Cameroon GCE O-Level Accounting common mistakes
Cameroon GCE O-Level Accounting · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When posting the sales day book total to the sales ledger control account, candidates also post the individual invoice amounts to the sales ledger control account, or post the total to the individual customers' accounts, so the control account and the ledger balances no longer agree.
They memorise 'total to the control account, individual items to the ledger' but never distinguish between the personal ledger and the impersonal control account, and they treat every sales figure as a single stream rather than two separate postings.
What to do instead
Write out the double entry for each source: individual credit sales go to each customer's account (debit customer, credit sales); the period total goes to the control account (debit sales ledger control, credit sales). Before answering, state in one line which book the figure comes from and which ledger it lands in, then check that the control account total equals the sum of the individual balances.
On a bank reconciliation, candidates treat an unpresented cheque as an item to add to the cash book balance, or they adjust the bank statement balance for items that only affect the cash book (such as bank charges or standing orders).
They learn 'add unpresented cheques' as a reflex without deciding which of the two balances is being reconciled, so the direction of the adjustment is applied to the wrong starting figure.
What to do instead
Always label the starting point: 'starting from cash book balance' or 'starting from bank statement balance'. Then apply the fixed logic: unpresented cheques reduce the bank statement side; bank charges, interest and standing orders reduce the cash book side. Write the two columns first, list each item under the correct column, and only then compute.
Candidates record the purchase of a non-current asset in the purchases account, or charge depreciation to the asset account instead of to a separate accumulated depreciation account, so the trading account is understated and the asset appears at a net figure with no cost record.
They see a payment for goods and a payment for equipment as 'both purchases', and they confuse the provision for depreciation with the asset's book value, having never practised the disposal account.
What to do instead
Use a rule: anything bought to be used in the business for more than one period goes to the asset account at cost; depreciation is credited to accumulated depreciation, never to the asset account. Practise the disposal double entry (debit disposal, credit asset at cost; debit accumulated depreciation, credit disposal; difference to profit or loss on disposal) until it can be written without reference.
When preparing the trading and profit and loss account, candidates put the closing stock figure as a debit in the trading account, or omit it from the balance sheet, or include carriage inwards in the profit and loss account instead of the trading account.
They copy the trial balance layout mechanically and do not connect the closing stock adjustment to both statements, and they do not classify carriage inwards as a cost of bringing goods into a saleable state.
What to do instead
Build the trading account from a fixed skeleton: opening stock plus purchases plus carriage inwards minus closing stock equals cost of goods sold. Then check that closing stock appears twice: credited in the trading account and shown as a current asset in the balance sheet. Classify carriage inwards with purchases and carriage outwards with selling expenses.
Candidates compute depreciation on the reducing-balance method by applying the rate to the original cost each year, or they forget to deduct the residual value before applying the straight-line rate, and they ignore depreciation for part of a year when an asset is bought mid-period.
The two methods are learned side by side and the rate is applied to whichever figure appears first in the question; the treatment of residual value and of time apportionment is often skipped in revision.
What to do instead
Write the formula before calculating: straight line = (cost minus residual value) divided by useful life; reducing balance = rate multiplied by net book value at the start of the year. For mid-year purchases, multiply by the months held over twelve. Show the working for each year separately so the examiner can follow the net book value carried forward.
In a partnership, candidates credit the partners' drawings to the capital accounts, or post interest on drawings to the debit of the appropriation account, or fail to transfer the share of profit to the current accounts, leaving the capital accounts distorted.
They mix up capital and current accounts and do not appreciate that the appropriation account is a distribution of profit, not an expense, so the sign of interest on drawings is reversed.
What to do instead
Fix the roles: capital account holds permanent capital; current account holds drawings, interest on capital, salary, interest on drawings and profit share. In the appropriation account, interest on capital and partner salaries are debits and interest on drawings is a credit. Close the appropriation account to the current accounts, not the capital accounts, and reconcile each partner's current account to its opening balance.
When correcting errors, candidates pass a correcting entry through the suspense account even when the error did not affect the trial balance agreement, or they fail to open the suspense account at all for a one-sided error.
They treat every correction as needing a suspense entry, and they do not test whether the original error was one-sided (affecting one account only) or two-sided (affecting two accounts by equal amounts).
What to do instead
Ask one question first: did the original error leave the trial balance out of balance? If yes, the correction must clear the suspense account; if no, correct the two accounts directly with no suspense entry. Write the original wrong entry, the correct entry, and the difference between them, then post only the difference.
In a manufacturing account, candidates include administration and selling expenses as factory overheads, or they value the manufacturing profit using the wrong transfer price, or they omit work in progress from the cost of production.
They do not separate production costs from period costs, and the manufacturing account's internal transfer to the trading account is unfamiliar, so the prime cost and production cost lines are built from whatever figures remain.
What to do instead
Classify every cost before writing: direct materials, direct labour and direct expenses give prime cost; factory rent, power, depreciation of plant and factory indirect labour are factory overheads. Add opening work in progress and deduct closing work in progress to reach cost of production. Only then add the manufacturing profit to obtain the transfer price used in the trading account.
In ratio analysis, candidates compare a gross profit percentage with a net profit percentage, mix current assets with liquid assets in the acid test, or use closing figures for averages without saying so, and then draw conclusions that the numbers do not support.
The ratio names are learned as formulae without understanding what each measures, and candidates compute every ratio they remember rather than the ones the question asks for.
What to do instead
Attach a one-line meaning to each ratio before computing: gross margin measures trading profitability, net margin measures overall profitability after expenses, current ratio measures short-term solvency, acid test excludes stock. State the formula, the figures used and the period, then write a sentence comparing the result with the prior year or a benchmark rather than asserting 'good' or 'bad' in isolation.
When converting incomplete records, candidates treat the opening capital as the balancing figure in the statement of affairs, or they compute purchases from the cash paid to creditors without adjusting for opening and closing payables.
They reverse the logic of the statement of affairs, which derives capital from assets minus liabilities, and they forget that the purchases figure must be reconstructed through a payables control working.
What to do instead
Build the statement of affairs as a list of assets less liabilities, with capital as the difference; do the same at the closing date and derive profit as closing capital plus drawings minus additional capital introduced. For purchases, use the control working: opening payables plus purchases minus payments equals closing payables, and solve for purchases. Show the working in a T-account so the missing figure is visible.