Our third and last fund accounting class was successfully held on July 27, 2017. After the first two classes, every student gained a better understanding on fund accounting, and cannot wait to practice their knowledge in the real case. Surprisingly, our speaker Shawn presented the last class in a non-traditional way, and everyone enjoyed it.
Shawn walked in the classroom with an iPad and a monopoly game box, and he told students that the class will be a monopoly game among groups and each group will record their transactions in the book during the game. The goal of the game is to simulate a fund portfolio and to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the daily transactions will reflect the financial statements from the perspective of accounting.
To begin with, there are four groups and each group has five students with a team leader, cash treasurer, asset custodian, trader, and an accountant. In the first round, every group got different portfolios from the judge as an initial investment, which includes cash and long-term assets. In the next round, the team leaders took turns to roll the dice to decide which transaction each team would occur. Shawn makes sure that all transactions are recorded correctly, and every student in the group understand the transactions.
After several rounds, it is time for groups to invest their properties by constructing building and collecting rent from other groups. Some groups created joint venture to share risks and profits, and some groups borrow money from others to avoid bankruptcy. It is important to mention that group two invested a large amount on their land, and group one invested almost all their cash on properties. Every group tried their best to increase their income and improve their NAV.
After two-hour class, the winner goes to group three, who spread out their investment equally on land and properties with lowest risk. Every group was focused on the game, and learned how the daily transactions will affect the accounting of their portfolio.