A Guide to Using CengageNow in Your Online Accounting Course Course Notes by Craig Pence CengageNow (formerly called ThomsonNow ) is a very effective tool that will help you learn our course content. At times, however, CengageNow can be picky (if not just plain quirky) regarding the way your answers are to be entered on the answer screens. A list of tips, warnings, and workarounds for each of the troublesome homework problems is presented a little further down in this document. Click here to jump to them, or read on to learn more about CengageNow in general. About Using CengageNow In order to register as a user in CengageNow, you will need to have an access code (available from the bookstore, or they can be purchased directly online through Cengage). CengageNow allows you to work any of the exercises or problems from the ends of the chapters online. Your work is checked, and incorrect answers are marked with a red X. You cannot see the correct answer, but you may rework your problem as many times as your instructor allows in order to correct your errors and achieve a score of 100%. This is an excellent way for you to practice, and practice is the key to success in Accounting. Enter Your Course Key! Be sure to enter your course key when you first logon to CengageNow. Course key codes are listed in the Course Information document at www.my-accounting-tutor.com. If you do not enter the course key correctly, your scores on assigned homework problems and exams will not be recorded in the course grade book, and your instructor will not know what scores you earned. If you did not enter the course key and did work some of the problems, the scores will be recorded in the correct grade book when you do enter the course key correctly. CengageNow Spreadsheet Attachments If you see a paperclip icon at the top of your answer page, an Excel spreadsheet template is attached and it can be used to work the problem. None of the work done in the spreadsheet is scored and the spreadsheet is not required in order to work the problem in CengageNow, but it can make the process easier for you. If you are unable to access the spreadsheet by simply clicking on the paperclip icon, try right-clicking and saving target as to your hard drive. You should then be able to open the saved file using Excel. If you do not have Excel on your home computer, you can download a freeware program that will also work. "Open Office" is an open-source program that functions much like Microsoft Office and contains a spreadsheet program, "Calc," that is compatible with Excel files. You can download Open Office for free at the following address: http://www.sun.com/software/star/openoffice/. I am not aware of any incompatibilities between this freeware spreadsheet program and Excel. If you discover any problems with it, please let me know. As you do your problem on the spreadsheet, your work is checked and a small red asterisk will appear if you do not get the correct check figure. Some of your answers are not checked; but key figures often are. The spreadsheets usually set up the problems in a more user-friendly manner than are often found CengageNow s answer pages. Unfortunately the spreadsheet work does not transfer to CengageNow; so students will have to either print the spreadsheet and then enter the information from it into CengageNow, or switch back and forth on the computer in order to do so.
Guide to Homework Problems in CNow 2 The Problem of Dropped Dial-Up Connections If you use a dial-up Internet service, you may encounter difficulty in keeping your connection alive while working in CengageNow. This can also happen when you take the practice quizzes. This occurs when you're working in a program that has been opened in your computer s memory. Requests for information from your service stop, and your ISP can't tell that you're still working online. It automatically drops you since it thinks your connection is inactive. You can download freeware that will send signals to your ISP that prevents the disconnect problem from happening. There are several on the various freeware download sites. One of them is NetMonitor 2.6 which you can download from ZDNet at http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/. You should always be careful of the sites you download from and have a virus protection program running on your computer when you open downloaded programs. See below for warnings, tips and work-arounds. Hints, Tricks, Warnings, and Work-Arounds for Specific Problems Note: These glitches have been reported to the publisher, and they may have been corrected by the time you begin working on the problem in Cengage. Elements of Accounting, Chapter 1 In problems 1-1A and 1-1B you will find entries where two- different expenses must be recorded in one transaction. You must enter the cash amount as one single total amount, and then enter each expense separately (list Auto Expense first in both problems) or it will be marked incorrect. Note also that these problems are set up differently than the problem illustration in the text. Instead of several columns for Owner s Equity items (revenues, expenses, investments and withdrawals), there is only a single Owner s Equity column. Record all the transactions in this single column (this agrees with the illustrations in the online course manual). In problems 1-4A and 1-4B you must generally list the expenses on the income statement in the order of largest balance (first) to smallest balance (last) with one exception: List Miscellaneous Expense last. If you list them in some other order, CengageNow will mark them wrong, even though, technically, they are really correct. There is no right or wrong order in which to list the expenses. When doing the balance sheet, list Cash as the first of the assets. In problems 1-5A and 1-5B, the expenses must be entered on the income statement in the of largest balance (first) to smallest balance (last). The assets must be listed on the balance sheet in the following order: Cash, Accounts Receivable, Supplies, then Land. It will be helpful to use the spreadsheet attachment to work through the problem. Elements of Accounting, Chapter 2 All assigned problems: All the assigned problems in chapter 2 imply that the spreadsheet attachment must be used in working the problems. While it is usually helpful to use the spreadsheet, this is not true. Once you ve worked out the answers, you must enter them in the CengageNow answer page whether you ve used the spreadsheet or not. The spreadsheet is a handy way to do the work, but you may also work out the problems on paper.
Guide to Homework Problems in CNow 3 Problem 2-1A and 2-1B. When writing out the trial balance on the answer sheet, your accounts must be listed in the same order they are shown on the spreadsheet attachment in order to be marked correct. This order is as follows: Cash, Accounts Receivable, Supplies, Prepaid Insurance, Automobiles Equipment, Notes Payable, Accounts Payable, Capital, Professional Fees, Rent Expense, Salary Expense, Blueprint Expense, Automobile Expense, Miscellaneous Expense. Problem 2-2A. When writing out the trial balance on the answer sheet, your accounts must again be listed in the same order they are shown on the spreadsheet attachment in order to be marked correct. This order is as follows: Cash, Supplies, Accounts Payable, Capital, Drawing, Sales Commissions, Rent Expense, Office Salaries Expense, Supplies Expense, Automobile Expense, Miscellaneous Expense. If you do use the spreadsheet to work the problem, ignore the instructions about memorandum balances since the spreadsheet portion of the problem is not graded in CNow. Problem 2-2B. When writing out the trial balance on the answer sheet, your accounts must again be listed in the same order they are shown on the spreadsheet attachment in order to be marked correct. This order is as follows: Cash, Supplies, Accounts Payable, Capital, Drawing, Sales Commissions, Rent Expense, Office Salaries Expense, Automobile Expense, Supplies Expense, Miscellaneous Expense. If you do use the spreadsheet to work the problem, ignore the instructions about memorandum balances since the spreadsheet portion of the problem is not graded in CNow. Problem 2-4A and 2-4B in CengageNow. One of the journal entries requires you to record two credits. List the credit to cash first. When writing out the trial balance on the answer sheet, your accounts must again be listed in the same order they are shown on the spreadsheet attachment in order to be marked correct. This order is as follows: Cash, Accounts Receivable, Prepaid Insurance, Office Supplies, Land, Accounts Payable, Unearned Rent, Notes Payable, Accounts Payable, Capital, Drawing, Fees Earned, Salary and Commission Expense, Rent Expense, Advertising Expense, Automobile Expense, Miscellaneous Expense. Elements of Accounting, Chapter 3 When working 3-5A and 3-5B, you must enter zeros in the unused answer boxes on the adjusted trial balance in order for them to be marked "correct." In this problem you are not allowed to leave them blank. Elements of Accounting, Chapter 4 Problem 4-1A in CengageNow. It will be helpful to use the spreadsheet to work this problem, since there are several list items and there are no instructions in CNow that tell you how to order the items in the list. The spreadsheet attachment does a much better job of this. When doing the income statement, list each account in the order largest (first) to smallest (last) with one exception: List Miscellaneous Expense as the last of the expenses. When journalizing the closing entries, place Fees Revenue first ahead of Rent Revenue, and list the expenses in the following order: Salaries and Wages Expense, Advertising Expense, Utilities Expense, Repairs Expense, Depreciation Expense Equipment, Insurance Expense, Supplies Expense, Depreciation Expense Building,. Miscellaneous Expense. You must enter the closing entries in the following order: (1) Close revenue accounts, (2) close expense accounts, (3) close Income Summary, (4) close Drawing. When preparing the post-closing trial balance, list the accounts in the same order that they are listed on the worksheet.
Guide to Homework Problems in CNow 4 Problem 4-1B in CengageNow. It will be helpful to use the spreadsheet to work this problem, since there are several list items and there are no instructions in CNow that tell you how to order the items in the list. The spreadsheet attachment does a much better job of this. When doing the income statement, list each account in the order largest (first) to smallest (last) with one exception: List Miscellaneous Expense as the last of the expenses. When journalizing the closing entries, place Fees Revenue first ahead of Rent Revenue, and list the expenses in the following order: Salaries and Wages Expense, Advertising Expense, Utilities Expense, Travel Expense, Miscellaneous Expense, Supplies Expense, Depreciation Expense Building, Depreciation Expense Equipment. You must enter the closing entries in the following order: (1) Close revenue accounts, (2) close expense accounts, (3) close Income Summary, (4) close Drawing. When preparing the post-closing trial balance, list the accounts in the same order that they are listed on the worksheet. Problem 4-2A and 4-2B in CengageNow. It will be helpful to use the spreadsheet to work this problem, since there are several list items and there are no instructions in CNow that tell you how to order the items in the list. The spreadsheet attachment does a much better job of this. When doing the income statement, list each account in the order largest (first) to smallest (last) with one exception: List Miscellaneous Expense as the last of the expenses. When preparing the balance sheet, list the accounts in the same order they are listed on the worksheet. When journalizing the closing entries, list the accounts in the same order they are listed on the income statement. You must enter the closing entries in the following order: (1) Close revenue accounts, (2) close expense accounts, (3) close Income Summary, (4) close Drawing. If you are using the spreadsheet, ignore the instruction in CNow that says, Indicate closed accounts by inserting a line in both the Balance Sheet columns opposite the closing entry. This is unnecessary and will even result in errors on the spreadsheet. When working 4-4A, you will find that the worksheet and trial balance are not provided in the problem. You may view them by opening the attached spreadsheet, using either Excel or the Open Office Calc program. If you prefer to not use the spreadsheet program, the trial balance is as follows: Unadjusted Trial Balance Account Title Dr. Cr. Cash 3,509 Accounts Receivable 6,550 Supplies 1,647 Prepaid Insurance 1,800 Land 30,000 Building 57,500 Accum. Depr. - Building 23,400 Equipment 30,000 Accum. Depr. - Equipment 10,200 Accounts Payable 5,141 Unearned Rent 2,200 So Young Lee, Capital 67,825 So Young Lee, Drawing 2,000 Service Revenue 46,984 Wages Expense 14,799 Rent Expense 3,910 Utilities Expense 1,728 Misc. Expense 2,307 155,750 155,750
Guide to Homework Problems in CNow 5 When journalizing the closing entries, place Service Revenue first ahead of Rent Revenue, and list the expenses in the following order: Wages Expense, Rent Expense, Utilities Expense, Miscellaneous Expense, Supplies Expense, Insurance Expense, Depreciation Expense Building, Depreciation Expense Equipment. You must enter the closing entries in the following order: (1) Close revenue accounts, (2) close expense accounts, (3) close Income Summary, (4) close Drawing. When preparing the post-closing trial balance, list the accounts in the same order that they are listed on the trial balance. When working 4-4B, you will find that the worksheet and trial balance are not provided in the problem. You may view them by opening the attached spreadsheet, using either Excel or the Open Office Calc program. If you prefer to not use the spreadsheet program, the trial balance is as follows: Unadjusted Trial Balance Account Title Dr. Cr. Cash 3,509 Accounts Receivable 6,550 Supplies 1,647 Prepaid Insurance 1,800 Land 30,000 Building 57,500 Accum. Depr. - Building 23,400 Equipment 30,000 Accum. Depr. - Equipment 10,200 Accounts Payable 5,141 Unearned Rent 2,200 So Young Lee, Capital 67,825 So Young Lee, Drawing 2,000 Service Revenue 46,984 Wages Expense 14,799 Rent Expense 3,910 Utilities Expense 1,728 Misc. Expense 2,307 155,750 155,750 When journalizing the closing entries, place Service Revenue first ahead of Rent Revenue, and list the expenses in the following order: Wages Expense, Rent Expense, Utilities Expense, Miscellaneous Expense, Supplies Expense, Insurance Expense, Depreciation Expense Building, Depreciation Expense Equipment. You must enter the closing entries in the following order: (1) Close revenue accounts, (2) close expense accounts, (3) close Income Summary, (4) close Drawing. When preparing the post-closing trial balance, list the accounts in the same order that they are listed on the trial balance. Elements of Accounting, Chapter 5 In problem 5-2A and 5-2B you'll find that some of the unused answer boxes are marked incorrect when left blank. You'll need to enter a zero in them to have them marked correct.
Guide to Homework Problems in CNow 6 No issues to report. Elements of Accounting, Chapter 6 Elements of Accounting, Chapter 8 In problems 8-2A and 8-2B, the accounts in the journal entries must be entered in the correct order in order for CNow to mark them correct. In 8-2A, the October 15 entry requires you to list the Cash Short and Over account first. The October 31 entry requires you to list the accounts in the following order: Store Supplies, Delivery Expense, Office Supplies, Miscellaneous Expense, and then Cash Short and Over. The first October 31 entry requires you to list Cash first. In problem 8-2B, the April 4 entry requires you to list the Cash Short and Over account first. The first April 30 entry requires you to list the accounts in the following order: Store Supplies, Inventory, Office Supplies, Miscellaneous Expense, and then Cash Short and Over. The second April 30 entry requires you to list Cash first. In problems 8-3A and 8-3B, the items in the bank reconciliation and the accounts in the journal entry must be listed in the order of largest amount to smallest with one exception: the accounts that are credited in the first journal entry in problem 8-3B must be listed in the following order: Notes Receivable, Interest Revenue, Accounts Payable. -END OF ELEMENTS OF ACCOUNTING- Financial Accounting, Chapter 7 In order to work problems 7-4A and 7-4B you need to be given the ending inventory quantities and market prices. They are the same amounts for both problems (the problems only differ in terms of the ending inventory quantities). The ending inventories and market prices in 7-4A and 7-4B are: Unit Inventory Inventory Market Item Quantity Price AC172 38 $56 per unit BE43 18 $180 per unit CJ9 30 $120 per unit E34 125 $26 per unit F17 18 $550 per unit G68 60 $15 per unit K41 5 $390 per unit Q79 375 $6 per unit RZ13 90 $18 per unit S60 6 $235 per unit W21 140 $18 per unit XR90 15 $745 per unit Financial Accounting, Chapter 9 In problems 9-1A and 9-1B you must make some compound journal entries that have several credited accounts, and you are given an instruction to post in decreasing dollar amounts. This is
Guide to Homework Problems in CNow 7 unclear to begin with (they want you to list the accounts in order of the credit amount, largest to smallest), but when you do this in the December 31 entry, your answer is marked wrong. The order to use for the credited accounts in problem 9-1A is: Maxie, Kommers, Helena, Ed. The order to use for the credits in problem 9-1B is: Buffalo, Combs, Nash, Tony. Financial Accounting, Chapter 10 In problem 10-5A there are two compound journal entries and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. In the June 30, 2007 entry, enter the debited accounts in the following order: Accumulated Depreciation, Cash, Equipment, Gain. In the June 2008 entry, use the following order: Cash, Accumulated Depreciation, Loss, Equipment. In problem 10-5B there are two compound journal entries and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. In the April 30, 2007 entry, enter the debited accounts in the following order: Accumulated Depreciation, Cash, Loss. In the October 2008 entry, use the following order: Cash, Accumulated Depreciation, Equipment, Gain. Financial Accounting, Chapter 11 In problem 11-1A and 11-1B there are some compound journal entries that must be made and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. In each of the compound entries list the debits and the credits according to their dollar amounts, largest to smallest. In these problems, there are some answer fields that are supposed to be left blank, but some will be marked wrong unless a zero is entered into them. In problem 11-1B, the correct debit amount in the very last entry grades as incorrect, though the same amount in the credit column grades as correct. This has been reported. Hopefully, these errors will have been corrected by the time you reach the problem. In problem 11-2A and 11-2B there are some very involved compound journal entries that must be made and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. When recording the payroll in parts 1 and 2, list the debited accounts in the following order: Sales, Warehouse, Office. List the credited accounts as follows: Income Tax, Social Security, Medicare, Bond Deductions, Group Insurance, Salaries Payable. When recording payroll tax expense, list the credited accounts in the following order: Social Security, Medicare, State Unemployment, Federal Unemployment. Financial Accounting, Chapter 12 In problem 12-1A several compound journal entries that must be made and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. In part 1, record Polles investment first, and place the Cash account on the first line. When recording Kovac s investment, list the debited accounts in order of size, largest debit amount to smallest; but list the credited accounts in the following order: Allowance for Doubtful Accounts, Accounts Payable, Notes Payable, Capital. In part 3, several compound entries are made to the Capital and Drawing accounts. Always list Polles account first, followed by Kovac s account. In problem 12-1B several compound journal entries must be made and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. In part 1, record Hoffman s investment first, and place the Cash account on the first line. When recording Torres investment, list the debited accounts in order of size, largest debit amount to smallest; but list the credited accounts in the
Guide to Homework Problems in CNow 8 following order: Allowance for Doubtful Accounts, Accounts Payable, Notes Payable, Capital. In part 3, several compound entries are made to the Capital and Drawing accounts. Always list Hoffman s account first, followed by Torres account. Financial Accounting, Chapter 13 In problem 13-3A and 13-3B several compound journal entries must be made and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. Always list the Additional Paid-In Capital account credit last in the entries. Financial Accounting, Chapter 14 The instructions in Problems 14-2A, 14-2B, 14-3A and 14-3B imply that the spreadsheet attachment must be used to complete the problem. The spreadsheet will be helpful, but is not absolutely required. The statements can be written out on paper and entered into CNow as well. Financial Accounting, Chapter 15 In problem 15-4A and 15-4B there are some compound journal entries that must be made, and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. In each of the compound entries list the debits and the credits according to their dollar amounts, largest to smallest, with one exception in the last entry made in each of the problems list the credit to the Cash account last. In problem 15-5A and 15-5B there are some compound journal entries that must be made, and no instructions are given about the order in which to enter the accounts. In each of the compound entries list the debits and the credits according to their dollar amounts, largest to smallest, with one exception. In problem 15-5A, in the entry dated October 31, 2012, list the debit to Cash first in the entry, and list the Investment account as the first of the credited accounts. In problem 15-5B, the order of the credited accounts in the August 30, 2013 entry is: Gain, Investment, Interest Revenue. No issues to report. -END OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING- Managerial Accounting -END-