“I understand financial accounting” is difficult for an interviewer to evaluate without an example. A compact month-end close portfolio gives an ACCA student in India something more concrete to discuss: an organised fictional file showing how a balance was prepared, checked and explained.
This article sets out a practice project, not a promise of employment or a claim that every Indian employer uses the same close process. Use invented data throughout. The exercise follows general accounting ideas and is not a statement about Ind AS applicability, tax treatment or a particular company’s reporting obligations.
Choose a deliberately small close
Invent a service business with one bank account, a few suppliers and two recurring overheads. Give it a month-end date and a short task list. Your project should contain a journal register, supporting schedules, a balance-review note and a record of questions still outstanding.
ACCA’s general-ledger career guidance identifies work involving reconciliations, accruals, prepayments and reporting. A portfolio can demonstrate how you approach those tasks without pretending that completing an exercise is equivalent to supervised work experience.
Build the prepayment schedule first
Assume INR 120,000 was paid for a twelve-month service starting on the first day of the month, with benefits consumed evenly. On that simplified basis, the first month’s expense is INR 10,000 and the remaining prepayment is INR 110,000. Record the start date, end date, monthly release and closing balance.
Now change the start date to the middle of the month. Do not blindly reuse the original monthly journal. Explain the convention used in your revised example and make the calculation consistent with it. This small variation reveals whether your schedule is understood or merely copied.
Add an accrual with evidence and a follow-up action
Suppose a supplier has completed a service by month-end but the invoice has not arrived. An approved estimate of INR 18,000 is supported by the fictional service agreement. In the practice file, record the expense and liability, the basis of estimation and how the later invoice will be compared with the estimate.
Explain how the organisation’s process prevents double counting when the invoice is posted. Do not assume that every accrual must reverse in exactly the same way; show the chosen procedure and demonstrate that the final expense is not duplicated.
Give the reviewer a file they can follow
Assign journal references and link each one to its supporting schedule. Include the period, preparer, review status and unresolved items. A reviewer should be able to recompute the prepayment without opening unrelated files or asking what an unexplained spreadsheet cell represents.
Build one intentional error into a separate test version: release INR 20,000 instead of INR 10,000. Write down the check that detects it, the effect on expense and assets, and the proposed correction. Keep this clearly labelled as a simulated error, rather than presenting it as a real employer achievement.
Practise the interview explanation
Describe one judgement, one control and one improvement. For example: why the service period matters; how journal support is independently checked; and how a protected input field could reduce accidental changes. State plainly that the portfolio is self-directed practice.
Finish with an exceptions list containing an owner and next action for each unresolved item. A realistic close file can contain open questions. Concealing them to make every status green is less impressive than explaining what remains uncertain and how you would resolve it with the appropriate reviewer.
Sources and further study
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