Accounting: should I choose it?

What will I learn?

How will I be assessed?

Progression and companion subjects

No complete companion or exclusion review is attached to this profile. Check the official course-entry conditions, language eligibility and your school’s sequence before enrolling. Links between resource hubs show related learning; they do not establish a compulsory prerequisite.

Will I find it hard?

Difficulty depends on your experience, interests, teaching and assessment. These are our reflection prompts, not an official difficulty rating.

• Try explaining a case, source or argument with evidence. Does this type of writing interest you?
• Look at the amount of terminology, examples and source material in the sample rather than assuming the subject is easy.

Does it scale up or down?

Use SATAC subject evidence. An aggregate-to-ATAR table is not a subject scaling table.

Scaling is not a measure of difficulty or a guaranteed bonus. Prioritise content you can engage with and required subjects for courses you are considering.

Try a little of the subject

Understanding accounting

Accounting practice is the process of identifying , measuring and communicating economic information so that people can make informed decisions. Identifying means deciding which events are financial transactions that belong in an entity's records: a sale to a customer is identified, a friendly phone call with a supplier is not. Measuring means expressing the transaction in money, usually Australian dollars, using evidence such as an invoice, receipt or bank statement. Communicating means presenting the measured information in a form a stakeholder can use, such as a report, a dashboard or a short spoken briefing. Accounting activities are the individual actions inside that process, for example recording a cash sale, totalling weekly expenses or preparing an end-of-month report. The role of accounting is to enable accountability , control and effective decision-making . Accountability means that people who look after resources can show how those resources were used, such as a manager explaining spending to an owner or a club treasurer reporting to members. Control means using information to keep an entity on track: comparing actual spending with a budget, spotting unusual payments, or checking that the cash recorded matches the cash banked. Decision-making covers choices such as whether to hire staff, borrow money or change prices. People who use accounting information are stakeholders . Internal users work inside the entity and can usually request detailed, frequent information designed for them: the owner, managers and staff responsible for a budget. External users are outside the entity and rely on the reports they are given: banks and other lenders, suppliers offering credit, customers, government agencies, potential investors and community members. Their needs differ

Original practice question: Which transaction increases both assets and liabilities?

This is ATARMAxxing’s original sample learning material. It is not an official assessment task or a prediction of your school’s workload.

Explore the resources

Open the Accounting subject hub and free preview (opens in a new tab)

• Accounting — SACE Stage 2 (opens in a new tab)

Core subject information and planning are free. Full study resources are optional.