do not administer the exam.

Try the free practice quiz

What the credential path includes

A free practice quiz, two questions per exam area
A full timed practice exam with a per-area diagnostic
The chapters themselves: the hands-on time the exam actually tests

What it costs

Start free, then choose your pace

Try a complete customer-sales lesson first. When you are ready, get Lite, yearly or monthly.

Free lesson$0

Try Chapter 4 in Craig’s Landscaping. No card or paid QuickBooks Online license required.

Lite · Yearly$114.95

Chapters 1–8 plus two bonus chapters in Craig’s Landscaping. A one-time payment for 12 months of access; it does not renew automatically.

Lite · Monthly$34.95

The same Lite course, billed monthly until you cancel.

See every option on the pricing page

Common questions

The things people ask first

Do I need my own QuickBooks Online subscription?

Lite uses Craig’s Landscaping in the QuickBooks Online test drive, so no QuickBooks account is needed. Standard’s DIY assignments, case study and capstone need a QuickBooks Online account, and a free one works.

How long does it take?

A chapter is a few hours, not ten minutes, because it is real bookkeeping work. The full book is a term’s worth of material. Go at your own pace: with a free account your place, your notes and your scores are saved wherever you sign in.

Is it current with the 2026 QuickBooks Online interface?

Yes. It is written for the 2026 interface, and the steps are updated when QuickBooks Online changes.

Do I need accounting experience?

No. Chapter 1 starts with the accounting equation, debits and credits, and the QuickBooks Online interface. If you already keep books, skip ahead; the chapter exams will tell you what you missed.

What is free?

Try Chapter 4 in Craig’s Landscaping. Lite is $34.95/month or $114.95 for 12 months; Standard is $59.95/month or $179.95 for 12 months.

Can I get certified?

Certiport lists the book as in line with the QuickBooks Certified User exam, and a free practice quiz shows you where you stand. We are an independent publisher, not Intuit, and we do not administer the exam.

I am in a class that uses this book. Is this the same thing?

Yes. Join your teacher’s class from your account and your progress, exams and messages land in one place. Same reader, same book; the class just adds a teacher who can see how you are doing.

Start today

Try a customer-sales lesson.

Practice Chapter 4 in Craig’s Landscaping, then keep learning whenever it fits your schedule.