Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers · RQF Level 3
IAB Level 3 Diploma In Bookkeeping
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 3
- Total credits41
- Guided learning243 hours
- Units in this qualification14
Awarded by Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers · on the Ofqual register
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See how this course maps onto your role
Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this qualification rather than a generic one.
About 5 minutes · No card · Nothing to commit to
What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
These are the units Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Fundamentals of Bookkeeping and Accounting for PartnershipsReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the partnership structure as a form of business entity
- Understand the legislation relating to partnerships
- Understand specific accounts used in partnership accounting
- Understand the procedures necessary to account for the changes in the structure of a partnership
Fundamentals of Incomplete RecordsReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Understand single entry bookkeeping
- Understand the process of constructing ledger accounts from incomplete records
Managing a computerised accounts system to provide management informationReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Set up initial data
- Enter transactions
- Process Credit Card Transactions
- Record transactions relating to the acquisition and disposal of fixed assets
- Make end of period adjustments
- Amend the Chart of Accounts and Print, review and analyse period end reports
- Take printouts and review
Prepare Financial Statements for a Not for Profit OrganisationReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Calculate the accumulated fund of members of a not for profit organisation
- Prepare ledger accounts for a not for profit organisation
- Prepare financial statements for a not for profit organisation
Prepare Financial Statements for a PartnershipReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare accounts for a partnership
- Account for a change in the structure of a partnership
Prepare Financial Statements for a Sole TraderReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare a trial balance
- Make and apply accounting adjustments
- Prepare financial statements for a sole trader
- Prepare an extended trial balance
- Draft financial statements (for a sole trader) from an extended trial balance
Prepare Financial Statements from Incomplete RecordsReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Calculate the capital contribution of the owner to a business
- Prepare accounts from incomplete records
- Prepare a trial balance
- Prepare financial statements (for a sole trader) from incomplete records
Preparing and Completing VAT returnsReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Complete VAT returns accurately and in a timely manner
- Communicate VAT information
Principles of Accounting for Not for Profit OrganisationsReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Understand terminology relating to not for profit organisations
- Understand the purpose of a receipts and payments account
- Understand the function of financial statements prepared for a not for profit organisation
Principles of Double Entry BookkeepingReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the use of generally accepted accounting concepts and the qualitative characteristics of financial statements
- Understand the principles of double entry bookkeeping
- Understand the purpose and use of stock valuation
- Understand the process of accounting for fixed assets
- Understand the process of accounting for prepayments and accruals
- Understand the process of accounting for bad and doubtful debts
Principles of Preparing Financial Statements for a Sole TraderReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the form and function of the trial balance
- Understand the purpose of the suspense account
- Understand the form and function of the financial statements
- Understand the form and function of the extended trial balance
Principles of VATReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Understand current VAT regulations
Record Transactions and Make Accounting AdjustmentsReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Apply accounting concepts
- Reconcile trade debtors and trade creditors
- Account for fixed assets
- Account for the value of stock
- Account for prepayments and accruals
- Account for bad and doubtful debts
- Prepare ledger accounts for use in drafting financial statements
Work Effectively in Accounting and FinanceReal unit · Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the accounting or payroll function within an organisation
- Use a range of communication skills
- Work independently or as part of a team
- Develop skills and knowledge to meet personal and organisational needs
- Understand ethical values and principles
- Understand sustainable values
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 3 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
Where this can lead
Accounts Assistant
Your journey as an Accounts Assistant is just the beginning. With dedication, continuous learning, and a keen eye for detail, you can build a truly rewarding and impactful career in finance. We're excited to see where you'll go and how we can help you get there.
See the whole journey →Showing 6 roles, drawn from 21 job records mapped to this qualification.
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your work in any of these jobs
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for IAB Level 3 Diploma In Bookkeeping
14 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers.
- Fundamentals of Bookkeeping and Accounting for Partnerships
- Fundamentals of Incomplete Records
- Managing a computerised accounts system to provide management information
- Prepare Financial Statements for a Not for Profit Organisation
- Prepare Financial Statements for a Partnership
- Prepare Financial Statements for a Sole Trader
and 8 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.