Home Smart 100 2010 Colour Accounting (SMART 100)

Colour Accounting (SMART 100)

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This innovation initially came to life when…

The two founders realised that they weren’t alone with their struggle to learn accounting, particularly so in the business world where financial illiteracy is rife. In Melbourne, in 1992, Mark and Peter started to design a new sort of financial literacy workshop for businesses. Further development ensued in South Africa and we went global in 2000 with a two-day financial literacy workshop. We continued to refine our unique learning system and today this same workshop takes about 5 hours. We have other products with e-versions underway and will launch the Colour Accounting learning system as a product this year.

WHAT & HOW

The purpose of this innovation is to…

Make it easy for anyone to quickly understand and use common financial information so as to make better-informed decisions. The outcome for organisations is to increase employee engagement with their goals and targets.

It does this by…

Re-engineering the way accounting is traditionally taught. Colour Accounting is a new way to represent accounting information and makes financial statements easier to understand for non-experts. At its heart is a unique graphical representation of the accounting equation first documented by Luca Pacioli about 500 years ago.

PURPOSE & BENEFITS

This innovation improves on what came before because…

It works for all types of learners and all types of educational backgrounds and cultures. It works quickly so the participants can immediately begin addressing workplace-related financial issues. It provides greater knowledge retention because of the unique learning system and ability to refresh quickly. People are still amazed at the possibilities.

Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…

Providing a solid platform of financial literacy which they can use to leverage their business acumen, their value to their organization and their value to themselves. Financial literacy can help set people free.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

In the past, this problem was solved by…

Telling participants the definitions and how the model works, often with extensive reliance on overheads. This worked well for some learners, partially for others, and missed many. Other competitors designed games increasing the practice and fun elements, but were limited by the assumptions needed to make the game work and translating the learning back into the ‘real world’.

Its predecessors/competitors include…

All providers of traditional accounting/business education from schools and universities through to trainers and business coaches.

TARGET MARKET

It is made for…

All those that want to quickly and surely build a solid base of financial literacy that they can then use immediately to add value as required. Financial regulators have educational responsibilities to existing and potential investors, providers of financial training want to quickly lay the foundation of financial literacy and then use their specialist financial products, commerce students at all levels (including MBAs), corporates big and small, micro-businesses in developing countries and indigenous organisations seeking self-sufficiency. It would be fair to say that the target market is large.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

It is available for sale through…

Accredited financial trainers who use our products to service their own clients, to our training clients direct and under license to other organisations. The e-versions will be widely available on various platforms and at various price points.

Our marketing strategy is to…

Make ‘Colour Accounting’ a euphemism for accounting primarily through internet marketing. We propose to create a groundswell of interest initially through the student market (AcountingSchool.com: social site, free tools, tips); use leverage from our forthcoming book release; a re-engineered community website and social presence a la Web 2.0; speaker engagements; winning this competition — getting the word out there.

SUPPORTING IMAGES AND/OR VIDEO



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To check out the Anthill SMART 100 Readers’ Choice winner for 2010, click here.