Welcome to the Masha & Panda Mystery Series - where real accounting challenges become engaging detective stories that teach you Python and pandas skills!

Meet the Characters

Masha 🔍 - The sharp-eyed analyst who gets frustrated with manual work but always spots the patterns. She represents your inner voice wanting efficiency and automation.

Panda 🐼 - The wise technical guide who offers different perspectives and gentle guidance. He helps you see problems from new angles without intimidation.

The Mysteries

🔍 Mystery #001: The Case of the Disappearing Dollars

Beginner • 15 minutes • Rounding Errors
Sarah discovers a 17-cent discrepancy between systems and learns how different rounding methods create legitimate differences.

🔢 Mystery #002: The Case of the Strange Negative Balances

Beginner • 10 minutes • Legacy Systems
When the legacy system exports negative numbers as “5,009-“ and “1,200CR”, Sarah must decode these ancient formats.

⏰ Mystery #003: The Case of the Time-Traveling Addresses

Intermediate • 15 minutes • Historical Data
The audit team needs customer addresses “as of December 31st” but the database has years of address changes.

👻 Mystery #004: The Case of the Vanishing Data

Beginner • 8 minutes • Data Quality
The monthly report totals don’t match, and somewhere in thousands of rows, invisible missing values are causing chaos.

💰 Mystery #005: The Case of the Buried Treasure

Intermediate • 12 minutes • Text Extraction
Insurance claims hide dollar amounts in narrative text, and Sarah needs to extract every “$2,500” and “$800” from paragraphs of descriptions.

🎯 Mystery #006: The Case of the Closest Match

Advanced • 18 minutes • Complex Merging
Portfolio valuation requires matching purchase dates with price history, but exact date matches don’t exist.

How It Works

Each mystery follows the same engaging format:

  1. The Case - A real accounting scenario that sets up the problem
  2. Investigation - Follow the detective work with Masha & Panda commentary
  3. The Solution - Complete Python/pandas code that solves the mystery
  4. Key Learning Points - Takeaways you can apply immediately

All mysteries are based on real accounting scenarios, so you’ll learn techniques you can actually use in your work!

New mysteries are added regularly. Check back often for more accounting adventures!