Fi

ft
eenTi
psf
orSt
udy
ingAccount
ing
ByFr
.ThomasConway
,O.
F.M.
,C.
P.A.
,Ph.
D.

1.Themat eri
alwithi
nagi vencoursei
softensequential
. 
Thi
sisespeci
all
ytr
ueof
thefi
rstaccounti
ngsubject—Fi
nanci
alAccounti
ng&Repor ti
ng(ACC101A).That
i
s,themat er
ialcoveredear
lyi
nthecourseisnecessarytodoprobl
emscov er
ed
l
ateri
nt hecourse.Ifyoudon’
tunderst
andthefi
rstfewchapter
softhetext
book,
youneedt ogobackandst udythosechapter
sbeforegoingontolat
erones.

2.Thesequencei sintenti
onal.Keepinmi ndthattheaccountingcour
sethatyou
aretaki
ngisonei nasequenceofcour ses.Ithasbeenplacedwhereiti
s
becausethatcourse’smat er
iali
sderivedfrom materi
alf
rom oneormor eearl
ier
courses.Makesur ethatyouhav eaccesstot ext
booksofy ourear
li
ercour
ses.(I
f
you’
real i
tt
lebi
tincli
nedt otakecoursesoutofor der,
for
geti t
!)

3.Det
erminethescopeofthecour
se.
 I
t’
snotunusualforpar
ti
cul
archapter
sor
par
ti
cul
arsecti
onsofchapter
stobedel
etedf
rom thescopeofacourse. 

4.3Ps—PRACTICE,
PRACTI
CE,PRACTI
CE!
 Ther
eist
remendousv
aluei
ngoi
ngov
er
asmanyprobl
emsasyoucan.
 

5.You’
retr
yingtolear
nasmanypoi nt
sasy oucan. 
Ify
ougetstuckonapart
icul
ar
poi
nt,
don’tspendalongti
met ryi
ngtolookituporfi
gur
eitout.Makeanot
eofi t
andaskaf r
iendort
heprofessoraboutitl
ater
.

6.Nov elsar
emeantt ober eadfrom beginningtoend.Account i
ngtext
booksare
not.
 Skimthet ext,
usethei ndex,j
umpar ound, r
eadt hequesti
onsatt
heendof
thechapter,lookattabl
esandchar ts,cross-r
eferencethi
ngs,andnot
icet
he
sectionheadings.You’r
edeal i
ngwithtechnicallanguage:i
t’
snotunusual
tohave
toreadagi venparagraphsev er
alti
mesbef or
ey ouunderstandit
. 

7.We’renoti nHSany mor e.

 I
nahi storyclass,ify
ouknow90%oft hei nf
ormation
abouteachpr esidency,war,histori
cal mov ement,etc.,t
heny ou’
llprobablybef i
ne.
Inaccount i
ng,youoftenhav etoknowhowt ofi
nisht heproblem.Thi sis
especiall
ytrueformul t
ipl
e-choiceexams.Fort hisreason,it
’sof t
enbet tert
o
compl et
elyunderstandsomepr obl ems( andnotknowhowt odoot herprobl
ems)
thantohav easomewhatv aguenot i
onofhowt oappr oachev er
yt y
peofpr oblem.
Also,havingast r
ongunder standingofonet ypeofpr oblem will
somet imesgi ve
youacl ueast ohowt oappr oachaseemi ngl
yunr el
atedproblem thaty ounev er
studi
ed. 

8.Sorrytodisappointyou,butaccounti
ngisn’
texactl
yli
kemath. 
Inmath,t
herul
es
tendtobeabsol ute.I
naccounting,manyoft
her ul
eshaveexcept
ionsandof
ten
the“fi
nalanswer”( f
orexample,arecommendationtoacompany)dependsa
 gr
eatdeal
ont
hecont
extoft
hepr
obl
em.
 

9.Butwai
t,currencydoesn’
tcomei nnegat
ivedenomi
nat
ions. 
Getinthehabitof
aski
ngyourselfi
fyourfi
nalanswermakessenseint
hecontextofthepr
oblem. 

10.
Findapar tner.
 Spendpar tofyourstudytimebyy ourselfandpar tofyourst udy
timewi t
hsomeoneel se.Apor ti
onoft hestudyti
mebyy ourselfcanbeusedt o
ident i
fywhatt hi
ngsy ouunder st
andandwhatt hi
ngsy oudon’ t.Youandy our
studypar tnercant radenot esont hi
sandt eacheachot her.Studieshav eshown
thatbyt eachingot hersy ouensur et
haty ouwillr
ecalltheinformat ionlater.The
mosti mpor t
antruleaboutwor kingwithsomeoneel se: keept othet ask!Wor k
har dtokeept ot hesubj ectathand.Interr
uptyourpar t
nerwhenhe/ shest arts
talkingaboutunr elatedt opics.
 

11.
Lear nthevocabulary. 
Ther eisnoqui ckertip-of
ftotheprofessorthatyoudon’t
knowwhaty ou’
redoi ngt hanusi ngter minologyinappropri
atel
y.(Forexample,
the
cluelessst
udentwi lltypi
callyspr i
nkl
et het erm“ money”li
berall
ythroughoutan
essaywhi l
eaccount ingtext bookssel dom uset heterm.)Mostaccount ing
textbookshaveatl eastonegl ossary.Also, mosttextbooksputthekeyt ermsin
boldfacetype.Doenoughr eadingoft het extbookstounderstandhowt heauthor
useseachi mportantt erm. 

12.
Don’tbefatal
ist
ic.
 Yes,accounti
ngisdif
fi
cult
.Yes,accounti
ngishardwork.Yes,
itt
akestime.No, i
t’
snotimpossible.Mostgoodstudentsreporthav
ingsome
breakt
hroughmoment s:t
imeswhensuddenl yarangeoftopicssuddenl
ymakes
sense.Youmightbecl oserthanyouthi
nktohavingoneoft hosebreakt
hroughs.
 

13.
Developasenseofcur iosi
ty.
 Ther
earemanyr ul
esinaccount
ingwhichseem at
fi
rsttobeeithercontradict
oryorcounter
intui
ti
veorboth.Tryt
ofigur
eoutwhy
theruleexi
stsandt al
kt ootherpeopl
eabouti t
.Thereall
ygoodstudent
streat
accounti
ngasonebi gpuzz l
e-gamethattheyexpecttowin!
 

14.
Takesomesat isf
acti
oninthefactthatyou’
redoingsomethi
ngdiff
icult
. 
Even
thoughaccounti
ngisaverymarketableski
ll
,that
’snott
hebestr
easont ostudyi
t.
Thebestreasontostudyaccounti
ngisthatithel
psdevel
opyourabi
lit
ytodo
analyt
ict
hinki
ng. 

15.
Badt hi
ngshappen. I
fnothi
ngel semot
ivatesyoutostudy,r
emindy our
selfthat
it
’sverypossibl
etogeta5.0(oraFAILURE)i nanaccounti
ngcourse.Thiswor st
-
casescenarioplay
sitsel
foutforsomest udent
sev er
ysemester.Usethi
sf actas
mot i
vati
onwheny ouaredebatingwhet
hert ostudyaccount
ingortogooutf or
pizza.

Andremember: Ourret
enti
onpoli
cydemandst hatal
lgr
adesinaccount
ing,
taxat
ion,
busi
nesslaw,
financialmanagementandeconomicssubj
ect
sshouldnotbelowerthan
2.5or80%.Ot
her wise,
you’
reoutoftheBSAprogram…