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WASSCE · 17 topics

Accounting

G3N tutors you through the full WASSCE Accounting syllabus offline — from Conceptual Framework of Accounting, Financial Data Analysis and Double Entry, Financial Reporting for Sole Proprietorship and more — with adaptive lessons, instant quizzes and exam-ready summaries.

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Syllabus

What you’ll cover in Accounting.

The complete topic outline G3N teaches, mapped to the WASSCE curriculum.

Year 1

6 topics
Conceptual Framework of Accounting
  • Apply personal financial activities to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts, purposes and characteristics of accounting
    • Explain the meaning, purpose and characteristics of accounting and describe the major steps in processing accounting information using a flow chart
    • Describe the different branches of accounting and explain how each branch serves a different user group
    • Examine the information needs of different users of accounting information (owners, managers, creditors, government, employees)
    • Discuss the need for Accounting Standards and explain how they ensure consistency and comparability in financial reporting
Financial Data Analysis and Double Entry
  • Analyse and record financial transactions in the books of accounts using double-entry principles and extract a Trial Balance
    • Explain the accounting equation (Assets = Capital + Liabilities) and compute the value of any one element from given financial data
    • Analyse the effects of business transactions on assets, capital and liabilities, explaining whether each element increases or decreases
    • Apply the double-entry principle to record financial transactions in the correct debit and credit sides of ledger accounts manually and electronically
    • Analyse and record financial transactions in the various day books (sales, purchases, cash books, journals), post to the ledgers, and extract a trial balance
Financial Reporting for Sole Proprietorship
  • Prepare financial statements of a sole proprietorship
    • Explain sole proprietorship as a form of business, its features, advantages and disadvantages
    • Discuss the meaning and treatment of adjustments used in preparing financial statements: accruals, prepayments, depreciation, bad debts, and allowance for receivables
    • Prepare the income statement (trading and profit and loss account) and statement of financial position of a sole proprietorship, incorporating all relevant adjustments
Controlling Cost to Improve Organisational Performance
  • Explain the importance of managing and controlling costs in organisations and everyday life
    • Explain the nature of Cost Accounting, its functions, and the basic terminologies used in cost accounting
    • Identify the factors to consider when installing a cost accounting system and describe the type of information it produces
    • Differentiate between Cost Accounting and Financial Accounting in terms of purpose, users, and the type of information provided
    • Explain the basis of cost classification (by nature, by function, by behaviour) and discuss the importance of each classification
    • Identify and describe the elements of cost: materials, labour, and overheads, and explain how each contributes to total product cost
Determining Cost of Operations for Pricing and Control
  • Explain the different methods used to determine the cost of various products and services
    • Explain the term overheads analysis, the terminologies used in overhead analysis, and the types of overheads (production, administration, selling and distribution)
    • Discuss the characteristics of specific job order costing — job costing and contract costing — and identify the types of businesses that use each
    • Analyse the differences between job costing and contract costing in terms of duration, scope, and profit recognition
    • Identify processing organisations and explain the characteristics of process costing, including the treatment of normal and abnormal losses
    • Identify service organisations and explain the characteristics of service costing and why it differs from product costing
Costing Techniques for Analysis and Decision-making
  • Explain the techniques for analysing cost for different purposes
    • Explain Activity-Based Costing (ABC), its importance, limitations, and the terminologies used including cost pools and cost drivers
    • Explain the concept of Marginal and Absorption Costing, their importance, and the key differences in how they treat fixed overheads
    • Explain the concept of Break-Even Analysis, its assumptions, importance, and limitations in business planning
    • Explain Standard Costing, its importance, and how it is used to set performance benchmarks in organisations
    • Explain Budgetary Control and its importance as a tool for planning and controlling organisational performance
    • Identify different types of budgets (cash, production, sales, master), explain their advantages, limitations, attributes, and the terminologies used in budgeting

Year 2

5 topics
Accounting Concepts and Conventions
  • Discuss the uses of accounting concepts and conventions in the preparation of financial statements of business organisations
    • Explain the types of accounting concepts and conventions (going concern, accruals, consistency, prudence, materiality, business entity, money measurement, historical cost, duality)
    • Discuss the advantages and limitations of applying accounting concepts and conventions in the preparation of financial statements
    • Illustrate how each accounting concept affects the way transactions are recorded and reported in financial statements
    • Evaluate the consequences of failing to apply accounting concepts consistently across reporting periods
Error Correction, Bank Reconciliation and Control Accounts
  • Analyse and rectify errors through journals and ledgers, and prepare adjusted cash books and bank reconciliation statements
    • Identify and classify types of errors (errors of omission, commission, principle, compensating, original entry, and complete reversal) and explain their effect on the trial balance
    • Prepare journal entries to correct errors and post corrections to the relevant ledger accounts
    • Prepare an adjusted cash book by updating for bank charges, interest earned, unpresented cheques, and outstanding lodgements
    • Prepare a bank reconciliation statement to reconcile the cash book balance with the bank statement balance
    • Discuss control accounts, their types (receivables and payables), and their importance as a check on the accuracy of ledger postings
    • Prepare receivables and payables control accounts from given totals of day books and reconcile with the individual debtor and creditor ledgers
  • Prepare financial statements and reports for not-for-profit organisations and from incomplete records
    • Discuss the concept of not-for-profit making organisations, their purposes, features, and the types of funds they maintain
    • Identify the differences between receipts and payments accounts and income and expenditure accounts in terms of content, basis, and purpose
    • Prepare the income and expenditure account and statement of financial position of a not-for-profit organisation from given data
    • Explain the concept of incomplete records and the reasons why some businesses do not maintain full double-entry records
    • Prepare financial statements from incomplete records using the accounting equation, opening and closing statements of affairs, and control accounts
Computing Cost Using Elements of Cost
  • Compute the cost of operation using the elements of cost
    • Explain the process of purchasing, storing, and issuing materials, and identify the documents used at each stage (purchase requisition, purchase order, goods received note, stores requisition)
    • Explain inventory control, compute inventory control levels (minimum, maximum, reorder, and average stock levels), and apply the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) formula
    • Explain labour, the types of labour (direct and indirect), and identify the methods of labour remuneration including time rate, piece rate, and incentive schemes with their advantages and limitations
    • Prepare an overhead analysis sheet, apportion overheads to cost centres using appropriate bases, and compute overhead absorption rates
    • Absorb overheads to the cost of jobs and products and compute the amount of over- or under-absorption of overheads
Determining Cost Using Costing Methods
  • Determine the cost of goods and services using appropriate costing methods
    • Prepare job cost sheets to determine the total cost and profit on specific job orders (job and batch costing) from given data
    • Prepare job cost sheets to determine the cost and profit on specific contracts, applying the percentage of completion method where appropriate
    • Prepare service cost accounts to determine the cost of providing a service and compute the cost per unit of service
    • Prepare process accounts to determine the cost of production at the end of each process, accounting for normal loss, abnormal loss, and abnormal gain
Costing Techniques for Planning and Decision-making
  • Apply costing techniques for planning and decision-making in organisations and daily activities
    • Explain the concepts of marginal costing and absorption costing and differentiate between the two approaches in terms of fixed overhead treatment
    • Prepare income statements using the absorption costing approach and compare profit figures with those produced under marginal costing
    • Apply marginal costing principles to evaluate decisions such as accepting or rejecting a special order, making or buying a component, and dropping a product line
    • Explain contribution and the contribution to sales (C/S) ratio, and use them to assess the profitability of products and departments

Year 3

6 topics
Ethics in Accounting
  • Apply ethical principles in the preparation of financial statements
    • Discuss ethical principles relevant to accounting professionals (integrity, objectivity, professional competence, confidentiality, and professional behaviour) and explain the threats to each
    • Explain safeguards that can be applied to eliminate or reduce threats to compliance with fundamental ethical principles
    • Analyse case studies of ethical dilemmas in accounting and recommend appropriate courses of action based on professional ethics
    • Explain the consequences of unethical behaviour in accounting, including legal liability, reputational damage, and loss of professional standing
Accounting Ratios and Interpretation
  • Compute and interpret accounting ratios to assess the financial performance and position of a business
    • Explain the concept, importance, and limitations of accounting ratios as tools for financial analysis
    • Compute profitability ratios (gross profit margin, net profit margin, return on capital employed) and interpret the results
    • Compute liquidity ratios (current ratio, quick ratio) and interpret the results in the context of a business's ability to meet short-term obligations
    • Compute efficiency ratios (inventory turnover, receivables collection period, payables payment period) and interpret the results
    • Compute gearing ratios and interpret the level of financial risk in a business
    • Compare ratios across time periods and against industry benchmarks and write a structured commentary on a company's financial health
Partnership and Company Accounts
  • Prepare financial statements of partnerships
    • Explain partnership as a form of business, the partnership deed and its key provisions, and the advantages and disadvantages of the partnership form
    • Prepare the appropriation account showing the distribution of profit among partners (salary, interest on capital, commission, residual profit share)
    • Prepare partners' capital accounts and current accounts under both the fixed and fluctuating capital methods
    • Prepare the statement of financial position of a partnership
    • Discuss the treatment of goodwill in the admission of a new partner and the retirement or death of an existing partner, and prepare the necessary ledger accounts
  • Prepare financial statements of companies
    • Explain a company as a form of business organisation, its types (public and private limited companies), and their advantages and disadvantages
    • Discuss the key terminologies in company accounts: authorised capital, issued capital, called-up capital, paid-up capital, ordinary shares, preference shares, debentures, and reserves
    • Prepare the income statement and statement of financial position of a company in accordance with the required format, including taxation and dividends
    • Explain the differences between capital reserves and revenue reserves and show how each appears in the statement of financial position
Advanced Cost Determination
  • Determine the cost of materials, labour, and overheads and attribute them to production
    • Prepare store ledgers using FIFO, LIFO, Weighted Average, and Simple Average methods of pricing material issues and compare the impact of each method on profit
    • Compute labour remunerations including the cost of idle time and its impact on total labour cost
    • Prepare a payroll sheet showing gross wages, allowances, statutory and voluntary deductions, and net wages
    • Compute cost driver rates for cost pools as applied in Activity-Based Costing (ABC) from given data
    • Assign overheads to jobs, services, or products using cost driver rates determined under Activity-Based Costing
Budgets and Variance Analysis
  • Prepare functional budgets and compute variances to control operational costs
    • Prepare functional budgets including sales budget, production budget, materials purchase budget, labour budget, and cash budget
    • Compute material variances (price variance and usage variance) and labour variances (rate variance and efficiency variance), and interpret the results as favourable or adverse
    • Reconcile budgeted profit with actual profit using a variance analysis statement
    • Identify possible causes of each variance and suggest corrective actions management could take
Break-even Analysis and Relevant Cost Decisions
  • Apply break-even analysis and relevant costing techniques to make business decisions
    • Compute break-even point in units and revenue, margin of safety, and target profit output using the contribution approach
    • Plot a break-even chart showing total cost, total revenue, fixed cost, and the break-even point, and read off the margin of safety
    • Apply break-even analysis in planning for production and setting profit targets under different cost and revenue scenarios
    • Define relevant costs and explain the principles of relevant costing (future, incremental, cash costs) in decision-making
    • Compute relevant costs to make decisions on make-or-buy, special order acceptance, and limiting factor scenarios, and state the implications for the business
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