Narrative Report: AC41- Accounting Essentials

Being an Accountancy student is definitely not easy. It’s like I’m going to a battle without any
skills of shooting a firearm. Not knowing any single terminology, the first few weeks of being an
accountancy student was very hard for every concept was very new to me. However, I was
challenged got motivated to study even harder.

On the first term, we were told to finish the lessons on service entities. The very first drill I
encountered was all about journalizing transactions. That time, I was surprised. Yes, we had a
subject in our high school days that we were told to journalize transactions, however that was
ages ago. And the fact that it was not taught to us in correct manner. Just then I realized that I
should do advance study and cope up with my other classmates. I studied hard learning about
assets, liabilities and owner’s equity. And yes, my hard work paid off, one time we were given a
test to identify whether it is an asset, liability or owner’s equity. During that quiz, I was really
confident. I got high remarks and because of that, I was really inspired in studying more.

The next thing we did was the transaction analysis. At first, I was confused in what to debit and
what to credit. I learned that knowing the normal balances of the accounts could really help me
in transaction analysis. Then, after that topic, we proceeded to journalizing. I realized that what I
did on the very first that I took was very wrong. The technical aspects in journalizing were new
to me. Like the indention of the credit transactions, and the explanations. I studied hard in order
to understand transaction. I practiced many drills and I learned how to properly journalize
transaction and how to understand it. I have learned that making T-accounts when analyzing a
transaction would really help.

As the days passed, the things that we did gradually increases in levels. From journalizing, we
were asked to do trial balance. I learned that format in Trial balance is very important. Adjusting
journal entries was the start of my downfall. I really had a hard time in understanding adjusting
entries. My scores in drills were below the passing scores. I always interchange the accounts to
debit and to credit. I tried studying it one night without sleeping, somehow I understood it.
However, in the next drill, I had mental block and completely forgot what I studied. I asked
helped to my friends, and gradually I slowly learned adjusting entries. The confusion that I had
was added when expense and asset method was introduced. Slowly, with the help of my friends
and by studying really hard, I somehow understood adjusting entries. I learned that adjusting is
really hard, not just in accounting but also in real life. It is really necessary to cope up with the
adjustments in life because the only constant thing in this world is change.

After the adjusting entries, we were told do financial statements. It was difficult every drill that
requires doing the whole accounting cycle because it would really consume a lot of time. Not
just the time, but also every time I can’t balance the debit and credit side, I really get irritated
easily. I need to be very careful in writing the balances because sometimes I can mistakenly
debit and credit balance, credit a debit balance. One wrong move and everything will be
affected. It is also true in real life, one wrong move and everything around us will be affected.
However, there are many things we can do to avoid making this mistake. This is to be very
careful in everything that we do. I realized that we should be very cautious in every decision that
we have to make because there are people and other things that will be affected. Even our
future will be at stake.

After taking midterm examination, I was really worried because there were many items that I did
not finished and there are many things that I discovered that I was wrong. There are many
errors on how interpret some transactions. And then the results came and my remarks were not
that good. I was really depressed and I questioned myself and if this course was really for me. I
was so lost and I was really scared. But then, I realized that maybe my efforts and my study
habit was wrong, and I really need to fix it. Before starting the final term, I conditioned myself to
be positive and I can do all things if I will just focus.

The start of the final term was also the start of the Merchandising. Service business and
Merchandising are somehow the same; however it differs in income statement because in
merchandising, there are accounts for inventories, also there are discounts. There are also two
types of inventory systems that are used in merchandising, the periodic and perpetual system.
For me, I got hard time at first in perpetual system because in there is an additional entry if the
entity sells something. Also, I was confused because there are accounts that are used in the
periodic system that are not used in the perpetual system. However, I realized that
merchandising was fun and it was easy if you are familiar with the process. Also, there are new
accounts such as sales returns and allowances, purchase returns and allowances, purchase
discount and etc.

The merchandising business includes taxes, special journals and voucher system. For me, my
favorite lesson in final term was in the special journals and subsidiary ledgers. The first drill that
was given to us in special journals were simple and I was very angry at myself because it was
just simple however, what I did was wrong. However, after a certain drill that was given to us an
assignment, I understood and managed to do the whole accounting cycle for merchandising.
However, there is plot twist because I there were still taxes that needed to be considered. I was
confused at first, especially if there discounts and you still need to compute for taxes. However,
after sometime, I managed to understand and know what to do somehow. I learned many things
that I only learned during this time. I never such things exist in the first place.

The last topic we had this final term was about manufacturing. Somehow it was same to
Merchandising. However, there three inventories that you need to consider. Also, there different
cost that are included in direct labor, direct materials and manufacturing. At first, I was confused
in identifying whether it was direct labor, direct material or manufacturing overhead. However, it
was easy after many practice drills that we have done. The final term was a very fruitful period
for me. I learned many things.

As an accountancy student, adjusting phase was difficult. It was really hard. Maintaining your
discipline is not easy at all. You have to keep your focus. But the, discipline, focus, patience –
these words are way too hard to bear. You have to gain friends to keep your sanity. They are
the people who can help you bear the stress. However, the most important thing to do when
you’re an accountancy student is study hard and analyzes everything, not memorizing. It really
an advantage if you read lessons ahead of time and to review all lessons from time to time
because all terms and concepts in accounting are interconnected. Also, one thing that I learned
that is really essential is that you should enjoy and love what you are doing. You should always
believe in yourself.

If I were given the chance to modify this requirement, I would like to include creativity in the
rubric. And also, if given an ample amount of time, I would like to recommend to include all the
correct answers of the drills.