As a middle or high school business teacher, accounting can be one of the most challenging subjects to teach. You know that a basic understanding of accounting is essential for working in the business world. Still, you might be unsure if your materials are doing enough to ensure students are engaged and while meeting your business education standards.
In this post, you’ll discover four of the best accounting lesson plans for middle and high school students:
- Basic Accounting Lessons from Money Instructor
- Accounting Curriculum Resources from Utah Education Network
- Intro to Accounting Bundle from Business Girl
- Basic Accounting Unit from Mrs. Funny Business
At the end of the article, you should better recognize the types of accounting lessons available to determine if one or more are appropriate for your business education students.
1. Basic Accounting Lessons from Money Instructor
MoneyInstructor.com is a popular website for teaching concepts related to managing money. On this website, you’ll find materials detailing everything from the history of money to budgeting and investing. Money Instructor also provides quality resources for teaching students basic accounting principles, bookkeeping skills, and general accounting methods.
These basic accounting lessons are intended for students in grades 7-12, so they’re perfect for both middle and high school learners. Through 11 different sections, students learn core elements of accounting and specific concepts related to proper accounting practice.
Money Instructor’s program includes these lessons:
- Introduction to Accounting
- Fundamental Concepts of Accounting
- Introduction to Transaction Analysis.
- Record Keeping and the Accounting Process
- Linking the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet
- Trial Balance and Financial Statement Preparation
- Accrual Accounting and Adjusting Entries
- Depreciation
- Closing the Books
- Ratio Analysis
- Business Ownership
Between these lessons, Money Instructor covers most of the basics when it comes to introducing students to accounting. In addition, Money Instructor also provides several additional articles that give students further context regarding accounting.
How Much Do the Money Instructor Resources Cost and Who Are They For?
Since it’s broken neatly into a series of lessons, teachers can use the most appropriate sections for their students.
Middle school teachers are likely to find the earlier lessons, like Introduction to Accounting and Fundamental Concepts of Accounting, to be a good fit for their students. On the other hand, high school instructors might find the Accrual Accounting and Adjusting Entries and Depreciation portions better for more advanced learners.
While Money Instructor doesn’t have enough material for a complete curriculum on accounting, you’ll likely find plenty of material here to cover accounting in your middle or high school introduction to business class. Best of all, the resources are offered free of charge and can be accessed directly on MoneyInstructor.com.
2. Accounting Curriculum Resources from Utah Education Network
The Utah Education Network is a partner organization of the Utah State Board of Education and Utah System of Higher Education. The network provides resources and professional development for teachers, including instructors in the CTE business pathway.
The materials are divided into curriculum for two high school business classes: Accounting 1 and Accounting 2. Each course is designed to last one semester.
Utah Education Network offers these lessons for Accounting 1:
- Recording and Adjusting/Close Entries, Partnership
- Recording and Adjusting/Close Entries, Service Business
- Work Sheet for a Service Business
- Work Sheet for a Merchandising Business
- Cash Control Systems
- Changes That Affect Owner’s Equity
- Financial Statements for a Proprietorship
- Financial Statements for a Partnership
- Journalizing Purchases and Cash Payments
- Journalizing Sales and Cash Payments
- Journalizing transactions
- Posting to a General Ledger
- Posting to General and Subsidiary Ledgers
- Preparing Payroll Records
- Staring a Proprietorship
- Accounting Careers: Communication and Ethics
- Accounting 1 Jeopardy
- Accounting 1 Simulation
- Accounting 1 Unit Lesson Plan
- Accounting Board Game and Career Unit
- Annual Report Website
- Analyzing Transactions to Debit/Credit Parts
The organization also provides these lessons for Accounting 2:
- Recording Sales/Cash Receipts with Special Journals
- Recording Purchases/Cash Payments with Special Journals
- Plant Assets and Depreciation
- Uncollectible Accounts Receivable
- Preparing Payroll Records
- Forming and Solving Business Organizations
- Accounting 2 Terminology for All Standards
How Much Do the Utah Education Network Resources Cost and Who Are They For?
Most of the Utah Education Network lessons are designed to last two periods of 90 minutes each, so there is a chance you could glean the majority of your high school accounting resources just from this one resource provider.
On the other hand, most of the materials here are probably too advanced for middle school students. You’ll need a more introductory set of materials if you’re teaching younger learners.
These resources are available for free on Utah Education Network’s website. This means they’re a solid choice for teachers who want in-depth accounting lesson plans but don’t have a budget to purchase a full curriculum.
3. Intro to Accounting Bundle from Business Girl
Business Girl provides CTE business education curriculum resources on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT), an online marketplace for teachers to buy, sell, and share learning materials.
Business Girl offers many instructional plans, including the Intro to Accounting Bundle (Accounting Equation and Financial Statements). This basic primer on accounting concepts is intended for students in grades 9-12, but since it’s written to an introductory level, it’s possible to use it for middle school students, too.
The Business Girl bundle includes 92 pages of material across these nine resources:
- Categorizing Financial Claims Graphic: Introduction to the Accounting Equation
- Financial Statements Accounting Activity
- Balance Sheet Pet Store Scenarios
- Income Statement T-Shirt Business Scenarios
- Financial Statements QR Code Scavenger Hunt
- 12 Intro to Accounting Application Questions
- Cupcake Business Invoice and Purchase Order Practice Problems
- Accounting Detective Escape Activity
- Accounting Detective Digital Activity for Distance Learning
The activities within this bundle are creative and engaging, which means they’re great for grabbing students’ attention and encouraging them to think about accounting concepts in new ways.
How Much Do Business Girl's Resources Cost and Who Are They For?
Although these materials aren’t enough to make up a full curriculum on their own, the projects are interesting enough that you can sprinkle them into your current accounting lessons to provide something new and exciting for learners in your classes.
Business Girl’s resources could be a great addition to many business classes that teach basic accounting, but they aren’t free. This bundle is available at a modest price of $14.99. Teachers can also access the materials through TpT School Access, a school-funded subscription service.
4. Basic Accounting Unit from Mrs. Funny Business
Mrs. Funny Business is another provider of business education resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. Her goal is to make accounting easy and fun for students.
If you’re looking for a more introductory accounting lesson to cover a few classes, Mrs. Funny Business’ Basic Accounting Unit could be a good fit for your students.
The unit fills a week or more of classes and provides a basic overview of accounting. Designed for teachers required to teach students about accounting alongside many other topics in an introductory business course, it works best for students in grades 8 and 9.
The Basic Accounting Unit includes these four lessons:
- The Accounting Equation (Assets = Liabilities + Equity)
- The Balance Sheet
- Income Statement
- Personal Budget
With these lesson plans, Mrs. Funny Business includes a daily PowerPoint presentation, a self-graded student activity that you can use with either Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, materials for a Balance Sheet game, and a link to a video lecture.
How Much Do Mrs. Funny Business' Resources Cost and Who Are They For?
While the lessons aren’t free, Mrs. Funny Business Offers these resources to teachers for just $10.
Since they’re short, these materials could be the perfect length for introducing middle school students to this business profession.
Start Teaching Accounting Today
Accounting is an important business subject that is often as difficult to teach as it is to learn. But depending on the age of students in your class and whether you are covering an introductory or advanced course, one of these accounting lesson plans and resources could be a good fit for your program.
If you’re looking for basic accounting lessons, consider resources from Business Girl or Mrs. Funny Business.
If you need a more advanced accounting curriculum, consider what the Utah Education Network and Money Instructor have to offer.
But if you’re searching for accounting resources that you can incorporate into a comprehensive business education curriculum, you may want to check out the Accounting module from Business&ITCenter21.
The AES Accounting module helps teachers cover all the basics of accounting, plus it’s designed to work as part of a learning system to better engage students throughout all of their business classes.
To see if the Accounting module would work for your students, download your free accounting lesson plan today. You’ll be able to introduce your students to the role of accounting with a slide presentation you can integrate into your existing accounting lessons.
