Examiner’s report
F3 Financial Accounting
June 2011

General Comments
Thefollowing three questions have been taken from the Internationalvariant of the paper and were the three questions with the lowest passrates on the paper. The aim of reviewing these questions is to givefuture candidates an indication of the types of questions asked andguidance on dealing with exam questions.
Sample Questions for Discussion
Example 1
Which one of the following errors would lead to the creation of a suspense account?
A Sales returns were credited to the purchase returns account and debited to receivables
B The total of the sales daybook has been added incorrectly before being posted to the ledger accounts
C Discounts allowed have been dealt with correctly in the receivables account, but debited to the purchases account
D Purchases from the purchases daybook have been credited to sales and dealt with correctly in the payables control account
Thecorrect answer is D. Only 33% of candidates answered this correctly,with option C being the most popular incorrect answer. The key toanswering these types of questions correctly is to consider each optionindividually and establish if the error will cause a suspense account tobe created. This will only occur if there has been a one-sided entry orboth sides of a journal have been posted to the same side of theledger.
In option A, we can see that there is adebit and a credit entry in the transaction so even though these areincorrect entries, they will not cause the trial balance to be out ofbalance.
In option B, the sales daybook total isposted to the sales account and the receivables account, so even thoughthe total is incorrect, there will still be a journal that balances andthis will not cause the trial balance to be out of balance.
Inoption C, discounts allowed should be credited to receivables, whichhas happened, and should be debited to discounts allowed expense. Theyhave been incorrectly debited to purchases, but as the transaction has adebit and credit entry it will not cause the trial balance to be out ofbalance.
Finally, in option D, purchases from thepurchase daybook should have been debited to purchases and credited topayables. The credit entry has been dealt with correctly but instead ofdebiting purchases the entry has been made to credit sales. This journalentry has two credits and does not balance so the trial balance willnot balance leading to a suspense account being required.
Example 2
Pelle has a balance on his suspense account of $1,820 credit.
He discovered the following errors:
(1) Sundry income of $1,750 has been recorded in the sundry income account as $1,570
Examiner’s report – F3 June 2011 1
(2)Sales of $2,800 from the sales day book have been posted to thereceivables control account, but no other entry has been made
(3) The purchases daybook was undercast by $950
What is the balance on the suspense account after Pelle has corrected the above errors?
A $4,800 CR
B $1,160 DR
C $210 DR
D $3,850 DR
The correct answer is B and is calculated as follows:
$
Balance b/f 1,820 CR
1. sundry income (180) DR
2. sales ledger (2,800) DR
–––––––
Balance c/f (1,160) DR
–––––––
Aswith the first suspense account question in Example 1, the key toanswering this question is to look at each transaction individually anddetermine if the transaction causes an entry to be made in the suspenseaccount.
Transaction (1) requires an entry to thesuspense account as too little sundry income has been recorded in theledger account. The correcting journal entry is to Dr Suspense and CrSundry income with the difference of $180.
InTransaction (2) there has been a one-sided entry so to correct it weneed to post Dr Suspense Cr Sales with $2,800 sales that have not beenposted.
Transaction (3) does not require an entry to thesuspense account as the incorrect total of the daybook will be postedinto the ledger accounts and will not cause the trial balance to be outof balance.
Only 30% of candidates answered this questioncorrectly with 35% of candidates answering C which adjusted for item (3)as well as items (1) and (2).
Example 3
Abigail’sreceivables ledger control account does not agree with the total of thereceivables ledger balances. She discovered the following errors:
(1) The receivables column of the cash received daybook has been undercast by $300
(2) A contra of $150 against the purchase ledger has only been entered in the control account
(3) A sales invoice of $454 has been entered into the sales daybook as $544
Whichof the above errors would cause a difference between the receivablescontrol account and the total of the receivables ledger?
A 2 and 3 only
B 1 and 3 only
C 1 and 2 only
D 1, 2 and 3
The correct answer is C. Only 30% of candidates answered this question correctly with the most popular incorrect answer being B.
Thisquestion is similar to the suspense account questions above in thateach error has to be considered individually to assess whether it causesa difference between the control account, which contains a summary oftransactions, and the individual customer accounts that are totalled tomake the receivables ledger balances. So we are looking for items thathave only been included in either the control account or ledger accountsor vice versa.
Item (1) will cause a differenceas the individual items in the daybook are posted to the receivablesledger, and the daybook is totalled and posted to the control account.If the daybook has been added incorrectly then different amounts willhave been posted to the ledger and control account.
Item(2) causes a difference as the contra has only been posted to thecontrol account and has not been entered into the individual account.
Item(3) will not cause a difference as the incorrect amount has beenentered in the daybook and this will be posted individually to thecustomer account and then posted to the control account as part of thetotal.
Conclusion
Inthis exam, the worst answered questions all dealt with errors with twoquestions covering suspense accounts and one covering control accountreconciliations. These are key exam topics and require a focusedapproach as detailed above in arriving at the correct answer. Candidatesneed to ensure that they understand how transactions are posted fromdaybooks to control accounts so they can establish if a journal entrywill cause a suspense account to be created or a reconciling itembetween a control account and the subsidiary ledgers. Questions on thesetopics have featured in previous examiner reports which suggests thatmore work is needed in this area.