BUS 1A
Principles of Accounting

Assignments Page
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Assignment 1
Give Me Your E-mail Contact Information -
Before next class, send me an e-mail from your e-mail address. In the body of your e-mail, include the following:
  • The Name of Your Company (see Below)

  • A Description of What the Company Does - What type of goods or services do they provide

  • Is this a real or fictitious company
Select A Company -
In this class you will perform each assignment for a company of your own choosing. This can be a company you now work for or a fictitious company. The intent of allowing you to choose your own company is to provide you with an opportunity to make the assignments more interesting and meaningful to you. So you want to choose a business like one you work for now or would like to work for in the future. If you are unable to come up with one, I will provide you with one. Note ** If you have thought of opening your own business this is a perfect opportunity to get a feel for that business from an accounting perspective.When you have an idea of the company you wish to work with fill out this Business Information Form.

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Assignment 2
Setup A Basic Accounting Structure For Your Company -
The three basic components of an accounting system are Assets, Liabilities and Owners Equity. When Owners Equity is expanded we see the two additional accounts of Revenue and Expenses.

If you already have a feel for what your company's Assets and Liabilities are, set up a worksheet(s) listing them. If you do not already have an idea about which Assets and Liabilities you need, approach the project as a new startup and use the list I have provided to determine which items are needed for your new business. I have also provided some common revenue and expense types in the handout, select the ones appropriate for your business.

Using the items you have selected create the Chart of Accounts for your business. (There is a Chart of Accounts Worksheet in my downloads section) You must have at a minimum four Assets, one Liability, a Capital Account, A Revenue stream and Four Expenses.

You may either a) create a minimum of 20 transactions that use your Chart of Accounts AND are consistent with your business or you may use the 20 Activities in this downloadable document.

Using the information from your Chart of Accounts, create a corresponding Income Statement, Statement of Owners Equity and Balance Sheet as covered in class. (All Financial Statements are located on my web page in the downloads area)

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Assignment 3
"T" Accounts and Trial Balance Calculations -
Accounting is an exercise in the balance of debits and credits. In this assignment, you will create "T" accounts for your business. Note: your "T" Accounts should correspond to your Chart of Accounts created in the last assignment.

You will arrange the "T" accounts according to the Fundamental Accounting Equation (Assets = Liabilities + Owners Equity + Revenue - Expense). "T" Account forms are available in the downloads section of my web site.

Label each column of each "T" Account to show which is "+" and which is "-". Label each column of each "T" Account to show which is a credit (CR) and which is a debit (DB).

Using the transactions from the last assignment (your transactions or the transactions from my handout), create a complete set of "T" Accounts with appropriate footings and balance.

Using the "T" Accounts, complete a Trial Balance that corresponds to your "T" Account information. Trial Balance forms are available in the downloads section of my web site.

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Assignment 4
Setup Your General Journal & General Ledger -
Similar to the checkbook you use for your personal checking account, the General Journal is used to record each transaction in a chronological format.

Based on the information covered in the lecture, and the data used to create your Financial Statements in the last 2 assignments, create a General Journal for your business. It should show all the transactions and be consistent with your other Financial Statements.

Once you have completed your General Journal, create a General Ledger System for your business. If you are using an existing business and you know the ledger account codes, use them. Otherwise, follow the generic coding scheme given in the book (Assets - 100's, Liabilities - 200's, Equity - 300's, Revenues - 400's, and Expenses - 500's).

Post your General Journal transactions to your General Ledger. General Journal & Ledger forms are available in the downloads section of my web site.

When you are done posting complete a Trial Balance. Note *** This trial balance should match the trial balance from last weeks assignment. Turn in Journal, Ledgers and Trial Balance.

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Assignment 5
Adjusting Entries -
If you do not have transactions and accounts in your assignments that require adjusting you will need to add some. You should have at least one prepaid insurance account, some type of equipment which you can depreciate and at least one employee that you pay.

You will also need to declare your fiscal accounting period. Your overall period will be a fiscal year (you decide when it starts) and your cycle period will be a fiscal month.

Based on the information covered in the lecture, and the data used in your previous assignments, use a worksheet (provided in my downloads section) and enter all adjustments into your books.

Once you have completed your worksheet, create financial statements to support your adjustments. Do not forget to update your Journal and Ledger with the adjustments.

Send (email) all the completed forms to me (Worksheet, Income Statement, Statement of Owners Equity, Balance Sheet, Journal and Ledger). Forms are available in the downloads section of my web site.

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Assignment 6
Closing -
It is now time to close the books on your business. In this assignment we will use the information you have put together in your previous assignments and go through the closing process.

Send (email) all the completed forms to me (Worksheet, Income Statement, Statement of Owners Equity, Balance Sheet, Journal and Ledger). Forms are available in the downloads section of my web site.

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Assignment 7
Working with Computer Accounting Software -
It is time to start working with computer based accounting systems. Using the accounting software provided, take your information from assignment 3 and set up a basic accounting profile.

The MIP system has been installed on each of the computers in the lab. Do not worry about making a mistake, MIP in the lab is not connected to the MIP system in the accounting office. Setup the following items using the MIP system:
  • A Chart of Accounts that uses your numbering scheme
  • At least 1 Customer so you can send out bills to them
  • At least 1 Vendor so you can purchase supplies
  • Establish a Revenue Transaction - Begin to Sell Something
  • Establish a Expense Transaction - Begin to Buy Something
Before you leave the lab take a screen shot that verifies you have completed the lab OR you may create a report (I went over the basics in lecture, but I did not show you how to do this report specifically). Email me the screen shots or reports. Also make a note of what you are on. You will need it in a future lab and you may want to resend work from this lab.

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Assignment 8
Payroll Accounting -
Using the information from your previous assignments we are going to create a payroll run for your business and process it through your books. You will need to be paying at least 3 employees. Use the Payroll Register in my downloads section. Fill it out for 3 or more employees working for 1 pay period. Based on these rates:
  • Federal Income Tax (Use Table on Page 268 or following rates)
    • 0 Allowances - 16%
    • 1 Allowances - 15%
    • 2 Allowances - 14%
    • 3 Allowances - 13%
  • Social Security Tax 6.2 Percent
  • Medicare Tax 1.45 Percent
  • Medical Insurance $53.20
Calculate the appropriate deductions for the current pay period. Your results should correspond to your Journal and Ledger entries so you can use the totals you already have as a basis to back into or create your entries here and revise your Journal and Ledger to match. Turn in the Payroll Register, General Journal and General Ledger.(** Note: One of these people can be a Independent Contractor if you include an appropriate job description for this assignment.)

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Assignment 9
Employer Taxes
In the previous assignments you calculated what deductions are taken out of your employees pay for items like taxes and insurance. However, you the business owner have tax (and possibly other) obligations as well. In this assignment update your books to include the employer obligations for your employees.
  • FICA Matching portion
  • SUTA - State Unemployment Tax - 5.4 percent of first $7,000
  • FUTA - Federal Unemployment Tax - 0.8 percent of first $7,000
  • Workers Compensation Insurance
    • Office Work - 0.15%
    • Sales Work - 0.5%
    • Industrial Work - 3.5%
Calculate the appropriate deductions for the current pay period. Your results should correspond to your Journal and Ledger entries. Turn in the Payroll Register, General Journal and General Ledger.

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Assignment 10
Using the Sales Journal (Accounts Receivable)
Using the information developed in the earlier assignments expand on the computerized accounting system you started to set up in assignment 7. Add customers (a minimum of 10). Send bills to at least 4 customers and receive payment from at least 2 customers. (You should have at least 2 customers who have been billed but have not paid). To summarize:
  • At least 10 customers
  • At least 6 customers purchased goods or services on account
  • At least 4 customers have received a bill from you
  • At least 2 customers have sent you payment for their bills
Create a Report that shows the status of your Sales Journal (Accounts Receivable). Turn in the report to me electronically as an Excel file. (Hint: MIPS has the option to export any report to Excel. Look for the E at on the right side of the menu bar).

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Assignment 11
Using the Purchases Journal (Accounts Payable)
Using the information developed in the earlier assignments expand on the computerized accounting system you started to set up in assignment 7. Add vendors (a minimum of 10). Receive bills from at least 4 vendors and make payment to at least 2 vendors. (You should have at least 2 vendors who have sent bills but have not been paid). To summarize:
  • You purchased goods or services from at least 10 vendors
  • At least 6 vendors sold you goods or services on account
  • You have received a bill from at least 4 vendors
  • You have sent payment for at least 2 vendor bills
Create a report that shows the status of your Purchases Journal (Accounts Payable). Turn in the report to me electronically as an Excel file. (Hint: MIPS has the option to export any report to Excel. Look for the E at on the right side of the menu bar).

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Assignment 12
More on Worksheets and Adjusting Entries
We are going to add a few items to our Accounting Process to make our adjustment process more complete. If you do not already have these items it is time to add them.
  • Inventory Tracking - For this assignment you can make up your number for inventory on hand. It must be different from your purchase, you must have used some of your inventory in the course of doing business.
  • Unearned Revenue - Here you will receive payment for something before you perform the service or sell the goods. For example: sale of a river rafting package, sale of a service that provides 3 custom presentations over the next year for a reduced rate, tickets to a livestock auction, tickets to an art exhibition.
  • Supplies Inventory - Recognize the loss of supplies in the course of doing business and account for this change in the adjusting process.
Based on the information covered in the lecture, and the data used in your previous assignments, use a worksheet (provided in my downloads section) and enter all adjustments into your books. You have the option of backing up and entering this new information into your lab 5 work or continue business after the close in lab 6 and perform this adjustment at the end of the next month. ( The second option is much easier than the first in my opinion) In either case all documents from all labs should work together.

Once you have completed your worksheet, update your Journal and Ledger with the adjustments.

Send (email) all the completed forms to me (Inventory, Worksheet, Journal, Ledger and Trial Balance). Forms are available in the downloads section of my web site.

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Assignment 13
Inventory
Determine which inventory method is best for your business (LIFO, FIFO, Specific Identification, Weighted-Average-Cost). Use the inventory data from the previous assignment and determine your gross profit number using each method, then select a method and tell me why you selected it.

Send (email) all the completed work to me (Gross Profit Comparison Analysis, your method with supporting reasoning).

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Assignment 14
Financial Statements & Ratio Evaluation
It is time to start pulling the skills you have learned together and make use of them. Create a set of Financial Reports for your company as of its current state. You should have:
  • Income Statement
  • Statement of Owners Equity
  • A Balance Sheet
Next you will calculate the following ratios and information for your company
  • Working Capital
  • Current Ratio
  • Debt Ratio
Once you are done write a few sentences describing what the information you have compiled tells you about your company.

Send (email) all the completed Reports to me (Income Statement, Statement of Owners Equity, Balance Sheet, your ratios and your analysis). Forms are available in the downloads section of my web site.

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Combination Final Assignment 15
Prepare the Company Books for Review
Worth 250 Points
Prepare a presentation quality set of the books for your company. The documents should be presented in a fashion which is easy for someone to find what they are looking for. Your documents should include:
  • A General Journal
  • A General Ledger
  • A Worksheet
  • A Post Closing Trial Balance
  • A set of Financial Statements for the end of the Accounting Cycle
  • Depreciation Schedules for each depreciated item
  • Payroll Worksheet
How to turn in this Assignment: While I will accept hardcopy submissions, you will receive more points for an electronic submission. The following table should give you a guide.
Easy Turn in a hardcopy version in a notebook. It should be indexed with a table of contents. No hand written additions. If you need to make a comment do it with software. 230 Max Points
Easy Electronic Place all documents in the same directory and use Word to create a linked index. Call the index toc.doc and zip all the files together. Turn in by email, floppy, zip or CD. 240 Max Points
Moderate Electronic Create a presentation of your books on CD that can be used to show investors. If it auto-loads, max points will increase to 265. 255 Max Points
Challenging Electronic Create a web site that exhibits your books in sequence suitable for investors and management. You may provide this to me on CD or a live website on the internet. If you do not have a web site I will show you how to get a free one. 270 Max Points

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