30 Days of Accounting
Go from your first journal entry to a complete set of financial statements in 30 days.
A structured, progressive path through the core of financial accounting. Each day gives you one hand-picked challenge that builds on the day before — journals, ledgers, trial balances, income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements, ending with full accounting-cycle capstones. Solve at your own pace: finish a day early, or catch up on several at once.
30-day schedule
Your First Journal Entries
Willow Creek Consulting — Your First Journal Entries
Every transaction touches at least two accounts. Learn the debit and credit rules by recording a brand-new business’s first month.
A Full Month of Trading
Orion Trading Ltd. — A Month of Transactions
A trading business for a whole month: buying stock, selling it, and settling with suppliers and customers. Same rules as day 1, more of them at once.
Deferrals: Paid Early, Earned Later
Marleigh Studios - Prepaid Expenses and Unearned Revenue (IFRS)
Cash moved before the expense or the revenue belonged to the period. Adjust a prepaid insurance policy and an unearned service contract so each period carries its own share.
A Full Set of Year-End Adjustments
Willowmere Clinic - Year-End Adjusting Entries (IFRS)
Now the whole job at once: expired prepayments, supplies used, salaries earned but unpaid. This is what closing a real period looks like.
Correcting Entries
Timberline Lumber - Correcting Entries
Find what was recorded wrongly and fix it with a single correcting entry — without erasing history.
Posting to the Ledger
Maple Street Bakery — Posting to the Cash Account
From journal to ledger: build a Cash account from the entries you would have written, and balance it off at month end.
The Running-Balance Ledger
Ramirez Trading Co. — Cash Account (Running Balance)
The format most businesses actually keep: a balance recalculated after every single posting, so the account is always current.
Your First Trial Balance
Sunrise Cleaning Services — Your First Trial Balance
List every account and prove the books balance. If the two columns disagree, something upstream is wrong.
Trial Balance from a Ledger
Bellview Retailers — Trial Balance as at 31 December 2025
A longer set of accounts, including contra accounts that sit on the opposite side from the account they belong to.
Capstone: The Cycle End to End
Kingfisher Services - The Accounting Cycle: Journal, Ledger and Trial Balance
Everything from days 1 to 9 in one exercise — journal, ledger and trial balance for the same business, in sequence.
Receivables and the Allowance
Bradford Supply Co. - Aging of Receivables: Adjustment, Write-off and Recovery
Not every customer pays. Age the receivables, estimate what will not be collected, and adjust the allowance — without touching the individual accounts yet.
Depreciation
Bluewater Ferries — Recording Depreciation for the First Year
An asset used for years should not be an expense in one. Spread its cost across the periods that benefit, and meet accumulated depreciation.
An Asset’s Whole Life
Aldergrove Farms - Machinery: Purchase, Depreciation and Disposal (IAS 16)
Buy it, depreciate it, then sell it — and work out whether the disposal produced a gain or a loss.
Impairment (IAS 36)
Kelmscott Mining - Impairment of Equipment (IAS 36)
Sometimes an asset is simply worth less than the books say. Test it, and write it down to what it can actually recover.
Revaluation (IAS 16)
Thorncliff Estates - Land Revaluation Surplus (IAS 16)
The opposite case: an asset worth more than cost. Under IFRS the gain does not go to profit — it goes to a revaluation surplus in equity.
Inventory at the Lower of Cost and NRV (IAS 2)
Kingsley Textiles - Inventory Write-Down to Net Realisable Value (IAS 2)
Stock that will sell for less than it cost has to come down to what it will fetch. Never the other way round.
Revenue Recognition (IFRS 15)
Citrine Coffee Co. - Gift Card Sales, Redemptions and Breakage (IFRS 15)
Cash in hand is not revenue. Money taken for gift cards is a liability until the coffee is actually served.
Provisions and Warranties (IAS 37)
Meridian Appliances - Warranty Provision (IAS 37)
A promise to repair future faults is a cost of today’s sale. Estimate it and provide for it now.
Leases: Recognition (IFRS 16)
Northwind Logistics - Recognising a Lease at Commencement
Renting long-term puts an asset and a liability on your balance sheet. Recognise a right-of-use asset and the lease liability that pays for it.
Leases: The First Year
Calder Manufacturing - Lease Interest, Payment and Depreciation
Now run that lease for a year — interest accruing on the liability, the payment that settles part of it, and depreciation of the right-of-use asset.
Your First Income Statement
Brightwell Corporation - Income Statement (Multi-Step)
Turn the adjusted accounts into a performance statement: revenue down to profit, one subtotal at a time.
Operating vs Non-Operating
Fernhollow Corporation - Income Statement
What the business does for a living, kept separate from everything else that happened to it. The distinction readers care about most.
Your First Statement of Financial Position
Harbor Cafe Ltd. — Your First Statement of Financial Position
What the business owns, what it owes, and what is left for the owners — on one date.
The Classified Statement of Financial Position
Millbrook Corporation - Complete Statement of Financial Position
Current and non-current, properly split, with an equity section that carries everything from days 11 to 20.
Capstone: From Trial Balance to Statements
Velora Trading - Financial Statements from an Adjusted Trial Balance
One adjusted trial balance in, a full set of statements out. The bridge between bookkeeping and reporting.
Cash Flow: Operating Activities
Solstice SA - Operating Section, Simple Indirect Cash Flow Statement
Profit is not cash. Start from profit and undo everything that never moved money.
A Complete Cash Flow Statement
Alderbrook SA - Complete Indirect Cash Flow Statement
All three sections — operating, investing and financing — reconciling to the actual movement in cash.
The Direct Method
Harborview Retail Co - Direct Method Cash Flow Statement
The same statement built the other way: actual cash received and paid, line by line, instead of a reconciliation from profit.
Errors and Accounting Changes
Brackenfield Group - Error Corrections and Accounting Changes
A prior year was wrong, or a policy changed. Restate what must be restated and route the rest through retained earnings.
Final Capstone: The Complete Cycle
Atlas Manufacturing - Complete Cycle: Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow
Thirty days in one problem — from the raw balances to three finished statements. Finish this and the certificate is yours.