University of Technology Sydney · FACULTY OF ACCOUNTING

22108 Accounting and Accountability

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14 Chapters339-page Bible

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The Complete Exam Bible · Spring 2026

22108 Overview

Accounting and Accountability

— Study guide to UTS 22108: the accounting equation without debits and credits, internal controls, the four statements, ratio analysis and the 50% final exam.

University of Technology Sydney
Spring 2026
14 chapters
Accounting

22108 Accounting and Accountability is the University of Technology Sydney's first-year, 6-credit-point introduction to accounting, and it is taught in a way that surprises most students: this subject teaches accounting WITHOUT debits and credits.

Assessed by Assessment task 1: Learning portfolio - Part A: pre-class weekly online quizzes (best 8 of 11) 10% + 4 more
Key terms Expanded accounting equation, Permanent vs temporary accounts, Trial balance, Unearned revenue
How to prepare Treat this subject as eleven small deadlines plus one big one, because that is literally how the marks are structured.

Why read this guide

What you get in the full 22108 Exam Bible

14 chapters, 339 pages — every examinable topic, week by week
43 original practice questions, most with model answers in the Assessment task 3 format
14 worked examples, solved the way 22108 marks
63 computed figures, redrawn from the course’s own numbers
Exam-morning plan for the Assessment task 3 (50%) — what to revise last, where marks are lost

Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full exam bible.

22108 · University of Technology Sydney

An independent, AskSia-authored study guide. AskSia is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by University of Technology Sydney; the course code and name are used for identification only.

Assessment

How 22108 is assessed

Component	Weight	Format
Assessment task 1: Learning portfolio - Part A: pre-class weekly online quizzes (best 8 of 11)	10%	Individual. Timed Canvas quiz, 10-15 minutes, 3-5 questions per week drawn randomly from a question pool; multiple choice, true/false, matching, fill in the blank(s), numerical answer and formula questions - 'There will not be any short or long form written questions.' Lowest 3 of 11 scores dropped. No extensions and no late submissions. Deadline day is contradictory in the official source (Assessments overview and the Week 1 workshop deck say Wednesday 11.59pm; the Task 1 submission section says Tuesday 11:59pm Sydney time) - take the date from your own Canvas quiz.
Assessment task 1: Learning portfolio - Part B: in-tutorial problems (best 8 of 11)	25%	40-minute case/Excel problem worked during the tutorial and submitted on Canvas within 15 minutes of the end of class. On-campus classes are group-assessed (teams of 4-5); online classes are individually assessed. Students must join within the first 5 minutes to be eligible to participate. Marked on four criteria (student collaboration, in-class discussion, clarity of communication in the submission, demonstrated understanding of theory) across bands Superior 2.5 / Proficient 2 / Competent 1.5 / Not Yet Competent 0.7. Lowest 3 of 11 scores dropped. No late submissions. Generative AI is NOT permitted.
Assessment task 2: Written reflection - Stage 1 (Week 4)	7.5% (Task 2 total = 15%)	Individual ~500-word reflective piece on career goals and study aspirations and how studying accounting may or may not serve them; submitted via Canvas. Prepared in the Week 2 careers workshop and the Week 3 reflective-writing workshop (Gibbs reflective model used in the workshop deck). The subject schedule sets the deadline at 11.59pm on the Wednesday of Week 4 - confirm the exact date on Canvas. Generative AI is permitted only in the specific ways set out on the Canvas assignment page. Note: the 7.5% stage split appears on the workshop slides, not on the assessment page, which states only Task 2 = 15%.
Assessment task 2: Written reflection - Stage 2 (Week 11)	7.5% (Task 2 total = 15%)	Individual ~500-word reflective piece; students are directed to carry Stage 1 feedback into Stage 2. Submitted via Canvas. The subject schedule sets the deadline at 11.59pm on the Wednesday of Week 11 - confirm the exact date on Canvas; the Week 10 workshop focuses on Stage 2. Generative AI is permitted only in the specific ways set out on the Canvas assignment page.
Assessment task 3: Final exam	50%	Sat in the UTS formal examination period at the end of session (an alternative examination period runs after it); confirm your examination period and your own sitting time on the Subject Outline and MyStudentAdmin. Book status: 'Restricted open book' (stated verbatim on the Week 1 workshop slide) - the permitted-materials list is not stated in the source. Delivered online: requires a laptop or computer with a working web-cam and microphone; an iPad or tablet is explicitly not sufficient; a UTS-provided computer can be requested on hardship grounds. Generative AI is NOT permitted. Duration, question count, marks and question-type mix are not stated in the materials available to us.

Other students are asking · 22108

What other students are asking about 22108

Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for 22108 at UTS?: The 22108 study guide in AskSia Library covers Accounting and Accountability in 14 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
Is there a final exam in 22108, and how much is it worth?: Yes. In the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from, Assessment task 3: Final exam carries 50% of the 22108 mark; the full split is Assessment task 1: Learning portfolio - Part A: pre-class weekly online quizzes (best 8 of 11) 10%, Assessment task 1: Learning portfolio - Part B: in-tutorial problems (best 8 of 11) 25%, Assessment task 2: Written refl.
What does 22108 cover on processing economic events and the accounting equation?: In AskSia Library's 22108 guide, the Processing Economic Events and the Accounting Equation chapter explains four steps of accounting, measurement bases, assumptions and principles, the simple and expanded accounting equation, first Excel worksheet (Week 2).
What does 22108 cover on refining the recording process: complex transactions?: In AskSia Library's 22108 guide, the Refining the Recording Process: Complex Transactions chapter explains current vs non-current, tangible vs intangible, sales and purchases on credit, inventory, PPE and depreciation, loans, wages, shares and dividends (Week 3).
What does 22108 cover on internal controls, the fraud triangle and control design?: In AskSia Library's 22108 guide, the Internal Controls, the Fraud Triangle and Control Design chapter explains cOSO framework, ASA 240 fraud definition, the fraud triangle, corporate governance, control components, designing a control, controls over cash (Week 4).

Weights, dates and every chapter are set out with their sources further down this page.

Contents · every chapter, one map

What 22108 covers

22108 runs over twelve weekly topics in the UTS Spring session and has no traditional lectures: you work through the free Pressbooks textbook chapter and videos online, sit a short assessable quiz before class, then solve an Excel-based problem in your tutorial, with large workshops in Weeks 1-4 and again in Weeks 10-12. Topics 1-6 build the financial-accounting half, from what accountability means through to ratio analysis; Topics 7-12 turn inward to management accounting for decision making.

The map below follows that teaching order and ends with two assessment chapters - the final-exam playbook and a survival kit for the continuous assessment that carries the other half of your mark.

What Accounting Is and Who It Serves

Accountability, the Carnegie/Parker/Tsahuridu definition, the history of accounting, types of accounting, Indigenous perspectives (Week 1)

Week 1 of University of Technology Sydney 22108 Accounting and Accountability spends its whole time on the two words in the subject's title, and it is the only week of the session that carries no assessable quiz.

Accountability defined (OED sense): liability to account for and answer for one's conduct and performance of duties
The Carnegie, Parker and Tsahuridu (2021) definition of accounting as a technical, social and moral practice - and why the definition widened over time
The accountability chain: financial statements and financial information hold management answerable, and management remuneration is tied to reported performance
The branches of accounting: financial, management, auditing, taxation and forensic - who each serves and what regulates it
Accounting arose independently in many cultures; counting notation itself is culturally situated, so recognition and disclosure practices differ across jurisdictions
Indigenous perspectives on accounting as part of the history and scope of the discipline (custodianship, relationship to Country, intergenerational stewardship as a lens on 'sustainable utilisation of resources')

In the full guide: 13 pages · 2 figures 02

Processing Economic Events and the Accounting Equation

Four steps of accounting, measurement bases, assumptions and principles, the simple and expanded accounting equation, first Excel worksheet (Week 2)

Week 2 is where 22108 turns on its engine, and it is the first assessed week of the session: from here to Week 12 there is a pre-class Canvas quiz and a 40-minute in-tutorial Excel problem every single week.

The four steps of the accounting process: identifying, measuring, communicating, decision making
The four financial statements and what each answers - profit and loss (a period), statement of changes in equity (a period), balance sheet or Statement of Financial Position (a point in time), statement of cash flows (a period)
Measurement bases - historical cost, fair value, current cost, net realisable value, present value - and why price is not the same as value
The five assumptions: economic entity, monetary measurement, accrual basis, going concern, period
The four principles: revenue recognition, matching, historical cost, conservatism
A = L + E and its rearrangements (equity = assets - liabilities = net assets), then the expanded form A = L + Share capital + Retained earnings + Revenues - Expenses - Dividends

In the full guide: 15 pages · 3 practice questions · 6 figures 03

Refining the Recording Process: Complex Transactions

Current vs non-current, tangible vs intangible, sales and purchases on credit, inventory, PPE and depreciation, loans, wages, shares and dividends (Week 3)

Week 3 takes the Week 2 engine and pushes it through every transaction family the subject drills: sales for cash, on credit and with deposits; purchases for cash and on credit; sales that also move inventory; property, plant and equipment and depreciation; bank loans with principal-plus-interest and interest-only repayments; wages earned but not yet paid; share issues and dividends.

The four questions asked of every event: is it recordable, what is its value, which accounts are in the flows, do the flows balance
Current vs non-current assets and liabilities (the 12-month or operating-cycle test) and tangible vs intangible
Sales: for cash, on credit, and with a pre-payment or deposit received (unearned revenue)
Purchases for cash and on credit; a sale that also moves inventory carries TWO flows - revenue at selling price and cost of sales at cost
Property, plant and equipment: capitalise the purchase, then depreciate - straight line, reducing balance and units of production
Bank loans: splitting a principal-plus-interest repayment, and the interest-only case where the liability does not move

In the full guide: 20 pages · 5 figures 04

Internal Controls, the Fraud Triangle and Control Design

COSO framework, ASA 240 fraud definition, the fraud triangle, corporate governance, control components, designing a control, controls over cash (Week 4)

Week 4 is the qualitative heart of the financial half of 22108, and it is the week with the most predictable answer shape in the subject.

COSO and the five elements: control environment, risk assessment, control of operational activities, information and communication, monitoring
Fraud defined (ASA 240.12(a)): an intentional act involving the use of deception to obtain an unjust or illegal advantage - and the split between misappropriation of assets and fraudulent financial reporting
The fraud triangle: incentives or pressures, perceived opportunity, attitudes and rationalisations - and why opportunity is the leg management can actually control
Corporate governance (Justice Owen, HIH Royal Commission, 2003) and who is responsible: the board, management, and risk, compliance and internal audit functions
Reporting on internal controls: no formal Australian requirement; listed firms' internal audit reports to the audit committee; Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 as the post-Enron US response
The five common components: clear responsibilities, proper documentation, adequate insurance, separation of duties, use of technology

In the full guide: 21 pages · 5 practice questions · 5 figures 05

From Trial Balance to the Four Financial Statements

Opening balances, permanent vs temporary accounts, the trial balance, P&L, statement of changes in equity, balance sheet, statement of cash flows, Australian reporting requirements (Week 5)

Week 5 is where the worksheet finally becomes a set of reports, and it is the highest-value technical chapter in 22108. It introduces opening balances and the permanent-versus-temporary distinction, then the trial balance as the list of every account and its closing balance, and then builds the profit and loss statement, the statement of changes in equity and the balance sheet in that fixed order, plus an understanding of the statement of cash flows and Australian reporting requirements.

Opening balances and why only permanent accounts have them
Permanent (real) accounts - assets, liabilities, equity - carry balances forward; temporary (nominal) accounts - revenues, expenses, dividends - hold the period only and start at zero
The trial balance: a list of all accounts and their closing balances, bridging worksheet to statements (a signed single column in this subject, not a debit-equals-credit proof)
The non-negotiable order of operations: worksheet to trial balance to profit and loss to statement of changes in equity to balance sheet
The profit and loss statement: revenue less cost of sales gives gross profit, less named operating expenses gives net profit before tax, less income tax expense gives net profit after tax
The statement of changes in equity: opening share capital and retained earnings, plus profit (or less loss), plus new shares issued, less dividends, equals closing equity - and when losses accumulate, retained earnings becomes accumulated losses

In the full guide: 21 pages · 5 practice questions · 6 figures 06

Financial Statement Analysis: Ratios, Horizontal, Vertical

Horizontal and vertical analysis, the four ratio families, the 80%-on-credit assumption, interpretation and benchmarking (Week 6)

Week 6 closes the financial half of 22108 by asking what the statements you just built actually say.

What financial statement analysis is - reviewing the statements to make informed decisions - and who does it: shareholders, research analysts, employees and unions, lenders, customers, suppliers, regulators
Horizontal analysis: dollar change = current - base; percentage change = (current - base) / base x 100; and the trend index for a multi-year series
Vertical analysis (common-sizing): each profit-and-loss line as a percentage of revenue; each balance-sheet line as a percentage of total assets
Liquidity: working capital = current assets - current liabilities; current ratio; quick ratio = (cash + short-term investments + accounts receivable) / current liabilities
Solvency: debt-to-equity = total liabilities / total equity; times interest earned = EBIT / interest expense
Efficiency: accounts receivable turnover = net credit sales / average accounts receivable; days in receivables = 365 / AR turnover; inventory turnover = cost of goods sold / average inventory; days in inventory = 365 / inventory turnover; total asset turnover = net sales / average total assets

In the full guide: 22 pages · 6 practice questions · 5 figures 07

Accountability and Management Decision Making

Standard canon - NOT from this course's materials: internal vs external reporting, relevance over compliance, cost concepts and behaviour (Week 7)

Week 7 is the pivot from the external half of 22108 to the internal half.

(standard canon - NOT from this course's materials) - confirm the emphasis on the Canvas Topic 7 page and your Subject Outline
Financial vs management accounting: external users under standards vs internal managers with no prescribed format; historical vs forward-looking; whole-entity vs segment, product or project; verifiability vs relevance and timeliness
Cost behaviour: variable costs (total varies with activity, constant per unit), fixed costs (total constant over the relevant range, per unit falls as volume rises), mixed costs; total cost = fixed + variable per unit x units
The high-low method for splitting a mixed cost into its fixed and variable elements
Cost traceability and function: direct vs indirect (overhead); prime cost = direct materials + direct labour; conversion cost = direct labour + manufacturing overhead; product vs period costs
Responsibility accounting: cost, revenue, profit and investment centres, and the controllability principle - evaluate a manager only on what they control

In the full guide: 12 pages · 1 practice question · 3 figures 08

Short-Term Decisions: Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis

Standard canon - NOT from this course's materials: contribution margin, break-even in units and dollars, target profit, margin of safety, CVP assumptions (Week 8)

Week 8 is the standard short-run decision model: how price, volume and cost structure interact to produce profit.

(standard canon - NOT from this course's materials) - confirm the emphasis on the Canvas Topic 8 page and your Subject Outline
Contribution margin per unit = selling price - variable cost per unit; contribution margin ratio = contribution margin / sales revenue
The CVP profit equation: profit = units x (price - variable cost per unit) - fixed costs
Break-even in units = fixed costs / contribution margin per unit; break-even in dollars = fixed costs / contribution margin ratio
Target profit: units = (fixed costs + target profit) / contribution margin per unit, and the after-tax version that grosses the target up by (1 - tax rate)
Margin of safety in dollars, units and as a ratio; and operating leverage = total contribution margin / operating profit

In the full guide: 17 pages · 2 practice questions · 2 figures 09

Planning for the Future: Budgets and Product Costing

Standard canon - NOT from this course's materials: the master budget chain, cash budget, and job vs process costing with overhead allocation (Week 9)

Week 9 pairs two linked ideas: planning the year ahead through the master-budget chain, and working out what a unit of output actually costs.

(standard canon - NOT from this course's materials) - confirm the emphasis on the Canvas Topic 9 page and your Subject Outline
Why budget at all: planning, coordination, communication, motivation, resource allocation and control
The master-budget chain: the sales budget drives production, materials, labour and overhead, which feed the cash budget and the budgeted statements
Production budget (units) = budgeted sales + desired closing finished goods - opening finished goods; the merchandiser's equivalent is the purchases budget
Materials purchases budget = materials required for production + desired closing materials - opening materials, then costed at the price per unit of material
The cash budget: opening cash + receipts - disbursements, plus or minus financing, equals closing cash - and depreciation is never a disbursement

In the full guide: 20 pages · 2 practice questions · 3 figures 10

Variance Analysis of Short-Term Performance

Standard canon - NOT from this course's materials: flexible budgets, price and quantity variances, favourable vs unfavourable, and management by exception (Week 10)

Week 10 is the feedback half of the budgeting loop: comparing what happened against what was planned, and splitting the gap into pieces that can be attributed to someone.

(standard canon - NOT from this course's materials) - confirm the emphasis on the Canvas Topic 10 page and your Subject Outline
The control loop: plan, act, measure, compare, investigate, correct, re-plan
The sign convention: favourable means the variance increases profit (actual revenue above budget, or actual cost below budget); unfavourable means it decreases profit
Flexing the budget first: flexible budget cost = budgeted variable cost per unit x actual units + budgeted fixed costs, so a volume difference is not mistaken for a performance difference
Splitting the total static-budget variance into a sales-volume (activity) variance and a flexible-budget (spending) variance
Direct materials: price variance = actual quantity purchased x (actual price - standard price); quantity or usage variance = standard price x (actual quantity used - standard quantity allowed for actual output)

In the full guide: 27 pages · 3 practice questions · 4 figures 11

Short-Term Decision-Making Using Relevant Costing

Standard canon - NOT from this course's materials: relevant vs irrelevant costs, sunk costs, opportunity cost, and the classic make-or-buy, special-order, keep-or-drop decisions (Week 11)

Week 11 reduces a family of decisions to a single test: a cost or revenue matters only if it lies in the future and differs between the alternatives.

(standard canon - NOT from this course's materials) - confirm the emphasis on the Canvas Topic 11 page and your Subject Outline
The relevance test: a cost or revenue is relevant only if it is a FUTURE amount AND it DIFFERS between the alternatives
The classic irrelevancies: sunk costs, unavoidable committed future costs, allocated common fixed overhead, and the book value of an existing asset (though its disposal proceeds are relevant)
Opportunity cost - the contribution forgone from the best alternative use of a resource - is relevant even though it never appears in the accounts
Special order: accept if incremental revenue exceeds incremental cost, given spare capacity and no damage to the normal market; the minimum price differs with and without spare capacity
Make or buy: compare avoidable cost to make against the purchase price net of any benefit from the released capacity

In the full guide: 25 pages · 4 practice questions · 3 figures 12

Integrating the Financial and Management Accounting Halves

Standard canon - NOT from this course's materials: one transaction viewed through both lenses, and how the twelve topics connect back to accountability (Week 12)

Week 12 closes the arc the subject opened in Week 1: the same underlying data serves stewardship to outsiders and control by insiders, and the accountant's job is to know which question is being asked.

(standard canon - NOT from this course's materials) for the synthesis content - the Week 12 topic title and the final-exam overview workshop are from the official schedule; confirm the rest on the Canvas Topic 12 page and your Subject Outline
One event, two lenses: the external chain (flows in the expanded accounting equation, trial balance, the four statements, ratio analysis) and the internal chain (cost behaviour, cost-volume-profit, budget, variance, decision)
The integration spine: what happened, how did we perform, how do we know if that is good, what should we do next, who is answerable, what stops manipulation
The accountability thread at four altitudes: accountability (Topic 1), internal control (Topic 4), responsibility accounting (Topic 7), variance analysis (Topic 10)
The measurement thread: measurement choice (Topic 2), classification (Topic 3), ratio distortion (Topic 6), relevant vs irrelevant cost (Topic 11) - the number you get depends on the question you asked
The accounting equation is never abandoned: from the equity bridge in Topic 5 to the budgeted balance sheet in Topic 9, it is one identity re-expressed

In the full guide: 15 pages · 1 practice question · 2 figures 13

AAA Final Exam Playbook: Restricted Open Book and Excel

50% of the subject mark, restricted open book, online with webcam and microphone, sat in the formal exam period at the end of session, Excel under time pressure

Assessment task 3 carries 50% of the subject mark and is sat online in the UTS formal examination period, with your individual sitting time published through MyStudentAdmin.

What is officially stated: 50% weight, the UTS formal examination period, restricted open book, online delivery, web-cam and microphone required, tablet not sufficient, generative AI not permitted, Excel required
What is NOT stated and must not be guessed: duration, question count, marks per section, question-type mix, and the permitted-materials list (the UTS Handbook entry for an EARLIER offering records a length of 2 hours - prior-offering evidence only)
How to prepare for a restricted open book exam: build one compact page of triggers around method, not content you hope to copy
The four repeatable procedures worth automating: the four-question recording algorithm, the statement order of operations with the two articulation formulas, the four-family ratio set with the averaging rule, and the identify-controls / identify-weaknesses / design-a-control answer shape
Excel readiness: cell references, SUM and AVERAGE, and formatting a submission so it reads cleanly under time pressure
Technical setup for an online exam: device, web-cam, microphone, power, connection, workspace, and the permitted materials confirmed against the Subject Outline

In the full guide: 29 pages · 4 practice questions · 3 figures 14

Assessment Survival Kit: Quizzes, Rubric, Reflections

Best 8 of 11 in each part, no late portfolio submissions, the four-criterion tutorial rubric, the two 500-word reflections and the Gibbs cycle

This chapter protects the other 50%.

Part A (10%): a timed pre-class Canvas quiz in Weeks 2-12, roughly 10-15 minutes, a handful of questions drawn randomly from a pool; multiple choice, true/false, matching, fill in the blank(s), numerical answer and formula types, with no short or long written questions
Part B (25%): a 40-minute case or Excel problem worked in the tutorial and submitted on Canvas within 15 minutes of the end of class; on-campus classes are group-assessed, online classes individually assessed; you must join within the first 5 minutes to be eligible
The drop rule: best 8 of 11 applied SEPARATELY to Part A and Part B, lowest 3 of each dropped, so up to three quizzes AND up to three tutorials can be missed with no academic penalty
No late submission, ever, on either part - and no make-up tutorial for the problem; the only stated exception is a public-transport delay, where the subject asks you to contact the teaching team about attending a make-up tutorial; the reweighting policy (missing 6 of 11) operates only through approved special consideration
The four-criterion Part B rubric and what it rewards: collaboration, contributing to class discussion, clarity of the submission including real Excel formulas and formatting rather than typed text, and integrating theory with the case
The weekly quiz deadline is stated inconsistently in the subject's own pages - take the date from your own Canvas quiz and never rely on a remembered day

In the full guide: 25 pages · 2 practice questions · 3 figures

Every transaction is recorded as a set of flows through the expanded accounting equation on a columnar Excel worksheet, and the subject states plainly that debits and credits are terminology layered on top of those fundamentals.

The subject runs over twelve weekly topics with no traditional lectures: you work through the free open-access Pressbooks textbook chapter and videos online, sit a short assessable pre-class quiz on Canvas, then solve an Excel-based problem in your tutorial, with large workshops in the early weeks and again before the exam.

Topics 1-6 are the financial-accounting half (what accountability means, processing economic events, refining the recording process, internal controls and the fraud triangle, the trial balance and the four financial statements, then horizontal, vertical and ratio analysis); Topics 7-12 turn inward to management accounting for decision making (cost concepts, cost-volume-profit, budgets and product costing, variance analysis, relevant costing and integration).

Assessment is a 35% learning portfolio - Part A weekly pre-class online quizzes worth 10% and Part B in-tutorial problems worth 25%, with the best 8 of 11 counted SEPARATELY in each part - a 15% two-stage written reflection, and Assessment task 3, the final exam, worth 50%.

The final exam is sat online in the UTS formal examination period under RESTRICTED OPEN BOOK conditions, and it requires a laptop or computer with a working web-cam and microphone (an iPad or tablet is explicitly not sufficient; a UTS-provided computer can be requested on hardship grounds). Generative AI is not permitted in the final exam.

The exam duration, question count, marks and question-type mix are NOT stated in the subject materials captured for this guide - the UTS Handbook entry for an earlier offering lists a length of 2 hours, which is prior-offering evidence only - so confirm the format, the permitted-materials list and your sitting time on the Subject Outline and MyStudentAdmin.

No hurdle is stated in the materials captured; the Subject Outline is the definitive source. Microsoft Excel is mandatory equipment from Week 2 and is used in the final exam, so tool fluency is part of the mark.

Your result here feeds the Weighted Average Mark (WAM) that the rest of your UTS Business School degree builds on, and the HD / D / C / P grade you finish with is decided as much by eleven weeks of quizzes and tutorial problems you cannot submit late as by the exam.

Worked example · free

One month of flows through the expanded accounting equation, then the balance-sheet proof

Q [6 marks]. Harbourline Supplies Pty Ltd, a small Sydney stationery wholesaler, opens the month with these permanent-account balances: Cash $40,000; Accounts receivable $12,000; Inventory $18,000; Equipment $30,000; Accounts payable $9,000; Bank loan (non-current) $25,000; Share capital $50,000; Retained earnings $16,000. During the month: (1) it sells inventory on credit for $24,000, the goods having cost $15,000; (2) it collects $20,000 from customers; (3) it buys inventory on credit for $11,000; (4) it pays suppliers $8,000; (5) it receives a $3,000 cash deposit for goods to be delivered next month; (6) it pays wages of $6,000 and accrues a further $1,500 of wages earned but unpaid at month end; (7) it records $500 of depreciation on equipment; (8) it makes an interest-only loan payment of $200; (9) it pays a cash dividend of $2,000. Work out the closing balance sheet and prove that net assets equal total equity. (6 marks)

The accountability loop

Accountability is a relationship, not a document. Someone entrusts resources; someone else decides what to do with them; and the second party owes the first an account of what was done. Accounting is the machinery that makes the third arrow possible — it turns activity into information a stakeholder can act on. The subject’s own chain runs financial statements → holding management accountable for their decisions → management remuneration. Our own schematic.

+1Classify each event as flows, and watch the four traps this subject drills. The credit sale has TWO legs (Accounts receivable +24,000 and Revenue +24,000; Inventory -15,000 and Cost of sales -15,000 in equity). The $3,000 deposit is Cash +3,000 and Unearned revenue +3,000, a LIABILITY, not revenue. The interest-only payment leaves the loan balance unchanged - Cash -200 and Interest expense -200. The dividend reduces equity but is never an expense and never appears in the profit and loss statement.
+1Total the asset columns. Cash = 40,000 + 20,000 - 8,000 + 3,000 - 6,000 - 200 - 2,000 = $46,800. Accounts receivable = 12,000 + 24,000 - 20,000 = $16,000. Inventory = 18,000 - 15,000 + 11,000 = $14,000. Equipment = 30,000 - 500 = $29,500. TOTAL ASSETS = $106,300.
+1Total the liability columns. Accounts payable = 9,000 + 11,000 - 8,000 = $12,000. Unearned revenue = $3,000. Wages payable = $1,500. Bank loan = $25,000 (unchanged - the payment was interest only). TOTAL LIABILITIES = $41,500.
+1Build the profit and loss statement from the temporary accounts. Revenue 24,000 - Cost of sales 15,000 = GROSS PROFIT $9,000. Less wages 7,500 (6,000 paid + 1,500 accrued), depreciation 500 and interest 200 = 8,200 of operating expenses. NET PROFIT = 9,000 - 8,200 = $800.
+1Apply the two articulation formulas. Balance-sheet retained earnings = opening retained earnings + profit - dividends = 16,000 + 800 - 2,000 = $14,800. Balance-sheet share capital = opening share capital + new shares issued = 50,000 + 0 = $50,000. TOTAL EQUITY = $64,800.
+1Run the proof. NET ASSETS = total assets - total liabilities = 106,300 - 41,500 = $64,800, which equals total equity of $64,800. The worksheet balances, so the closing balance sheet can be written up with confidence.

Total assets $106,300; total liabilities $41,500; net profit $800; closing retained earnings $14,800; total equity $64,800. Net assets ($106,300 - $41,500 = $64,800) equal total equity ($50,000 share capital + $14,800 retained earnings), so the month ties out.

Sia tip — The profit here is only $800 on $24,000 of revenue, and that is the point: a business can look busy, grow its receivables and still barely make money. If the proof fails, the error is almost always upstream - a missing second leg on the inventory sale, a deposit posted as revenue, or the whole loan payment charged to interest expense. If a step will not click, ask Sia to walk that single flow through the expanded equation again and set you a fresh variant; it explains the method and checks your reasoning, it never does your graded assessment for you.

Glossary

Key terms

Expanded accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Share capital + Retained earnings + Revenues - Expenses - Dividends. This subject records every transaction as signed flows across these columns rather than as journal entries, so expenses and dividends are entered as NEGATIVE numbers inside the equity block.
Permanent vs temporary accounts: Permanent (real) accounts - assets, liabilities and equity - carry an opening balance, take the period's movements and produce a closing balance that rolls forward. Temporary (nominal) accounts - revenues, expenses and dividends - hold only the current period's transactions, start each period at zero and roll into retained earnings.
Trial balance: A list of every account and its closing balance, sitting between the transaction worksheet and the statements. In this subject's no-debits-and-credits convention it is a single column of signed balances, not a debit-equals-credit proof.
Unearned revenue: Cash received before the good or service is delivered. It is a LIABILITY, not revenue: Cash goes up and Unearned revenue goes up. Revenue is only recognised when the obligation is satisfied, at which point the liability falls and revenue rises.
Fraud triangle: The three conditions generally present when fraud occurs: incentives or pressures, perceived opportunity, and attitudes or rationalisations. Management's practical lever is the opportunity leg, which is what internal controls attack.
Restricted open book: The book status stated for the 22108 final exam. It is a third state - neither open book nor closed book: some materials are permitted and others are not, and the permitted-materials list is not stated in the subject materials captured for this guide. Read the official statement in your Subject Outline and exam instructions before assuming anything is allowed.

FAQ

22108 FAQ

Is 22108 hard?

It is conceptually gentle but relentless in its pacing, and the pacing is what catches people out. There is no prior accounting knowledge assumed, and this subject deliberately removes debits and credits, so the mechanics are easier than a conventional first accounting subject - everything is flows through the expanded accounting equation on a spreadsheet.

What makes it demanding is that half your mark is earned in eleven separate weeks: a timed pre-class quiz on Canvas and a 40-minute in-tutorial problem, neither of which can ever be submitted late. Students who fall behind cannot catch up retrospectively.

The other pressure point is Excel - it is mandatory equipment from Week 2, it is rewarded inside the tutorial marking rubric, and it is needed in the final exam - so students who have never used formulas or cell references have a tool problem on top of a content problem. Work weekly rather than in bursts, and this subject is very manageable; leave it and the best-8-of-11 safety net evaporates fast.

Steady work here also protects the Weighted Average Mark (WAM) your later subjects build on.

Can AI help me with 22108?

Yes, as a step-by-step study aid. Sia is an AI tutor trained on how 22108 is taught and assessed at University of Technology Sydney - including the fact that this subject records transactions as flows in the expanded accounting equation rather than in debits and credits, which is exactly what a generic model gets wrong.

It can walk you through a transaction analysis one flow at a time, rebuild a trial balance into a profit and loss statement, statement of changes in equity and balance sheet, or take you through a ratio calculation and its interpretation, checking your reasoning as you go. Bring your own practice question and ask it to explain each step.

It does not do graded assessment for you, and the UTS academic-integrity policy still applies: generative AI is NOT permitted in the in-tutorial problems or in the final exam, and it is permitted for the written reflection only in the specific ways set out on the Canvas assignment page. Use it to understand the method, not to produce work you submit.

Where can I find past exam papers / practice for 22108?

There is no released past exam paper for this subject in the materials this guide was built to mirror, so do not go looking for one - build practice instead.

Canvas is where the real practice lives: every topic has a non-assessable practice quiz with unlimited attempts and built-in feedback that mirrors the assessable quiz's layout, several topics carry an additional-practice-questions page holding earlier sessions' tutorial problems with solutions, and each topic's tutorial page posts that week's question, solution and explanatory video.

The free Pressbooks textbook has its own end-of-chapter activities. This guide adds fully worked practice of our own authorship across the transaction-to-statements-to-ratios chain, with fresh numbers, and you can ask Sia to generate more in the same style and explain each step.

The Week 12 large workshop is an official overview of the AAA final exam with hints and tips - it is the single highest-value session for exam preparation.

What are the 22108 hurdles and assessment rules?

No hurdle is stated anywhere in the subject materials captured for this guide, but that is not the same as there being none: the definitive UTS Subject Outline sits behind a Canvas external tool and was not captured, and the assessment pages themselves defer to it. Confirm the hurdle position on your own Subject Outline.

Two things that are often mistaken for hurdles are not: the UTS Handbook's university-wide statement that students must achieve at least 50% of a subject's total marks is a pass mark, and the Task 1 reweighting policy is a reweighting rule.

The rules that ARE settled and that cost students marks: the best 8 of 11 rule applies SEPARATELY to Part A (quizzes) and Part B (tutorial problems), with the lowest 3 of EACH dropped, so you can miss up to three quizzes and up to three tutorials without academic penalty - it is not best 8 of 11 across the portfolio.

Late submission is never accepted for either part, and there is no make-up tutorial for the problem - the only stated exception is a public-transport delay, where the subject asks you to contact the teaching team about attending a make-up tutorial. You must join your tutorial within the first five minutes to be eligible to participate, and the submission is due on Canvas within 15 minutes of the end of class.

Missing 6 of 11 in a component may push that weight onto the final exam, but only with approved special consideration - without approval the result is a zero.

What is on the 22108 final exam?

Assessment task 3 carries 50% of the subject mark and is sat online in the UTS formal examination period, with the individual timetable published through MyStudentAdmin.

What is officially stated: it is RESTRICTED OPEN BOOK (a third state - never assume open book), generative AI is not permitted, and you need a laptop or computer with a working web-cam and microphone; an iPad or tablet is explicitly not sufficient, and a UTS-provided computer can be requested on hardship grounds. Excel is required on your own machine.

What is NOT stated in the subject materials captured for this guide, and must not be guessed at: the duration, the number of questions, the marks per section, the question-type mix, and exactly which materials 'restricted' permits. The UTS Handbook entry for an earlier offering records a length of 2 hours - that is prior-offering evidence, not this offering's format.

Content-wise the exam covers the whole subject, and Topics 7-12 are the entire management-accounting half of it, so an exam plan built only on the financial half is half a plan. Confirm the format, the permitted-materials list and your sitting date and time on the Subject Outline and MyStudentAdmin.

Chapter questions

Questions students ask in each 22108 chapter

Why does 22108 spend a whole week on definitions before any accounting?: Because the definition is the argument. If accounting were only a technical practice, the interesting questions would all be procedural. By adopting a definition in which accounting is technical, social and moral, the subject sets up everything that follows: why internal controls exist, why a fraud triangle has an attitudes leg, why analysis is about deciding what to investigate rather than issuing a verdict, and why the final topic is called 'integrating accounting and accountability'. Week 1 also carries no assessable quiz, which makes it the cheapest week of the session to get genuinely on top of. Chapter 01 · What Accounting Is and Who It Serves
Why is buying equipment for cash not an expense?: Because nothing has been consumed yet - one asset has simply been exchanged for another. Cash goes down and equipment goes up by the same amount, so the asset side nets to zero and the liability and equity sides do not move at all. The equation still balances. The expense arrives later and gradually, as depreciation, when the equipment's benefit is actually used up. This is the single most flagged error in the whole topic, and it recurs in the trial-balance and statement work in Chapter 5, because an equipment purchase wrongly expensed destroys both the profit figure and the balance sheet. Chapter 02 · Processing Economic Events and the Accounting Equation
Why does an inventory sale need two postings?: Because two different things happened. You earned revenue at the selling price - cash or accounts receivable up, revenue up - and you also gave away an asset that cost you something, so inventory falls at cost and cost of sales reduces equity by the same amount. Post only the first leg and you have inflated profit and left phantom inventory on the balance sheet; post only the second and you have given goods away. Gross profit is exactly the gap between the two legs, so a question that asks for gross profit is really asking whether you posted both. Chapter 03 · Refining the Recording Process: Complex Transactions
What exactly does an internal-controls question want from me?: A three-part answer, in this order. First, identify the control activities already present in the described process - there is always at least one working control planted, and listing only failures forfeits that mark. Second, identify the weaknesses. Third, design a control for each weakness. For each weakness, name the principle breached (separation of duties, authorisation limits, documentation, reconciliation frequency, access control, physical safeguarding, oversight) and then propose something specific and implementable: a threshold, a second approver, a system-enforced rule, a scheduled reconciliation, a log. Generic advice such as 'management should supervise more closely' is not a control and does not score. Chapter 04 · Internal Controls, the Fraud Triangle and Control Design
Why can't I just build the balance sheet first?: Because you cannot source the equity figures. Balance-sheet retained earnings is opening retained earnings plus profit (or less losses) less dividends - and the profit figure only exists once the profit and loss statement is done, while the dividends only get applied in the statement of changes in equity. So the order worksheet, trial balance, profit and loss, statement of changes in equity, balance sheet is not a stylistic preference, it is a dependency chain. Students who start at the balance sheet stall at the equity block and then try to plug the difference, which turns one lost mark into several. Chapter 05 · From Trial Balance to the Four Financial Statements
Is calculating the ratios enough for full marks?: No, and the subject says so explicitly: the exit standard is being able to calculate the ratios AND knowing how to interpret what they might mean. The framing that earns the interpretation marks is that analysis identifies areas you want to investigate further and ask more questions about - a ratio is a prompt, not a verdict. So finish every calculation with a sentence that names what moved, what it might indicate, and what you would want to look at next. A single ratio in isolation says almost nothing; comparison is what gives it meaning. Chapter 06 · Financial Statement Analysis: Ratios, Horizontal, Vertical
Why does this chapter say it is standard canon?: Because it is, and saying so is more useful to you than pretending otherwise. (standard canon - NOT from this course's materials): the official Subject schedule names Topic 7 'Accountability and management decision making', but no learning-content page, slide deck or tutorial material for Topics 7 to 12 was available when this guide was written. So this chapter teaches the standard first-year treatment of the topic in the schedule, makes no claim about how your offering teaches or examines it, and does not continue the teaching cases from the earlier topics. Read it as a solid grounding, then check the Canvas Topic 7 page and your Subject Outline for the emphasis that actually applies to you. Chapter 07 · Accountability and Management Decision Making
Why does this chapter say it is standard canon?: (standard canon - NOT from this course's materials): the official Subject schedule names Topic 8 'Short-term decisions: cost-volume-profit analysis', but no learning-content page, slide deck, tutorial or practice material for Topics 7 to 12 was available when this guide was written. So this chapter presents the standard first-year treatment of cost-volume-profit analysis, deliberately makes no claim about how 22108 examines it, states no weighting and does not continue the teaching cases used earlier in the subject. Use it as a grounding, then confirm scope and emphasis on the Canvas Topic 8 page and your Subject Outline. Chapter 08 · Short-Term Decisions: Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis
Why does this chapter say it is standard canon?: (standard canon - NOT from this course's materials): the schedule names Topic 9 'Planning for the future: Budgets and product costing', but no learning-content page, deck, tutorial or practice material for Topics 7 to 12 was available when this guide was written. This chapter therefore teaches the standard first-year treatment of budgeting and product costing, asserts nothing about how your offering emphasises or examines it, and does not continue the teaching cases used in the financial half. Confirm scope on the Canvas Topic 9 page and your Subject Outline. Chapter 09 · Planning for the Future: Budgets and Product Costing
Why does this chapter say it is standard canon?: (standard canon - NOT from this course's materials): the schedule names Topic 10 'Analysing short-term performance using variance analysis', but no learning-content page, deck, tutorial or practice material for Topics 7 to 12 was available when this guide was written. This chapter therefore presents the standard first-year treatment of variance analysis, makes no claim about how your offering examines it, and does not continue the earlier teaching cases. Confirm scope on the Canvas Topic 10 page and your Subject Outline. Chapter 10 · Variance Analysis of Short-Term Performance
Why does this chapter say it is standard canon?: (standard canon - NOT from this course's materials): the schedule names Topic 11 'Short-term decision-making using relevant costing', but no learning-content page, deck, tutorial or practice material for Topics 7 to 12 was available when this guide was written. This chapter therefore teaches the standard first-year treatment of relevant costing, makes no claim about how your offering examines it, and does not continue the earlier teaching cases. Two Week 11 facts that ARE officially scheduled: the large workshop that week is on setting up for online exams, and the Stage 2 written reflection is due that week. Confirm everything else on the Canvas Topic 11 page and your Subject Outline. Chapter 11 · Short-Term Decision-Making Using Relevant Costing
Why does this chapter say it is standard canon?: (standard canon - NOT from this course's materials) for the synthesis content: no learning-content page, deck or tutorial material for Topics 7 to 12 was available when this guide was written. Two things here ARE sourced from the official Subject schedule - that Topic 12 is titled 'Integrating accounting and accountability', and that the Week 12 large workshop is an overview of the AAA final exam with preparation hints. The workshop's page body was not captured, so this guide makes no claim about what it reveals. Everything else in this chapter is the standard way the two halves of an introductory accounting subject are tied together. Confirm scope on the Canvas Topic 12 page and your Subject Outline. Chapter 12 · Integrating the Financial and Management Accounting Halves
How long is the 22108 final exam and how many questions does it have?: Not stated. The duration, the number of questions, the marks per section and the question-type mix are not published anywhere in the subject materials this guide was built to mirror, and guessing at them would be worse than useless. The UTS Handbook entry for an EARLIER offering of this subject records a length of 2 hours - that is prior-offering evidence, not a statement about your offering. Get the real answer from your Subject Outline, from the Week 12 large workshop (which is an official overview of the exam with hints and tips), and from the Study Preparation module in Canvas, and get your sitting date and time from MyStudentAdmin. Chapter 13 · AAA Final Exam Playbook: Restricted Open Book and Excel
When exactly is the weekly quiz due?: Take the date from your own Canvas quiz, every week, and do not rely on a remembered day - the subject's own pages state it inconsistently. The Assessments overview page, the Part A task description and the Week 1 large workshop deck all say Wednesday 11.59pm Sydney time; the 'where to submit' section of the same Task 1 page says Tuesday 11.59pm Sydney time; and a separate study-advice page recommends completing it on Sundays. The Task 1 page itself defers to 'the due date set in Canvas each week', which is the tie-breaker. What is not in dispute: the quiz closes before your tutorial, and late quizzes are never accepted. Set your own reminder from the Canvas due date the moment each quiz opens. Chapter 14 · Assessment Survival Kit: Quizzes, Rubric, Reflections

Study strategy

How to study for the exam

Treat this subject as eleven small deadlines plus one big one, because that is literally how the marks are structured.

Each week the sequence is fixed: work the free Pressbooks textbook chapter and the videos on Canvas, do the unlimited practice quiz until the format holds no surprises, then sit the assessable pre-class quiz before your tutorial - it is timed at roughly ten to fifteen minutes with only a handful of questions drawn randomly from a pool, so there is no time to learn the content inside the quiz.

Be careful with the deadline: the assessment pages and the Week 1 large workshop deck state a Wednesday 11.59pm Sydney-time close, while the Task 1 submission section on the same page says Tuesday 11.59pm. Never trust a remembered day - read the due date on your own Canvas quiz each week.

Second, build Excel skill deliberately rather than hoping it arrives: the in-tutorial rubric explicitly rewards live formulas, cell references and functions such as SUM and AVERAGE over typed constants, and two of the four criteria are about collaborating and speaking in class rather than about accounting, so turning up on time and contributing is worth real marks.

Third, rehearse the four repeatable procedures until they are automatic - the four-question recording algorithm, the worksheet to trial balance to profit and loss to statement of changes in equity to balance sheet order of operations with the two articulation formulas, the four-family ratio set with the averaging rule, and the identify-controls, identify-weaknesses, design-a-control answer shape.

Fourth, do not let the management-accounting half of the subject arrive as a surprise in the final weeks: Topics 7-12 are as examinable as Topics 1-6. Finally, prepare for a restricted-open-book exam by being able to WORK, not to look things up - build one compact page of triggers (the equation, the order of operations, the ratio set, the sign conventions) rather than a pile of notes, rehearse the pipeline in Excel against the clock, and check your web-cam and microphone well before the formal examination period.

When a step will not click, ask Sia to explain that single step a different way and set you a fresh practice question in the same style; it teaches the method and checks your reasoning, and it never substitutes for your own graded work. Confirm every assessment detail, the permitted-materials list and your exam timetable on the Subject Outline, Canvas and MyStudentAdmin.

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