History of Colour Accounting in Schools

Colour Accounting started in Australia in 1992 when two accountants, working at KPMG said: 'There must be a better way!'  That was the beginning of a search for an easier way to learn accounting.  Years of research and development followed, and helpful technologies came along, like desktop colour printing and publishing.  A decade later Colour Accounting was proving itself in adult education.  Businesses in South Africa, UK and USA were using it to teach financial skills to employees.  ​Meanwhile, it became obvious that Colour Accounting would be useful in secondary schools and we looked for an opportunity to introduce it to high school students.

Half a world away in San Francisco, a teacher told us about Colleen Hodge, an accounting teacher at the LEAP Science & Maths School in Cape Town, South Africa. We met with Colleen, and being the passionate advocate for her students that she is, Colleen saw that Colour Accounting could make a difference for them, and gave it a try.  The results were very encouraging.  Colleen used the core elements of the adult curriculum while we developed and adapted materials for school learners.  Colleen and the kids loved it.

Colleen Hodge, master teacher

With accounting coming alive through colour, language and hands-on materials, students loved the new learning approach and even had time for play. Like turning BaSIS Boards into hats.

The boards shown were made for conditions like South African classrooms, which can have overhead fans instead of air conditioning. Magnets meant that the account buckets didn't get blown around.    Since then the design has been streamlined and all materials include stickers and highlighters.

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With the growing success of Colour Accounting in the classroom, the Western Cape Education Department accepted a donation of the system for use by teachers and learners in that region.  The first group of teachers were shown how to use Colour Accounting at the first teacher training event. The Moshal Scholarship foundation covered the cost of materials for the teachers and their 3 000 students, as well as ongoing coaching by Colleen Hodge.

WCED accounting teachers - the pilot group induction

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While the complete school curriculum was not yet finished, and before materials designed specifically for student use, we met Anne Kriel and Teresa Whitford.  These two teachers from Hilton College, a private school in another province of South Africa, had independently discovered Colour Accounting through Amazon.com bookstore.  As well as being the head of accounting at Hilton College, Anne is also the accounting moderator of the Independent Examination Board.  Anne and Teresa began using Colour Accounting in their own classes, and soon wanted to spread the word.  This led to the second and third 'train-the-teacher' days. At these events the 100 teachers teachers helped refine the design of school-specific materials.  For example, the teachers talked about the need to store materials from one week to the next.  Unlike semester-long courses, the Colour Accounting materials for business are designed to be used on one-day and don't need to be stored.

BaSIS Box with lid

Peter Frampton inspecting the stackable BaSIS Boxes

BaSIS Framework posters let teachers point as they explain

The need for storage led to the design of BaSIS Boxes™, which have the BaSIS Framework™ printed on the inside of the box. The boxes stack neatly and the lid keeps the account-buckets in place between lessons.   BaSIS Framework wall posters allow teachers to point to different elements and accounts as they explain concepts to their students.  Pointability is one of the most significant benefits of the graphical representation of the Balance Sheet/Income Statement.

For 2016 the BaSIS Box was updated and a complete teaching ecosystem developed. The ecosystem has videos and exercises for student-use (on this site and available in print), and reference materials (solutions, teaching guide, etc) for teachers at a teachers-only site.  (If you're a teacher, email us for access to it.)

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What's next?

We want to grow the Colour Accounting school community. The complete Colour Accounting school curriculum is available for free for download.  Printed stationery is also available for purchase and delivery.  Stationery includes, posters, BaSIS Boxes, perforated journals, buckets and a curriculum workbook.  

The curriculum is primarily designed for students in South Africa.   Some stationery is available for use in other markets such as the United States.  Please contact us for more info if you're in another region.