What is Accounting?
Accounting is a technical business field which includes recording, reporting and analysing financial data. Many believe that accounting is a tedious and rather boring field of study and practice. And this might have been true for certain period of time in the past, but this is not necessarily the case now. This is because the scope of accounting today, goes way beyond the number crunching of the past.
Accountants, and other accounting professionals are more involved in business and decisions making than ever before. This is why the scope of accounting study has become more fun and interesting. So to say that accounting is not fun, is most certainly wrong. But accounting can seem fun only for someone who has an appetite and an aptitude for the field. You must have some interest in the field to begin with. But you won’t know if you never try, right?
Let’s have a look at the ways to make accounting fun for you to study as well as practice:.
Begin with learning about what number mean
The first step to making accounting fun is to start from the beginning, and that is numbers. Work to build an understanding of all the basic accounting number terms and understand what they mean. For example, cost, expenditure, earnings, gross profit, net profit, and profit margin etc.
Being able to look at the financial information and knowing what the figures represent makes everything less tedious. Also an understanding of the basic numbers/ terms will put you at ease, and make things more fun to learn and explore.
Explore behind the scenes
Every accounting principle, procedure, rule or regulation comes with a logical explanation. So instead of merely cramming these guidelines try to learn about how thinks work behind the scene. This can be especially interesting and fun for those who seek explanations. Also learning about why we do things a certain way can help you retain more information, much more easily.
Form groups within your fellow students or colleagues to explore the depths of accounting together, can also be fun.
Learn to have fun with online tools
In the past decade or so many field have seen technological advancements. And accounting is no different. There are numerous online accounting tools available to the students and practitioners of accounting today. And using all these tools in your day-to-day tasks can be a lot of fun.
Many universities and educational platforms offer exciting online tools and exercises. Taking advantage of these tools and immersing yourself in the world of accounting and finance can make things more fun. And can lead to a creative outlet for many.
Not only students, even accounting professionals have a sea of online accounting tools at their disposal. There are many accounting tools and applications which help you avoid the day-to-day mundane accounting tasks. And if the world is offering them up to you, why not make use of them, right?
So get creative with online accounting tools, and have fun learning, exploring or practicing.
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Role-playing
At a first look accounting and role playing may seem kind of absurd. But think about it!
We all know that accounting is a real world and practical field. All the entities involved while you study, represent actual human beings or organizations. For example consider the role of an investor, a businessman, trader, creditor or a debtor in accounting. There are many different personas involved in this single field. So why not use them to make accounting more interesting.
Whenever trying to understand a particular accounting topic, try playing the role of the player involved. Try to think how that certain individual, or entity functions, step into their shoes for a change. This is not only an extremely creative and fun way to go about things, but the results you attain can astound even you.
Cultivate a fun work culture
Whether you are student learning accounting, or a professional working with real financial data, your work environment is of utmost importance. A supportive, understanding and amiable study/ work space can go a long way in enhancing creativity. Also working in harmony with your pupils can make for a fun experience.
Play accounting games
Who doesn’t love game? We sure do, if you do too, induce some gaming fun into your accounting journey.
There many accounting games to make learning fun, but you have to get creative. For example, gather around with a group and play accounting trivia games. See who knows the most about everything accounting and gain more knowledge long the way.
Other games that you can play with fellow accountants/ aspirants are- bingo, monopoly, jeopardy, memory games and more. There are many web-based accounting games that you play, so explore. Here is a list of games for accountants as mentioned by the CPA Canada.
Study and have fun with real life examples/ case studies
Real life examples and case studies are definitely something that will generate interest amongst all learners and practitioners. Studying and learning from real life experiences, mistakes and troubleshooting anecdotes is fun and exciting.
Make use of info-graphics, pictures and more
It is common knowledge that the human brain captures images and videos better than the written word. And while studying text is essential, there are no rules against having fun with info graphics and more.
The worldwide web is in fact limitless and you are sure to find what you are looking for. Explore fun videos about accounting concepts and practices to get a better understanding of the subject. If you are having difficulty breaking down a certain accounting principle we are sure there are many info graphics that will do the job for you. Another fun way to learn and explore is to follow accounting blogs and podcasts.
Incentivize studying accounting or performance
We are driven by incentives and most us thrive on competition. To make accounting more fun and interesting and take things to the next level- incentivize. For example, if you are in office space, give your employees an incentive award or price for accomplishing a task within limits. If you are a professor seeking to make things fun for your students, incentivize grades, quizzes and tests.
These are few ways of making accounting fun and creative. They are by no means completely exhaustive, so you if you think there something we have missed out, do let us know. Happy accounting everyone!
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