One of the things we do at Community Business College is ask all of our students, “what did you learn today?”
It’s
a good reinforcement tool and sometimes the answers to that question tell us a
great deal about where a student is in the learning process and it caps off an
end to the class with a quick learning review.
After
completing a QuickBooks
class module with the learning-challenged students from Modesto’s Mentor Network yesterday, we
reviewed their Profit and Loss Statements. This is something new for the college and we did this class as a pilot project. As you'll see, it was a huge success!
In
this QuickBooks class, the students got to choose their own stores, come up
with the names and stock it with virtual products. They learned how to order
stock, pay for it, sell it and make deposits.
For
those not in the know, a Profit and Loss (also known as P&L)
Statement is a tool for businesses to use to determine whether or not your
business is profitable, how much of a profit has been made or if the business
has incurred a loss.
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| Our Sample P&L Statement |
Profit and Loss Statements are also
commonly referred to as an income statement, statement of financial
performance, revenue statement, earnings statement, or statement of operations.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, “A report by any other name will still smell the
same.” Whatever you decide to call it, the purpose of the report is to present the
revenues recognized for a specific period, and the cost and expenses charged
against these revenues, including write-offs (e.g., depreciation and
amortization of various assets) and taxes.
So yesterday, they got to run their
Profit and Loss Statements for the first time. Then they got to make them blue,
modify the report and save the report. We did some more sales, went back and
checked the Profit and Loss and saw the growth.
The class learned about the literal “bottom
line” on the report tells them how well their company is doing and the real
meaning behind the term “Black Friday” (the day when traditionally, companies
that are “in the red” see their profits move back “in the black.”)
Then we got to run the sales graph
which is QuickBooks’ very colorful illustration of the results of the sales of
a company.
That got a lot of oohs and aahs.
At the end of the class, we asked, “so,
what did you learn today,” and almost unanimously came the replies about making
profit. Of all the QuickBooks activities they did that day, seeing the graphic
results of the work in their stores is what they remembered most.
And they had fun learning, too.
All of the students and the aides
worked really hard to get to this point. QuickBooks makes things easier but it
still takes patience to make work correctly. And these students did it. It
warms our hearts to see them enjoy learning so much and it reminds all of us
how lucky we are to have the gifts we have.
So here’s the question of the day: “What
did you learn today?”
Can
you help us keep this program going? We set up a GoFundMe campaign to try to offer
this program to those who have special needs. Check out the details here at https://www.GoFundMe.com/101lqw
Learn to master
QuickBooks in one of the campus-based or online classes Community Business College offers. Then when you’re done,
pass the Intuit
Certification Exam and receive an official QuickBooks certificate
