JAMB Principles of Accounts 2001 past questions

Checked by the Skolra question team · Last updated 23 October 2026

Ten questions from the 2001 JAMB Principles of Accounts paper, with answers and explanations. We hold 50 questions from this paper, and the Skolra app has all of them.

JAMB Principles of Accounts 2001 questions and answers

1.X and Y are two departments that are to share 50% of all joint costs equally and the balance in ratio 2:1. If a sum of ₦150,000 is incurred jointly, what will be the portion attributable to X?
1. A
  ₦87,500
  Correct
2. B
  ₦75,000
3. C
  ₦62,500
4. D
  ₦100,000
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Answer: A
Take the sharing in the two stages the question describes.
Stage 1 – the half shared equally:
50% of ₦150,000 = ₦75,000.
Shared equally between the two departments: ₦75,000 ÷ 2 = ₦37,500 to X.
Stage 2 – the balance shared 2:1:
Balance = ₦150,000 − ₦75,000 = ₦75,000, divided into 2 + 1 = 3 parts.
X takes 2 parts: 2/3 × ₦75,000 = ₦50,000.
X's total = ₦37,500 + ₦50,000 = ₦87,500.
Check your work: Y gets ₦37,500 + (1/3 × ₦75,000 = ₦25,000) = ₦62,500, and ₦87,500 + ₦62,500 = ₦150,000, so the whole joint cost is fully apportioned.
2.
Given:
Club trading profit ₦12,000
Members'' subscription ₦15,000
Profit on sale of fixed assets ₦2,500
Loss on sale of investments ₦1,000
Wages ₦16,500
Other expenses ₦10,000
Determine the club's excess of income over expenditure?
1. A
  ₦500
2. B
  ₦4,000
3. C
  ₦3,000
4. D
  ₦2,000
  Correct
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Answer: D
A club is a non-profit-making organisation, so instead of a Trading, Profit and Loss Account it prepares an Income and Expenditure Account. Every revenue gain is entered on the income side and every revenue loss or expense on the expenditure side.
Income:
Club trading profit ₦12,000
Members' subscription ₦15,000
Profit on sale of fixed assets ₦2,500
Total income = ₦29,500
Expenditure:
Loss on sale of investments ₦1,000
Wages ₦16,500
Other expenses ₦10,000
Total expenditure = ₦27,500
Excess of income over expenditure = ₦29,500 − ₦27,500 = ₦2,000 (a surplus, not a “net profit”).
3.If a property developing company sells a completed building to an interested third party, this sale can be treated in the books of the company as?
1. A
  a capital receipt, credited to the company's share capital account
2. B
  sundry income, credited directly to the profit and loss appropriation account
3. C
  disposal of a fixed asset, with the surplus taken to an asset disposal account
4. D
  revenue from the sale of stock-in-trade, credited to the sales account
  Correct
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Answer: D
My dear student, always ask yourself one question first: what business is this company in? The way an asset is classified depends on the nature of the enterprise holding it, not on the physical thing itself.
A property developing company is in the business of building houses in order to sell them. So a completed building in its yard is exactly what motor spare parts are to a spare-parts dealer — it is stock-in-trade (inventory), carried as work-in-progress while under construction and as finished stock when completed. When it is sold, the proceeds are ordinary turnover:
Dr Cash/Bank (or Debtor) with the selling price
Cr Sales (Turnover) with the selling price
4.To account for expenses paid by head office on behalf of the branch, the branch should?
1. A
  Debit the expense account and credit the head office account
  Correct
2. B
  Debit the head office account and credit the branch cash account
3. C
  Debit the expense account and credit the branch cash account
4. D
  Debit the head office account and credit the expense account
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Answer: A
This is branch accounting under the decentralised system, where the branch keeps a full set of books and maintains a Head Office account, while head office maintains a Branch account. The two are reciprocal — whatever one debits, the other credits.
5.If a partner pays a premium of ₦500 for 1/5 share of profit, then the total value of goodwill is?
1. A
  ₦625.00
2. B
  ₦2,000.00
3. C
  ₦2,500.00
  Correct
4. D
  ₦100.00
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Answer: C
When a new partner is admitted, the premium he brings in is the price of the fraction of goodwill he is buying, not the price of the whole goodwill. So the premium and the share he takes are in the same proportion as the goodwill and the whole business.
Set it out:
1/5 share of goodwill = ₦500
Full goodwill (5/5) = ₦500 ÷ 1/5
= ₦500 × 5/1 = ₦2,500
A quick check: 1/5 of ₦2,500 is ₦500, which is exactly what he paid. That is the answer.
6.The main difference between the ordinary and preference shareholders is that?
1. A
  preference shareholders are creditors of the company while ordinary shareholders are its owners
2. B
  ordinary shareholders are entitled to a fixed rate of dividend while preference shareholders take the residual profit
3. C
  preference shareholders are entitled to a fixed rate of dividend while the ordinary shareholders' dividend varies with profit
  Correct
4. D
  ordinary shareholders receive interest on their capital while preference shareholders receive dividend
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Answer: C
Both classes of shareholders are members and owners of the company, and both are rewarded with dividend. What separates them is how that dividend is fixed and in what order it is paid.
A preference share carries a fixed rate written into its name. If a company issues 8% preference shares of ₦1 each, the holder is entitled to 8 kobo per share every year that profits permit, no more and no less, and that dividend must be settled before the ordinary shareholders are considered. On winding up, preference capital is also repaid ahead of ordinary capital. In return for that safety, preference shareholders normally carry no voting rights.
7.The officer responsible for ascertaining whether all public expenditure and appropriation are in line with approved guidelines is the?
1. A
  Accountant-General of the Federation
2. B
  Minister of Finance
3. C
  Auditor-General of the Federation
  Correct
4. D
  Treasurer of the Federation
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Answer: C
The correct answer is the Auditor-General of the Federation.
In public sector accounting, we separate the people who spend and record public money from the person who checks them. The Auditor-General is that checker. Under section 85 of the 1999 Constitution he audits the public accounts of the Federation and of all offices and courts, and satisfies himself that every naira released was applied to the purpose for which the National Assembly appropriated it, and that the expenditure followed the Appropriation Act, warrants and Financial Regulations, that is, the approved guidelines. He then reports his findings to the National Assembly through the Public Accounts Committee.
8.The correct entry to reflect the receipt of cash sent by a branch to a head office is?
1. A
  debit branch account and credit cash account
2. B
  debit head office account and credit cash account
3. C
  debit cash account and credit head office account
4. D
  debit cash account and credit branch account
  Correct
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Answer: D
Read the question carefully: the cash is received by the head office, so we are posting in the books of the head office.
Under the branch current account system, the head office keeps a Branch Account which behaves exactly like a debtor. It is debited with everything sent to the branch (goods, cash for expenses, fixed assets) and credited with everything received from the branch (cash remittances, goods returned).
So when the remittance lands:
Cash/Bank has increased, and an increase in an asset is a debit — Dr Cash Account.
The branch now owes the head office less, so the branch (debtor) is reduced — Cr Branch Account.
9.If liabilities amounted to ₦12,045, other assets ₦36,800 and equity ₦26,896, the cash at hand would be?
1. A
  ₦14,851
2. B
  ₦9,904
3. C
  ₦24,755
4. D
  ₦2,141
  Correct
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Answer: D
Start from the accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity (Capital). Everything the business owns must be financed either by outsiders (liabilities) or by the owner (equity).
So the total assets here are:
₦12,045 + ₦26,896 = ₦38,941.
Now, those total assets are made up of the "other assets" plus the cash at hand. Therefore:
Cash at hand = Total assets − Other assets
= ₦38,941 − ₦36,800 = ₦2,141.
Check it back the way your teacher would: ₦36,800 (other assets) + ₦2,141 (cash) = ₦38,941, which equals ₦12,045 + ₦26,896. The equation balances, so ₦2,141 is correct.
10.For an incomplete record to provide necessary information, it must be converted to?
1. A
  double entry system
  Correct
2. B
  single entry system
3. C
  statement of affairs
4. D
  receipts and payments account
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Answer: A
Incomplete records, also called single entry, keep only one aspect of most transactions — normally a cash book and a few personal accounts of debtors and creditors. From such records you cannot extract a trial balance, and without a trial balance you cannot confidently prepare final accounts.
So before useful information can come out of them, the books must be converted into the double entry system, where every transaction receives a debit and a corresponding credit. Once converted, total (control) accounts give you credit sales and credit purchases, and a proper trading, profit and loss account and balance sheet can be drawn up.

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JAMB Principles of Accounts 2001 past questions

JAMB Principles of Accounts 2001 questions and answers

Practise all 50 questions we hold from the 2001 paper, on a timed CBT screen

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