An original project starts from your own question, your own invented business and a timeline with dates. Plan these three things before you open a spreadsheet, and the work stays yours from the start.
This lesson is part of SPM Accounting. If you want help that supports your learning without doing the work for you, read accounting coursework help without having someone do the work.
What goes into the plan?
Write five lines before anything else. Each line is one sentence.
- Question: what the project will show, such as whether a small stall covers its costs.
- Business: an invented business with a type, location and selling price.
- Period: the dates the records cover, such as one month.
- Records: which transactions, documents and statements you will produce.
- Check: how you will test the work, such as a trial balance.
Follow your school’s written instructions for anything the plan must include.
Worked example: a nasi lemak stall
An invented student plans a project on a school-day breakfast stall. Her question is whether the stall covers its costs in four weeks.
| Week | Task | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Choose stall, prices, suppliers; list costs | One-page scenario |
| 2 | Record transactions with evidence for each | Transaction log |
| 3 | Post to ledger, prepare trial balance | Ledger and trial balance |
| 4 | Prepare statements, check figures, write explanations | Final draft and check list |
She invents her own figures: each packet sells at RM3, rice and ingredients use RM1.50 of each packet, and stall rent is RM60 each week. Her friend chose a different stall, so neither set of numbers matches the other.
The mistake that borrows a template
The shortcut is to copy a sample project and change a few names. The figures, explanations and layout then belong to someone else, and the method is not learned.
A plan from your own scenario avoids this. If you study a sample, close it, then write your five lines from memory with your own business.
Check yourself
Write a one-sentence question, a business, a period and a check for a stationery stall run during one school term. Then say which line would be wrong if you reused a classmate’s figures.
Answer
A model plan: “Does a stationery stall earn enough to cover its costs in one term? The business sells pens and notebooks at school. The period is one school term. I will check the work with a trial balance.”
Reusing a classmate’s figures makes the Business line wrong, because the figures would no longer be your own invented scenario.
What to study next
Next, learn how to back each transaction with proof in keeping an evidence and transaction log. You can also review your plan with the claim, evidence and explanation revision desk.
If you want a teacher to practise the planning method with you on a different scenario, see online one-to-one Accounting tuition.