Contact a local business and arrange with the owner to learn what accounts the business uses.

Requirements

1. Obtain a copy of the business’s chart of accounts.

2. Prepare the company’s financial statements for the most recent month, quarter, or year. (You may omit the statement of cash flows.) You may use either made- up account balances or balances supplied by the owner.

If the business has a large number of accounts within a category, combine related accounts and report a single amount on the financial statements. For example, the company may have several Cash accounts. Combine all cash amounts and report a single Cash amount on the balance sheet.

You will probably encounter numerous accounts that you have not yet learned. Deal with these as best you can.

Keep in mind that the financial statements report the balances of the ­accounts listed in the company’s chart of accounts, either by individual ­account or in summarized categories. Therefore, the financial statements must be ­consistent with the chart of accounts.