THE FINANCIAL GAME
in partnership with
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Why the Financial Game Works

People begin within their comfort zone and recognise what they are doing day to day, they can relax and enjoy the experience without the stress often associated with maths, accounts, budgets or finance - monetary figures are simply added discretely. Before they know it they have absorbed the principles intuitively!

The Game meets the needs of all learning styles (Honey and Mumford, and Golay) - activity, reflection, theory and practice, and meets all the memory retrieval styles - seeing, hearing, doing.

The Financial Game allows people to manage their own development through Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage and can be utilised as Holiday Homework.

The app works intuitively and teaches in a fun way via experiential learning.

It has two levels:

• The first level teaches fundamentals of Income and Expenditure based on a Burger Bar example.
• The second level is based on a major UK retail chain the Financial Statements app provides a higher level understanding about the construction of Balance Sheets and financial ratios.

Benefits of the Financial Game

Based on proven results from the manual version, a fully developed game for any sector of the economy will give the following benefits:

• Finance and profitability will be intuitively understood by almost everyone
• Fear will be removed from accountants’ black art!
• Team working will be promoted as there is a common language
• There will be an easy route to problem solving
• Conversations can take place that wouldn’t otherwise have happened
• It will become obvious what should be measured
• The value and creation of budgets will be easily understood
• Understanding each other's challenges will lead to integrated solutions
• Employees throughout the organisation will be able to contribute to financial success and appreciate their contributions
• Departments can create their own measurements for success within the company strategy and assess their results against those measurements
• Barriers to culture change will be reduced
• Budding entrepreneurs will have a fundamental knowledge base
• The Financial Game App can be part of the Flipped Learning pedagogical model

Wider Implications

As well as being a personal development tool, thorough knowledge of finance as a common language across an entire workforce has even greater significance. Many employees and managers find budgets frightening, even threatening and definitely stressful - budgets are a major issue for conflict in organisations. Some PLC and SME board members don’t know which products or services are the most profitable after accounting for relevant cost orwhat causes significant differences between profitability and cash flow in the financial statements in relation to those products and services. Organisations whose employees understand the costs involved in their part of the organisation in relation to income are likely to become more efficient and competitive and the knowledge to add value is within every member of staff – it just needs releasing and capturing. The ‘bottom line’ is not the be all and end all.

There are many examples in recent times of lack of financial understanding in the Private and Public Sectors. The Chair of a local NHS Trust was explaining that they had found it impossible to get front line staff to be interested in cost savings and huge amounts were being lost every year unnecessarily. The banking crisis might well have been reduced if an appropriate game had been played by members of the FSA. One of the Care Homes who played the Lego version of the Financial Game saved over 30% of their Admin costs as a result of the experience and knowledge gained.

Latest News

Bett Show, January 2019

Sarah Hicks and Matteo Pagani of Microsoft with Colin and Tim

As of January 2019 The Financial Game is the only app in the Microsoft Education Store which delivers Financial Literacy.

Coleg Cambria, April 2018

“The Financial Game app was well received by the learners, they have commented that it is an interactive way of learning and is easily accessible. The business students stated that the app can be useful in the development of their knowledge of finance. It is also relevant for the development of financial knowledge of learners studying a range of courses for when they are working in organisations or for those with the goal of running their own business in the future”.

Coleg Cambria, situated in North East Wales, has rapidly established itself as a leading education provider. Inspectors rate the college as excellent, making Cambria one of the most successful colleges in the UK, and the highest performing college in Wales.

Winner - FSB all Wales Business and Product Innovation Award, February 2018

Tim is pictured with Mike Learmond, Senior Development Manager Wales FSB holding the award for Business and Product Innovation

Tim leapt at the opportunity to enter the Federation of Small Businesses Awards as he had no doubt it would give The Financial Game exposure and provide credibility to an app which has the potential to revolutionise the understanding of finance in the UK and abroad especially enabling disadvantaged young people to better themselves in the workplace environment as well as increasing productivity in general; much needed in the British economy.

"I'm honoured and delighted by this amazing award. i'm sure it is the catalyst to The Financial Game revolutionising the understanding of finance in education for 12 year olds upwards, owners and managers of SME's and directors of companies in th UK and beyond. It has given me the confidence to enter the Wall Street Journal 2018 Challenge to improve financial literacy for low to moderate incomes in the United States with support from LSU Innovation Park."

Microsoft Education Partner Accredited, May 2018

Tim was accepted as a Microsoft Authorized Education Partner; the Program includes many prestigious names Worldwide. Microsoft assisted coding of The Financial Game for Windows 10 and 10 S both financially and with high level App Consultancy. As of January 2019 The Financial Game is the only app in the Microsoft Education Store which delivers Financial Literacy.

Testimonials

Michelle Hunt is a mature student who completed her AAT Level 4 with help and support from the app, Financial Statements and Ratios is a particularly tough section for many students but the Financial Game helped during her study time in this area. Michelle said "At the start of studying Financial Performance and Financial Statements it was clear that there was a lot to learn. In the past I have struggled with remembering formulas, phrases, etc. During this topic I was required to remember 16 ratios and at the start I was struggling. Using the game it helped me understand the formula, practice the formula but most importantly remember the formula. I have successfully passed this module keeping me on track passing my AAT level 4 in one year". Michelle now works at Involve as a Management Accountant.