The Count FEFE Game | Pearson qualifications

The Count FEFE Game

Tue Dec 04 00:00:00 UTC 2018

A new phone app for Business students

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FEFE is a free game available as a phone app (easily found in the App Store and Google Play by searching for ‘Count FEFE’). FEFE is short for ‘Financial Education for Future Entrepreneurs’, a project led by Aston Business School and funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

The project has created the Count FEFE mobile digital game to support the development of accounting and finance skills for business and is relevant to learners in both vocational and general education.

Count FEFE

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It is relevant to learners on the following courses:

  • BTEC Higher Nationals in Business
  • BTEC Nationals in Business
  • BTEC Nationals in Enterprise & Entrepreneurship
  • GCE Business
  • IAL Business

It proved to be very easy to download the game to my phone and to start playing immediately. The scenario puts you in the position of the owner-manager of a retail start-up business, who is required to make business decisions, interpret financial information and solve accounting and finance questions and challenges.

Right at the start there is an option to accept or reject the bookkeeping option. I decided to accept as it would be a good way of revising double entries but for BTEC National Unit 3 and GCE or IAL Business this is not necessary. It would be enough to make the key decisions and review the Statement of Profit or Loss (Income Statement) and Statement of Financial Position. It is not necessary to review or understand the general ledger.

The game sets objectives and introduces external factors which affect demand. You make one decision relating to an external factor (e.g. a poor customer review) and then have to decide how much inventory (stock) to buy and how many sales staff to employ. There is also a random element where you have to stop a spinning wheel which generates a number which will affect consumer demand that month.

At the end of each round there is a quiz and the score achieved has an influence on demand for your product in the next round (month). Every three months the quiz checks your understanding of where to look for financial information. It is a timed quiz and you are asked to find a figure from the financial statements. You need to know where to look otherwise you risk running out of time. In the other months the quiz questions check your understanding of definitions and processes. Again this is a timed quiz and if you do well, demand for your product can go up.

Level 0 Year 1 covers the Statement of Profit or Loss, the Statement of Financial Position, cash transactions, drawings and accruals. In Year 1 you trade as a sole trader and the objective for this first year is to finish the year with a positive cash balance.

At the end of the first year I had a positive cash balance and had achieved Level 0. I was now ready to move onto Level 1.

Level 1 Year 2 introduced accounting policies, a non-current (fixed) asset register, depreciation and personal tax. I was still a sole trader. The objective I was given was a revenue objective. Having achieved the objectives for the second year I moved onto Level 2 and the capacity of my store increased.

Level 2 content introduced ratios, credit transactions, prepayments, loans and inventory (stock) accounting. In Year 3 I was still a sole trader and I was given a profit objective for the year.

After the second year I started a new game without the bookkeeping option. This speeded things up considerably as all the posting to the general ledger was done automatically. This would be the version most appropriate for Level 3 BTEC and GCE/IAL students who can probably stop at Level 2 of the game.  Level 4 and 5 students could go further.

Overall, this is definitely a worthwhile activity and I would welcome any feedback on how your students have used this and how they got on.

Subject advisor

Colin Leith

Business
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Colin Leith, Business and Economics subject advisor
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