STPM Perakaunan 948 common mistakes
STPM Perakaunan 948 · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When preparing the Penyata Aliran Tunai using the indirect method, candidates start from 'Untung Bersih' and then fail to add back depreciation, loss on disposal of aset bukan semasa, and interest expense, treating net profit as if it were already a cash figure.
Candidates memorise the layout of the indirect method as a list of lines without understanding that the starting point is accrual profit and that every non-cash item and every item classified as investing or financing must be reversed out. Because depreciation never appears in the bank column of the cash book, students assume it is irrelevant to cash and skip the adjustment entirely.
What to do instead
Before writing any figure, list every non-cash expense and every non-operating item in the trial balance/notes (susut nilai, untung/rugi pelupusan, faedah, cukai). Build a working table with columns 'Untung Bersih', 'Tambah balik item bukan tunai', 'Pelarasan modal kerja', 'Aliran tunai operasi'. Reconcile the final 'Peningkatan/Penurunan tunai' to the movement in the bank balance and cash equivalents - if it does not reconcile, the omission is almost always a missed add-back.
Candidates prepare a Penyata Penyesuaian Bank by adjusting the cash book balance for items that belong to the bank statement side (unpresented cheques, deposits not yet credited) and vice versa, producing a statement that does not reconcile to either balance.
The two-column layout looks symmetrical, so students apply adjustments to whichever column is nearest rather than reasoning about who has already recorded the item. They also forget that the adjusted cash book balance (not the unadjusted one) is the figure that goes into the Penyata Kedudukan Kewangan.
What to do instead
Use the rule 'the recorder who does not yet know must be updated'. Items the business has not recorded (bank charges, standing orders, direct credits, dishonoured cheques) adjust the cash book; items the bank has not yet processed (cheque issued but not presented, deposit not yet credited) adjust the bank statement. Finish by proving: adjusted cash book balance = adjusted bank statement balance, and carry the adjusted cash book figure to the balance sheet.
When a partnership admits a new partner or a partner retires, candidates record the incoming partner's capital at the old profit-sharing ratio, or they revalue assets and distribute the revaluation gain using the new ratio instead of the old one.
Students treat all partnership adjustments as happening 'at the same time', so they apply a single ratio to everything. The exam deliberately gives both old and new ratios to test whether the candidate knows that gains/losses arising before the change belong to the partners who bore the risk at that time.
What to do instead
Sequence the workings: (1) revalue assets and distribute the resulting gain/loss, plus goodwill adjustment, using the OLD ratio; (2) close the books and transfer balances; (3) introduce the new partner's capital and any premium/bonus; (4) only then apply the NEW ratio to future profits. Write the ratio used at the top of each working so the marker can see the logic.
Candidates calculate goodwill on admission of a partner but never raise it in the books, or raise it and then forget to write it off against the partners' capital accounts, leaving the capital balances inconsistent with the new profit-sharing ratio.
Goodwill is taught as an 'adjustment' rather than as a transfer of value between partners, so students do not see that the incoming partner must compensate the sacrificing partners. They also confuse the 'goodwill raised and retained' method with the 'goodwill raised and immediately written off' method.
What to do instead
State the chosen method explicitly. If goodwill is not to remain in the books: debit Goodwill, credit old partners' capital in the OLD ratio, then immediately debit all partners' capital (including the new partner) in the NEW ratio and credit Goodwill. Check that total capital after the entries equals total capital before plus the new partner's contribution - goodwill entries must be value-neutral overall.
In company accounting, candidates debit the full amount of an issued share capital or loan note to 'Hasil', or they record a bonus issue and an rights issue identically, ignoring that a bonus issue capitalises reserves while a rights issue brings in cash.
Students conflate the accounting entries with the commercial purpose. Because both increase share capital, they assume both are recorded the same way, and they forget that a bonus issue requires an existing reserve (premium/retained earnings) to be capitalised.
What to do instead
For each issue, ask 'does cash come in?'. Rights issue: debit Bank, credit Share Capital at nominal value, credit Share Premium for the excess. Bonus issue: debit Share Premium/Retained Earnings, credit Share Capital - no bank entry. For redeemable preference shares and loan notes, classify the liability component separately and accrue finance cost, not dividends.
Candidates prepare a Penyata Kos Pengeluaran for a manufacturing account and include selling and administration expenses in 'Kos Overhed Kilang', or they omit work-in-progress adjustments entirely.
The layout of the manufacturing account resembles the income statement, so students copy all expenses into the cost of production. They also overlook that opening and closing work-in-progress must be adjusted to convert prime cost into cost of goods manufactured.
What to do instead
Draw a hard boundary: only costs incurred inside the factory (bahan langsung, buruh langsung, overhed kilang such as factory rent, factory depreciation, factory supervisor) enter the manufacturing account. Selling, distribution and administration costs go to the income statement. Then apply: Kos Pengeluaran = Kos Prima + Overhed Kilang + Kerja Dalam Proses Awal − Kerja Dalam Proses Akhir.
Under absorption costing, candidates calculate the predetermined overhead absorption rate using budgeted overheads divided by actual labour hours (or actual overheads over budgeted hours), and then over- or under-absorb the difference incorrectly.
The formula is remembered as 'overhead over something' without the logic that the rate must be set in advance, so both numerator and denominator must be budgeted figures. Students then treat the resulting over/under absorption as a direct addition to profit rather than an adjustment to cost of sales.
What to do instead
Fix the rule: OAR = Anggaran Overhed / Anggaran Asas Serapan (both budgeted). Absorbed overhead = OAR × actual activity. Over/under absorption = absorbed − actual overhead incurred. Under-absorbed overhead increases cost of sales; over-absorbed reduces it. Show the three-line working explicitly in the answer.
Candidates apply the matching concept and prudence inconsistently - for example, recognising accrued revenue but not accrued expenses, or providing for doubtful debts on the gross receivables figure without deducting the allowance already made.
Students learn each adjustment as a separate 'type' (hasil terakru, belanja terakru, hutang lapuk, peruntukan hutang ragu) and apply them mechanically without checking that the double entry balances and that each adjustment affects both the income statement and the balance sheet.
What to do instead
For every adjustment, write both sides of the double entry and state which statement each side hits. For doubtful debts: charge to income statement = closing allowance − opening allowance (plus bad debts written off separately); in the balance sheet show receivables net of the closing allowance. At the end, verify that total assets = total liabilities + equity.
In public sector and not-for-profit accounting, candidates prepare a conventional commercial 'Penyata Untung Rugi' and treat subscriptions, grants and donations as revenue in the same way as sales, ignoring the fund accounting structure (Kumpulan Wang Biasa, Kumpulan Wang Khas) and the receipts-and-payments basis used in some public sector statements.
The candidate's entire practice has been commercial accounting, so the default template is the profit-and-loss account. They do not distinguish between a 'Penyata Penerimaan dan Pembayaran' (cash basis) and a 'Penyata Akaun Penerimaan dan Perbelanjaan' (accrual basis), nor between restricted and unrestricted funds.
What to do instead
First identify the reporting basis required by the question (cash or accrual) and the entity type. For not-for-profits, prepare a Penyata Akaun Penerimaan dan Perbelanjaan by fund, showing surplus/deficit per fund, and keep restricted donations in the relevant special fund. For public sector entities, present the Penyata Penerimaan dan Pembayaran and the Penyata Kedudukan Kewangan separately, and never label a surplus as 'Untung'.
Candidates compute financial ratios such as the current ratio, inventory turnover and gearing using inconsistent figures - mixing closing and average balances between ratios, using profit before tax in one ratio and profit after tax in another, or computing return on capital employed with the wrong capital base.
Ratios are memorised as isolated formulas without a common data convention, so each ratio is computed from whichever figure is convenient. Students also present the ratio as a bare number without units or interpretation, losing marks for analysis.
What to do instead
Adopt one convention and state it: use average balances for turnover and return ratios, closing balances only when averages are unavailable, and define capital employed as total assets less current liabilities (or equity plus non-current liabilities). Present every ratio with formula, figure, unit (times, %, days) and a one-sentence interpretation comparing it to the prior year or industry norm.