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Pig Farm Accounting

Module by: Cody Zahler. E-mail the author

Summary: Students will use basic accounting principles and math skills to account for several farm-related transactions dealing with a small business buying and selling pigs.

Challenge: Pig Farm Accounting

Unit: Financial

Subject: Math

Description:

Students will use basic accounting principles and math skills to account for several farm-related transactions dealing with a small business buying and selling pigs. 

Phase I

Teacher Instuction: Present the students with the following problem with no explanation of the accounting process.  Have the students read through the problem and attempt to answer the following questions. Encourage the students to do their best to add together the numbers and answer the questions.  Give the students about 30 minutes to do this first part.

Scenario: On January 1, 2008 you decide you want to start a small pig farming business and set aside $2,000 to be used for business purposes as owner's equity.  On January 3 you buy supplies totaling $500 in preparation for the pigs.  Rather than paying the $500 in cash right now, you pay for these supplies on account. A week later on January 10 you purchase 3 baby pigs with cash.  Each of these pigs cost $50.  After a day the pigs seem very hungry already.  You give them some of your family's leftover food, but that satisfy them, so on January 11 you go to the store and buy $100 of food for your pigs.  On January 31, 2008 you finally get around to paying off the $500 accounts payable for the supply expense.  On March 1 you run out of food and go to the store and buy another $100 of food with cash.  Then again on May 1 you pay cash for another $100 of food for the pigs.  Finally on July 1, 2008 you sell the three pigs at an auction.  One pig was auctioned off for $250, another for $350 and another for $400.  Rather than collecting the cash immediately, you sell these pigs on account.  The buyers promise to pay these amounts within 30 days.  On July 31, 2008 you collect the accounts receivable for the amount that the pigs were auctioned for.

Answer the following questions:

  • How much Net Income (loss) did your company make during this time period?
  • How much cash do you have available at the end of July 2008?
  • Assuming all of the expenses and revenues are described above, was it worth it to buy and sell these pigs?

Phase II

Teacher Instuction: After the students have made a good attempt at answering the questions, ask them if they thought it was easy or difficult.  Have them think about and discuss any ideas that might make easier to answer these questions.  Then explain that accounting is the most organized and most common way to keep track of business transactions.  Present a lesson on the basics of double-entry accounting as described in the Content section below. 

Then walk the students through a couple examples filling out the table below.  Explain to them that they first need to identify the account names and account types involved in a given transaction.  Then they need to explain whether those accounts are increasing or decreasing.  Then show them whether that account is debited or credited (For example: if the company receives cash, which is an asset, cash increases, and assets are increased with a debit).  Give the students another hour to fill out the rest of the table below.  After the students have finished, review their filled out tables and help students with any problems they may have.

Then once the students have filled out the table accurately, ask them to answer the same three questions:

  • How much Net Income (loss) did your company make during this time period?
  • How much cash do you have available at the end of July 2008?
  • Assuming all of the expenses and revenues are described above, was it worth it to buy and sell these pigs?

Discuss with the students whether they got the same answers.  If they came up with different answers than in the first part of this challenge ask them which answers they thought were more accurate.  Discuss with the students the benefits and problems with using double-entry accounting.  Explain to the students that although this material may be difficult to learn, that in the long run, it makes keeping track of the business's cash, expenses, and revenues much easier.

Phase III

Using your basic knowledge of double-entry accounting fill out the table below for each transaction for your new pig-raising business. This activity will take approximately 1 hour.

 

Table 1
Date Transaction (1) Identify Accounts (2) Increase or Decrease? (3) Indicate whether an account is debited or credited. (4) By How much? Journal Entry
1/1/08 You set aside $2,000 to be used by your new business.
Cash Increase Asset Up  = debit         $2,000 Cash 2,000                 
Owner's Equity Increase Owner's Equity Up = credit $2,000   Capital Stock    2,000
1/3/08 You buy supplies on account to build a pig pen for the farm  for $500  Supply Expense Cash   IncreaseDecrease   Expense Up = debitAsset Down = credit   $200$200  Supply Expense  500        Cash               500
             
             
             
             
             
             
             

Finally on July 1, 2008 you sell the three pigs at an auction.  One pig was auctioned off for $250, another for $350 and another for $400.  Rather than collecting the cash immediately, you sell these pigs on account.  The buyers promise to pay these amounts within 30 days.  On July 31, 2008 you collect the accounts receivable for the amount that the pigs were auctioned for.

Correct Answers for Teacher’s Reference:

Table 2
   
Date Transaction (1) Identify Accounts (2) Increase or Decrease? (3) Indicate whether an account is debited or credited. (4) By How much? Journal Entry
1/1/08 You set aside $2,000 to be used by your new business.
Cash Increase Asset Up  = debit         $2,000 Cash 2,000                 
Owner's Equity Increase Owner's Equity Up = credit $2,000      Capital Stock    2,000
             
1/3/08 You buy supplies on account to build a pig pen for the farm  for $500  Supply ExpenseAccounts Payable  IncreaseIncrease  Expense Up = debitLiability Up = credit  $200$200  Supply Expense  500   Accounts Payable   500    
             
1/10/08 You purchase 3 baby pigs to raise and sell later.  Each pig costs $50. Pig InventoryCash  IncreaseDecrease  Asset Up = debitAsset Down = credit  $150$150 Pig Inventory $150   Cash               $150
1/11/08 The pigs are hungry, so you buy $100 of food for the pigs with cash. Food ExpenseCash  IncreaseDecrease  Expense Up = debitAsset Down = credit  $100$100  Food Expense   $100       Cash                $100
1/31/08 You pay off the accounts payable for the $500 of supplies purchased earlier this month. Accounts PayableCash  DecreaseDecrease  Liability Down = debitAsset Down = credit  $500$500  Accounts Payable  $500      Cash                  $500
3/1/08 You buy another $100 of food for the pigs with cash  Food ExpenseCash   IncreaseDecrease   Expense Up = debitAsset Down = credit $100$100    Food Expense   $100       Cash                 $100
5/1/08 You buy another $100 of food for the pigs with cash   Food ExpenseCash   IncreaseDecrease  Expense Up = debitAsset Down = credit  $100$100  Food Expense   $100           Cash           $100
7/1/08 You sell the three pigs on account for at total of  $1,000.  Accounts ReceivableRevenue  IncreaseIncrease  Asset Up = debitRevenue Up = credit  $1,000$1,000  Acc. Receivable $1,000          Revenue        $1,000
7/1/08 As part of the sale the pigs are handed over to the buyers Cost of Goods SoldInventory IncreaseDecrease Expense Up = debitAsset Down = credit $150$150 Cost of Goods Sold $150      Inventory            $150
7/31/08 You collect the $1,000 in cash from the sell of the three pigs.  CashAccounts Receivable  IncreaseDecrease  Asset Up = debitAsset Down = credit  $1,000$1,000  Cash       $1,000  Acc. Receivable    $1,000

 

  • How much Net Income (loss) did your company make during this time period?Net Income = Revenues - Expenses
    • Expenses = 500(supplies) + 300(food) + 150 (Cost of Goods Sold) = $950
    • Revenues = $1,000 (Sale of Pigs)
    • Net Income = $1,000 - $950 = $50
  • How much cash do you have available at the end of July 2008?
    • Ending Cash = $2,000(initial investment) - $150 (buying baby pigs) -$300 (food purchases) - $500 (paying payable for supply expense) + $1,000 (Sale of Pigs) = $2,050

(It may also be beneficial for the students to show these in the form of T-tables as shown in the resources)

Assuming all of the expenses and revenues are described above, was it worth it to buy and sell these pigs?

  • The company made $50, so on the surface it appears like it was probably worth while.  However, the farmer would have to decide if receiving $50 for all of his personal work is worth his work and time.  Ask the students if there is something else he could do to make more than $50 in that time.  Encourage the students to critically think of other ways he could have spent his time and money, or ways that he could have reduced costs or made more money from raising these pigs to make it more worth it.

Competencies

Core Competencies

  • Use mathematical approach to find solutions to real-life problems
  • Make simple multiplication and addition calculations
  • Use double-entry accounting methods to determine profitability
  • Identify transactions and accounts within a story problem

Cross-Curricular Competencies

  • Utilize general business knowledge
  • Utilize Decision Making skills

Content

Basic Definition of Account Types:

  • Asset - a possession of value
    • Examples Used: Cash, Inventory, and Accounts Receivable
  • Liability - an amount owed by the company
    • Examples Used:  Accounts Payable
  • Owner's Equity - owner's amount invested in company
  • Revenue - Inflows of assets, sales
  • Expense - an outflow or using up of assets, costs
    • Examples Used: Supplies Expense, Food Expense
  • Basic Knowledge of double-entry accounting (debits and credits) and journal entries
    • Debit means on left and credit means on right
    • General Accounting Equations:
      • Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity
      • Net Income = Revenues - Expenses
    • Assets increased by debits and decreased by credits
    • Liabilities increased by credits and decreased by debits
    • Owner's Equity increased by credits and decreased by debits
    • Revenues increased by credits and decreased by debits
    • Expenses increased by debits and decreased by credits

Open Educational Resources

  • General Accounting Overview:

        http://svn.gnucash.org/docs/guide/acctsconcepts1.htm

    or

http://cnx.org/content/m15602/latest/

 

  • Debits and Credits Tutorial:

http://www.college-cram.com/study/accounting/presentations/37

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