Edexcel International A Level Accounting: The double entry system (YAC11) – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers from your board or school.

These questions cover the double entry system, content points 1.1.3 to 1.1.7 of Unit 1 in the Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level in Accounting (XAC11/YAC11) specification, Issue 2, September 2018. All businesses are invented and amounts are in dollars. Learn the content first from the study guide. Course hub: Edexcel A-Level Accounting. Checklist: Edexcel accounting checklist.

Questions

1. Sandpiper Cycles records the following. State the account to be debited and the account to be credited for each.

(a) Display racks costing 2,400 are bought, paid from the bank. [2] (b) Bicycles are sold on credit to Skerry Cycling Club for 1,850. [2] (c) The owner takes a bicycle costing 420 for personal use. [2]

2. Cobalt Bay Divers has these balances at 30 June: bank 7,350 (debit); equipment 22,000; purchases 14,600; rent 4,400; wages 6,900; drawings 4,200; trade receivables 5,400; sales returns 450; capital 30,000; sales 31,900; trade payables 3,100; purchases returns 300. Prepare the trial balance. [7]

3. Greywell Print’s sales day book for May shows invoices of 3,150, 2,480 and 1,970. Its sales returns day book shows credit notes of 260 and 140.

(a) Calculate the total of the sales day book and state how it is posted to the general ledger. [3] (b) Calculate the total of the sales returns day book and state how it is posted. [2]

4. Corriman Pottery has a bank balance of 3,600 (debit) on 1 September. During the month it: receives 1,940 from customer A after allowing discount of 60; pays supplier B 2,750 after receiving discount of 50; banks cash sales of 920; pays rent of 650 by bank; receives 1,175 from customer C after allowing discount of 25; and takes drawings of 400 from the bank.

(a) Prepare the bank account with discount columns, balanced. [6] (b) State the ledger entries for the totals of the two discount columns. [2]

5. Nethercote Books uses an imprest petty cash system with a float of 180. Payments in the month are stationery 46, travel 38, cleaning 22 and refreshments 15.

(a) Calculate the total paid and the reimbursement needed. [2] (b) State the double entry for the reimbursement and the postings from the analysis columns. [2]

6. Prepare journal entries, with narratives, for Hawksmoor Candles.

(a) Machinery costing 5,800 is bought on credit from Tarrant Tools. [2] (b) An irrecoverable debt of 740 owed by Daventry Garden Services is written off. [2] (c) The owner takes goods that cost 310 for personal use. [2]

7. Sandpiper Cycles has a year end of 30 September. Electricity paid during the year is 4,180; 520 was owing at 1 October and 690 is owing at 30 September. On 1 July it paid insurance of 3,240 for twelve months; 600 was prepaid at 1 October.

(a) Prepare the electricity account, balanced and with the transfer to the statement of profit or loss. [3] (b) Calculate the insurance prepaid at 30 September and the insurance charge for the year. [4] (c) State where the two year-end balances appear in the statement of financial position. [1]

8. Greywell Print has opening inventory of 6,150, purchases of 52,800, purchases returns of 1,350 and closing inventory of 7,200. Drawings for the year are 21,000.

(a) Calculate the cost of sales. [2] (b) State the double entry that records closing inventory at the year end. [2] (c) State where the drawings are transferred and explain why they are not in the statement of profit or loss. [2]

9. Bexford Garden Centre has trade receivables of 71,400 at 31 December before writing off irrecoverable debts of 1,400. The remaining receivables are analysed: not yet due 44,000 (1.5%); up to 30 days overdue 15,000 (5%); 31 to 90 days overdue 7,500 (12%); over 90 days overdue 3,500 (40%). The percentages are the allowance rates. The existing allowance is 3,150. During the year 300 was received from a customer whose debt was written off earlier.

(a) Calculate the required allowance. [4] (b) Prepare the allowance for irrecoverable debts account. [3] (c) Show the trade receivables line in the statement of financial position. [2] (d) Calculate the net charge to the statement of profit or loss for irrecoverable debts, the allowance change and the recovery. [1]

10. Hawksmoor Candles has replaced its manual ledgers with accounting software.

(a) Explain two ways in which the software helps with recording transactions and preparing the trial balance. [4] (b) A credit purchase invoice for 3,870 is keyed as 3,780. Explain why the trial balance still agrees and state the effect on the figure for purchases. [4]

11. Marlowe Optics has a provisional profit for the year of 42,300. These items have not yet been recorded: rent of 900 is accrued; insurance of 650 is prepaid; an irrecoverable debt of 480 must be written off; commission of 350 is accrued income. Trade receivables are 24,480 before the write-off. The allowance is to be 3% of the remaining receivables and the existing allowance is 540.

(a) Calculate the revised profit for the year. [7] (b) State the statement of financial position item and classification for each of the rent, insurance and commission adjustments. [3]

Answers

1. (a) Debit Display racks, a non-current asset increasing [1]; credit Bank [1]. (b) Debit Skerry Cycling Club (a trade receivable) [1]; credit Sales [1]. (c) Debit Drawings [1]; credit Purchases [1]. Examiner insight: Name the account on each side, and say what type it is, so the choice of side follows visibly from the rule.

2. Debit column: bank, equipment and trade receivables [1]; purchases, rent and wages [1]; drawings and sales returns [1]. Credit column: capital and sales [1]; trade payables and purchases returns [1]. Total debits 65,300 [1]; total credits 65,300 [1].

Examiner insight: Sales returns are a debit and purchases returns a credit. Showing both column totals makes the statement complete.

3. (a) 3,150 + 2,480 + 1,970 = 7,600 [1]. Debit the customers’ personal accounts for each invoice [1]; credit Sales with the total 7,600 [1]. (b) 260 + 140 = 400 [1]. Debit Sales returns 400 and credit the customers’ accounts [1]. Examiner insight: State both that personal accounts are posted individually and that the nominal account is posted from the total.

4. (a)

Details	Discount allowed	Bank	Details	Discount received	Bank
Balance b/d		3,600	Supplier B	50	2,750
Customer A	60	1,940	Rent		650
Cash sales		920	Drawings		400
Customer C	25	1,175	Balance c/d		3,835
	85	7,635		50	7,635

Opening balance [1]; receipts with discounts allowed [1]; supplier B payment with discount received [1]; rent and drawings [1]; balance c/d 3,835 with totals 7,635 [1]; discount totals 85 and 50 [1]. (b) Debit Discount allowed 85 [1]; credit Discount received 50 [1]. Examiner insight: Discount columns are memorandum columns, not part of the bank balance. Keep each discount on the same side as its receipt or payment.

5. (a) 46 + 38 + 22 + 15 = 121 [1]; the reimbursement equals the amount spent, 121 [1]. (b) Debit Stationery 46, Travel 38, Cleaning 22 and Refreshments 15 from the analysis columns [1]; credit Bank 121 for the reimbursement [1]. Examiner insight: Say that the float is restored to its fixed amount; reimbursing the whole float does not fit the imprest idea.

6. (a) Debit Machinery 5,800; credit Tarrant Tools 5,800 [1]. Narrative: machinery bought on credit [1]. (b) Debit Irrecoverable debts 740; credit Daventry Garden Services 740 [1]. Narrative: debt written off as irrecoverable [1]. (c) Debit Drawings 310; credit Purchases 310 [1]. Narrative: goods taken by the owner for personal use [1]. Examiner insight: A journal entry needs a narrative as well as accounts and amounts.

7. (a)

Electricity
Bank	4,180	Balance b/d	520
Balance c/d	690	Statement of profit or loss	4,350
	4,870		4,870

Bank and opening balance on the correct sides [1]; closing accrual 690 [1]; transfer 4,350 with totals 4,870 [1]. (b) Nine months of cover remain, 3,240 × 9/12 [1] = 2,430 prepaid [1]. Charge = 600 + 3,240 − 2,430 [1] = 1,410 [1]. (c) The electricity accrual is an other payable (current liability) and the insurance prepayment is an other receivable (current asset) [1]. Examiner insight: Show the opening balance in the formula for the charge; using only cash paid misses last year’s accrual or prepayment.

8. (a) 6,150 + 52,800 − 1,350 − 7,200 [1] = 50,400 [1]. (b) Debit Inventory 7,200 [1]; credit the statement of profit or loss 7,200 [1]. (c) Drawings are closed to capital [1]. They are the owner taking money out, not a cost of running the business (business entity), so they do not reduce profit [1]. Examiner insight: Give the reason as well as the treatment: the owner and the business are separate.

9. (a) After write-off, 71,400 − 1,400 = 70,000 [1]. Bands: 660 and 750 [1]; 900 and 1,400 [1]. Total allowance 3,710 [1]. (b)

Allowance for irrecoverable debts
Balance c/d	3,710	Balance b/d	3,150
		Statement of profit or loss	560
	3,710		3,710

Opening balance 3,150 on the credit side [1]; increase of 560 [1]; closing 3,710 and totals [1]. (c) Trade receivables 70,000 less allowance 3,710 [1] = 66,290 [1]. (d) 1,400 + 560 − 300 = 1,660 [1]. Examiner insight: Write off first, then apply the rates. Showing each band separately lets a reader follow your method.

10. (a) Posting once completes both sides of the double entry [1], giving faster entry with fewer posting slips [1]. The trial balance is produced directly from the ledger balances [1], with no hand listing or adding [1]. (b) The software posts 3,780 to both Purchases and the supplier [1], so total debits still equal total credits [1]. Purchases is understated by 3,870 − 3,780 = 90 [1]. Only comparing the invoice with the entry would find it [1]. Examiner insight: Say what the software does and what it cannot do: accurate processing of wrong input still gives a wrong result.

11. (a)

Start with 42,300 [1]; rent decreases profit [1]; insurance prepaid increases it [1]; irrecoverable debt decreases it [1]. After write-off receivables are 24,000, so the allowance is 720 [1]; the increase on 540 is 180, decreasing profit [1]. Commission accrued increases profit, giving 41,740 [1]. (b) Accrued rent: other payable, a current liability [1]. Prepaid insurance: other receivable, a current asset [1]. Accrued commission: other receivable (accrued income), a current asset [1]. Examiner insight: State whether each adjustment raises or lowers profit. For the allowance, only the change in it, not its full amount, affects profit.

Where marks are usually lost

• Putting returns accounts on the wrong side of the trial balance.
• Treating discount columns as part of the bank balance.
• Reimbursing the whole petty cash float rather than the amount spent.
• Ignoring the opening accrual or prepayment in an expense charge.
• Applying allowance rates before writing off irrecoverable debts, or putting the whole allowance rather than the change through the statement of profit or loss.
• Treating drawings as an expense.
• Claiming ICT removes errors without saying which it cannot detect.

Next steps

• Recall the content in the revision notes or re-read the study guide.
• Review the Edexcel A-Level Accounting hub and the printable checklist.
• Try all the free 10-minute diagnostics.
• Book a free trial class: /trial/.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate an expense charge with accruals and prepayments? Start with the amount paid in the year, add the closing accrual and subtract the opening accrual; for prepayments, add the opening prepayment and subtract the closing one. Ignoring the opening accrual or prepayment is a common way to lose marks in Edexcel IAL Accounting (YAC11) questions.

What goes through the statement of profit or loss for an allowance for irrecoverable debts? Only the change in the allowance goes through the statement of profit or loss: an increase is an expense and a decrease adds to profit. Write off irrecoverable debts first, then calculate the new allowance on the remaining trade receivables.

Where do discount allowed and discount received go in the cash book? In a three-column cash book, discount allowed sits on the debit (left) side and discount received on the credit (right) side, beside the cash and bank columns. The discount columns are not part of the cash or bank balance.

What does ICT not detect in the double entry system? Accounting software completes the double entry automatically, but it cannot spot an amount keyed in wrongly or posted to the wrong account, because both sides still agree. Answers about ICT should say which errors it cannot detect.

Official syllabus

Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level in Accounting (XAC11/YAC11), Specification, Issue 2, September 2018, Unit 1, topic 1.1 content points 1.1.3 to 1.1.7.