Milestone map
Milestone map
2 milestones
Do the exercises and show your work
7–14 weeks (6 hrs/week)
Take Financial Accounting for free and do the exercises in each chapter (the accounting cycle, journal entries, adjusting entries, the four statements). Keep your answers in one public place (a repo, a shared folder or a page) as you go, with your reasoning shown. MIT 15.501 (Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting) is free but has fewer exercises. We use OpenStax for the practice problems.
Proof required
Link your public folder with the exercises in each chapter (the accounting cycle, journal entries, adjusting entries, the four statements), and show your self-check (Financial Accounting: end-of-chapter questions).
What gets checked
- Journal entries balance and each has a reason.
- The statements tie to the ledger.
- Mistakes are listed with the correction.
Common mistakes
- Answers copied from a key: verifiers read the reasoning.
- Numbers with no working.
- Asking for review before the self-check.
Powstik Guide
A public folder with your worked answers to the exercises in each chapter (the accounting cycle, journal entries, adjusting entries, the four statements).
Steps
- Make a public folder or repo for this course.
- Do one chapter or problem set at a time and save it.
- Self-check: Answer each chapter's review questions before you read the answer. Where the book gives an answer key, mark yourself against it; for the rest, check each answer against the chapter text and note the section. Write down what you got wrong.
- Fix what the self-check shows, and say what you fixed.
- Ask three people who know the topic to check it.
Template
README Course: Financial Accounting (OpenStax Principles of Accounting, Volume 1 (free book)) What is here: Self-check result: The hardest question and why:
What gets sent back
- Answers with no working.
- Self-check not shown.
Resources
Foundationstart here
Depthgo deeper
Masteryfor the dedicated
What a verifier looks for
- Journal entries balance and each has a reason.
- The statements tie to the ledger.
- Mistakes are listed with the correction.
- Pick two answers and check every step.
- Ask about one step; the answer should be clear.
You'll sign in first, then come straight back here.
Keep real books for three months
1–3 weeks (5–8 hrs/week)
Use what you learned. Make a ledger and the four financial statements for three months of a real small activity (a club, a stall, a side business), from receipts or bank records. Put it where verifiers can open it. Use public information, or data you have permission to use; never publish a real person's private details.
Proof required
Link a ledger and the four financial statements for three months of a real small activity (a club, a stall, a side business), from receipts or bank records, and a short note on what you decided or changed because of it.
What gets checked
- The ledger balances and each entry has a source document.
- The balance sheet balances and the cash flow ties to the bank.
- Adjusting entries are present and correct.
Common mistakes
- Invented or unsourced figures.
- A conclusion the evidence does not support.
Powstik Guide
A ledger and the four financial statements for three months of a real small activity (a club, a stall, a side business), from receipts or bank records.
Steps
- Write one line: what you will show.
- Gather the real data, people or documents.
- Draft it, then read it cold the next day.
- Ask someone to mark the first claim they doubt.
- Fix it and ask three people to check it.
Template
Title: What this shows: Sources: Method: Result: Limits:
What gets sent back
- Unsourced numbers.
- Not clearly the person's own work.
- Claims more than it shows.
Resources
Foundationstart here
Depthgo deeper
Masteryfor the dedicated
What a verifier looks for
- The ledger balances and each entry has a source document.
- The balance sheet balances and the cash flow ties to the bank.
- Adjusting entries are present and correct.
- Check that the work is the person's own and the sources are real.
- Ask how a number was found.
You'll sign in first, then come straight back here.