enhancing the teaching of financial accounting through the...

[2013 AAA Session 4.46] Customized Individual Assignments Suwardy, Pan and Seow (Singapore Management University)

Enhancing the Teaching of Financial Accounting through the Use of Customised Individual Assignments

Suwardy, Pan and Seow 2013 AAA Annual Meeting

Suwardy, Pan and Seow (2013) 2

This paper described how a customised individual assignment, as a pedagogical innovation, was designed and implemented in an introductory Financial Accounting course at a Singapore university.

An independent survey conducted by the university’s Centre for Teaching Excellence unit supported the use of customised individual assignments in helping students understand financial accounting concepts, contextualise accounting’s role in management decision-making and handle ambiguity and uncertainty.

One minute summary



Assignments are an integral part of the education

system to assist students in fostering independent

learning and developing competencies

In designing the assessment regime, instructors

consider various factors such as:

(1) individual vs. group

(2) custom vs. common assignment

Background


Assessments

Tests/Quiz/Examination

Assignment/Project

Homework

Typically technical skills related,

solving a common set of questions

Case studies

Group project/report

Presentation

Same “subject” for each group

Case studies

Group project/report

Typically different “subjects/topics”

for each group

Individual Group

Common

Customized

Tests/Quiz/Examination???

Assignment/Project???

Homework???

Typically “too hard to do”



Potential advantages:

Reduce mentality of one set of correct answers (Waldmann, 2010)

Reduce opportunities for dishonesty (Leonard and LeBrasseur, 2008)

Promote individual accountability (Hamilton, 2009; LeBrasseur, 2007; Waldmann, Ratnatunga and Geiger, 2005)

Use of technology to create an unlimited set of customised individual assignments and solutions (Goldwater and Fogarty, 2007; Hamilton, 2009; Hunt, 2005 and 2007; Johnson, Phillips and Chase, 2009; Phillips and Johnson, 2011; Waldmann, 2010)

C.I. Assignments

© University of Houston


Prior studies also show that customised individual assignments have been used successfully in other disciplines such as science (Schultz, 2011; Sherrill, Tsai and Thaler, 1993), computer science (Spinellis, Zaharias and Vrechopoulos, 2007) and mathematics (Hunt, 2005 and 2007; Jolliffe, 2003; Rosser, 2008).

In accounting: cost accounting case assignments (Goldwater and Fogarty,2007), an intermediate financial accounting course (Hamilton, 2009), an introductory financial accounting course (Waldmann, Ratnatunga and Geiger. 2005) and management accounting assignments (Waldmann, 2010).

C.I. Assignments



Focusses on accounting cycle (first 5 weeks of

course)

Worth 20% of course mark

Part of AACSB’s Assurance of Learning

Objectives: Create a business that will hire the

student as an accountant to assist the owner in

maintaining a set of accounts for the business,

preparation of financial statements and some

financial statement analysis.

Our C.I. Assignment


The business owner will communicate periodically during the academic term through a number of emails (in Week 2, 4, 5 and 6 of the academic term). Each student will receive customised instructions based on the generated data. Email 1 officially “hires” the student and provides information about

the start-up phase of the business.

Email 2 provides a listing of transactions for July 1 to 22, as summarised by the owner in a list of transactions that took place in the first three weeks’ of the business.

Email 3 provides information for remaining transactions between July 22 and the end of the month, including any other balance day adjustment data not already provided in Email 1. Students also have to infer transactions from source documents (e.g. timesheet, invoices, cheques).

Email 4 provides student with a bank balance as at the end of the month for bank reconciliation purposes, and any other relevant information to complete the assignment.

Our C.I. Assignment



The process started with the conceptualisation of a

business. We wanted to anchor the individual

assignment on a business that would be reasonably

understood by our students. We considered a

computer repair shop, a music school, and a few

other businesses before deciding on a cafeteria

business.

We call the business “Mea Cuppa”

Step 1: Conceptualization


The customised individual assignment requires

numerous variables to make it unique for each

student. We constructed a Microsoft Excel

spreadsheet with the following variables.

Most variables have an upper and lower limit for the

purpose of randomisation. These limits are done

based on reasonable guesses, trials and errors, to

make sure the business model is realistic. We also

tried to avoid generating assignments that results in

unrealistic profits or losses.

Step 2: Spreadsheet



Variables Description Min-Max

[VAR01] Capital Opening capital contribution by owner $20-30K

[VAR02] Loan Loan from a family member to start the business $10-20K

[VAR03] Loan interest rate Interest rate payable on loan [2] 3-5%

[VAR04] Starting funds Sum of [1] and [2]

[VAR05] Rental amount Rental per month $3-4K

[VAR06] Deposit required Rental deposit required in months 1-2 months

[VAR07] Month(s) If [6] = 1, “month”, else “months”

[VAR08] Rental period Rental prepayments in months 2-3 months

[VAR09] Rental months If [8] = 2, “July to Aug”, else “July to Sept”

[VAR10] Interior designer fees Fees for interior designer $2.5-$3.9K

[VAR11] Furniture fitting cost Furniture and Fittings cost $8.0-$9.8K

[VAR12] Furniture fitting years Furniture and Fittings useful life 3-5 years

[VAR13] Equipment cost Equipment cost $9-12K

[VAR14] Equipment years Equipment useful life 3-5 years

[VAR15] Equipment residual Equipment residual value in percentage 5, 10 or 15%

[VAR16] Supplies Opening supplies purchased (still owing) $4.5-6.5K

[VAR17] Barista per month Monthly wages of barista $2.2-$2.6K

[VAR18] Part-timers hourly rate Part-timers wages per hour basis $9-12

[VAR19] Manager Monthly wages of manager $3.0-$3.4K

[VAR20] Advertising Outstanding advertising and promotions $4.0-$4.4K

[VAR21] Insurance months Length of insurance premium coverage 3 or 6 months

[VAR22] Subscription months Length of subscriptions period (magazine, etc.) 6 or 12 months

Variables


We then built the random transactions that would take place during the month of July. We decided on about 24 transactions (between 1-22 July) as we felt this would give students a reasonable amount of accounting entries to process.

Each transaction has a date (with the earliest/latest date parameters), description and min/max limit. Many of the transactions refer to the variables described earlier. Some transactions are locked in certain dates (e.g. weekly payment to part-timers), but the rest of the transactions occur randomly during the month, taking into account logical sequences (such as purchases before payments, and receivables before collection), and logical amounts (such as not paying more than outstanding or collecting more than owed).

Step 2: Spreadsheet



Transactions Date (July) Description Min-Max

[TRX01] 8 Weekly cash sales (1-7 July) $7.0-$8.0K



[TRX04] 8 Weekly salary to part-timers (1-7 July) 80-110 x [VAR18a]



[TRX07] 15 Monthly salary (two baristas and one manager) [VAR17b] x 2 + [VAR19c]

[TRX09] 3 to 8 Purchased supplies on account $2.0-$3.0K




[TRX13] 3 to 8 Paid outstanding interior designer fees [VAR10d]

[TRX14] 13 to 18 Paid outstanding advertising fees [VAR20e]

[TRX15] 5 to 10 Paid accounts payable $1.5-$2.5K



[TRX18] 4 to 8 Billed corporate customers for events $1.5-$2.0K



[TRX21] 9 to 12 Received payments from corporate customers $1.0-$1.2K

[TRX22] 13 to 21 Received payments from corporate customers $1.1-$1.7K

[TRX23] 2 to 7 Paid business insurance for [VAR21] months $3.0-$5.0K

[TRX24] 2 to 9 Paid subscriptions for [VAR22] months $0.5-$0.8K

Transactions


These transactions, once generated (Step 3), will be

resorted in chronological order. This results in a

random order of transaction dates, so different

students will see a different list of transactions, and

not by categories of transactions.

Step 2: Spreadsheet



Additional data parameters for Email 3 and Email 4 include the following: Timesheet data for part-timers (from July 21 to 31).

Daily sales data (from July 21 to 31).

Cheque payments to part-timers (based on timesheet data and VAR[18]: part-timers hourly rate). We deliberately made one of the payments to be more than the actual hours clocked in timesheets. Students are expected to discover this error.

Additional invoices from a number of suppliers

Additional cheques presented by customers (including one dated July 31 that would need to be adjusted in bank reconciliation process as deposit in transit).

Additional cheques written by the business.

All generated numbers for cheques are also converted into words.

Additional receipts from owner for reimbursement from the business.

Stocktake information (a variety of values). Students are expected to reason out which one to use and document it as part of their notes to the accounts.

Accounting fee.

Additional information for bank reconciliation, e.g. bank charges.

Step 2: Spreadsheet


After the basic spreadsheet model is built, we can generate a maximum of over one million random instances (based on row limits).

As we only have about 200 students per term, we generated 200 assignments by simply dragging the formula line down to row 200. Once data is generated, we replaced the formula in all the cells with values (Copy, Paste Values) to prevent the random variables from changing after every action. We downloaded our student list from our university’s Learning Management System and populate the cases generated with students’ names and email addresses.

Step 3: Generating Cases



Step 3: Generating Cases


Each assignment is unique based on prescribed

parameters. In order to facilitate marking, we also

built a solution template using a ten-column-

worksheet format. These template solutions are

distributed to instructors teaching the course, along

with a marking rubric.

The solutions are generated based on a long series

of Excel formula that takes each generated case and

works out a sample solution.

Step 4: Solutions



Solutions


The final element in our C.I. Assignment is a Microsoft Word file that would take the generated variables and send out email merge to each individual student.

Sample emails are shown in Appendix 2 using Case 1 and merged fields are highlighted to show how each case would show different numbers or texts. In the actual emails sent to students, the fields are not highlighted.

The emails are deliberately written in an informal conversational mode.

Occasionally, students would reply to the business owner and ask for further clarification. This increases the “interactive” nature of the assignment and students feel they are dealing with a real person who requires their accounting services.

Step 5: Mail Merge



The University’s Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) unit

conducted an independent online survey to evaluate the

project. One hundred and fifteen students who have taken the

introductory Financial Accounting course voluntarily

participated in the survey.

We found that students were positive about the assignment.

Students felt that the assignment enabled them to understand

the role of an accountant. The assignment also sustained

students’ interests in the course and assisted them in

understanding the course materials. Students also felt that the

assignment provided a context to apply their accounting

knowledge and strengthened their ability to deal with

ambiguity and uncertainty.

Evaluation


CTE Survey

Questions (1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree) Mean Std Dev

1a It helped me understand the role of an accountant. 1.60 0.54

2a It helped me understand the course materials better. 1.61 0.54

3a It provided a context on how the course materials can be

applied.

1.53 0.52

4a It kept me interested in the course materials. 1.98 0.72

5a It helped me deal with ambiguity and uncertainty. 1.81 0.65

6b Overall, how would you rate the usefulness of the

assignment in your learning process?

1.73 0.63

Survey scale:

a. 1 = strongly agree; 2 = agree; 3 = neither agree nor disagree; 4 = disagree; and 5 = strongly disagree.

b. 1 = very valuable; 2 = valuable; 3 = indifferent; 4 = not valuable; and 5 = waste of time.



Category 1

(Building up technical competencies)

Category 2

(Application of knowledge)

I find it a very practical assignment. It gives me a

sense of what will be the job scope of an accountant

and a wholesome picture of preparing a financial

report.

Journalising the transactions allowed me to have a

better understanding of journal entries and adjusting

entries.

How the different things we learnt in class fit together

in the accounting process and the significance of each

step in making financial statements.

How to consolidate all the information given and deal

with them individually when addressing the question.

I have learnt how to apply most of the things taught in

class, which really helped me understand the topics.

Also, it gave me a sense of what it feels like to be an

accountant (which I have had no experience of) and I

found out how satisfying it feels to finally balance

everything!

How to pick out the needed data to place into the

required journals or balance sheet or income

statements etc. Before that, it was always already

given in the textbook or worksheets and we just

needed to compute.

Clearer way of applying the accounting theories I

have used in class. A good way to consolidate and

reinforce my concepts.

It is a very practical way of applying our knowledge to

real-world example.

Applying the theoretical concepts to real world

situations such as reconciling bank balance to book

balance.

Facing the real life problems that accountants face. It

gives a more complete view and helps us apply the

concepts in real-life situations.

How to deal with real business transaction using

accountancy knowledge.

How all the theories can actually be applied in the

real-world. Especially helpful to those who want to

start their own business.

I have learnt how the relevant accounting concepts

and principles can be integrated and put into actual

use for financial reporting.

The assignment gives me a showcase of how the

real world accounting is like though it is a much

simplified version.

CTE Survey


Contact author:

Themin Suwardy

School of Accountancy

Singapore Management University

[email protected]

Q&A

13

Appendix 1. Assignment Specification (from Course Outline) Aim and Scope

This year, the School is implementing a project on assurance of learning for Learning Goal

1.1 “Our students can recognize, develop, measure, record, validate and communicate

financial and other related information.” Specifically, the School would like to collect

evidence on your ability to maintain a (simple) set of accounts for a business. The aim

of the assignment is to apply the concepts in the course into a real business situation. It

requires you to maintain a set of financial records of a business, prepare all relevant journal

entries to complete the accounting cycle, and prepare financial statements. You are

required to complete the assignment in hardcopy at the start of class in Session 8 (the week

after term break). It must contain the following sections, which shall be clearly labelled from

section to section:

(A) A properly classified and completed Chart of Accounts. (B) Complete listing of all the journal entries for the month of July 20X2 (including adjusting

and closing journal entries). (C) Completed ledger accounts (including posted adjusting and closing entries) for the

month of July 20X2. (D) Worksheet as at 31 July 20X2. (E) Bank reconciliation to prove equality of ending period cash and bank statement. (F) Properly presented Statement of Comprehensive Income, Statement of Financial

Position, and Statement of Changes in Equity for the period ending July 20X2. [Note: due to the timing of this assignment, you are not required to submit a statement of cash flows, but if you are willing to take the challenge of learning the topic on your own, and submit a properly presented statement of cash flows, I will give you a bonus mark which can be used to offset up to two minor errors]

(G) Five notes to the accounts, at least two of which must be on accounting policy/estimates/assumptions.

(H) Five ratio analysis of the business’ efficiency, profitability, liquidity and solvency.

Note: for simplicity, we will ignore CPF, GST and other taxes. Inventory supplies are

accounted for using the periodic method. Used inventory is to be treated as cost of sales.

Milla (owners’) salary is to be treated as normal salary (i.e. not drawings from business).

Business information: Mea Cuppa is a specialty coffee shop located in one of the new shopping malls in Singapore. The owner, Milla, started the business on 1 July 20X2 and business has been brisk in its first few weeks of operations. Milla has been very busy with the planning and opening of the café and has neglected much of its record keeping. She has enlisted your help in keeping the business accounts updated and preparing financial statements. You will receive a series of email transcripts from Milla about her business records and transactions.

The first email will arrive in your mailbox after Session 2, containing information about the

start of the business. The second email will be sent out after Session 4 and will provide you

14

with a summarised list of transactions up to 22 July 20X2. The third email will be sent out

after Session 5 and contains transactions for the remainder of the month and any other

necessary information to complete Mea Cuppa’s first month of operations. The fourth email

will arrive in your mailbox at the end of Session 6, where you will receive some information

on Mea Cuppa’s July bank statement balance.

Grading

Your grade will reflect my assessment of your ability to maintain, process, and report on

Mea Cuppa’s July operations. The following grading rubric is used as a guide to mark your

report. Not everything will fit in this rubric perfectly, and I will take them into account in

arriving at your final grade. You may roughly translate Poor results to a D/F, Satisfactory

results to a C, Good to a B and Excellent to an A.

Attributes Poor Satisfactory Good Excellent

[6 points] Recording business transactions (chart of accounts, journal entries, adjusting and closing entries, posting to ledger, adjusted trial balance and bank reconciliation)

Unable to correctly record business transactions, with presence of many errors, including several major errors or missing elements of the accounting systems

Recording business transactions correctly, with presence of limited errors, including at most one major error

Recording business transactions correctly with less than two minor processing errors only

Recording business transactions correctly without any processing error

[4 points] Preparing and presenting Financial Statements (including notes to the accounts)

Unable to correctly prepare and present financial statements, with presence of many errors, including several major errors

Preparing and presenting financial statements correctly, with presence of limited errors, including at most one major error

Preparing and presenting financial statements well (taking into considerations users requirements and disclosure issues) with less than two minor errors only

Preparing and presenting financial statements well (taking into considerations users requirements and disclosure issues) without any error

[3 points] Performing basic financial ratio analysis based on financial statement results

Providing very limited analysis

Presence of a number of major calculation errors

Providing limited analysis

Limited number of errors, including at most one major error

Providing some analysis into the operations of the business

Limited number of minor errors only

Providing meaningful insights into the operations of the business based on appropriately calculated financial ratios

[2 points]: Completeness of submission, structure, clarity, writing, overall professional presentation, etc … appropriate for interaction with a client

Unprofessional presentation, incomplete submissions, or failure to follow instructions

Reasonable presentation, mostly complete submission, followed most of the requirements / instructions

Good presentation without any missing element, meet all requirements / instructions

A “total package”… excellent presentation with clearly labelled sections, structure, etc as per requirements / instructions

Errors noted (any missing element is automatically considered a major error)

Minor:

Major:

Additional identifiable strengths/weakness:

Additional comments:

Overall assessment Poor/Fail Satisfactory Good Excellent

15

Appendix 2. Sample Customised Emails to Students Note: Merged fields are highlighted below to show how each case would show different numbers or texts. In the actual emails sent to students, the fields are not highlighted. Email 1 (Sent out in Week 2 of the term)

Hi <Suan Sen>, thanks for agreeing to help me with my accounting. To be frank, things

have been quite messy, you know with the opening of the café etc. Here’s what I can

tell you about the initial phase of the business.

After months of research, planning and raising funds, I started the business in July this

year. My research tells me that I will need at least <$45,000> to start the business, buy

all the necessary equipment and inventory supplies, and have enough working capital

and cash flows for the first few months of operations. Hopefully, when the café takes

off, it should be able to generate some cash and profits! I invested <$29,000> of my

own money into the business, and Aunt Ryssa agreed to lend the business the balance

of <$16,000>. I promised her that her money will be safe and I would pay her in full in 3

years’ time, with interests of <3%> per year.

Most of the money I raised was used for the initial setup of the café. For simplicity, you

can assume that all of these transactions took place on 1 July 20X2.

Rental of premises: I managed to secure a nice ground floor unit at the new mall

for <$3,800> per month. We have access to the shop since the beginning of June

for renovations and setting up, but the landlord agreed to charge rental only from 1

July 20X2. The rental agreement required a rental deposit of <2 months> and an

initial advance payment of <2 months (Jul to Aug)>. Subsequent rental payments

are due at the start of each month.

Furniture and fittings: I hired an interior designer (well, technically he is a “Feng

Shui” master!) for a fee of <$3,600> for his services. He already passed me his

invoice and I have to make payments very soon. I don’t want any bad luck in our

16

first month of operations! Anyway, he actually did a wonderful job with the limited

space we have. It costs me a further <$8,300> for all the chairs, tables, sofas,

carpentry work, and other decorative items. It was quite painful to write that

<$8,300> cheque, but my dreams are becoming reality, so I guess there’s no

turning back! I think most of these fittings will last for about <3> years, when they

will need replacing, but first I have to hope that my café will survive that long!

Equipment: There’s the coffee grinder, coffee maker, various pots and flasks,

refrigerated display case, fridge, cash registers, sound systems, cutlery, cups,

plates, and many others. I paid a total of <$10,300> for them in total, and I figure

they will probably last for at least <4> years, at which time I may be able to “garage

sell” them for about <5%> of their original costs.

Inventory: I contacted a few suppliers, and they have agreed to grant me with a

short credit period. I wanted to buy supplies for coffee, soft-drinks, juices, ice-

cream and cakes on a weekly basis, but it was really tough at the beginning to

estimate the volume I would need. I kept having to adjust my orders and worried if

I had ordered too much or too little! For our opening stock, I ordered a total of

<$4,540> worth of supplies from various vendors. I have not made any payments

to these creditors thus far but will have to do so real soon.

Staffing: I hired two full-time baristas (Anita and Bruno) and two part-time helpers

(Charles and Doreen). Each barista is paid <$2,500> per month and the helpers

are paid <$12> per hour. I also decided to pay myself <$3,400> a month as a full-

time manager of the business. All monthly wages are paid in the middle of the

month, and part-timers are paid after the end of each week based on hours

worked.

And as part of the café’s launch in July, I contracted an advertising agency for

<$4,200> to print and deliver pamphlets to the residents near the mall, setup a website

and take part in mall-wide promotions. This amount is also due very soon and I think

there will be some recurring charges for telecommunication, website hosting and

internet connection charges to come soon.

Well, that’s it for now. I will prepare some summary records for our three weeks of

operations and get them ready for you. Catch up with you again soon.

Cheers

Milla

Email 2 (Sent out in Week 4 of the term)

Hi <Suan Sen>, sorry it took me a while to get back to you. Sorting out receipts and

records is really no fun. Perhaps after this, I can just pass them all to you next time.

And yes, we should discuss your fees too. I will call you sometime next week to talk

about this ok? Remember we are a new business, so don’t charge us too much. After

all, this is just some simple bookkeeping service right?

17

Many things happened during the first three weeks. Business was bustling from day

one with the mall opening and Singaporeans’ tendency to flock to new places all at the

same time! It was really a baptism of fire, for me and my staff. We got a few things

wrong, and but luckily, we got most things right! We even hosted a few corporate

“coffee breakout sessions” and there were many repeat customers coming back on

their own after their office gatherings. For these corporate bookings, we bill the

companies after the event, and luckily payments have been very prompt so far.

Here are the summary transactions from 2 July to 22 July. The insurance and

magazine subscriptions are effective from the month of July onwards.

Date Description Amounts ($)

<03> Paid business insurance premium for <3> months <3,300>

<04> Purchased supplies on account <2,400>

<05> Paid outstanding interior designer fees <3,600>

<06> Billed corporate customers for events <1,600>

<08> Paid part-timers wages (1-7 July) <1,248>

<08> Weekly (1-7 July) cash sales total <7,100>

<09> Paid magazine subscriptions for <12> months <650>

<09> Received payments from corporate customers <1,200>

<10> Paid accounts payable <2,600>



<14> Paid outstanding advertising fees <4,200>

<15> Monthly salary for baristas and manager <8,400>








<21> Received payments from corporate customers <1,600>



When I see the cash coming in and out of the business, and how crowded we get at

times, I think we are really doing quite well for a start-up. But honestly, I have no real

18

idea re how good or bad we are doing. I know there’s all the money we spent at the

start of the money to make back as well.

Oh well, at this Step, I guess I will just continue to concentrate on the business. All

these are very hazy to me! Hahaha... just like the haze we are having now! Hope you

can shed some light on our accounts soon. And, yes, give me an estimate of your bill

for our next meeting next week. Remember, I will be giving you some receipts to

process as I am really tied up with the café right now.

In the mean time, if you have any queries, feel free to email me. I will try to answer, but

you would understand if I am a little tied up with the café… Besides, you are my

accountant after all right?

Take care.

Milla


Hi <Suan Sen>,

Wow, what a month this has been! Anyway, here are various updates for the remainder

of July.

Daily Cash Sales Record Daily Timesheet Hours

Date Amounts ($) Charles Doreen

22 July <1,010> <6> <6>

23 July <1,040> <9> <10>

24 July <1,150> <9> <10>

25 July <1,130> <10> <day off>

26 July <1,300> <day off> <9>

27 July <1,270> <9> <6>

28 July <1,310> <8> <9>

29 July <1,390> <7> <10>

30 July <1,200> <7> <7>

31 July <1,390> <8> <9>

As usual, the part-time staff was paid by cheque on 29 July 20X2 for hours worked up

to 28 July 20X2, inclusive. Copies of their cheques are shown below. In addition, we

also made payments to Singtel for our telecommunication and Internet hosting and

usage charges for July and August, as well as a payment to F&N for outstanding

accounts payable. I also banked in payments received from two of our corporate

clients.

19

We ordered some supplies, which were received along with their respective invoices.

These invoices have not been paid.

On the subject of supplies, I did what you asked and did a stock take of all the supplies

we had at the end of the month after we closed for the day. I can’t believe you made

me do this, it took such a long time. I think we have about <$6,100> of supplies left on

hand. I wasn’t really sure how you count half a cake, or the exact amount of beans in

an opened bag, but <$6,100> would be my best guess, or may be <$5,980> is more

accurate, or wait, may be <$6,310>. Ah, whatever… do you what you think is right! I

am not going to do this stock take business again on my own. I will get the staff to help

out next month. Oh, I also found out that we broke over 20 cups and plates, and about

7 forks are missing!!! I am not sure how to account for them, but I guess it is part and

parcel of running a café business right? It’s not like I am going to break every plates at

the end of their 4 years life, and buy new ones. Hahaha…

Before I forget… I was going through my wallet and found some receipts that I have

paid on behalf of the business. I have taken $640 from the cash register on 28 July

20

20X2. I don’t think there’s any point keeping track of these items, so let’s just use an

“other expenses” category for these expenditures ok?

I guess that’s it for now. I look forward to receiving the financial statements from you

soon. And yes, as per our conversation, we agreed to a <$210> fees per month to

maintain our accounts. Send me the bill, and I will see you get paid next month. But

you keep telling me accounting is more than just bookkeeping, that I can be better

informed about my business operations and make better decisions. So, I really want

you to give me an analysis on how I am doing in my business and what I should watch

out for. After all, isn’t that what you claim accounting is all about?

Cheers

Milla


Hi <Suan Sen>,

We just got our July bank statement, but it doesn’t seem to be right. Our bank

statement shows a final balance of <$12,541>. I know we hold about $1,000 cash float

on the premises, but it seems to be different than what I thought we have. Can you

explain why and include this in your final report as well? Oh, by the way, I saw a <$7>

monthly account fee deducted from our account on the bank statement. It is only a

small amount, but I guess you are someone who wants to know all the details and

check all numbers right? Don’t forget I want some analysis on the business

performance and liquidity ok? Talk to you soon.

Oh, I passed by one of our corporate customer’s shop. They seem to have closed

shop! OMG! I just saw people from the office came in three days ago! How am I

supposed to collect the <$580> they owed me?

Milla

enhancing the teaching of financial accounting through the...

Documents