Videotutorial: le causali contabili e gli automatismi

Su LearnDoubleEntry.org si possono predisporre delle causali contabili (modelli di registrazione) con due finalità: agevolare la creazione di registrazioni contabili simili tra loro (basate su un modello) e far sì che scattino alcuni automatismi. In questo video vediamo come si fa.

Videotutorial: registrazioni di chiusura e bilancio

Abbiamo pubblicato un video che spiega come viene generato il bilancio e come si devono predisporre le registrazioni di chiusura a fine anno.

Creare sfide di economia aziendale - Videotutorial

In questi video mostriamo come un docente può preparare alcune registrazioni contabili di un'azienda e trasformare queste registrazioni in un esercizio guidato per i propri studenti.

Video 1: creazione di un'azienda e preparazione delle registrazioni contabili

Video 2: predisposizione della sfida (esercizio guidato)

Video 3: accesso a una sfida da parte di  uno studente

Video 4: gestione degli esercizi svolti dagli studenti

LDE goes RESTful

After some months of tests, we are going RESTful.

REST, or Representational State Transfer, is a standard way to access data on a server with simple requests. It offers the possibility to interact with the server programmatically, with many languages and with different goals.

The API specs for LearnDoubleEntry are available at SwaggerHub.

By using the APIs, it is possible for a user to interact with LDE to get a list of the managed firms, to get a list of the accounts and of the journal entries of a firm, to create, delete or update journal entries, etc. Other possibilities might be used in the future.

Examples of programs that could be implemented include:

• get the list of accounts of a firm and output a csv file with the data;
• produce the journal entries for all the invoices issued in a month;
• record a transaction for two firms, the buyer and the seller.

It is easy to use the APIs straight from the command line (using curl) or by using a programming language (we will show examples in python, javascript, C# in the next weeks).

To use the API, you need a key that you can request on the page /api/subscribe.

LDE at Nanyang Polytechnic (Singapore)

Alvin Tan, a lecturer at Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore, was so kind to send us an article in which he describes how he uses LearnDoubleEntry with his students.

LearnDoubleEntry is a fantastic e-learning application that I have used for my Financial and Management Accounting (FMA) module since 2017. A lecturer at Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore, I teach business subjects including accounting and marketing to students from the Diploma in Engineering with Business at the School of Engineering. With engineering students generally more hands-on, I’m constantly seeking new ways to engage them in active learning to achieve the best possible learning outcome. And this is where LearnDoubleEntry fits in perfectly! As part of our semester study plan, we launch LearnDoubleEntry on our third session, right after introducing double-entry accounting (and getting our student excited with Colin Dodds’ Debit Credit Theory MTV).

To contextualise the application for our students, I created a case scenario of an engineering firm, JC Engineering that made various business transactions over a 1-month period. Students are asked to fork JC Engineering firm in the application and create the corresponding journal entries based on the transactions provided. 

One of the many useful features is the drop-down Chart of Account list that enables our students to select the correct account types. With many accounting terms still very foreign to them (it’s only their third class), it helps that the accounts are grouped in a hierarchy structure (e.g., Assets>Current Assets>Cash) for easy identification and association. 

The cherry on top is the generated Balance Sheet that comes with completion of their journal entries. The balance sheet output enables our students to bridge the workings of journal entry to the makings of financial statements. Time and again each semester, we see our students reinforce their learning on double-entry accounting through LearnDoubleEntry. They enjoy the hands-on and it gives them a complete picture of double entry accounting from start to completion. I sincerely thank Loris and team for LearnDoubleEntry, and I hope that more learners around the world can benefit from it, strengthening their interest in accounting by way of active learning!

Alvin Tan

Group journal entries in sections

It is now possible to create several sections of journal entries, and assign each journal entry to a particular section.
Each section has a name, a color, and an assigned status of visibility. Of course, when a section is set to invisible, none of the journal entries belonging to it will be shown, either in the journal or in the statements or ledger.

Here some screenshots:

The journal now has a new column, for the section.

In the sections page, you can set the color and toggle the visibility of each section.

When you prepare or edit a journal entry, you can decide to which section it belongs to.

Possible uses of this new feature:

1. you can group journal entries by category, and have therefore an instant view of what the statements would be if none of the journal entries belonging to the "extraordinary events" group were present;
2. students working together on the same firm could make it clear who did what (when each student uses a different section);
3. with the same firm, you can have the journal entries of different years - instead of forking the firm.

This is still an experimental feature: if you happen to experience a bug or want to suggest an improvement, please let us know.

Export data to an SQLite database, and play with it

Do you want to try to execute an SQL query on the database of your firm?
Now you can: it is possible to export the data of a firm you own into a SQLite database.

You can easily manage the database offline with a program that manages SQLite databases, like, for instance, SQLiteBrowser, available as free / open source software and working for most platforms.

Possible exercises

1. Analyze the structure of the tables to find out the meaning of the fields.
2. Create an SQL SELECT query that shows the journal entries, with date, description, names of the accounts, and amounts.
3. Create an SQL SELECT query that shows the ledger of a specific account.
4. Create an SQL SELECT query that shows the trial balance.