The Accounting Game : Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand [Paperback]

Darrell Mullis (Author), Judith Orloff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1998

Basic Accounting Fresh From the Lemonade Stand

The world of accounting can be intimidating. But, more often than not, there's no way to avoid it--even non-financial jobs venture into financial jargon and concepts. For those trying to get more done at the office, organize the dollars and cents in a small business or just in need of a refresher, there's no reason to turn to the average number-crunching class again.

The Accounting Game presents financial information in a format so simple and so unlike a common accounting textbook, you may forget you're learning key skills that will help you get ahead!

This book uses the world of a kid's lemonade stand to teach the basics of financial language and records. You'll run your own lemonade stand and make it grow by creating signs to advertise it, borrowing money from Mom, buying lemons and sugar and selling to the whole neighborhood. As you run your stand, you'll begin to understand and apply financial terms and concepts like assets, liabilities, earnings, inventory and notes payable, plus:

--Know the difference between accrual vs. cash accounting methods
--Create and understand an income statement and balance sheet
--Track inventory using LIFO and FIFO
--Create cash statements and understand cash flow and liquidity
--Apply your new knowledge to real-life situations

The revolutionary approach of The Accounting Game takes the typically mundane subjects of accounting and business finance and makes them something you can easily learn, understand, remember and use!

The Accounting Game is produced by Educational Discoveries, the training industry's leader in accelerative learning technology. More than 70,000 people have graduated from The Accounting Game, the world's most successful one-day financial seminar.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

For the past 25 years, Judith Orloff has been helping people transform their lives through self-awareness and education. Among her most significant accomplishments is the founding of the Burlington College in Vermont, where she also created a B.A. program in Transpersonal Psychology. In addition, Orloff is the founder of Educational Discoveries, Inc., which not only produces The Accounting Game, but also is the training industry leader in accelerative learning and instructional design. EDI's The Accounting Game is the most successful financial seminar in the world, with over 100,000 graduates.

For the past decade, Darrell Mullis, the Director of Training and Development at Educational Discoveries, has taught EDI's learning technology and developed a training program for its trainers. Mullis has also taught over 300 of the phenomenally successful Accounting Game seminars to thousands of Americans. Mullis lives with his four daughters in Louisville, Colorado.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

from the Introduction

The Accounting Game is written in a way that creates a specific learning experience for you as it teaches you the basic skills of accounting. We call the learning method accelerative learning. What do you think that means? It is a learning methodology that uses all of your senses as well as your emotions and your critical thinking skills. If you can remember your kindergarten or elementary school classrooms, you will see many colored maps, letters and numbers, bold (even raw) drawings by each child, etc. You learned the alphabet by singing. You learned the multiplication tables by saying them out loud with each other. You laughed a lot. You were creative.

Then, how you were taught began to change when you entered middle school or high school. Learning became more lecture, more black and white, more rote. You studied before tests and probably did well or maybe not. Yet, for all the endless homework and "cramming," most of the information you learned in high school you don't remember now. That's because it went into your short-term memory so that you could pass the tests and move on to the next grade.

Yet, look at all the things you remember from early childhood! While in elementary school, much of the information you learned went directly to your long-term memory, because it was peppered with music, color, movement, smells, emotional experiences and lots of play and fun.

The methodology we use in this book in many ways parallels how you learned in grade school. We do this by accessing the part of your brain where long-term memory lives. Now, the way to reach your long-term memory has to include emotion, because they reside in the same place in your brain--the limbic region.

The truth is, because of the way we humans learn, we have to discover something ourselves to really learn it. This book, based on Educational Discoveries' flagship seminar, is designed so you make dozens of discoveries. In short, you will learn a college semester's worth of accounting in the time it takes you to interact with this book.

This is quite a reversal, because business people and students have over the years found the subject of accounting quite difficult to master. Many have simply given up in frustration, others have decided to leave accounting to the "experts." This book is for all of you who have hated accounting, had difficulty learning it or ever thought you didn't really "get it."

We think that most attempts to teach accounting fail because of too much attention to details and a failure to present the big picture framework of how it all works and fits together. In this book, we promise not to overburden you with details and to focus on what are really the key concepts of accounting that any businessperson needs to know.

You will learn the structure and purpose of the three primary financial statements--the balance sheet, the income statement and the cash flow statement. You will learn how these fit together and their interrelationships. You will also learn the basic language of business--concepts like cost of goods sold, expenses, bad debts, accrual vs. cash methods of accounting, FIFO and LIFO, capitalizing vs. expensing, depreciation and the difference between cash and profit.

Our promise is that you will get all this information in a fun and easy way that allows you to participate, interact and discover all that you need to know. Many people need to have understanding and confidence in working with financial concepts, but are not ever going to be doing accounting details. If that is you, then this book fits that need, too. It is set up so that you can actually do financial statements as you are learning them. We invite you to "play the game" as you interact with this book.

Understanding all this information is nice, but what do you do with it? The final chapter will give you some tools for analyzing financial information and making better decisions for your company and your career.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc. (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570713960
• ISBN-13: 978-1570713965
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clearest Explanation ever, December 7, 2005

By 

Sarah (Plainsboro, NJ, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Accounting Game : Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand (Paperback)

I just graduated this June with an MBA- so I've had done lots of accounting in the past for homework and exams and case study projects at school. I just applied for a job that said I had to take an accounting exam so to study I thought I start with this book before I dive back into accounting since it's thinner than my fat textbooks. I sort of knew all this before- like in school I had half memorized where things went in the balance sheet, income statements etc. and what to subtract or add- but after reading this book, I feel like I really really understand everything in a way I never had before. The book is amazing. I understand the basic concepts intuitively now. It made everything very clear and easy. It's a fun read too!

100 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Learning Tool, March 16, 2002

By 

political idiot (california) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Accounting Game : Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand (Paperback)

Don't let this book title fool you. It is not an oversimplification of accounting and financial principles. It is, however, a serious and very effective examination of a very small but progressively complex business. There are not many books available on the market that make a complex and dry subject understandable and even fun. This book successfully does just that. The authors help the reader understand the principles without getting caught up in large numbers to confuse matters.

This book is a brilliant analysis of the original small business --a lemonade stand. This business starts off simple and progresses into a more and more complex financial entity over the course of several weeks. While it is so well explained that even the average teen could undertsand it, this book is a serious learning tool for anyone and does not in any way take on a condescending tone. The authors have fun, but offer meaty information. Ever wonder what the difference and advantages are between the accural and cash methods or why the statement of cashflows is so important or how depreciation effects the bottom line or how the decision to use LIFO or FIFO effects the income statement? All those answers and many more are nicely illustrated in this wonderful book.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Effective and engaging!, December 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Accounting Game : Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand (Paperback)

What a fun and effective way to learn accounting! After years of teaching economics to MBA students and freshmen, I wish there had been textbooks written like this to facilitate instruction of often dry topics. It doesn't read like a textbook, rather it entertains while it teaches and got me personally involved. I didn't realize that I was learning accounting concepts until the chapter was over and I stopped laughing. I felt like I had a personal tutor with me each time I read it. Very interactive. Very fun. The material covered is comprehensive, starting out with basic terminology to the construction of a balance sheet to deriving an income statement to understanding how various business scenarios impact financial statements. Don't be put off by its simplicity, because that is what makes this book so effective and engaging. Anybody who wants to make learning interesting should read this book. Anybody who wants a great crash course in accounting to know how to read a balance sheet or explain one should read this book.