Course Guide for

Simplified Accounting for

Entrepreneurs & Professionals (SAfE&P)
A Non-Formal Course of the UP Open University

Course Coordinator: Tricia C. Ascan, CPA

Welcome to the course on Simplified Accounting for Entrepreneurs & Professionals (SAfE&P)!

This course guide gives you detailed information about the course, including the requirements and
class policies.

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course on simplified accounting for entrepreneurs and professionals is designed to

provide participants with the basic knowledge and skills in recording financial transactions as well as
in preparing financial statements of a business enterprise. While the main focus is those engaged in
service businesses (as this is the simplest), the concepts and the procedures are almost the same for
those in the merchandising and manufacturing/processing businesses. The course hopes to assist
entrepreneurs & professionals who do not have accounting background in understanding the
accounting process and how it can be used to assist entrepreneurs in making financial decisions in
the day-to-day operations of the business.

II. COURSE OBJECTIVES

At the end of the course modules, the learner will be able to:

1. Identify the importance of accounting and the nature and purpose of the information it
provides in a business enterprise;
2. Identify the different financial statements;
3. Determine financial transactions and its proper classification;
4. Understand the accounting equation and how transactions affect the equation;
5. Describe the accounting cycle;
6. Record and summarize financial transactions in the book of accounts, prepare trial balance,
make the adjustments, prepare financial statements, and close the books;
7. Understand how cash flows affect the operations of the business;
8. Prepare a simple cash budget; and
9. Understand the basic taxation rules and requirements of a business enterprise.

III. COURSE CONTENT

The course is divided into four (4) units with 7 modules. Each module is provided with
course materials which may include reading materials and multimedia lecture/presentation.

Unit Unit Title Module Module Title

I Introduction to Accounting 1 Accounting Overview
Process 2 The Financial Statements and

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 Classification of Accounts
II Basic Accounting Process 3 The Accounting Equation
4 Using Debit and Credit in
Recording Business Transactions
5a Journal Entries
5b Adjustment process
5c Financial Statements Preparation
5d Closing Process
III Cash Flow Analysis 6 Cash Flow Analysis

IV Basic Taxation* 7 Basic Taxation for Small

Enterprises

* Course materials for the Basic Taxation module will be uploaded in the MyPortal Course Site. This is to
make it more up-to-date with the latest BIR rules and regulations.

IV. COURSE MATERIALS

The following materials will be used in the course:

1. Course guide
2. Course manual
3. Assignment guide
4. CD containing multimedia lecture/presentations
5. Additional Reference materials (supplementary materials or online references)

V. COURSE REQUIREMENTS

There will be a combination of the following activities in the course:

1. Discussion Forum. Online class discussions will be asynchronous. Forum questions will be
posted on the course site so you can participate in the discussion and follow the thread.
However, you may also post your own questions or discussion topics and everybody can join.
Participation in the online forums is optional and you are not graded. However, it is highly
encouraged to further enrich your learning.

2. Online quizzes. There will be 3 online quizzes. The coverage of each online quiz is given in
the study schedule below. Instructions on how to open and take the online quiz will be
posted in the course site.

3. Online exercises. There will be 2 graded online exercises. However, I may give additional
exercises so you can practice more!

4. Assignment – this will be uploaded thru the course site. The assignment is divided into 4
parts. It actually covers the module on Accounting Cycle (Module 5). An assignment guide

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 will be provided that includes the instructions on how it should be answered, evaluation
criteria, and the due date. Answer sheets are also provided. Submission of the assignment
will be thru Myportal course site.

The course requirements and their corresponding weights are summarized as follows:

Course Requirements Weight (%)

Online Quizzes (3) 30

Online Exercises (2) 10
Assignments 60
Total 100

VI. STUDY SCHEDULE

You may follow the study schedule provided below:

Week Duration Module/Reading Activity/Requirement Due Date

Materials
1 July 20 – Course Guide Course orientation
July 27 Introductions
Familiarize with the course
site

2 July 28 – Module 1 Read course manual

Aug. 3 Accounting Overview Forum discussion Aug. 3
Online quiz 1
3-4 Aug. 4 – Module 2 Read course manual
Aug. 17 The Financial Statements Graded Online exercise 1 Aug. 17
and Classification of
Accounts
5 Aug. 18 – Module 3 Read course manual
Aug 24 The Accounting Equation Watch multimedia lecture
(CD)
Graded Online exercise 2 Aug. 24
6-7 Aug 25 – Module 4 Read course manual
Sep. 7 Using Debit and Credit in Watch multimedia lecture
Recording Business Online quiz 2 Sep. 7
Transactions
8-13 Sep. 8 – Module 5 Read course manual
Oct 19 The Accounting Cycle Read supplementary course
materials

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 Watch multimedia lectures
Assignment:
Part 1
Part 2 To be
Part 3 announced
Part 4
14-15 Oct 20 – Module 6 Read course manual
Nov 2 Cash Flow Analysis Read supplementary course
materials
Forum discussion
Online quiz 3 Nov. 2
16 Nov. 3 – Module 7 Read online course
Nov. 9 Basic Taxation materials
Face-to-face lecture on Nov. 9
basic taxation for 1- 4 PM
entrepreneurs

VII. HOUSE RULES

1. You are highly encouraged to participate as well as contribute in online discussions. This is a
useful venue for learning from others’ insights and experiences especially for those who do
not have a background in accounting or are still planning to start their business. While I will
be monitoring the discussion forums, please do not expect that I will give feedback to all
your posts. Any urgent queries/concern should be by e-mail.

2. Visit the course site regularly (at least once a week.) The course site serves as your guide
with regard to topics, quiz and exercise schedules, due dates of assignment, some
announcements and reminders, and what is happening in general.

3. Try to follow the schedule given above. While it is understandable that most of you are busy
with your own schedules, do make time to comply with our course schedule. It has been
designed to give you time to cover all the modules and answer all the requirements.

4. Try your best to work on all the activities and Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) found in the
modules. As much as possible try answering the SAQs on your own before looking at the Answer to
Self-Assessment Questions (ASAQs). These will also help you in answering your assignments later.

5. Be punctual in submitting the assignments. Those who will submit later than the deadline
will incur deductions equivalent to 10% of the total/perfect score of the assignment. Say for
example, if your assignment has a total score of 50 points, late submission will get 5 points
less than their score.

6. Participants are expected to be diligent and honest in their course requirements. All
requirements of the course are designed to encourage independent work. PLEASE DO NOT
SHARE YOUR WORK WITH YOUR CLASSMATES. Cheating, plagiarism and other

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 school-related malfeasance will not be tolerated and if you are caught and proven to have committed
this intentionally, you may be recommended for disciplinary action.

VIII. ASSESSMENT SCHEME

This is how you will be graded and the corresponding certificate that you will received from
UP Open University:

Points/Percentage Certificate Issued:

91 and above Certificate of Completion with High Distinction (CHD)

81-90 Certificate of Completion with Distinction (CD)
61-80 Certificate of Satisfactory Completion (CSC)
60 and below Certificate of Completion (CC)
Not Completed
(those who did not
submit any or all the
requirements)
Assignments completed after the term ends, for any reason, would be accepted but
only a Certificate of Completion shall be granted.

Those who will get a Not Completed (NC) grade shall have one year to complete the
requirements and receive a Certificate of Completion.

IX. CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have questions regarding course administration or may encounter technical problems
(e.g. accessing the course site), you may contact FMDS administrative staff through the following:

Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS)

UP Open University
Tel. No. (049) 536-6001 to 6006 local 821
Telefax No. (049) 5366010
E-mail: fmds@upou.edu.ph

As your Course Coordinator for SAfE&P, you may reach me by email address:

E-mail: tascan@upou.edu.ph

Let me tell you a little about myself. I am a CPA by profession. However, my passion is in
teaching. I have been teaching basic accounting for more than 10 years now. I am currently a Senior
Lecturer at the UP Open University handling courses on the Master of Public Management degree

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program. Teaching accounting in an online mode for two and a half years now is very exciting and at
the same time very challenging. I hope that by the end of this course, you will learn to appreciate the
importance of keeping financial records and using them for business decision-making. In the coming
months, I look forward to fruitful interaction with you all !

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