Peer Review

Sales and Purchase Transactions

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Dec 15, 2022 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

In a sales transaction, both the selling and buying entities have economic events that must be recognized in their accounting information system. Students enrolled in a principles of financial accounting course often confuse the accounts to be used by the seller and buyer. This problem-based learning activity helps students practice recording a business-to-business sales/purchase transaction that included credit terms from both perspectives. The problem applies the gross method for recording sales and purchases for a perpetual inventory scenario.

Type of Material:

Assignment

Recommended Uses:

There are three recommended uses (by the author):

1) As an in-class activity with each major section of the worksheet completed by students after the applicable concepts have been covered in class.

2) As a culminating in-class activity after the required concepts have been covered in class.

3) As a homework assignment completed outside of class for homework points.

Technical Requirements:

Instructor needs internet browser to access and Microsoft Word for download of student assignment sheet and instructor solution page. Used Google Chrome, 64-bit, Version 89.0.4389.90 to access and download.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Recording journal entries.
Interpreting credit terms associated with business-to-business sales/purchases on account.
Understanding the components of sales/purchases on account and sales/purchase return transactions.

Target Student Population:

Introductory financial accounting students in college or adult learning settings.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Financial Accounting

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The content is highly valid and applicable to financial accounting lessons specific to sales and purchase transactions.
It has both the student worksheet and the instructor key to facilitate the achievement of learning objectives.
It is appropriate for use in a merchandise accounting section of a course.
The design of the activity and the Word template helps students understand the differences that exist in the accounting records of buyers and sellers during sales and purchase transactions.
Additionally, the template progresses from the original sale/purchase transaction to a correction and the payment.

Concerns:

Because the assignment template lacks instructions and information on the context or intent of the assignment (such as learning goals) other than a two-line template title and sub-title, the resource is not fully self-contained.
Additionally, students are not receiving a summary or other description of potential learning outcomes to help them set their expectations.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The teaching and learning goals of this material are readily identifiable, and it is highly useful for teaching accounting for sales and purchase transactions.
It increases the potential for student learning by offering a hands-on way to learn about sales and purchase transactions.
Conceptual understanding is promoted through critical thinking.
The material may be used in various ways to achieve student learning outcomes.
The content takes the student from an initial sale/purchase transaction through the related accounting entries of a potential correction and eventual payment. This enables the concept of credit terms to be practiced within the same assignment.
The source website for downloading the student template as well as the instructor solution has information on the context along with teaching tips and other suggestions.

Concerns:

The assignment template lacks instructions to direct students that the intent is journal entry preparation, although this could be assumed in an introductory accounting course setting.
Additionally, the template lacks information on the context or intent of the assignment other than a two-line template title and sub-title.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The site has clear directions for its use and has both student and teacher instructions.
The website and its downloadable file are clear in their instructions and consistent in the presentation.
The worksheet is robust in its content and works correctly.
The focused content also enables ease of use of this assignment as an in-class activity.
The instructor solution template will facilitate fast grading or enable self-grading for an in-class/verbal review.

Concerns:

The lack of written instructions and context for the template negatively affect its ease of use as a homework assignment because students would either lack this information or need to remember information provided by the instructor. Therefore, use of this assignment template requires instructors to develop and provide their own instructions.
The overall design of this assignment using a Word template facilitates its ease of use for in-person classes, but would require adaptations by instructors to enable online use.

Other Issues and Comments:: Microsoft Word files for download are in an older version of the software (2007). However, there were no issues converting in the reviewer’s experience using a newer version of Word and no issues identified from an accessibility perspective.
Creative Commons: