Hi RMADAM

Unfortunately it can be a coincidence but its the place to start and I would check the postings you made for that account. Make sure you accounted for all the transaction for that account in the purchases day book before you transfered the totals to the purchases account and the supplier account. If you didn't transfer the transaction to purchases it would give you that result.

Bill

Perhaps going back to the the basic list of error types is a starting point.

1) Error of omission - unlikely as no entry has been made

2) Error of original entry - possible if a balancing entry has been over/ under cast by 800, a balancing amount has not been entered, or both entries have been entered
on the same side of the account (both Cr'd or Dr'd instead of one of each)

3) Error of commission - unlikely, as amount are correct but posted to wrong personal account

4) Error of principle - unlikely, as amount are correct but posted to wrong nominal account


5) Compensating error - unlikely, as the name suggests, errors cancel themselves so will still balance

6) Error of duplication - unlikely, as the name suggests, errors are duplicates so will still balance

I would suggest you concentrate on looking for errors that fall into category 2

Hi folks

There are a total of 19 balances to put on the trial balance!

I have this feeling that I have posted some of the entries to the wrong accounts!

How can I confirm that the entries are posted to the correct accounts? The learning provider who I am doing this course through, is not prepared to help me because this is the mock exam, and they are not prepared to look through the trial balance because it does not balance!

As you can see, I am in this very ackward situation. I cannot progress with this course because the leariing provider says I need to get the trial balance to balance, but they are not prepared to give any hints/tips as to where I am going wrong.

I hope you are not thinking that I am 'stupid' - I have got a degree after all, and did go through the 'A level stage etc- so I have got some brain cells that 'work'.

What would you folks do if you were in my situation?

Please help!

Thanks

hi,
you could maybe post your trial balance here, sometimes the more you look at something the less you see the obvious. you see if there is a mistake in the actual trial balance we can tell you.have you got any control accounts in the mock exam, you could double check those as well.

geek84 wrote:

---

Would I be breaking any laws if I cancelled my direct debits and chose not to continue with the course?

---

Yes. You enetered into a contract with them for the full course not stop when you want to. The price probably reflects this. Had you paid for Level 1, 2 & 3 individually it would have been a lot more than the deal you got for all three levels together.

If you can't do the mock exam alone (and pass it) then you are not ready for the real exam. You will then need to go back over your studies again.

There will likely be an amount of marks allocated to this particular question. I am just about to do my ICB level 2 manual. I have to get 60% to pass. I also have to get 60% of each question. You will just need to persevere with this one and even put it in incomplete. You may still end up with enough marks to pass. When you are given your mock exam back you will then be able to see what you did wrong.

There is a section on exam techniques in Frank Wood's Business Accounting Volume 1. If you search for it using Google Books you can read this online. Google Books allows you to read large portions of books. It is on page XV1.

 

Then go back check you've entered everything into the seperate accounts correctly, they have been balanced correctly and that everything has been entered onto the correct side of your trial balance. If all this is correct and there is still a discrepancie the enter a the difference as a suspense account on the correct side and submit this to your tutor, ther is a small possibility that there may be suspense required (though I doubt it).

What books do you have, a good one would be AAT course companion isbn 9780751766998
This will give you all the info you need.
When you started the course they should of sent you books as part of the price really if not then beg borrow steal this book and you shall be fine.
However if you look back over the learning you have already done the answers to your questions will be there.
This is a good place for advice but it's always a good idea to try and find the answer for yourself especially at the level you (and me for that matter) are at.
The advice in this thread and the other threads is good advice and should help you towards the solution. Good luck and may the force be with you.

geek84 wrote:

---

Steve

Are you also on level 1? If so, you seem to be quite knowledgeable about this whole subject !

I would have thought you would have qualified for exemption somewhere along the line of the accountancy qualifications.

---

Nope I've almost finished Foundation level AAT.

 

I just had a look at level 1 mock exams. Things what can go wrong is:
- double entry (you must check if double entry made for every transaction, make sure they are balancing double entries-you know, opposite ones)
- check your cash book if all the sales has been posted correctly
- check your bank a/c whenever cash has been banked
- if there is an account for stock, ther should be no changes in the opening and closing balance at this level (you should have not learnt about opening and closing stock and stock adjustments yet)
- make sure you debit purchase and credit sales and there is a double entry made for them to the debtors or creditors personal account or to the cash a/c
- make sure you posted purchase and sales returns correctly
- they should not show in your cash a/c unless it was cash sales or returns
- they should not show in your bank a/c but should reduce the balance of the debtor/creditors personal a/c unless instructed so in your assignment
- check discounts allowed/received
-finally you should just double check if you copied all numbers right from your assignment/mock exam and if you copied the correctly from the ledger to the trial balance
- one more. clear your head sit down and think thru what double entry is all about and it all will make sense.
You are only at level 1 there is no real tricky questions there, they try to teach you basic double entry. If I was you I would start the exam again, use your study/work books and make sure you follow the instructions for every similar situation.

ok that,s about it for level 1 tutoring.

-- Edited by attilabenko on Wednesday 9th of June 2010 12:43:24 PM

Hi Folks

STEVE - I hope you don't mind me saying but would it not have been a good idea to go straight to the foundation stage of the AAT rather than doing the book keeping course? It seems as if you did not get any exemptions from the AAT after you completed the ICB.

ATTILA- As requested, here is the scenario to the question -

A sole trader runs a car valeting service. He operates a 6 day week and provides a cleaning service to both private customers (who pay by cash), and business customers (who have credit accounts)

He usually banks his cash twice a week, pays his suppliers at the month end, and allows 30 days credit to his corportate customers.

Hi Manjinder,

I assume scenario is Lee Crescent 2006 - task 4

1. just because they say He usually banks his cash twice a week, pays his suppliers at the month end, and allows 30 days credit to his corportate customers, it does not mean this actually happens. You only post the transactions in the list they gave you (10 transactions) + task 2. I give you a good hint here, do not enter task 3 (they ask you about this in the 1st transaction)
2. Is the difference £800 or about £800?
3. check if all vat calculated (added or deducted) where needed, there is a few transaction amounts where you have to add VAT and some where it's already VAT inclusive.
4. ok now tr2: accounts involved purchases,vat,whitby,hawsker
5 tr3 phone,vat,bank
6 tr4 vat,cash,sales
7 tr5 MV expenses,VAT,cash
8 tr6 cash,bank
9 tr7 Jones,bank
10 tr8 Raw Lodge,bank
11 tr9 sandsend,vat,sales returns
12 tr10 bank,drawings

not any of the above is in any CR or Dr order I put them as they came to my mind...
Do not forget about your opening balances from the scenario description.
you should have 11 Dr balances and 5 Cr balances if you don't list your debtors/creditors individually just say debtors(total) and creditors(total)
your balance should be 25007.28

Hope I passed this exam again :)

Shall I invoice you or your learning provider for tutoring?
If this does not help than you should look for a new career (really, I don't think any tutor would help you any more with a mock exam, in fact you should not be asking for help, if you do it means you are not ready for the exam)...hope it does help!


-- Edited by attilabenko on Thursday 10th of June 2010 08:09:33 AM

I managed to get exemption from foundation level AAT with ICB qualifications, I started on NVQ intermediate, I just had two simulations to take from AAT foundation, my tutor fitted them in during that year.

Chriss

Hi Chriss,

Let's see what is happening with the new syllabus, no simulations. And the price is worrying, do they include SAGE as option or do I have to pay for it even if I don't need SAGE training (in the new syllabus)?

I must admit I don't know much about ICB examinations but it could be that they are not accredited by the QCA, if this is the case, that will be why they are not recognised by other bodies.

Hi Steve,

I did do the skillcheck thing some time ago and got 100% so if the provider would agree i could start at intermediate but I have this thing I do not want to pay for training provider and this does not seem to be possible, getting different answers from colleges and AAT every time I ask them about the new syllabus  

Thanks Shaun - thought I'd share this information from the AAT & ICB websites ? Institute Head of Education, Dr Philip Dunn

AAT article Dr Philip Dunn FMAATbusiness school lecturer
and an international author
on accounting and
managerial finance

Chriss


-- Edited by Chriss on Thursday 10th of June 2010 08:53:38 PM

-- Edited by Chriss on Thursday 10th of June 2010 08:55:18 PM

Hi Attila

I noticed in that profile there is mention that he is a Fellow of the AAT but any association with the ICB is not mentioned.

Shiela from what I can understand the ICB were not QCA accredited because they weren't (ICB) happy with the exam structure being broken down into units, with the candidate having a choice of units to take. They felt it would lower their exam standard, as students would only choose the units they were confident with.

I am not sure what the situation is now.

Bill

-- Edited by Wella on Friday 11th of June 2010 09:13:18 AM

Probably just done the exam for them

You'll get offers next for all your accounts to be done for £3 per hour

With the exception of we few people seem to dip in and out of the site as they need it. Personally I wouldn't read anything into it.

I think Manjinder realised that he was getting ahead of himself and from one or two of the messages I think that he's going back to redo the fundamentals due to his level of questions being a bit too basic.

At least Manjinder was quite polite. One or two that appeared over the last few weeks just posted questions and demanded answers. I think under the impression that we are being paid for helping them.

Hey, maybe we should go for sponsorship from the ICB! Actually, in my case that one would probably be a non starter!!!!

Right, bedtime for me.

Talk later,

Shaun.

I think it can be done - you can help someone without telling them the answer - but it's pretty hard to do online, you really need a 2 way conversation to do it (and even better a relationship with the student so that you have an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses). It can be near impossible to help in a way that aids learning in a situation like this one where all we know is that the TB doesn't balance.

With my other hat on, I have a job in adult education and one thing that really annoys me is when people think that simply being great at what they do means they can teach others to do it and they then tutor in an ineffective way. I don't have any personal experience of any of the training providers mentioned on here, but I have done distance learning in the past and all my 'tutor' did was mark my assignments and send the odd comment (really helpful ones, like 'well done' or 'you seem to have grasped this area well'). It is such a shame that training like this isn't always well grounded in the principles of adult education.

Hi Manjinder,

Nothing worse than the advice of a friend. Its right up there with tax advice from the man down the pub.

Following on from my other advice over the weekend, I think that your friend is setting you up to fail.

There is the possibility that you could gain exemptions, possibly from all nine fundamental papers. However, you won't get through the final five papers unless you have the level of knowledge expected of someone who has sat those nine papers and all that you will be doing is throwing your money away on exams that you won't get through.

I can only talk from the ACCA perspective but CIMA is very similar.

The level of answers required at ACCA professional level is at MSc level.

A lot of people start ACCA, few finish it.

For what you want and from previous discussions I believe that you should look seriously at the AAT qualification and forget about ACCA / CIMA for now.

If you want further evidence why not log onto the ACCA website (ACCAGlobal.com) and take a look at past examples of paper P2 which is the level that you are considering starting at.

Also, as noted from the other post, your initial exemptions (if the ACCA allowed them) would cost you £717. If you can't get through the final five papers that's money thrown away!!!

All that I can do is advise you, what you do with that advice is down to you.

Good luck with whatever path you choose,

Shaun.

Hi folks

Many thanks for your advice.

I graduated about 20 years ago with BSc Combined Studies. The degree was made up of modules taken from the Operational Research, Computing, and the Finance subject areas.

I have had a brief look at the ACCA, and it seems that a lot of graduates who enrol on their course come from a non accounting background. That was the reason why I thought it would be a good idea to go straight on to the ACCA rather than doing the AAT first. Hopefully, the ACCA would start from the basics of accounting i.e. what a debit & credit is. It would also save me money and time (a fair few years). If I did the AAT first, as some of you advised, then go on to do the ACCA/CIMA, then it would take me a lot longer and also cost me more.

I know I have had problems with the ICB assignment (as stated in my earlier emails), but since ACCA also except graduates from non accounting backgrounds, I thought I would be ok.

What are your thoughts? Do you still think I should start off with the AAT?

Many Thanks

Hi

Thanks for your advice. Do you know what the difference is between ACCA & CIMA, and which one is the 'easier' one?

Many Thanks

Hi Manjinder,

CIMA is aimed at management accountancy but incorporates sufficient financial accountancy in order to call yourself an accountant.

ACCA is aimed at financial accountancy but also incorporates the entirety of the CIMA syllabus.

Working in practice or banking you would be expected to have ACCA or ACA qualification.

Traditionally management accounting roles demanded CIMA qualification but this has dissipated over time.

There is very little to choose between the two. Both are excellent qualifications. Neither is easy but you will find that CIMA has less restrictions than ACCA on what you are allowed to do until you are qualified.

I can't help but get the impression that you are looking for a fast and easy route to accountancy but the fact is that there isn't one. This is going to be a lot of hard work, a lot of sleepless nights and a ridiculous amount of money both in direct expenses and opportunity costs where you are spending your time studying rather than earning income.

As a short answer to your question CIMA is easier than ACCA... But that's a bit like comparing climbing up the outside Sears tower being easier than climbing up the outside of the Empire State building. Both are mammoth tasks not to be approached lightly.