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Zoho Books Academy — Free Training Course for India

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What You'll Learn

This free Zoho Books course takes your team from a blank organisation to confident, GST-compliant daily accounting across 13 modules and 66 lessons. Every video lesson is an official Zoho Books video, sequenced by KC Shah & Associates for Indian businesses and CA-firm staff, with our own written practice notes filling the gaps Zoho has never covered on video. The full curriculum, lesson by lesson, is below.

Module 1: Getting Started & OrientationModule page →

Sign up, take a full guided tour of the interface, configure your organisation and GSTIN, build a Schedule III-friendly Chart of Accounts and set up your item masters — everything that must be right before you record a single transaction.

  1. 1.1 Signing Up & Getting Started 13:20

    The essential first steps for signing up and getting started with Zoho Books in India. Setting up your organisation profile, financial year and base currency correctly here saves rework later.

  2. 1.2 Guided Tour of the Interface 31:06

    A full guided tour of the Zoho Books India edition interface — the dashboard, the module rail, global search, quick-create, list views and the settings hierarchy. Watch this before anything else if you have never opened Zoho Books; it is the orientation the rest of the course assumes.

  3. 1.3 Setting Up GST Details 3:14

    Configure your GST details properly. Ensure your GSTIN is verified and the correct filing period (monthly vs QRMP) is set, so GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B generate cleanly later.

  4. 1.4 Chart of Accounts 5:06

    Understand the Chart of Accounts in Zoho Books. We recommend grouping ledgers to follow Schedule III of the Companies Act for Indian companies — it makes statutory audit and financial statement preparation far easier.

  5. 1.5 Items, Price Lists & Masters 20:26

    Setting up item masters — goods vs services, purchase and sales accounts, tax preferences, price lists and item-level custom fields. This is the current Global-edition session because Zoho has not re-shot it for India; the item workflow is identical, and the HSN/SAC fields that make HSN-wise GSTR-1 reporting accurate are covered in lessons 1.3 and 6.1.

Module 2: Configuration & SettingsModule page →

The settings layer most teams skip: users and roles, opening balances and cut-over, the accountant toolkit, and client and vendor portals. This is the module that decides whether your books are auditable a year from now.

  1. 2.1 Users, Roles & Inviting Your CA 1:44

    Setting up user roles and inviting users. Give your CA the dedicated Accountant role rather than an Admin login — it preserves segregation of duties and keeps the audit trail meaningful.

  2. 2.2 The Accountant's Toolkit 44:46

    The features built specifically for practising accountants — client switching, review workflows, closing dates and books-locking, journal review and the audit trail. Essential if you run a CA firm or an outsourced finance function.

  3. 2.3 Client & Vendor Portals 37:06

    Collaboration features: customer and vendor portals, shared documents, comments and approvals. Portals cut the email back-and-forth on payment status and vendor invoice queries dramatically.

  4. 2.4 Opening Balances, Migration & Cut-over Reading lesson

    KC Shah & Associates practice note on migrating in from Tally or any other system: how to set the migration date, enter opening balances, handle unpaid invoices and bills individually, and clear the Opening Balance Adjustments account so your trial balance ties to the rupee. Zoho's own Tally and QuickBooks migration videos are too old to be reliable, so the step-by-step process lives in our migration framework, linked below.

    Zoho has no current video on this, so here is how we do it on live migrations. Getting the cut-over right is the single biggest determinant of whether a Zoho Books file is trustworthy a year later.

    1. Fix the migration date first

    The migration date is the day your Zoho Books ledger starts. Everything on or after it is a live transaction; everything before it is an opening balance. Set it in Settings → Opening Balances, and pick the first day of a financial year or of a GST return period — never a mid-month date, which leaves you reconciling a part-period GSTR-3B against two systems.

    Once transactions exist, changing this date is painful. Decide it before you import anything.

    2. Enter the trial balance, not the transactions

    Take the audited or finalised trial balance from your old system as at the day before the migration date and enter those closing balances as openings. Do not re-key years of history to "have it in Zoho" — keep the old system as the archive for prior years and start clean.

    3. Open invoices and bills go in individually

    This is where most self-service migrations go wrong. Debtors and creditors must not go in as a single lump-sum ledger balance. Enter each unpaid customer invoice and each unpaid vendor bill as an individual document, dated its original date, so that:

    • ageing reports are meaningful from day one;
    • payment receipts and vendor payments can be applied against the right document;
    • MSME payment-timeline tracking under section 43B(h) actually works.

    The same applies to unapplied advances from customers and to advances paid to vendors.

    4. Close out Opening Balance Adjustments

    Zoho Books parks any difference between your debits and credits in an Opening Balance Adjustments account. A non-zero balance there is not a rounding quirk — it means something did not come across. Do not go live until it is nil.

    Usual culprits: a ledger mapped to the wrong account type, TDS or GST clearing balances left behind, stock value entered both as an item opening quantity and as an inventory ledger balance, or debtor and creditor control accounts entered on top of the individual invoices you already keyed.

    5. The sign-off checklist

    • Zoho trial balance as at the migration date equals the old system's, line by line.
    • Opening Balance Adjustments is nil.
    • Debtors and creditors ageing totals agree to their control accounts.
    • Inventory quantity and value agree to the closing stock statement.
    • Bank balances agree to the bank statement, with unpresented items identified.
    • GST, TDS and TCS clearing ledgers carry the balances you actually expect to pay or claim.
    • A closing date is set so nobody can post back into the migrated period.

    Migrating from Tally? Our year-by-year Tally to Zoho migration framework covers ledger mapping, voucher routing and reconciliation in far more depth — or have us run the cut-over for you.

Module 3: Sales, Purchases & BankingModule page →

The daily bread and butter: the full quote-to-cash sales cycle, the complete accounts payable lifecycle from purchase order to vendor payment, and bank feed import and reconciliation.

  1. 3.1 Simplify Your Receivables (Sales & Invoicing) 1:00:02

    Official India webinar covering the full quote-to-cash workflow: customer setup, quotes and estimates, sales orders, invoicing, e-invoicing and e-way bills, payment gateways, recording payments, credit and debit notes, recurring invoices and receivables reporting.

  2. 3.2 Mastering Accounts Payable (Bills & Vendors) 55:41

    The full accounts payable lifecycle: vendor creation with GSTIN auto-fetch, purchase orders, bill creation, TDS and TCS handling, vendor payments, vendor credits and refunds, approval workflows and India banking integrations.

  3. 3.3 Banking & Reconciliation (Matching Payments) 33:36

    The Banking module: connecting bank accounts, importing statements, matching versus categorising transactions, transaction rules, and completing a clean bank reconciliation. Module 12 goes deeper on India-specific connected banking.

Module 4: Expenses, Journals & AdjustmentsModule page →

Everything that is not a sale or a purchase bill: expense recording and reimbursements, manual journals, fixed assets and depreciation, inventory adjustments, and the year-end closing entries that turn a ledger into financial statements.

  1. 4.1 Recording Expenses 2:15

    Recording an expense in Zoho Books — expense accounts, GST treatment, attaching receipts, marking expenses billable to a customer, and recurring expenses. This is an older global walkthrough; the India edition adds ITC eligibility and reverse-charge flags on the same screen.

  2. 4.2 Manual Journals 1:30

    Posting a manual journal. Use journals for provisions, accruals, prepaid amortisation, depreciation, reclassifications and audit adjustments — never to force a bank balance to agree. Journals bypass the sub-ledgers, so anything touching a customer or vendor should be a proper transaction instead.

  3. 4.3 Fixed Assets & Depreciation 33:42

    Fixed asset management in Zoho Books — asset creation, capitalisation, depreciation schedules and disposal. Indian companies should reconcile this against the Companies Act Schedule II useful lives, and keep in mind that Income Tax block-of-assets depreciation is computed separately and will differ.

  4. 4.4 Stock Management & Inventory Adjustments 41:54

    Inventory in depth: stock tracking, valuation method, and inventory adjustments for shrinkage, damage, write-offs and physical stock-count differences. Every adjustment needs a reason and an account — auditors will ask.

  5. 4.5 Year-End Closing & Adjustments 43:03

    Official India webinar on financial year-end in Zoho Books: closing entries, provisions, locking books with a closing date, carrying balances forward and the reports to run before you sign off.

Module 5: Branding & TemplatesModule page →

Customise invoice, estimate and purchase templates, and put your logo on client emails for professional, consistent communication.

  1. 5.1 Customising PDF Templates 10:41

    How to customise PDF templates for both sales and purchase transactions. Make sure your invoice template carries every field a GST tax invoice legally requires before you send the first one.

  2. 5.2 Uploading Logo in Emails 1:01

    Add your company logo to email templates and client communications for a consistent, professional look.

Module 6: GST-Compliant Sales & DocumentsModule page →

Build GST-correct invoices, generate e-way bills, issue delivery challans for job work and approval-basis movement, and record shipping bills and bills of entry for import and export.

  1. 6.1 GST in Zoho Books — Full Overview 41:35

    The current official India webinar on GST in Zoho Books: tax rates and rate changes, place of supply, reverse charge, composition, HSN/SAC reporting and the GST reports. This replaces the much older invoice-elements clip as the primary GST lesson.

  2. 6.2 Elements of a GST Invoice 4:35

    A short primer on the mandatory fields of a GST tax invoice — GSTIN, HSN/SAC, place of supply and IGST versus CGST/SGST. The clip predates several GST rate and reporting changes, so use it for the field checklist only and take current rates from lesson 6.1.

  3. 6.3 Creating an E-Way Bill 8:56

    Generating e-way bills directly from Zoho Books. The workflow is still broadly accurate but the video is old — confirm the current value threshold, validity period and Part-B requirements on the NIC e-way bill portal before relying on any figure quoted here.

  4. 6.4 Delivery Challans & Job Work Reading lesson

    KC Shah & Associates practice note: when goods may move on a delivery challan instead of a tax invoice, what the challan must carry, how job-work movement is tracked, and how this interacts with the e-way bill.

    Zoho has no current video on delivery challans, and it is one of the most commonly mishandled documents in Indian GST practice. Here is what the document is for and how to run it in Zoho Books.

    When goods move without a tax invoice

    A tax invoice is required for a supply. But goods frequently move without a supply having happened — and in those cases a delivery challan is the correct document. The common situations:

    • Job work — sending material to a job worker for processing, and receiving it back.
    • Supply on approval — goods sent for the customer to inspect, where the sale only crystallises on acceptance.
    • Transport in batches or in a knocked-down state, where one supply moves in several consignments.
    • Movement between your own premises — branch or warehouse transfers that are not a supply.
    • Goods sent for exhibition, demonstration or repair.

    Issuing a tax invoice in these situations overstates your outward supplies in GSTR-1 and creates a liability you never owed. Issuing nothing at all leaves the consignment undocumented in transit.

    What the challan must carry

    A delivery challan is a prescribed document, not a free-text gate pass. It needs a serial number and date, the consignor's and consignee's details and GSTINs, HSN code and description, quantity, taxable value, tax rate and amount where applicable, and the place of supply for inter-state movement. It is prepared in triplicate — the original travels with the goods for the consignee, the duplicate is for the transporter, the triplicate stays with you.

    It does not replace the e-way bill

    A delivery challan and an e-way bill are separate obligations. If the consignment value crosses the applicable threshold, you still need the e-way bill, generated against the challan rather than an invoice. Job-work movement across state lines has its own treatment — check the current position for your case rather than assuming the intra-state rule applies.

    In Zoho Books

    Delivery challans sit in the Sales module. Create one directly, or generate it from a sales order where goods go out before the invoice is raised. Tag the challan type — job work, supply on approval, and so on — because the type drives how the movement is treated and reported. When the sale is eventually confirmed, convert the challan into a tax invoice rather than keying a fresh one, so the two documents stay linked.

    The control that matters

    Open challans are unfinished business. Material sitting with a job worker beyond the permitted period, or approval-basis goods never converted or returned, become a deemed supply with tax payable and interest running. Review the open delivery challan report every month — not every year.

    Thresholds, time limits and job-work return periods are amended regularly. Confirm the current position for your facts before you rely on it.

    Need this reviewed for your business? See our GST filing and compliance service, or the compliance calendar for the return deadlines that go with it.

  5. 6.5 Shipping Bill & Bill of Entry 3:34

    Recording shipping bills and bills of entry for import and export compliance. Billing overseas clients? Lesson 10.7 covers multi-currency invoicing and foreign ledger setup.

Module 7: Returns, Credit Notes & TDSModule page →

Sales returns and purchase returns done properly — credit notes, debit notes and vendor credits with their GST reporting consequences — plus TDS: deducting it on purchases, tracking what your customers deduct from you, and paying it over. Includes why the TCS setting left switched on in most Zoho organisations is now obsolete.

  1. 7.1 Credit Notes (Sales Returns) 2:12

    Creating a credit note for a sales return, rate difference or post-supply discount. In GST these flow into the CDNR table of GSTR-1, and there is a statutory time limit beyond which a credit note no longer reverses your output tax — check the date before booking a stale return.

  2. 7.2 Vendor Credits (Purchase Returns) 2:13

    Recording a vendor credit for goods returned to a supplier or a billing correction. The matching reversal of input tax credit needs to appear in your GSTR-3B for the same period, so reconcile vendor credits against the supplier's credit notes in GSTR-2B.

  3. 7.3 TDS Liabilities & Challans 3:54

    Managing TDS liabilities and challans in Zoho Books — tagging TDS sections on bills, tracking the liability and recording challan payments so the ledger agrees with what you file in the quarterly TDS return.

  4. 7.4 TDS on Purchases & the TCS Setting You Should Switch Off Reading lesson

    KC Shah & Associates practice note: configuring Zoho Books for TDS you deduct on purchases and TDS your customers deduct from your receipts, why the TCS-on-goods rate still sitting in most orgs should now be switched off, and how to reconcile the rest against Form 26AS and the AIS.

    Zoho Books handles TDS and TCS well, but only if it is configured for the directions the money actually moves — and, since April 2025, for one direction it no longer moves in at all. Most setups handle only the first and then cannot explain the difference against Form 26AS.

    The three directions

    1. TDS you deduct when paying vendors — contractors, professionals, rent, commission, and TDS on the purchase of goods under section 393(1) [Table: Sl. No. 8(ii)] of the Income-tax Act, 2025, the erstwhile section 194Q.
    2. TCS you collect from customers — which now applies only if you sell one of the nine categories specified in section 394, and most SME clients sell none of them.
    3. TDS your customers deduct from what they pay you — which is not an expense at all, but an advance tax asset.

    Direction 3 is the one that is usually missing, and it is the reason so many Zoho Books files show debtors that will never be collected.

    Setting up TDS on purchases

    Enable TDS in the tax settings and define a rate for each section you actually use, named so that the person keying the bill can pick it without a rate table beside them — the section number and the nature of payment, not just a percentage. Tag the default section on the vendor master so it is applied automatically rather than remembered.

    Zoho then posts the deduction to a TDS payable ledger as bills are recorded. Record the challan payment against that ledger each month so the balance is what you still owe, and reconcile that balance to the quarterly TDS return before you file it. A TDS payable ledger that never moves is a red flag.

    The TCS setting you should now switch off

    TCS on the sale of goods — the 0.1% collection on receipts above ₹50 lakh under the erstwhile section 206C(1H) — was omitted with effect from 1 April 2025, and it has no counterpart anywhere in the Income-tax Act, 2025. The tax rate record, however, is still sitting in a great many Zoho Books organisations, because nobody went back to deactivate it after the omission. Open the tax rates list and check that before you configure anything else — we set out the full sweep, and what to do if you have collected it since April 2025, in TCS on sale of goods is gone but still switched on.

    Leaving it active is not harmless. An invoice that still applies it collects money from a customer under a provision that no longer exists, the balance accumulates in a TCS payable ledger against no corresponding line in Form 27EQ, and the query surfaces at the worst possible moment — when the customer's own auditor asks what the deduction on their purchase invoice is.

    Collection at source survives only for the nine categories listed in section 394: alcoholic liquor for human consumption, tendu leaves, timber and other forest produce, scrap, minerals being coal or lignite or iron ore, motor vehicles and notified goods where the consideration exceeds ₹10 lakh, remittances under the LRS exceeding ₹10 lakh, overseas tour programme packages, and the use of a parking lot, toll plaza, mine or quarry. If your client sells none of these, TCS is not a configuration question for them at all.

    If your client does sell one of them, check the rate as well as the applicability. The Finance Act, 2026 moved liquor, tendu leaves, scrap and minerals to 2% with effect from 1 April 2026, so a rate carried forward from an older setup will now under-collect. Where TCS genuinely applies, keep it in its own ledger and never net it against TDS — they are different obligations with different returns.

    None of this touches the buyer side. TDS on the purchase of goods continues at 0.1% on purchases above ₹50 lakh under section 393(1) [Table: Sl. No. 8(ii)]. The old question of which provision took precedence when a purchase-side deduction and a sale-side collection could both apply to the same transaction no longer arises for goods, because only one of the two is left.

    TDS deducted by your customers

    When a customer pays you net of TDS, do not write the shortfall off as a discount or leave the invoice part-open. Record the receipt for the net amount and post the deducted tax to a TDS Receivable asset ledger, so the invoice closes fully and the asset stands until you claim it in the return.

    The reconciliation nobody does monthly

    Your TDS Receivable ledger should agree to Form 26AS and to the AIS. Do this quarterly, not at the time of filing the income tax return — a deductor who has quoted the wrong PAN or filed late can still be chased in July, but not in December.

    • TDS Receivable per books vs Form 26AS — chase the differences with the deductor.
    • TDS payable per books vs the challans paid and the quarterly return filed.
    • TCS collected, where one of the section 394 categories genuinely applies, vs Form 27EQ — and nil, for everyone else.
    • Interest on any late deposit, provided for and not forgotten.

    Rates, thresholds and the sections in force change with every Finance Act. Treat the workflow above as the durable part and verify the current rates and applicability for your assessment year.

    We reconcile this for clients every quarter — see the AIS and Form 26AS reconciliation guide, our income tax service, or the compliance calendar for TDS return due dates.

  5. 7.5 India Tax Essentials Spotlight 1:02:43

    Optional. A full India tax spotlight session that revisits GST setup, TDS and e-invoicing in one sitting — most of it overlaps lessons 6.1, 7.3 and 8.1. Watch it as consolidation once you have finished lessons 7.1 to 7.4, not instead of them.

Module 8: E-InvoicingModule page →

Set up e-invoicing properly against the IRP, test in the sandbox, and understand IRN generation, cancellation and the reporting window.

  1. 8.1 The Right Way to Set Up E-Invoicing 52:32

    The current, full-length official India session on e-invoicing in Zoho Books: IRP registration, connecting the portal, generating and cancelling IRNs, QR codes, bulk generation and troubleshooting rejections. This is now the primary e-invoicing lesson — confirm the applicable turnover threshold and the IRN reporting window for your client on the IRP portal, as both have been tightened repeatedly.

Module 9: GST Return FilingModule page →

The four-part GSTR masterclass — GSTR-1, GSTR-2B reconciliation, GSTR-3B and GSTR-9 — plus the Invoice Management System and ISD returns introduced after that series was recorded.

  1. 9.1 Mastering GSTR-1 23:00

    Masterclass part 1: preparing and filing GSTR-1 from Zoho Books — B2B, B2C, exports, credit and debit notes, and the HSN summary.

  2. 9.2 Reconciling GSTR-2/2B 38:52

    Masterclass part 2: reconciling purchases against GSTR-2B and deciding what input tax credit is actually claimable this period.

  3. 9.3 Handling GSTR-3B 38:52

    Masterclass part 3: preparing GSTR-3B, reconciling it to GSTR-1 and to the books, and paying the net liability.

  4. 9.4 GSTR-9 Annual Return 29:51

    Masterclass part 4: the GSTR-9 annual return, the reconciliations it demands and the common mismatches that hold it up.

  5. 9.5 Invoice Management System (IMS) 22:55

    The Invoice Management System under GST — accepting, rejecting and keeping invoices pending, and how those actions drive your GSTR-2B and therefore your ITC. IMS arrived after the four-part masterclass above was recorded, so this lesson is not optional.

  6. 9.6 GSTR-6/6A for Input Service Distributors 7:56

    GSTR-6A reconciliation and GSTR-6 filing for Input Service Distributors. Relevant to any group that shares common input services across multiple GSTINs.

Module 10: Reports MasterclassModule page →

Twelve sessions covering business overview reports, receivables and payables, inventory, multi-currency ledgers, budgets, project planning, tax and GST reports and user activity — plus the 2026 refresh of the whole reporting suite.

  1. 10.1 Session 1: Basics of Reporting and Configuration 51:13

    Reports Masterclass session 1: how reporting is structured in Zoho Books, report configuration, filters and scheduling.

  2. 10.2 Session 2: Business Overview Reports 52:51

    Reports Masterclass session 2: the profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow statement and business overview dashboards.

  3. 10.3 Session 3: Receivables and Payables 47:40

    Reports Masterclass session 3: ageing reports, customer and vendor balances, and collections tracking.

  4. 10.4 Session 4: Sales and Purchases 44:15

    Reports Masterclass session 4: sales by customer and item, purchase analysis and margin reporting.

  5. 10.5 Session 5: Inventory Management 44:27

    Reports Masterclass session 5: the reporting view of the inventory workflow taught in lesson 4.4 — stock summary, inventory valuation and movement reports. Watch 4.4 first for how the numbers get there.

  6. 10.6 Session 6: Advanced Inventory Management 49:40

    Reports Masterclass session 6: advanced inventory reporting, batch and serial tracking, and warehouse-level analysis.

  7. 10.7 Session 7: Multi-Currency & Ledgers 41:48

    Reports Masterclass session 7: managing ledgers and currencies, including multi-currency invoicing, exchange differences and foreign ledger setup — relevant if you bill export or diaspora clients (see also lesson 6.5 on shipping bills).

  8. 10.8 Session 8: Budget and Project Planning 28:58

    Reports Masterclass session 8: budgets, budget-versus-actual reporting and project planning. Module 11 covers project accounting in full.

  9. 10.9 Session 9: Deep Dive into Tax Reports 41:35

    Reports Masterclass session 9: the direct-tax and tax-summary reports — TDS deducted and payable, TCS where it still applies, and the QRMP views. The GSTR family is not covered here; that is session 10.

  10. 10.10 Session 10: GST Reports Overview 55:00

    Reports Masterclass session 10: every GST report in Zoho Books and what each one is for — the GSTR-1, 2B, 3B and 9 views, the reconciliation reports and the HSN summary. Session 9 covers the non-GST tax reports; this one is the GSTR side.

  11. 10.11 Session 11: Managing User Activities 38:08

    Reports Masterclass session 11: the audit trail and user activity reporting — who changed what, and when. Pair this with the roles setup in lesson 2.1.

  12. 10.12 Reports & Analytics — 2026 Refresh 48:36

    Start here. The current India-edition session on reports and analytics, recorded in 2026 — well after the eleven-part masterclass above. It covers the reporting interface as it is today; sessions 1 and 2 of the masterclass cover the same basics in their 2023 form, so go to the masterclass for depth on a specific report family rather than for orientation.

Module 11: Projects & Time TrackingModule page →

Project-wise billing and accounting end to end: projects and tasks, timesheets, billable hours and expenses, retainers, progress invoicing and revenue recognition, and project profitability.

  1. 11.1 Projects & Timesheets 23:15

    The current Zoho Finance Masterclass chapter on projects and timesheets: creating projects, assigning users, logging time against tasks, and converting billable hours into an invoice.

  2. 11.2 Efficient Project Accounting 38:18

    Optional deep-dive. The 2025 India webinar on project accounting: project budgets, billable expenses, retainer invoices, project profitability reporting and multi-project cost allocation. Lesson 11.1 is the current, shorter version of the same ground; come here when you bill client-wise and need the profitability reporting in depth.

  3. 11.3 Revenue Recognition & Progress Invoicing 46:27

    Progress invoicing on long-running projects and the revenue recognition that goes with it — milestone billing, unbilled revenue and deferred revenue. A global partner webinar rather than an India-edition session, but the five-step model it walks through is the same one Ind AS 115 uses, so it maps directly onto percentage-of-completion questions.

  4. 11.4 Zoho Books + Zoho Projects 10:35

    Integrating Zoho Books with Zoho Projects when you need full project management alongside the accounting — task hierarchies, resource planning and time sync.

Module 12: Banking, Payments & ApprovalsModule page →

The India banking stack: connected banking with ICICI and SBI, Bharat Connect, bank rules and reconciliation in depth, payment reminders, multi-level approvals and mobile banking.

  1. 12.1 Become an Expert in Zoho Books Banking 40:05

    The full India banking session: adding accounts, feeds versus statement import, bank rules, matching, categorisation and reconciliation discipline. Deeper than lesson 3.3 and worth the time if you reconcile for clients.

  2. 12.2 Connected Banking (ICICI & SBI) 10:56

    Connected banking end to end, shown on ICICI Bank — live feeds and payment initiation from inside Zoho Books, with the mandate and approval setup that goes with it. The SBI integration follows the identical steps; the SBI walkthrough is linked in the resources.

  3. 12.3 Configuring Bharat Connect 15:54

    Configuring Bharat Connect (formerly BBPS) in Zoho Books so customers can pay your invoices through any participating banking or payment app.

  4. 12.4 Payment Reminders 4:58

    Automate collections by setting up payment reminders for invoices approaching and past their due date. Combine with the ageing reports in lesson 10.3.

  5. 12.5 Transaction Approvals 6:42

    Multi-level approval hierarchies for bills and invoices. Routing anything above a threshold to a second pair of eyes is the cheapest internal control you can switch on.

  6. 12.6 Mobile Banking Functions (iOS) 4:56

    Managing bank feeds, matching transactions and reconciling from the mobile app. Recorded on the Global edition iOS app, so a few India-specific screens will differ.

Module 13: Customisation & AutomationModule page →

Bend Zoho Books to your firm's workflow: custom fields, views and templates, workflow rules and automation, custom dashboards, AI-assisted accounting, and building your own extensions.

  1. 13.1 Unlock the Power of Customisation 48:26

    The full customisation session: custom fields, custom views and filters, custom modules, template customisation, and tailoring the interface per role. Start here before writing any automation.

  2. 13.2 Automate Your Accounting 34:23

    Workflow rules, automated email alerts, field updates, scheduled actions and custom functions. This is the lesson that turns Zoho Books from a ledger into a system that does work for you.

  3. 13.3 Creating a Custom Dashboard 3:15

    Building a custom dashboard so the numbers your management actually watches are the first thing on screen.

  4. 13.4 AI & MCP in Zoho Books 45:54

    Using the Model Context Protocol integration to drive Zoho Books with AI prompts — querying the books, drafting transactions and running workflows conversationally. The newest capability on this page and worth watching even if you do not deploy it yet.

  5. 13.5 Building a Custom Extension 12:12

    Creating a sample extension on the Zoho Books developer platform, for workflows the standard customisation layer cannot reach.

Accounting Fundamentals for Freshers

One hundred bite-size Accounting 101 lessons for anyone who needs the bookkeeping basics before touching the software, grouped into eight themes. Work through a theme at a time; you do not need all of them before starting Module 1.

Accounting Foundations 20 lessons

What accounting actually is, the accounting equation, double entry, assets, liabilities and equity, and the vocabulary everything else is built on.

What Is Accounting and why does it matter? · What is bookkeeping? · The basics of accounting equation · Single-entry vs double-entry bookkeeping · Cash vs Accrual accounting · What are Assets? · What are liabilities? · What is equity? · Capital vs. Equity: What’s the Real Difference? · What is a chart of accounts? · Journals and ledgers · Uses of manual journals · Accounting cycle simplified · What is the matching principle? · Temporary vs Permanent Accounts · GAAP vs IFRS: Know the difference · The 3Cs of Accounting · Accounting Myths vs Facts · Managerial accounting · How to set up accounting for small business?

Sales, Customers & Getting Paid 16 lessons

Accounts receivable end to end: quotes, invoices, payment terms, credit notes, credit control, and every lever that shortens the time between doing the work and banking the money.

What are accounts receivable? · Invoice Essentials Explained · Quotes, Purchase orders, Invoices. Why businesses need them? · Why Quotes Matter · When to issue a credit note · What are payment terms? · Days Sales Outstanding · How to maintain good credit control · Invoice factoring · How to get paid faster every time · How to choose the right payment gateway · Customer portal benefits · How to find your best customers · How to manage discounts · Different types of business income · Deferred Revenue

Purchases, Vendors & Expenses 14 lessons

The payables side: vendor management and classification, expense discipline, receipts, petty cash, overheads and landed cost.

What are accounts payable? · Smart Vendor Management · Quick tips for vendor classification · Vendor vs Supplier: What’s the Real Difference? · Vendor portal in accounting software · Days Payable Outstanding · What are the types of expenses? · Expense vs Expenditure · Why every expense needs a receipt · 5 Smart Ways to Manage Business Expenses · Tips for tracking and reducing business spending · How to manage petty cash · Overhead Explained · Unpacking Landed Cost

Inventory & Costing 7 lessons

Stock valuation, inventory versus stock, costing methods, markup and margin, and the break-even maths that sits on top of them.

What is inventory valuation? · Inventory vs. Stock: What’s the Real Difference? · Days Inventory Outstanding · Avoid inventory errors · Costing Methods Compared · Markup & Margin Explained · Break-Even Analysis

Banking, Cash Flow & Working Capital 8 lessons

Bank reconciliation, clearing and suspense accounts, the cash conversion cycle, and the difference between being profitable and being able to pay salaries.

What is bank reconciliation? · When to use clearing account · When to use suspense account · Quick guide to cash conversion cycle · Ways to manage cash flow · Working Capital Ratio · Profitability vs Liquidity · Financial fitness for business

Reporting, Analysis & Planning 14 lessons

Reading and building the reports: business overview, divisional and real-time reporting, horizontal and vertical analysis, budgeting, forecasting, depreciation and project accounting.

Business overview reports · Advanced Reporting · Benefits of real-time reporting in accounting software · Understanding divisional reports · Horizontal vs Vertical Analysis · Gross, operating and net profit · Essential metrics every business should track · What is forecasting? · Budgeting mistakes to avoid - Part 1 · Budgeting mistakes to avoid - Part 2 · Capital Budgeting Explained · Accounting Rate of Return Explained · What is project accounting? · What is depreciation?

Tax, Audit & Controls 10 lessons

Direct and indirect taxes, GST change management, e-invoicing, capital gains, internal versus external audit, and building safeguards that catch errors before an auditor does.

What are direct taxes? · What are indirect taxes? · How to prepare your business for the latest GST changes · Key tips for stress-free tax filing · e-invoicing vs regular invoicing: what’s the real difference? · Capital gains · What is an audit? · Internal vs. External Audit · Five ways to build better safeguards in your business finance and accounting · Common accounting errors

Software, Automation & AI 11 lessons

Choosing accounting software, cloud versus desktop, migration, integrations, collaboration, automation and where AI is genuinely useful in a finance function.

How to choose the right accounting software? · Cloud vs Desktop accounting · Manual Accounting vs Cloud Accounting · Why mobile accounting app? · 6 Automations for your accounting software · Why automation matters for your business? · AI in accounting · Customization in accounting · Essential Business Integrations · Top collaboration features explained · Migration made easy

Choosing a plan before you start? Compare Zoho Books India pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this free?

Yes, the entire Zoho Books Academy curriculum is completely free and publicly accessible.

Do I need prior Zoho Books experience?

No prior experience is required. Freshers can start with the Accounting Fundamentals track — 100 short lessons grouped into eight themes — before moving on to the core modules.

How long does the full course take?

The core curriculum is 63 lessons and roughly 28 hours of video across 13 modules, combining short feature walkthroughs with multi-part masterclass series.

Is this India-specific?

Yes. We specifically cover the India edition, including GST setups, e-invoicing, TDS, and Tally migration workflows.

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