Basic Accounting (BUS 1102) at UoPeople

Basic Accounting (BUS 1102) was the second business course I took at UoPeople. Before taking this class, I always wondered what bankers and accountants did at my banks when they weren't entertaining clients. I think I know now to a certain degree, if not entirely, after taking this course. I had an awesome instructor for the class who was a professional financial auditor besides being a local college professor. He was very active in the discussion board and other forums, provided extra notes to help the students and gave constructive feedback. This class was pretty crowded, with probably 34-38 students. The students were civil, though, and I had no major complaint in peer assessment except for one minor issue, which isn't worth discussing. 

You get an online book for this course, which I didn't enjoy reading. By the way, I'm an avid reader, but the book was downright dull in my stance. I learned more about the course topics from YouTube channels like Phil Town's Rule #1 Investing and Accounting Stuff. Phil Town's videos were beneficial and exciting, which helped me understand the topics you'll learn throughout the course, like the different types of financial and income statements. Phil gave practical examples and talked about the consequences which the book lacked. For the discussion and learning journals, you mostly have to discuss various accounting terms, financial statements, accounts, cash flows, and how practical companies in your vicinity do transactions in terms of accounting and become a proprietor of a firm you like. For written assignments, you have to adjust and complete a financial statement for three weeks, and then identify various accounting concepts and solve problems for the rest. I must admit that I didn't like adjusting the financial statement, maybe because I don't enjoy working with tables and formulas in excel. The written assignments are only 5%, so you can always make up in the other course components if you don't do well on them.

The quizzes were straightforward, though. They involved some basic math sometimes, but nothing major like the College Algebra. The exam was a whopping 40% in the course. It's probably the only course I've taken so far with such a high percentage given to the exam. The final had 40-45 questions with 1:30hrs give to you to finish it, which was nearly adequate. Though I didn't find the book very helpful, it had the problems, goals achievement, fill in the blanks, multiple-choice questions, and glossary at the end of each chapter, which all helped me prepare notes and study for the quizzes and final exam. I suggest you do take all the quizzes and prepare notes through the information you find at the end of each chapter to do well on this course. Eventually, I ended up getting an A, which is, in my opinion was due to all the effort I put into the course.

In a nutshell, it's a crucial business course that will prepare you well for your later business courses at the school. I enjoyed it to a great extent except for adjusting the financial statements. I guess you can't be a jill of all trades.