The Bookkeeping Certificate prepares students for entry level employment as bookkeeping clerks. This one year certificate program is designed to accommodate those who are employed full time or are attending college on a part time basis seeking to upgrade their existing employment skills or begin a job as a bookkeeper or office manager for a small or medium sized business.

This program is available to be completed 100% online.

Program contact: Learn more

This certificate will be automatically awarded when the certificate requirements are completed. If you do not want to receive the certificate, please notify the Office of the Registrar at RegistrarOffice@tri-c.edu.

Learn more here, here, here, here, and here about how certificate credits apply to the related degrees.

Program Admission Requirements

  • High School Diploma/GED not required, but highly recommended.
  • ENG-0990 Language Fundamentals II or appropriate score on English Placement Test. 
  • MATH-0955 Beginning Algebra or qualified Math Placement.

Program Learning Outcomes

This program is designed to prepare students to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

  1. Communicate financial and related information both verbally and in writing, relative to their knowledge and skill level with internal and external constituents, both inside and outside the field.
  2. Work collaboratively, professionally, ethically, and with fiduciary responsibility to pursue the corporate objectives in a manner that is within the appropriate professional code of conduct.
  3. Accurately record and apply fundamental bookkeeping processes to properly record routine and nonroutine business transactions.
  4. Utilize office suite products, including spreadsheets, database, word processing, presentation, and enterprise-wide technology along with proprietary accounting software to record daily bookkeeping tasks.

Suggested Semester Sequence

Plan of Study Grid
First SemesterCredit Hours
ACCT-1311 Financial Accounting 3
ACCT-xxxxAny ACCT elective course 1 3-4
BADM-1020 Introduction to Business 3
Select one of the following: 3
College Composition I
Honors College Composition I
Select one of the following: 3
Computer Applications
Honors Computer Applications
 Credit Hours15-16
Second Semester
ACCT-1030 Payroll 3
ACCT-1520 QuickBooks Immersion 2
BADM-2151 Business Law 3
Select two of the following: 5-8
ACCT-xxxx:Accounting Elective (select from below list) 1
FIN-xxxx
Finance Elective
Select one of the following: 3
Business Communications
Honors Business Communications
 Credit Hours16-19
 Total Credit Hours31-35
1

ACCT-1020 Applied Accounting cannot be used to fulfill elective requirements.  Students must earn at least 6 credits of Accounting/Finance Elective Coursework to complete the minimum required credits for completing a certificate of proficiency.

Electives 

Select from below courses to fulfill elective requirement.

ACCT-1011Business Math Applications3
ACCT-1341Managerial Accounting3
ACCT-1551Excel for Accountants2
ACCT-2310Intermediate Accounting I4
ACCT-2500Governmental/Non-Profit Accounting4
ACCT-2320Intermediate Accounting II4
ACCT-2340Cost Accounting4
ACCT-2830Cooperative Field Experience1-3
ACCT-28xxAccounting Special Topics2-4
FIN-1061Personal Finance3
FIN-2100Financial Management3
ACCT-1041Individual Taxation4

MATH-1140, MATH-1141, MATH-1200, MATH-1270, and MATH-1280 can no longer count towards fulfilling the college-level mathematics requirement.  These courses were re-classified as developmental mathematics by the state of Ohio in 2016.  Tri-C established a 5-year transitioning window for students who had completed these courses prior to 2016 to apply them towards meeting graduation requirements, which expired in Summer 2021. It is highly recommended to see a counselor to determine the appropriate math required for your current major.