Revolutionary approach to accounting benefits learners

The learning system and materials are being piloted at around a dozen schools across the province, where it has been well received by learners and teachers alike. "The kids absolutely love it," says Colleen Hodge, an accounting teacher who has helped to train teachers across the province in the new system.

'A new, graphical way to explain accounting using diagrams, colour and plain language'

"Colour Accounting is a new, graphical way to explain accounting using diagrams, colour and plain language," explains Accounting Comes Alive co-founder Peter Frampton. "It came about because even though I'm a qualified Chartered Accountant, I struggled with Accounts 1 to complete my BCom at UCT. When I later joined KPMG, the global accounting firm, I realised that I wasn't alone. A friend and I agreed that there had to be a better way to teach the subject, so we started the company."

The Colour Accounting system is now licensed in South Africa and around the world for teaching at companies, NGOs and educational institutions including KPMG, Oxfam and American University. But, says Frampton, "We wanted to bring it back home to benefit learners in South Africa. So we offered to donate licences, materials and teacher training to benefit the 70,000 accounting students in schools falling under the Western Cape Education Department. With support from the Moshal Scholarship Programme, which paid for the materials to be manufactured, a pilot rollout for the first 2,500 students is underway."

Teachers who have used the system say it is an excellent support for the CAPS curriculum. "I have changed the whole way I am teaching accounting," says teacher Jahnie Steenkamp of Labori High in Paarl, one of the first group of teachers to try the system. "The kids are finding it a lot easier and are so positive and excited after the training sessions."

Proven to be particularly successful in disadvantaged schools

"Accounting is always seen as a boring subject but Colour Accounting really brings out the fun in doing it," says Leap Science and Maths School teacher Lindelwa Mini, whose pupils are drawn from disadvantaged Cape Flats areas like Langa, Khayelitsha and Phillipi. "It has helped me a lot in the way I teach."

Hodge says the system has proven to be particularly successful in disadvantaged schools: "The learners at schools such as Voorbrug in Delft, Heathfield and Steenberg on the Cape Flats have embraced Colour Accounting with great enthusiasm."

Following successful initial teacher training workshops for a total of about 80 teachers in 2012 and 2013, a third group of teachers will attend workshops later this year, says Frampton. "We already have ten licensed corporate trainers working with South African businesses. Now our dream is to roll Colour Accounting out to every school in South Africa. Financial literacy is important for all South Africans, and being accounting literate is a truly marketable skill in high demand. It's brilliant for job creation."

For more info, visit Accounting Comes Alive.