I passed the first CFA (chartered financial advisor) exam in June, and it was the hardest exam I’ve ever taken. Given my lack of experience in finance and accounting, I had to memorize all the details by rote. This isn’t the best way to learn, but I think it’s fairly common for the exam.
I’m a programmer, and it occurred to me that a finance/accounting simulator could really help test takers and students. Kind of like immersion training for languages, but the simulator puts you in charge of a trading desk or a company’s statements.
Any thoughts? Do you think a simulator would help people?
I’m not entirely sure what you’re looking for.
If you want to simulate business finances. That is, journal entries, inventory, checks, bills, and how all these thing flow through to the profit & loss statement and balance sheet, you can do that. Get ahold of some free business accounting software and an file with a sample company on it and play with it.
If you’re looking for the experience, but not the risk of trading. Find an online broker that offers paper trading (etrade does). It’s like trading with pretend money.
I’m sure things like that will help for a little while, but you’ll need real world experience to get a real grasp of things. You’ll never treat pretend money like it’s your own. You’ll never play with a pretend company on Quickbooks and come up with the real world things that come at you