CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES

The candidates performed poorly in questions testing the following topics:

End of year adjustments;

Petty cash book;

Branch and departmental accounts;

Partnership accounts;

Journal entries and suspense account.

Some of the weaknesses observed were:

Candidates’ inability to interpret questions correctly;

Inadequate preparation for the examination as reflected in lack of proper understanding of the basic principles of accounting;

Poor expression, scrawled handwriting and disorderly presentation of points;

The use of unapproved abbreviations such as COGS for cost of goods sold, AS for average stock etc;

Poor knowledge of the procedures involved in accounting as majority of the candidates prepared accounts without headings while some failed to state narrations as required in some questions;

Candidates’ failure to adhere to rubrics and instructions.

SUGGESTED REMEDIES

Candidates should prepare properly for examinations and be conversant with accounting terminologies and definitions.

The teaching of the basic principles of Financial Accounting must be emphasized in schools with emphasis on the rudiments of accounting practice and the rudiments of posting and entries.

Candidates should prepare very well by covering all aspects of the syllabus before writing the examination.

Teachers should make use of past question papers for revision exercise in preparing for examinations.

Qualified teachers should be employed to teach the subject in schools.

Candidates should be taught to write in full instead of abbreviations and teachers should discourage the use of unapproved abbreviations in their answers to questions.