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basic techniques of manually posting, preparing trial balances, worksheets, and financial statements
(bookkeeping), such requirements become tedious and boring and are of limited instructional value. Most
manual practice sets for Accounting II contain numerous repetitive sales and purchases (one of the earliest and
less challenging business transactions) and perhaps as many as six to eight really challenging and interesting
transactions. More cannot be required given the time necessary to accomplish the posting, adding, and other
tasks associated with manually completing the practice set. Thus, traditional second practice sets often become
an exercise in drudgery and as such have a minimum of educational value in return for the effort expended.

In the second half of our Principles of Accounting, students are required to complete a practice set on the
computer. Work begins on the practice set by the third week of the semester and continues throughout most of
the term. Because the computer does the bulk of the tedious bookkeeping chores, more effort can be applied to
interesting and challenging analysis for journal transactions! Instead of six to eight different journal entries, as
many as 30 to 40 items can be required—within the same amount of time as before!

The computer practice set requires the students to analyze and journalize transactions concerning unearned
revenue; interest payments; discounting notes; conversion of accounts receivable to notes receivable; purchases
requiring the use of the net method, with payments within and after the discount period; purchase of plant
assets (several) with a variety of depreciation methods (instructor's choice); disposal of plant assets; the
possibility of a variety of inventory valuation methods (instructor's choice) over a period of time; petty cash
transactions; marketable securities purchases, sale, and end of period valuation; condemnation of land by the
city; conversion of sole proprietorship to a corporation; subscription of stock; sale of stock; treasury stock;
payment of both cash and stock dividends; and other interesting and challenging transactions.

The students can display their knowledge and understanding of this extraordinary number and variety of
principles and techniques by their journal entries in the time allotted to accomplish far less because the computer
handles (as it would in "real life") the repetitive and boring chores of posting, account footings, trial balances,
financial statement preparation, and other functions which are necessary to complete a practice set. Since the
computer removes a vast amount of drudgery and repetition from the student's responsibility, these additional
and more challenging transactions can be incorporated into the practice set without placing an impossible
burden on the student.

' As more software becomes available, we hope to extend our use of the computer in teaching accounting.
Many of the cost and managerial functions lend themselves to computer analysis and will eventually be included
in the course work (in addition to traditional homework and paper-and-pencil exercises).

The computer allows instructors to teach more accounting than has been traditionally possible in any
academic term and to do so with increased positive student reaction. The majority of students find that working
with the computer is exciting! Not only does it remove a large part of the boring, tedious work from accounting,
but it allows students to discover that a computer's operation is not beyond their capability. They overcome
their own fear of the "electronic black boxes" and report using them in other settings with confidence!

Thomas Vannaman
Midland College

For further information, contact the author at Midland College, 3600 N, Garfield, Midland, TX 79701.

 

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INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, Texas 78712, (512) 471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsortium members for $35 per year. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg
Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms and monthly during the summer.

“.) The University of Texas at Austin, 1985
Further duplication is permitted only by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel. ISSN 0199-106X