Best online bookkeeping courses UK, compared

Lift College bookkeeping courses at a glance

The Level 2 Bookkeeping Course has six units, taken in order: the bookkeeper's role and the accounting equation; double entry and the general ledger; sales, purchases and VAT; the cash book, petty cash and bank reconciliation; control accounts, journals and the trial balance; and bookkeeping software and Making Tax Digital. The course closes with a synoptic assignment in which you keep one small business's books for a full month. Access to bookkeeping software for the software unit is included. Both courses are open to anyone aged 16 or over, with no previous experience needed. Prefer to start now? Skip the trial, pay today and every payment is 15% lower for life, at £25.49 a month.

Comparison table: bookkeeping courses online

Details are as each provider shows them on its own course page; "Check provider" means the page did not state it.

At £29.99 a month, three months with Lift College costs £89.97 and six months £179.94, with the tutor, software access and certificate included. The AAT and ICB courses lead to qualifications awarded by those bodies and include exams or online tests; the Lift College course is assessed entirely by marked assignments.

AAT Level 2 bookkeeping online

The AAT Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping is a qualification from the Association of Accounting Technicians, which ICS Learn describes as "the UK's leading professional body" for accountancy and finance training (checked 20 October 2026). ICS Learn and Open Study College both list two units, Introduction to Bookkeeping and Principles of Bookkeeping Controls, and two exams. ICS Learn says the exams are set and marked by AAT and are sat by remote invigilation or at an AAT exam centre. Open Study College says that to sit the exams you must join AAT as a student member, and that if you do not add exams to your enrolment you book and pay for them yourself.

Lift College does not teach AAT or ICB qualifications. If a job advert names AAT or ICB, check that requirement before you enrol on any course. Each employer decides what a post needs, and our guide to how to become a bookkeeper in the UK explains the routes in, including the anti money laundering supervision that self employed bookkeepers need before they take on clients.

Which bookkeeping course should you choose?

• You want to keep your own books, or try bookkeeping first. Take Bookkeeping Basics: 6 hours, £19.99, pay once, covering the records HMRC expects, double entry, VAT, the bank and software.
• You are starting from scratch and want the full method with a tutor. Take the Level 2 Bookkeeping Course: six units, a named UK tutor, marked assignments on real style business records and no exams.
• A post you want names AAT or ICB. Choose a course that leads to that qualification, and check the exam and membership fees as well as the course price.
• You want to become an accountant. Read bookkeeper vs accountant first: bookkeeping keeps the records, and accounting turns them into accounts, tax returns and advice.

What to check before you pay

• What you get at the end. A Lift College certificate of achievement, an AAT or ICB qualification, or a QLS certificate: each is described on the provider's page.
• The full cost. Some prices exclude exam, registration or membership fees; Lift College's price covers the full course with all fees included.
• How you are assessed. Marked assignments, online tests or timed exams.
• Software. Making Tax Digital means VAT registered businesses keep digital records, so check that the course teaches bookkeeping software.

Training a team in bookkeeping

Businesses can enrol staff on Bookkeeping Basics through a free Lift College organisation account: each course is £16.99 a learner, with no account fee and no minimum, paid by card or by invoice with your PO. Both bookkeeping courses are listed in the business and finance hub.

Ready to start? Start the Level 2 Bookkeeping Course free for 7 days.