About Compound School
Compound School explains accounting and finance from first principles. The aim is a clear account of what is actually happening in a concept: the rule, the example, the related amounts, and the point at which the explanation stops applying.
Each page is one node in that map. A page is published when it teaches the idea well, not when a calendar says a page is due. Pages still being written stay off the site.
How Compound School teaches
Explanations follow a simple sequence: Abstract, Instantiate, Generalize. Those words are a method, not a set of headings that every page has to display.
- Abstract. Start with the underlying principle.
- Instantiate. Make the principle concrete, with figures a reader can recompute.
- Generalize. Say where the idea applies more broadly, what it connects to, and where it stops.
Editorial standards
- Accounting rules are distinguished from economic interpretation.
- The relevant accounting framework is identified.
- Authoritative sources are used where the claim depends on a standard.
- Calculations are checked.
- Facts, examples, estimates, assumptions, interpretations, and hypotheses are distinguished.
- Unsupported claims are not published.
- Meaningful errors are corrected.
What Compound School does not do
These pages are educational and informational.
They are not individualized accounting advice, tax advice, legal advice, or investment advice.
They do not guarantee income, a career outcome, or an investment return.