Computer or IT Skills have become inevitable for commerce students. As a commerce student, you are required to master certain software and ERP tools. Are you pursuing a professional qualification like Chartered Accountancy(CA), ACCA or Certified Management Accountant(CMA)? If yes!! Then you are entering in the world of Accounts, Audit, Finance and management consulting.This article can guide you to understand those computer skills for commerce students. Why IT skills/computer skills are required for commerce students? In today’s world we all know everything is driven by IT, the introduction and implementation of computers in the late 1990s in India brought a significant change in the working environment within the organizations, to gain an insight into the drastic change brought by the introduction of computers. I will strongly recommend you to strike a conversation with your parents/grandparents. This blog is going to help you to identify the 7 most important IT or software computer skills that are going to help you to enhance your technical knowledge and make you industry ready as a commerce graduate or commerce student. What are the best computer skills for commerce students required to learn? As far as the field of commerce is concerned all the accounting records which were maintained manually in registers were shifted to computerized accounting software and ERP systems like Tally and SAP to name a few which has no doubt made our lives easy. Hence for commerce students along with academics it’s important to also be equipped with all the minimum desired IT skills to perform basic tasks in corporate environment, few of the must have IT skills have been listed below: 1) MS EXCEL: MS Excel is a spread sheet program provided by MS office application and is the most common and widely used application where data can be stored in form of tables. MS Excel is one of the most valuable software (computer skills) for commerce students. Key benefits of using MS Excel are as follows: • It makes the task of storing large amount of data easy. • It allows the users to use the inbuilt mathematical functions thus improving the accuracy of calculations performed. • When data is saved in tabular form in a spread sheet analysing it becomes easier thus assisting in making quick and informed decisions. Some important formulas and functions to be aware of in MS Excel: • Sum and Sum If Functions • Count and Count If Function • Average Function • Concatenate Function • LEN Function • AND Function • Conditional Formatting • Remove Duplicates • Lookup Functions – V-lookup and H-lookup • Text to column • Pivot Tables Sources from where you can learn and master Excel: 1) YouTube 2) LinkedIn Learning 2) MS Word: • After Excel a must to know tool is MS Word, it is used to make documents like report, letters, etc. • It allows you to format and edit your text in the best possible way. • MS Word comes handy to document processes, preparing audit report etc. • It is amongst the commonly used program worldwide. Some features of MS Word to be known to commerce students: • Formatting a word document. • Converting word document to PDF. • Adding, formatting and editing data into tables in MS Word. • Spell Check • Using Track Changes feature • Adjusting Margins, orientation and alignment of the content. • Adding Header, footer and page number to the document. • Adding a water mark to the document. Sources from where you can learn and master MS Word: 1) YouTube 2) LinkedIn Learning 3) MS Power Point: MS Power Point is an easy to use tool for making attractive and professional presentations using slides. It presents information in a creative and interactive manner by use of following elements: • Graphs • Pie Charts • Tables • Clip-Art • Pictures • Video Various uses of MS Power point: Power point presentation can be used for a wide range of purposes such as: • For making attractive marketing presentations • For making Catalogues and Magazines • Creating Resumes • Presenting Audit report • Presenting Sales MIS • Presenting Financials / Budgets • Creating Educational slides for students Sources from where you can learn and master MS Power point: 1) YouTube 2) LinkedIn Learning Accounting Software: Accounting software is a tool which manages and process financial data. Accountants use these programs to maintain accounts and prepare the company’s financial statements. Types of accounting software: Accounting software are classified based on operations performed by the business few types are as follows: 1) Billing / Invoicing / Inventory Management Software: These soft wares take care of the billing activity and helps in inventory management. 2) ERP systems: These soft wares are a complete package and manage operations like Planning / Budgeting and controlling, Purchases, Inventory management, Accounting, Marketing, Finance and even the HR Operations. Benefits of Accounting Software: • Saves time • Cost effective • Improves Accuracy • Helps in various statutory compliances • Maintains customer relationship • Stores data Accounting software which commerce graduates or commerce students must learn: 4) TALLY – (Transaction allowed in a linear line yard): • It is one of the oldest and widely used accounting software; it is used by Manufacturers, Service providers, Small as well as large scale business, Auditors etc. • It is user friendly and simple to use and has the capability of receiving data entry quickly and processing the accounting information. • Tally also assists in better cash flow management • Provides GST compliance related assistance • Has the facility of generating reports which in turn helps in better decision making. Commerce Graduates must have knowledge of following functions in Tally: • Recording journal entries pertaining to sales and purchases along with the GST related entries. • Recording TDS entries. • Invoice booking. • Recording Purchase orders and passing Purchase entries. • Performing Bank Reconciliation. • Extracting various reports useful for decision making like Debtors and Creditors ageing report, Sales and Purchases report, Inventory