Latest News

Dr Philip Dunn.

Examiner’s Report.

June 2008, Level II and Level III Manual Examinations.

Level II Certificate in Manual Bookkeeping

There were a number of candidates that achieved 100% and as an examiner these were a pleasure to assess. This indicates that there many competent bookkeepers that not only demonstrate their skills to the examiner, but on a day-to-day basis to their employers or clients.

I list below the areas that caused some candidates difficulty:

• In some cases the Bank Reconciliation Statement was drafted incorrectly, in that some started with the balance per the cash book: it should finish with that.
• Also some candidates re-wrote the cash book, not simply updating it as the task requested.
• In the major double entry question (1) some candidates again re-wrote the cash book when it had been detailed in full in the question.
• Some candidates posted individual items to both Sales and Purchases together with the VAT account rather than in batch totals from the Day Books as given.
• The procedure of offsetting Drawings to the Capital account and posting returns in and out against the sales and purchases account is fundamentally incorrect. This is a Year End procedure.
• In the final accounts task some candidates still believe that Drawings are shown on the face of the profit and loss account, again this is a fundamental error.
• Candidates must remember to head up the final accounts correctly. Both the Trading and Profit and Loss account and the Balance Sheet in some cases were incorrectly headed.
• The task involving the correction of errors and the suspense account was generally well prepared.
• The VAT account was in most cases well prepared but again, and I have mentioned this previously, candidates continue to loose marks by placing “00” on the face of the return when the instructions state clearly the use of the term “None”.
• Some candidates, having prepared the VAT account correctly, then transferred the totals in the VAT account on the credit side to the VAT form, this being incorrect.

As the Senior Examiner I was again delighted by the overall standard achieved in this examination. WELL DONE.

Level III Diploma in Manual Bookkeeping

The first question on incomplete records was well prepared by most candidates and the question reflected very closely the sort of problem that members in practice would face on a day-to-day basis.

There were, however, areas in the paper that caused difficulty for some candidates:

• The disposal of the asset in the Limited Company question was not always well prepared. I would urge candidates to include detailed workings wherever possible so that the marker can clearly see where the figures have been determined.
• In the Club and Society Accounts opening and closing subscriptions in arrears and advance caused problems and this will be tested again: so be prepared.
• Candidates continue to use the term Capital on the Balance Sheet of a Club or Society, this is the ACCUMULATED FUND and is the result of ASSETS minus LIABILITIES.
• Also some candidates included the club sponsorship as additional Capital and not as required Revenue Income.
• In the partnership accounts candidates were asked to use closing Capital balances (after dealing with the revaluation) when calculating Interest on Capital but some calculated it on the opening figures.
• The opening balances on the partners’ current accounts included one that was a Debit Balance and some candidates showed this as a credit.
• Many candidates when answering the final short answer questions did not have a basic understanding of the term Gearing.
• Others did not understand why a company that was trading as a going concern might issue shares at a premium.
• Very few knew of the terms Memorandum and Articles of Association. I would urge training providers when giving guidance to students on the preparation of Limited Company Accounts that they stress the importance of the underpinning principles of a Limited Company as a Legal Entity.

Once again there were a number of scripts prepared to a very high level of competence and these were a pleasure to assess. Some students, although very few in number, were ill prepared.

Overall WELL DONE

Philip Dunn

Head of Education.