The Deloitte High School Accounting Challenge
Bring real-world applications into your high school accounting classes
Material can be easier to understand when related to real-life issues through examples
Giving your students real-world accounting experience helps them make faster progress and can give them incentive to learn and care about what is going on within the classroom.
What you’ll find in these challenges
Each challenge includes a video introduction that takes you through three different entrepreneurial storylines. Each story gets students thinking about what kind of accounting work needs to be done to help businesses succeed. You’ll get a teacher’s guide to help you get started right away. Your students will get transactions, ledgers, balance sheets, and other accounting professional tools to help them put their learning to work. Scroll down for the materials.
Watch the how-to video
Learn more about how to use the challenges in your classroom.
Challenge materials
Challenge 1: Meet Morgan. She’s opening a sneaker store and needs help organizing her finances
Animated Video:
Begin the challenge with this animated video that introduces Morgan as she launches her brand new sneaker store. She tells students about the expenses needed to open her doors and why they’ve been hired as accounting interns to help. The challenge? Put 30 transaction cards in order and use real-looking accounting tools to help organize Morgan’s finances.
Watch Video
Teacher’s Guide:
This quick two-page teaching guide is simple to follow. It takes you through exactly what you need to do and say to get kids working on Challenge 1. You’ll also get the answer keys to everything your students will be working on.
Get guide
Student Resources:
Student resources include an introduction to Morgan along with their accounting mission and steps to follow. They will use the 30 transaction cards to help Morgan document her transactions in her Journal pages. These resources will help your students post journal entries to blank ledger pages and create a Trial Balance. This real-world experience will help your students learn what being an accountant is really like.
Challenge 2: Introduce your students to Luke and see if his skate shop is turning a profit
Animated Video:
Begin this challenge with an animated video focused on Luke, an entrepreneur who knows everything about skating and skateboards, but very little about finances. He discusses the help he needs in preparing his financial statements and why your students have been hired as accounting interns to help. Students will act as an accounting consultant to advise Luke on ways he might be able to cut costs or increase revenue.
Teacher’s Guide:
This quick two-page teaching guide is simple to follow. It takes you through exactly what you need to do and say to get kids working on Challenge 2. You’ll also get the answer keys to everything your students will be working on.
Student Resources:
Student resources include an introduction to Luke along with their accounting mission and steps to follow. They will use a list of ledger account balances, a blank trial balance, a blank income statement, and a blank balance sheet to help them analyze Luke’s Skate Shop finances. Then, they’ll pivot roles and learn about what it’s like to be an accounting consultant who offers advice on ways to cuts costs or increase revenue.
Challenge 3: Introduce your students to Alex and help her identify errors in her financial documents
Animated Video:
Begin challenge 3 with an animated video that showcases Alex, owner of an arcade for the last ten years. She walks students through her desire to get a bank loan for business improvements. To do that, she needs help making sure her financial statements are error-free. Alex hires your team to analyze her financial statements and provide any comments/findings so she can correct any errors and submit to the bank.
Teacher's Guide:
This quick two-page teaching guide is simple to follow. It takes you through exactly what you need to do and say to get kids working on Challenge 3. You’ll also get the answer keys to everything your students will be working on.
Student Resources:
Student resources include an introduction to Alex along with an accounting mission and steps to follow. They will use realistic ledgers and financial statements to review, along with clue cards in case they get stuck finding discrepancies and errors.
