Teaching cash flow management with Cash Flow Clue-Doh!

A few weeks ago, we introduced a new tutor2u resource designed for delegates at our AQA AS Business Unit 2 Teacher Workshops.  Cash Flow Clue-Doh! is a cash flow-based murder mystery game which encourages students to discover the clues that help solve the question “why did Peston Plastics go bust"…

Cash Flow Clue-Doh! was a popular resource with our delegates, and we spent a little time considering the different ways in which it could be used to support AQA AS Business students as they get to grips with Unit 2.

One of the issues raised at each workshop was the “dumbing down” of the AQA AS Business specification when it comes to teaching finance and accounting.  Students taking GCSE Business (e.g Spec A) are introduced to the Profit and Loss Account, Balance Sheet and ratio analysis.  A year further into their studies, and AQA don’t believe it is appropriate for students to understand or interpret the basic financial statements.  Yet they need to analyse and evaluate ways in which a business can improve its cash flow. Quite bizarre!

Neverthless, the consensus amongst AQA teacher colleagues was that the specification can (and should be) ripped up when it comes to financial statements.  How else can students understand the idea of working capital management (stocks, debtors, creditors) if they are not shown how cash can be soaked up by higher net current assets.  I was encouraged by the number of colleagues who refuse to accept the dumbing down approach and intend to provide students with a deeper understanding of finance that that required by the spec.

It will be interesting to see if Cash Flow Clue-Doh! helps students understand the problems of cash flow management. This is an area where there are rarely definitive answers - it is very much an area where students can exercise their judgement.

And the reason why Peston Plastics went bust?  That would be telling…

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