Week 3 — From Journal to Trial Balance: Recording the Shop's Month 1

Assignment 3 of the term — journalize the bicycle shop's first month, post it to the ledger, prepare and test its trial balance, and explain to a founder what the balanced totals do and do not prove.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a careful, checked set of books. You remain the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. In Week 1 you met the people outside the business who rely on its records; in Week 2 you analyzed these transactions in the accounting equation. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Accounting Workshop practice the same moves from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together.

The task

Your material is Dataset A, the running case (illustrative): an unnamed bicycle repair and sales shop, organized as a corporation by two founders, and its 12 transactions in Month 1. It describes no real business. You analyzed these same events in the accounting equation in Week 2; this week you record them the way an accountant does.

• Transaction 1, Day 1: the founders invest $30,000 cash in exchange for 30,000 shares of common stock.
• Transaction 2, Day 2: the shop pays $12,000 cash for repair equipment.
• Transaction 3, Day 3: the shop buys $900 of shop supplies on account.
• Transaction 4, Day 4: the shop pays $2,400 for a 12-month insurance policy that begins on Day 1.
• Transaction 5, Day 6: a cycling club pays $1,200 in advance for a season of group tune-ups the shop has not yet performed.
• Transaction 6, Day 15: the shop performs repair services for walk-in customers and collects $3,500 cash.
• Transaction 7, Day 18: the shop performs $1,800 of repair services for a delivery company on account.
• Transaction 8, Day 20: the shop pays $1,500 rent for the month.
• Transaction 9, Day 22: the shop pays $600 of the $900 it owes for supplies.
• Transaction 10, Day 25: the shop collects $1,000 from the delivery company on its account.
• Transaction 11, Day 28: the shop pays $1,600 wages to its part-time mechanic.
• Transaction 12, Day 30: the shop pays a $500 cash dividend to its shareholders.

Part A — journalize and post.

1. Write a journal entry for each of the 12 transactions in the course layout: the transaction number and day, the debited account first and flush left with its amount, the credited account indented with its amount, and a one-line explanation. Check that every entry's debits equal its credits. Use a list or plain lines, not a table.

2. Post every entry to a T-account, writing each amount on the same side as in the journal with its transaction number beside it. Write each T-account as two short lists labelled Left (debits) and Right (credits).

3. Work this problem, showing your sums and your subtraction:

   In Dataset A, the bicycle shop's Cash account receives debits of 30,000, 1,200, 3,500, and 1,000 dollars and credits of 12,000, 2,400, 1,500, 600, 1,600, and 500 dollars in Month 1. What is the Cash balance, in dollars?

4. Give the balance of every other account and say which side it sits on. Check each balance against the account's normal balance.

Part B — prepare and test the trial balance.

1. List all 12 accounts in an unadjusted trial balance, each balance in a debit column or a credit column. Then work this problem, showing your addition:

   In Dataset A, the bicycle shop's unadjusted trial balance lists debit balances of 17,100, 800, 900, 2,400, 12,000, 500, 1,500, and 1,600 dollars. What is the total of the debit column, in dollars?

   Foot the credit column the same way and compare the two totals.

2. Test the check. Suppose transaction 9 had never been journalized. Recompute the Cash and Accounts Payable balances and both column totals, and say what the result shows. Then name the three kinds of error a balanced trial balance cannot catch, and one kind it does catch.

Explain it to a non-expert

One of the shop's founders, who has never studied accounting, looks at your trial balance and says, "Both columns say $36,800, so our books must be right." Write a 3–5 sentence message to that founder that explains, in everyday words, what the matching totals do prove and what they do not, using the shop's own figures. Name one error the totals could hide, and explain any term the founder might not know, such as debit or ledger.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a roommate who says a shared grocery spreadsheet "must be right" because the two columns, money paid in and money spent, agree. Model reply: "The columns agreeing tells us every purchase we typed in was split the same way on both sides, which is a good sign. It doesn't tell us we typed in every purchase. If one of us forgot a receipt, both columns would still agree, because the receipt would be missing from both. So the next step is to check the list against the receipts, not just the totals."

Use that pattern for your founder, with your own explanation.

Reflect on your revision

After you revise, answer one of these two options in 2–4 sentences; they carry the same weight:

• (a) Which entry or balance did you change, and what check showed you it was needed?
• (b) Which of the shop's 12 transactions was hardest to journalize, and what rule settled which side each amount went on?

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft Part A, Part B, and your message to the founder before opening a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Reply in your own words. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one part of your work, even if your first attempt was strong, and then write reflection option (a) or (b).
4. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write your entries for you. If it states a balance, a rule, or a standard, check it against Chapter 3 and Dataset A before you keep it, and if it credits Service Revenue for the cycling club's advance or reverses a debit and a credit, that is a slip for you to catch.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful coach for an introductory financial accounting course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about how transactions are journalized, posted, and checked. Do not write my entries, my balances, or my message for me, do not invent evidence, figures, standards, or rules, give no tax or investment advice, and do not score work I did not show.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these two problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The bicycle shop is ILLUSTRATIVE, not a real business: an unnamed bicycle repair and sales shop with 12 Month 1 transactions (Dataset A), listed on my assignment page.
PROBLEM P1: In Dataset A, the bicycle shop's Cash account receives debits of 30,000, 1,200, 3,500, and 1,000 dollars and credits of 12,000, 2,400, 1,500, 600, 1,600, and 500 dollars in Month 1. What is the Cash balance, in dollars?
PROBLEM P2: In Dataset A, the bicycle shop's unadjusted trial balance lists debit balances of 17,100, 800, 900, 2,400, 12,000, 500, 1,500, and 1,600 dollars. What is the total of the debit column, in dollars?
For P1 I must also journalize all 12 transactions in the course layout (debit first and flush left, credit indented, a one-line explanation, debits equal to credits), post every entry to a T-account with its transaction number, and give every account's balance and side. For P2 I must also list all 12 accounts in an unadjusted trial balance, foot the credit column and compare it with the debit column, rework both columns as if transaction 9 had never been journalized, and name the three errors a balanced trial balance cannot catch and one it does catch. Then a 3-5 sentence message to a founder who says matching totals mean the books are right, naming one error the totals could hide. After revising, I write reflection option (a) or (b) from my assignment page.
The course meanings I must use: debit is an amount on the left side of an account and credit an amount on the right side, and neither means increase or decrease on its own; assets, expenses, and dividends increase with debits; liabilities, common stock, retained earnings, and revenues increase with credits; every journal entry has total debits equal to total credits; the journal records transactions in date order, posting copies each amount to the same side of its account, and the general ledger is the full set of accounts; an account's balance is the difference between its two sides; a trial balance checks only that total debits equal total credits, so an omitted entry, a duplicated entry, or a posting to the wrong account of the same type leaves it in balance; a dividend is a distribution to owners, never an expense; cash received for work not yet done is a liability, Unearned Revenue, not revenue.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply, out of 100 points. Journal entries recorded (P1): 25 if I write a journal entry for all twelve transactions in the course layout with an explanation each, every entry balances, and every account is the right one on the right side, including Unearned Revenue for transaction 5 and Dividends for transaction 12; 15 if all twelve are present and balanced but one or two use the wrong side or account, or the layout or explanations are missing for several; 6 if fewer than twelve are written or three or more are wrong or unbalanced; 0 if no entries. Posting and account balances (P1): 25 if every entry is posted to a T-account or ledger account with its transaction number, each side is summed, my P1 subtraction is visible and has no error, and every balance sits on its normal side; 15 if one or two balances are wrong for the entries as posted, on the wrong side, or given as one side's total; 6 if only Cash is posted or the Cash balance is wrong or not shown as a difference; 0 if no posting. Trial balance prepared and tested (P2): 20 if all twelve accounts are listed, my P2 addition is visible with no error, the credit column is footed and compared, the omitted transaction 9 test is worked, and I name the three errors a balanced trial balance cannot catch; 12 if footed but the test or the list of errors is missing or wrong; 5 if a column total is wrong or missing, or I read the trial balance as proof the books are correct; 0 if no trial balance. Plain-language explanation for a non-expert (P2): 15 if my message to the founder uses everyday words and the shop's own totals, explains any needed term, and names one error the totals could hide; 8 if it can be followed but omits the limit or leaves a term unexplained; 0 if missing. Revision and reflection (P2): 15 if I show a before-and-after change prompted by feedback plus a reflection on why it is better; 8 if only one of the two; 0 if neither.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my reply. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. When I put an amount on a side, ask me what type of account it is and which side makes that type grow. When I give a balance, ask me how I got it from the two sides. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word reply is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied both problems with all 12 entries, the posted T-accounts and balances, the footed trial balance, the transaction 9 test, the list of errors, and the message AND revised at least one part AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my entries, my T-accounts, my trial balance and test, and my message]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work: the 12 journal entries, the posted T-accounts with the P1 sums and subtraction and every balance, the unadjusted trial balance with the P2 addition and the footed credit column, the transaction 9 test, the list of errors a trial balance cannot catch, your message to the founder, and your reflection — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 3 skills — journalizing transactions with debits equal to credits, posting them to the ledger and finding each balance, preparing and testing an unadjusted trial balance, and explaining what a balanced trial balance proves to someone outside the course — for comparable time and effort, about 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete Part A, Part B, the message to the founder, and one reflection option. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion: for every entry, name the type of each account and check that its amount sits on the side that makes that type grow; check that every entry's two sides are equal; recompute every T-account's sums and balance; foot both trial balance columns twice; and check your message against the three errors a trial balance cannot catch. Write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one change you made, the check that prompted it, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The journal entries, T-accounts, trial balance, test, message, revision, and reflection must be your own work. Do not ask the chatbot to write any of them or to add figures Dataset A does not give. Do not invent a rule or a standard; check every one against Chapter 3. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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