Advanced level accounting lower sixth teachers’ common error

Most teachers overly rely on the national syllabus on the sequence of topics to be covered in the teaching of Advanced level accounting.

THIS confusion has been aggravated by the anomalies that were made by the Advanced level accounting syllabus reviewers for the new curriculum framework introduced by the ministry of education. As syllabus reviewers, they were not supposed to prescribe sequence but scope for each term, because sequence is context specific.

In simple terms, a syllabus is a descriptive document that shows an outline, guideline and summary of topics to be covered, whilst a scheme of work is a plan that defines work/topics to be covered in the classroom with a particular group of students guided by a syllabus.

A scheme of work, therefore, will differ from one class to the other depending on peculiarities of learners such as their aptitude-ness, motivation and attitudes, and also environmental considerations such as infrastructural, material and natural resources.

I advise teachers to plan in the context of their students and environment to ensure success.

Sun-tzu said: “In general, the strategy for employing the military is this: if your strength is ten times theirs, surround them; if five, then attack them; if double, then divide your forces.

If you are in equal strength to the enemy, you can engage him.

If fewer, you can circumvent him. Thus a small enemy that acts inflexibly will become the captives of a large enemy.” (Art of war; 2006,p.51).

I will be surprised if an accounting lower sixth scheme of work for a rural school( which does not have the privilege to enroll highly talented students) would be identical to that of a mission high school ( whose screening policy stipulates that a lower sixth student should have at least five ‘A’s at ordinary level).

There are various approaches that can be used by teachers when teaching the prescribed topics in the new syllabus for lower sixth. Some teachers do not want to teach double entry, arguing that they only take students who have a B or better at ordinary level.

This is a fatal error, which I refer to as putting the cart before the horse or in Shona, ‘ kumhanyira kudare usina shashiko!’.

Your students should comprehend Double entry first, lest you are putting the cart before the horse!

You should know that there is a gulf of differences in the level of understanding and dexterity required at Advanced level as compared to the shallow principles done at ordinary level.

You should have noted that topics such as trial balance and errors, control accounts, non-current assets accounting , trade receivables accounting, incomplete records accounting, partnership accounting, not for profit organisations accounting etc. are basically anchored on double entry.

Give due attention to double entry using any of the methodological approaches briefly discussed in a condensed form below.

1. Journal approach and accounting cycle approach.

Take your students through the complete accounting cycle; i.e. transaction, source document, book of original entry, the ledger, trial balance, and so on in that order.

Introduce transactions, one by one, for example you may start with cash transactions such as cash sales, cash purchases, then credit transactions such as credit sales, credit purchases, returns etc. dwelling on source document , entries in the relevant book of original entry and posting to the ledger. Then, balance ledger accounts and extract a trial balance.

This approach is suitable for an above average class with some background in accounting.

2. The Ledger approach. It is the most basic approach which introduces the Golden ‘theory of double entry’ from the onset. Start from debiting the receiver and crediting the giver, practically making entries in the ledger and then extracting a trial balance.

It is ideal for an average class with some students who do not have an accounting background.

3. The statement of financial position approach and the accounting equation approach. The balance sheet approach is based on the concept of ‘flashback’ or ‘proceeding from whole to part’. It was well used by Frank Wood in Business accounting 1.

The starting point will be to introduce assets, capital and liabilities.

The relationship of the three terms gives us the accounting equation.

Transactions are then introduced piecemeal, starting from simplex to complex analysing them in terms of their effect to the balance sheet (statement of financial position) and/ or accounting equation.

A short survey that I conducted a forty night ago, asking lower sixth accounts teachers the topics they had schemed for this term’s six weeks or so of learning in some districts of Manicaland Province, revealed that on average teachers, in some cases subject panels agreed to cover inter alia; Business ethics, Accounting concepts, Trial balance & errors, Depreciation and Bad debts.

Whilst there is very little time that is required to cover the introduction to accounting, business ethics and a brief introduction to accounting concepts( since accounting concepts application is spread throughout the whole syllabus), a shoddy job will be done on double entry up to trial balance.

This list is overly ambitious and gives a blind eye to the need to develop practical skills in accounting which is the hub of examiners’ focus on questions.

Unless if your class is made up of brilliant students(this is usually a privilege of schools that take only the crème de la crème of students), the average student would be left trailing behind and these are some of the causes of ‘ACCOUNTOPHOBIA!’(Fear of accounting).

At times students will fail in examinations because of poor planning on our part as subject teachers.

The next day the same teacher will be saying ‘these students are not good enough, madofo!’, but the bug lies with you, you were running a relay without a button stick, guys, patience is a virtue in teaching! For this term cover introduction to accounting, accounting concepts, double entry up to trial balance and probably errors made in the trial balance, period! TAccounting teachers, do not mystify the subject!

Avoid carrying cut and dried monotonous notes to your classes, design class activities that will recreate the real accounting world in the classroom.

If you do so, you would have created young ‘Luca Paciolies’ for yourself and the accounting journey will be exciting! You can turn those dry bones into stars, do the right thing! Remember, students with double entry kwashiorkor have a very weak immune system and are easily devoured by any accounting disease!

◆ Divaries C Jaravaza is a lecturer at Bindura University of Science Education and has an unbridled passion in teaching. He writes here in his personal capacity. He can be contacted at 0773 176 147 or divariescjaravaza@gmail.com