Teaching Activity: Simon's Balance Sheet

This is an activity which seeks to challenge students and provide a fun way for them to understand the purpose of balance sheets.

This exercise can be done in individually, in pairs or by the teacher leading the activity with the class.

The activity gets students thinking about fixed/ non-current assets, current assets and current liabilities, long-term/ non-current liabilities and net current assets/working capital.

Students would benefit from being familiar with the definitions of these terms prior to completing the activity.

Perhaps the hardest part of the exercise is understanding Simon’s Capital, which is simply a figure equal to his net assets, however the concept of this activity is to get students looking at the concept of balance sheets in a fun and engaging way and looking at the basic structure of a balance sheet.