Teachers have reacted positively to this year’s Leaving Certificate higher-level accounting exam, stating that those who put in the work will be rewarded.
Eamon Scully, a teacher at Maria Immaculata Community School in Dunmanway, said expected topics appeared, but there were challenges in the paper.
“There were extra parts that would have tested them, with a range of adjustments in different sections,” he said.
“Students would really need to have known the full course.”
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John Taylor, an accounting teacher at the Institute of Education, said the paper was designed to assess students’ understanding, rather than catch them out.
“It provided a good opportunity for those who had regularly and diligently practised accounting questions over the two years to demonstrate their knowledge, refine their exam technique, and complete the required tasks within the allocated time,” Taylor said.
In section one of the paper, students had a choice in question one between company final accounts or limited company including a manufacturing account.
“Both options were straightforward and reflected questions asked in the past,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the trial balances in both were not unusual but that students would have needed to read carefully and think carefully.
Cash flow, creditor control and club account questions would not have disturbed students, although control accounts may have been a surprise because it appeared as a topic last year, Taylor said.
“Nice questions on interpretation of accounts, published accounts and the correction of errors appeared in section two, and most students will have been expecting these as possibilities,” Taylor said.
“Question six was on the anticipated published accounts in which the purchase of land was included and consequently students would just need to be careful when calculating the depreciation on the premises.
“Question seven on correction of errors was a very typical question and contained nothing that students would not have come across before. Error (iv) needed some thought as both payments were from a private bank account and therefore classified as capital introduced, and may have challenged the weaker students. It is in moments like this that those who had done a large volume of examples as preparation will have noticed that variation and reacted within the tight time constraints of the exam.”
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Scully agreed, saying there is a “big time constraint” in this exam.
“Students need to be well-versed in all areas of accounting,” he said.
On the ordinary level paper, Scully said it was very fair.
“Cash flow, interpretation and budgets were among the topics. This is the kind of paper where students can know what is coming up,” he said.
