Lab Description
Alex's Accounting Lab provides an interactive, hands-on experience where students learn the full accounting cycle through guided activities. In this lab, students help Alex manage his service-based auto detailing business, making it simpler by avoiding the complexities of inventory and cost of goods sold.
This lab offers a unique and engaging way for high school students to learn the full accounting cycle. Designed specifically for high school students, the lab uses a simple service-based business to walk students through each step of accounting—from transactions to financial statements—making it accessible and easy to follow.
What sets this lab apart is its highly interactive, auto-graded worksheet activities with immediate validation, allowing students to gain hands-on experience and learn at their own pace without feeling overwhelmed. This combination of real-world practice and instant feedback makes it the perfect tool for introducing students to the foundations of accounting.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Ability to analyze transactions (12 transactions in this lab)
- Use T-accounts to visualize the effect of transactions on accounts
- Understand double-entry accounting by recording transactions in the general journal.
- Post the journal entries to ledgers.
- Prepare and verify a trial balance to ensure the accounts are accurate.
- Learn how to make adjusting entries for prepaid expenses and unearned revenues.
- Develop key financial statements: Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Statement of Owner’s Equity.
- Complete the accounting cycle by making closing entries and preparing the Post-Closing Trial Balance.
Features:
- Auto-graded worksheets that provide immediate feedback and ensure students don’t fall behind at any step.
- Simplified service business setup, removing the complications of tracking inventory and cost of goods sold.
- Engaging reflective writing activities to reinforce learning and analyze Alex’s business performance.
- Hands-On Learning: Students gain true hands-on experience by engaging with real transactions and accounting procedures.
- Immediate Feedback for Learning: With instant feedback and correction, students can see their progress and make adjustments in real-time, reinforcing their understanding of accounting concepts and preventing common mistakes.
- Tailored for High School Students: With simple, real-world transactions, the lab is perfectly suited for high school students who are new to accounting.
Who this course is for
Middle and High school students
Introduction (31 Minutes)
Sub Activities
- Review Questions
Students will read and understand what accounts are and why are they used in accounting they will also understand that accounts can be classified into five types - assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses.
Sub Activities
- Review Questions
Sub Activities
- Transactions to Accounts
Double Entry Accounting (76 Minutes)
Sub Activities
- Review Account Types, Debits and Credits
Students will read and understand what T-accounts are and their importance in visualizing the effect of each transaction on different accounts.
Sub Activities
- Creating T Accounts
Students will read and understand what journal entries are, and how they are created from transactions.
Sub Activities
- Creating Journal Entries
In this activity, students will learn that Alex missed recording two important transactions—prepaid transactions. Understanding these prepaid transactions is crucial as it sets the foundation for the next section of the lab: Adjusting Entries.
Sub Activities
- Recording Missed Transactions
Students will read and understand what ledgers are and also how to create ledgers from the journal entries they have made.
Sub Activities
- Posting to Ledger
Students will read and understand about trial balance and how to create trial balance from ledgers.
Sub Activities
- Creating Trial Balance
Adjusting Entries (22 Minutes)
Students will read and understand about adjusting entries. This activity will be in connection with the missed transactions activity in the second section. Students will understand the importance of recording adjusting entries in accounting.
Sub Activities
- Review Questions
Students will read and understand that they need to update the trial balance after fixing the ledgers.
Financial Statements (24 Minutes)
Sub Activities
- Review Questions
Closing (32 Minutes)
In this worksheet activity, students will review the activities that they have gone through, in this accounting period. Here is how it will look when all activities are completed successfully -
- Price per Classroom$25 00$80.00
- Duration 3 Hours
- Activities 48
- Grade 7-12
National Standards for Business Education
ACHEIVEMENT STANDARD: Develop a working knowledge of the accounting process
Define assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, expenses, gains, and losses
State and explain the classifications within assets, liabilities, and equity
Explain the purpose of journals and ledgers and their relationship
Explain and analyze how business transactions impact the accounting equation
Apply the double-entry system of accounting to record business transactions and prepare a trial balance
Explain the need for adjusting entries and record adjusting entries
Identify permanent and temporary accounts in the closing process and prepare closing entries
Prepare the financial statements for the different types of business operations and ownership structures
Explain the relationship between the closing process, the financial statements, and the post-closing trial balance