Accounting 201: As of week 4...

As of today, September 14, 2016, we are in the fourth week of the Accounting 201 course at the University of Louisville under the teaching of Professor Archie Faircloth. My name is Isaac Mitchell, and I am taking this class because I am pursuing a degree in economics with minors in entrepreneurship, international business, and Spanish so that I may graduate with all the skills necessary to start and run my own business. Specifically, I am looking to move out west to establish a coffee distribution plant supported by coordinated farms, roasteries, and shops. I am slated to graduate relatively quickly, so I see this as an advantage to jump into the growing market before some of my potential competitors who I hope to make consumers of my goods and services.

Before this class, I had never even taken a business class before; I have always been intrigued by the idea of being a businessman, but it took many years to get over the stereotypes of an uptight, stickler of money and to accept the fact that I am a businessman by nature. I love the idea of buying and selling goods and services with the intent of making profit, whether tangible or intangible. I am currently in the process of starting up a small personal coaching business for runners. I have one client, but have not used any capital to start this process; thus, I have already made profit.

Accounting, at first, seemed to be a monotonous, blasé repetition of adding and subtracting. Now, I can understand why people devote a few short years of studying this to become, well, quite wealthy. The practice of accounting is stupidly simple; you literally add and subtract - based on spending and earning - to come up with reports of how successful or  unsuccessful a business/company is relative to their goals and previous trends. However, as I type this, I look to my desk where my Accounting textbook lay open to page 200 something of over 1000. This raises the question: "If accounting is so simple, why must there be such a massive publication on how to do it?" I have found that, though the overall idea of accounting is basic, the numerous and complex rules and tricks and laws and classifications and methods make this subject difficult for many to grasp.

As a committed student and aspiring businessman, I have recognized the importance of utilizing this available resource so that I may improve my knowledge on how businesses should manage their assets (specifically money) in order to yield desired results from business actions, accruing growth on a yearly basis.

At this point in the class, we have learned how to write journal entries and ledgers, how to classify transactions, how to monitor inventory, and many other things that I cannot recall at the moment. I have actually enjoyed the process thus far and look forward to learning more about the exciting world of accounting.