ACCT 133 -- Spreadsheet Accounting

 

Model Building

 

Your problems will be created from scratch from now on.  That means that you are totally responsible for the work you submit.  Your work will be unique from your neighbors.  You will have to pay more attention to details.  Appearance will become more important.  We have been teaching you the basic spreadsheet accounting principles through the use of the pre-programmed templates.  You now should be familiar with the basics to move on and create your own.  There are a few things that you need to pay particular attention now as you move into this phase of this course: 

Plan it out. Review the problem at home and spend a few minutes scratching out the details of what you want your solution to look like.  This will make your time in the class much more productive.  You need to take the initiative to spend the required time planning your work. 

Document your work appropriately.  All work turned in should include the file name and a statement of purpose or description of the problem.  Of course your name should also be included on the printouts.  You may continue to use headers for this purpose. 

Completeness Counts.  Make sure your work is complete and answers all aspects of the problem. 

Appearance Counts. You need to make sure you use the features of a spreadsheet program.  You can experiment with different fonts.  You should center or align titles.  You should use the appropriate underlining techniques for any given problem.  You can use bold or italics where you feel it appropriate.  All items on a spreadsheet should be labeled.  All columns should include headings.  All totals should have descriptive titles.  Small things you do will add value to your final product.  Also remember to format the cells appropriately and consistently within the template. 

Accuracy counts. Don't be so concerned about appearance that you compromise the accuracy.  All the work done in this class should use sound accounting concepts and should be in accordance with GAAP. 

Flexibility is the key. You should develop your templates so that they can be used repetitively.  That is, tailor your work so that changes can be made easily in the next month.  One of the most important parts of being flexible involves using a data section/answer section format whenever possible.  This means that the user only has to change the data section in any given month.  In ideal cases, the answer section should calculate on its own even after changes are made. 

Save your work often.  There will be no pre-programmed files to go back to if you lose your data. 

You will now need to print out formulas in their entirety since you are no longer required to write them down in your text.  That means you may have to widen the columns to show complete formulas.  Save your work first before doing this so that you have a normal template to go back to once the formulas are printed.