EXETAT Commerciale & Gestion common mistakes
EXETAT Commerciale & Gestion · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When recording a sale or purchase, the candidate debits and credits the same account (e.g. debiting 701 Ventes and crediting 701 Ventes) or reverses the normal balance side of a class 4 account, producing a trial balance that still balances but is economically wrong.
They memorise the mechanical layout of the journal without mastering the logic of the double entry (every debit has a credit of equal amount in a different account) and the normal side of each class (assets and charges debit, liabilities, equity and products credit). Under time pressure they write the account they remember first on both sides.
What to do instead
Before writing any figure, state the flow aloud: what enters, what leaves, who owes whom. Apply the rule 'the account that receives is debited, the account that gives is credited'. After each entry, verify that the two accounts are different and that the balance of the entry is zero. Practise ten mixed entries per day (sale on credit, purchase with discount, payment by bank transfer) and check each against the normal-balance table of the Congolese OHADA/SYSCOHADA chart of accounts.
The candidate treats a value-added tax or a trade discount as part of the revenue or cost figure, so the invoice total, the net financial amount and the accounting entries disagree with each other.
In the heat of the exam they add every figure printed on the invoice and post the gross total to the product or charge account, forgetting that VAT is a neutral third-party account (class 44) and that the discount is deducted before VAT is computed.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed three-line template for every invoice: gross commercial amount, less discount/rebate, equals net commercial; add VAT on the net commercial only; total to pay. Post the net commercial to the product/charge account, VAT to the tax account, and the total to the customer/supplier account. Rehearse with an invoice carrying a 2% discount, a 5% rebate and 16% VAT and check that the sum of the three postings equals the invoice total.
In cost accounting, the candidate allocates all indirect costs to products in proportion to turnover or to direct material, without distinguishing allocation keys, cost centres (sections) and the difference between direct and indirect charges, then reports a unit cost that ignores the treatment of fixed costs.
They learn the definition of 'charges indirectes' but never practise building an allocation table, so they fall back on the simplest ratio they know. They also confuse full costing (coût de revient) with variable costing and forget that the unit cost of a cost centre requires dividing total centre cost by the number of units of work (unités d'œuvre).
What to do instead
Always build the same four-column table: cost centre, total indirect charges, nature of the unit of work, number of units of work, cost per unit of work. Then charge each product with the number of units of work it consumes. Explicitly state whether fixed costs are included (full cost) or excluded (variable cost) and keep that choice constant through the exercise. Train on one complete case per week with at least three cost centres and two products.
In commercial and financial mathematics, the candidate mixes up simple and compound interest, applies the annual rate to a period expressed in months without converting it, or computes a discount with the wrong day-count basis, so the final amount is off by a factor of twelve or by several days of interest.
Formulas are memorised as strings of letters without the units attached: i is a rate per period, n must be the number of periods of the same length, and the day count (commercial year of 360 days versus exact year of 365) changes the result. Candidates also forget that compound interest requires (1+i)^n and not 1+ni.
What to do instead
Write the units next to every symbol before substituting: i = 6% per year, n = 8 months = 8/12 year. Decide and state the day-count convention at the top of the answer. Keep a one-page formula sheet with the conditions of use (simple vs compound, present value vs future value, discount, annuity) and re-derive each formula once from the definition so it is not pure memory. Check the answer for plausibility: compound interest must exceed simple interest for n > 1.
The candidate answers a question on monetary policy or on the balance of payments by listing definitions of money (M1, M2) without linking them to the instrument used (open market operations, reserve requirements, discount rate) or to the effect on credit, inflation and the exchange rate.
Revision is done by reciting definitions rather than by building causal chains. The exam asks 'what happens if...' and the candidate reproduces a definition instead of explaining the transmission mechanism from central bank action to commercial bank liquidity to aggregate demand.
What to do instead
For each instrument, write a three-step chain: action of the central bank, immediate effect on bank liquidity or on the cost of credit, final effect on prices, output and the exchange rate. Practise by taking a real headline (rising inflation) and writing the full chain in five sentences. Learn the components of the balance of payments (current account, capital account, financial account) with one concrete Congolese example each, such as copper and cobalt exports or mining royalties.
On company law questions, the candidate confuses the legal forms (SARL, SA, SAS, SNC, SCS) and gives the wrong minimum share capital, the wrong number of associates, or attributes to the general meeting a decision that belongs to the manager or to the board.
The rules differ between jurisdictions and have been reformed, and candidates rely on a single undated summary sheet. They also transpose the rules of one form to another because the names look similar.
What to do instead
Build a comparison table with one column per legal form and rows for: number of associates, minimum capital, liability of associates, management organ, decisions reserved to the collective of associates, and transfer of shares. Fill it only from the current text applicable in the exam's jurisdiction (OHADA Uniform Act on commercial companies and economic interest groupings for the DRC context) and date the source. Then answer ten short scenarios by naming the form and citing the rule applied.
When asked to organise a business function, the candidate describes the role of a department in general terms but cannot draw the reporting lines, distinguish line authority from staff authority, or say which document (job description, delegation of authority, procedure manual) formalises the arrangement.
Organisation theory is revised as vocabulary. Candidates know the words 'structure fonctionnelle' and 'structure divisionnelle' but have never applied them to a small enterprise, so they cannot place a purchasing department relative to production or explain who arbitrates a conflict.
What to do instead
For each classical structure, draw the organigram and annotate it with one advantage, one drawback and one situation where it fits. Practise converting a short case (a growing family trading company) into an organigram plus a half-page note naming the coordination mechanisms used. Memorise the trio: structure, process, formalisation document.
In marketing and sales technique questions, the candidate lists the four Ps as a slogan but cannot segment a market, position a product against a named competitor, or conduct a sales dialogue that moves from discovery of needs to handling an objection and closing.
The four Ps are learned as a mnemonic while the underlying reasoning (segmentation, targeting, positioning, then the offer) is skipped. In the sales dialogue the candidate jumps to the product pitch before asking any question, and treats an objection as a disagreement to be contradicted rather than a request for reassurance.
What to do instead
Structure every marketing answer as: segment, target, position, then the four Ps, each justified by a fact from the case. For sales, rehearse a five-step script (approach, needs discovery with at least three open questions, tailored offer, objection handling by acknowledgement then evidence, closing with a concrete next step) and record yourself once a week. Prepare ten common objections with a factual response for each.
In applied statistics, the candidate computes a mean or a percentage on the wrong base (dividing by the number of categories instead of the number of observations), or interprets a correlation coefficient as proof of causation and reads a table without checking the totals.
The arithmetic is done without identifying the statistical unit and the population. Candidates also confuse the coefficient of determination with the correlation coefficient and never verify that percentages sum to 100 or that the total of a frequency table equals the population size.
What to do instead
Before any calculation, write down the statistical unit, the population and the variable with its type (qualitative, quantitative discrete or continuous). Check the sum of frequencies against the population and the sum of percentages against 100. When interpreting, use the sentence 'the data show an association between X and Y; they do not by themselves establish that X causes Y'. Recompute one exercise per week by hand and with a spreadsheet, then compare.
In computerised management and office software, the candidate writes a spreadsheet formula with a relative reference where an absolute reference is needed, or uses a lookup function whose key is not sorted or not unique, and in the written communication part mixes registers and writes a business letter without the conventional layout.
The distinction between relative and absolute references is understood in theory but not practised on a real table, so copying the formula down the column shifts the range. The business letter is written as a personal message because the candidate has never dissected a model letter into its fixed parts.
What to do instead
For spreadsheets, always test a formula by copying it to a second row and checking the result by hand; use $ signs deliberately and name the ranges used by lookup functions. Keep a one-page memo of the five functions most used in management (SUM, AVERAGE, IF, VLOOKUP, SUMIF) with one worked example each. For the letter, memorise the skeleton (sender, date and place, recipient, object, reference, salutation, body in three paragraphs, formula of courtesy, signature) and write one letter per week in the professional register, then check it against the skeleton.