A Level Accounting

Overview of the course

How do we use accounts to analyze the performance of one business against another? Why is profit not equal to cash?

A level Accounting answers these questions.The emphasis during the first year of the course is to master double-entry book-keeping and to develop an understanding of how income statements and balance sheets are drawn up. Classwork and homework involve plenty of exercises allowing the student to become confident in using accounting techniques. Covering financial and management accounting the topics studied include:  the double entry system, classification of accounts, international accounting concepts, departmental accounts, stock evaluation and the analysis and interpretation of company financial statements.

At A2 level the course seeks to deepen the students understanding by completing final accounts in situations where some of the data is missing. We cover more complex costing methods and we examine budgeting and cash flow statements as management accounting tools for business decision making.

As Chinese students tend to have greater familiarity with the necessary numerical skills than they do with international accounting conventions our focus is on developing notes that lead sequentially through the procedures for recording business transactions in an internationally acceptable way. By this method we aim to make the subject as practical as possible using published accounts and data that exists in the public domain.

Accounting students tend to have excellent logical thinking skills, particularly from their strengths in mathematics and sciences. Therefore, the teaching of the subject is very much about directing these skills to be applied to accounting practice.