This problem-based learning activity helps students practice analyzing economic events associated with the following current liabilities: short-term borrowing (notes payable), sales tax liabilities, and payroll. The notes payable problem has students accrue interest expense at year end and repay the note early during the subsequent year. Sometimes companies include the sales tax in the selling price of merchandise instead of ringing it up separately. The sales tax problem illustrates this scenario. The payroll problem illustrates how a company accounts for employees' gross wages, withholdings from employee's paychecks, net pay (the resulting cash employees receive), as well as the employer's payroll tax liabilities.
Type of Material:
Assignment
Recommended Uses:
Educational resource to be incorporated into the accounting curriculum in the form of in-class presentation, open discussion and/or homework assignment
Technical Requirements:
Web Browser
Identify Major Learning Goals:
To provide accounting educators/students with an interesting way to analyze complex journal entries related to current liabilities that can be incorporated into the accounting curriculum to stimulate discussion and to develop cognitive skills.
Target Student Population:
For students at the college level, introductory accounting level
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Accounting Principles Level I
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
Author provides audience with an interesting method of simplifying concepts involved in complex journal entries related to current liabilities. The module provides students with an opportunity to practice the concepts covered on current liabilities (notes, sales tax & payroll taxes). Assignment problems are simplified in order for students to focus on application of concepts covered in class.
Concerns:
The material is not self-contained. Context and prerequisite must be provided in the classroom
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This module is an assignment on current liabilities. The exercise provides additional practice recording current liability transactions, computing sales tax, recording and classifying various taxes. Students can check their understanding of how current liabilities impact various accounts. The website that includes the downloadable materials contains learning goals, context for use, and teaching tips.
Concerns:
This assignment only contains exercises, no concepts are taught in this module. Only one example of each type is provided, it would be desirable to have a few more of examples; for variety and to reinforce learning.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The worksheet is structured so that students have a good idea of what is expected. In addition, the author's website is professionally done. The activity has been designed for use in the classroom.
Concerns:
This activity cannot be used as a stand-alone learning module. The worksheet should be used after a concept is covered in class, and it works better in a group setting as the instructor can act as a coach. For larger class sizes it might be more difficult to use individually. The instructor may not have time to help all students who are having difficulties.
Lacking in engagement and interactivity.
Creative Commons:
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