JAMB Principles of Accounts 2002 past questions

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

Ten questions from the 2002 JAMB Principles of Accounts paper, with answers and explanations. We hold 20 questions from this paper, and the Skolra app has all of them.

JAMB Principles of Accounts 2002 questions and answers

1.keeping records under the single entry system has the advantage of?
1. A
  making errors and fraud in the books easy to detect
2. B
  being simple and cheap to operate, requiring little accounting knowledge
  Correct
3. C
  enabling a trial balance to be extracted to prove arithmetical accuracy
4. D
  giving a complete record of the assets and liabilities of the business
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Answer: B
Under the single entry system (incomplete records), the trader records only one aspect of most transactions — usually a cash book and the personal accounts of debtors and creditors. Real accounts and nominal accounts are not kept at all.
So remember: single entry buys you simplicity and low cost, and pays for it with the loss of accuracy checks and complete records.
2.In the public sector, the method of accounting that reports revenues and expenditures in the period in which they are received and paid is called?
1. A
  Cash basis of accounting
  Correct
2. B
  Fund basis of accounting
3. C
  Commitment basis of accounting
4. D
  Accrual basis of accounting
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Answer: A
Look carefully at the two key words in the question: received and paid. Any basis of accounting that keys recognition to the actual movement of cash is the cash basis of accounting. Under it, government revenue is entered in the books only when the money physically enters the treasury, and expenditure is entered only when the cheque or mandate is actually paid out — no matter which period the transaction really belongs to. This is the traditional basis behind the treasury cash book and the Financial Regulations in Nigerian public sector accounting, and it is prized because it is simple, objective and easy to audit.
So the correct answer is the cash basis of accounting.
3.
Given:
Capital at start.......................₦3250
Capital at close ......................₦6250
Additional capital during the period...₦1000
Calculate the profit or loss?
1. A
  Profit of ₦3,000
2. B
  Loss of ₦2,000
3. C
  Profit of ₦4,000
4. D
  Profit of ₦2,000
  Correct
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Answer: D
Where there are no proper double entry records, profit is found by the statement of affairs (increase in net worth) method:
Profit = Closing capital + Drawings − Additional capital − Opening capital
First find how much the capital grew:
₦6,250 − ₦3,250 = ₦3,000 increase.
But not all of that increase was earned by the business. The owner brought in ₦1,000 extra out of his own pocket, so that part must be removed:
₦3,000 − ₦1,000 = ₦2,000 profit.
No drawings were given, so there is nothing to add back.
4.A company operating a chain of retail provision stores invoices goods to the branches at cost plus a mark-up of 25%. What is the mark-up percentage on selling price?
1. A
  80%
2. B
  25%
3. C
  20%
  Correct
4. D
  33 1/3%
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Answer: C
In branch accounts, goods are invoiced to the branch at cost plus mark-up. A mark-up is always calculated on cost, while a margin (gross profit percentage) is calculated on selling price. The question is simply asking you to convert the mark-up into a margin.
Take cost as ₦100 to make the work easy:
Cost = ₦100
Mark-up (25% of cost) = ₦25
Invoice/selling price = ₦100 + ₦25 = ₦125
Percentage on selling price = ₦25 ÷ ₦125 × 100 = 20%.
You can also use the formula margin = mark-up ÷ (1 + mark-up) = 25/125 = 20%.
5.In an incomplete record system a trading account cannot be prepared until the?
1. A
  total debtors and total creditors accounts have been prepared
  Correct
2. B
  statement of affairs has been prepared to find opening capital
3. C
  cash book has been balanced to obtain the bank balance
4. D
  opening and closing capitals have been compared to find profit
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Answer: A
Under incomplete records, the trader keeps no sales day book and no purchases day book, so the two figures a trading account lives on — sales and purchases — are simply not sitting anywhere waiting to be copied. They must first be reconstructed, and that is exactly what the total debtors and total creditors accounts (the control accounts) are for.
6.Upon the dissolution of a partnership, the Partnership Act provides that the amount realized should be?
1. A
  Applied in paying outside creditors, then partners' loans, then partners' capital, with any residue shared in the profit-sharing ratio
  Correct
2. B
  Applied in repaying partners' capital, then partners' loans, then outside creditors, with any residue shared in the capital ratio
3. C
  Shared among the partners in their profit-sharing ratio, each partner thereafter settling the firm's creditors personally
4. D
  Applied in paying partners' loans, then outside creditors, then partners' capital, with any residue shared equally
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Answer: A
When a partnership is dissolved, the assets are sold and the cash realised passes through the Realisation Account into the bank. Section 44 of the Partnership Act 1890 — the law that applies where the partnership deed says nothing — lays down a strict order in which that cash must be applied.
7.Control accounts help to verify the arithmetic accuracy of the postings from the?
1. A
  ledger accounts to the trial balance
2. B
  books of original entry to the personal ledgers
  Correct
3. C
  cash book to the bank statement
4. D
  trial balance to the final accounts
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Answer: B
A control account is a total account. The sales ledger control account and the purchases ledger control account are built from the totals of the books of original entry — the sales day book, purchases day book, returns inwards and returns outwards day books, the cash book and the journal.
Now look at what happens to those same day books: every single entry in them is also posted individually to a customer's or supplier's personal account in the sales ledger or purchases ledger. So the same figures travel two roads — in total to the control account, and one by one to the personal accounts.
8.Given an incomplete record without sufficient information to determine profit, the necessary thing to do is to?
1. A
  prepare a trading, profit and loss account from the ledger balances
2. B
  extract a trial balance from the available ledger accounts
3. C
  prepare a receipts and payments account for the period
4. D
  prepare a statement of affairs to compare opening and closing capital
  Correct
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Answer: D
This question is on single entry and incomplete records. When a trader keeps no proper double-entry books, the details needed to arrive at profit in the normal way simply are not there. The accepted remedy is the net worth (capital comparison) method, and that begins with a statement of affairs.
You prepare one statement of affairs at the beginning of the period and another at the end. Each one lists the assets and deducts the liabilities, and the balancing figure is capital:
Capital = Assets − Liabilities
So remember the rule: no proper records, no trial balance — go for the statement of affairs and compare capitals.
9.
Given:
Balance at 31st December ............N14,744m
Treasury Bills issued Jan-Dec........N7124m
Revenue for the year ................N6387m
Expenditure .........................N8767m
What is the opening balance on the consolidated revenue fund account?
1. A
  ₦10,000m
  Correct
2. B
  ₦24,248m
3. C
  ₦19,488m
4. D
  ₦17,124m
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Answer: A
The Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account is simply a running account of government cash. Whatever balance is brought forward at the beginning of the year, plus everything paid into the Fund, less everything paid out of it, gives you the balance at 31st December.
Inflows here are two: revenue for the year ₦6,387m and the proceeds of the Treasury Bills issued between January and December, ₦7,124m. Treasury Bills are short-term government borrowing, and the money raised is paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, so it increases the Fund. The only outflow given is expenditure of ₦8,767m.
10.
Given:
Cash purchases ..............................₦25000
Trading creditors............................₦45000
Opening balance of trade creditors...........₦35000
Calculate the purchases for the period?
1. A
  ₦105,000
2. B
  ₦35,000
  Correct
3. C
  ₦70,000
4. D
  ₦60,000
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Answer: B
Remember the golden rule: Total purchases = Cash purchases + Credit purchases. The cash purchases are handed to you as ₦25,000, so the real work is to squeeze out the credit purchases from the trade creditors figures.
Credit purchases come from the total (control) creditors account:
Opening trade creditors ₦35,000 + Credit purchases = Trade creditors ₦45,000
Credit purchases = ₦45,000 − ₦35,000 = ₦10,000
So the purchases for the period = ₦25,000 + ₦10,000 = ₦35,000.

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JAMB Principles of Accounts 2002 past questions

JAMB Principles of Accounts 2002 questions and answers

Practise all 20 questions we hold from the 2002 paper, on a timed CBT screen

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