JAMB Principles of Accounts 2003 past questions

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

Ten questions from the 2003 JAMB Principles of Accounts paper, with answers and explanations. We hold 47 questions from this paper, and the Skolra app has all of them.

JAMB Principles of Accounts 2003 questions and answers

1.
During the year ended 31st December 2001,
Nuju Enterprises paid rent as follows:
Jan. 20, ₦24 000 for a period of 4 months.
May. 16, ₦30 000 for a period of 5 months.
Oct. 15, ₦36 000 for a period of 6 months.
What is the overpaid portion of the rent?
1. A
  ₦18 000
  Correct
2. B
  ₦12 000
3. C
  ₦36 000
4. D
  ₦24 000
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Answer: A
First find the monthly rate, because that is what settles every rent question of this type:
₦24 000 ÷ 4 = ₦6 000 a month
₦30 000 ÷ 5 = ₦6 000 a month
₦36 000 ÷ 6 = ₦6 000 a month
So the rent is a steady ₦6 000 per month all through.
Now add what was actually paid out and what it covers:
Total cash paid = ₦24 000 + ₦30 000 + ₦36 000 = ₦90 000
Total period covered = 4 + 5 + 6 = 15 months
But the accounting year ended 31st December 2001 is only 12 months long. Following the accrual concept, only the rent that belongs to those 12 months is an expense:
Rent expense = 12 × ₦6 000 = ₦72 000
2.Gross profit in the branch adjustment account is transferred to the branch?
1. A
  current account
2. B
  profit and loss account
  Correct
3. C
  stock account
4. D
  trading account
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Answer: B
This question is on the stock and debtors system of branch accounting, which is used when the head office invoices goods to the branch at selling price.
3.
A company has departments M and N. The expenses incurred wholly in M is ₦5000. General expenses incurred amount to ₦25000. Expenses are apportioned in the ratio 2:3 for departments M and N respectively.
What is N's share of the expense?
1. A
  ₦12,000
2. B
  ₦10,000
3. C
  ₦18,000
4. D
  ₦15,000
  Correct
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Answer: D
In departmental accounts, any expense incurred wholly in one department is charged direct to that department alone. It is never shared. So the ₦5,000 spent wholly in M is M's own burden and must be kept out of the pool.
Only the general expenses of ₦25,000 are apportioned, using the given basis M : N = 2 : 3, giving a total of 5 parts.
N's share = 3/5 × ₦25,000 = ₦15,000.
You can prove it: M gets 2/5 × ₦25,000 = ₦10,000 general plus its own ₦5,000 direct = ₦15,000, and ₦15,000 + ₦15,000 = ₦30,000, which is exactly ₦5,000 + ₦25,000.
4.The first step in converting a single entry to a double entry system of bookkeeping is to prepare a?
1. A
  balance sheet
2. B
  trial balance
3. C
  total debtors account
4. D
  statement of affairs
  Correct
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Answer: D
Under a single entry system the trader keeps only scraps of record — usually a cash book and a list of debtors and creditors. There are no ledger accounts for assets, liabilities or capital, so before anything can be posted under double entry you must first find out what the business owns and owes at the beginning of the period.
5.Which of the following is used to update the cash book in bank reconciliation?
1. A
  Uncredited cheques
2. B
  Unpresented cheques
3. C
  Bank charges
  Correct
4. D
  Errors made by the bank
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Answer: C
Bank charges is correct. In bank reconciliation, the cash book must be updated for any item that the bank already knows about (because it appears on the bank statement) but which has not yet been entered in the trader's cash book. Bank charges, commission, standing orders, direct debits and dividends collected directly by the bank all fall into this group — the trader only finds out about them from the statement, so they must now be posted into the cash book to bring its balance up to date.
6.Provision for discount allowed can be recorded as debit to?
1. A
  Trading account
2. B
  Provision for discount allowed account
3. C
  Sundry debtors account
4. D
  Profit and loss account
  Correct
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Answer: D
A provision for discount allowed is an estimate of the cash discounts you expect to give your debtors when they pay early. Following the prudence and matching concepts, that expected loss must be charged against the profit of the period in which the sales were made.
The double entry when the provision is created or increased is:
Dr Profit and Loss Account (the charge against profit)
Cr Provision for Discount Allowed Account
So the debit side goes to the profit and loss account. The provision account itself keeps a credit balance and appears in the balance sheet as a deduction from sundry debtors, after the provision for bad and doubtful debts has been taken off.
7.
Given:
..............Rich Social Club...........
Cash.........................₦100,000
Loan ........................₦30,000
Subscription in arrears......₦5,000
Subscription in advance......₦15,000
What is the accumulation fund?
1. A
  ₦80,000
2. B
  ₦70,000
3. C
  ₦90,000
4. D
  ₦60,000
  Correct
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Answer: D
For a club or society, the accumulated fund plays the same role that capital plays in a trading business, so you find it with:
Accumulated fund = Total assets − Total liabilities
Now sort the four items given:
Assets: Cash ₦100,000 and Subscription in arrears ₦5,000. Arrears means members have enjoyed the year but have not yet paid, so the club is owed that money — it is a debtor, an asset.
Liabilities: Loan ₦30,000 and Subscription in advance ₦15,000. Advance means members have already paid for a period not yet covered, so the club still owes them service — it is a creditor, a liability.
8.
Given:
(i) the consolidation revenue fund balance b/d..₦650 000
(ii) issue from contingency fund amount to......₦240 000
(iii) amount transferred to contingency fund is.₦210 000
What is the consolidation revenue fund balance?
1. A
  ₦200,000
2. B
  ₦1,100,000
3. C
  ₦620,000
4. D
  ₦680,000
  Correct
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Answer: D
This one is simply about knowing which way the money is flowing. The Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) is the main pot into which government revenue is paid, while the Contingencies Fund is a smaller pot set aside out of it to meet urgent, unforeseen expenditure.
Work the fund from the CRF's own side:
Balance b/d ................................ ₦650,000
Add: Issues from Contingencies Fund .... ₦240,000
Less: Transfer to Contingencies Fund ... (₦210,000)
Balance c/d ............................... ₦680,000
9.Verifiability in accounting is only possible when there are?
1. A
  subsidiary books in which the transactions are first recorded
2. B
  external auditors engaged to report on the final accounts
3. C
  source documents providing evidence for the entries recorded
  Correct
4. D
  control accounts reconciling the ledgers at the period end
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Answer: C
Verifiability (what your textbook also calls the objectivity or verifiable-evidence concept) means that if two different knowledgeable people sat down with the same transaction, they would both arrive at the same figure. That agreement is only possible where every entry can be traced back to source documents providing evidence for the entries recorded — the invoice, the receipt, the payment voucher, the credit note, the bank teller and statement, the cheque counterfoil. These papers are raised at the moment the transaction takes place, very often by an outside party, so they are facts and not the bookkeeper's opinion. Take the documents away and nobody can prove the figure; the books become mere assertion.
10.Which of these is a capital expenditure warrant?
1. A
  Provisional General Warrant
2. B
  Development Fund General Warrant
  Correct
3. C
  Supplementary (Contingencies) Warrant
4. D
  Annual General Warrant
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Answer: B
In government accounting, no public money is spent until the Minister (or Commissioner) for Finance signs a warrant addressed to the Accountant-General authorising release of the funds. The warrants are grouped by the fund the money comes out of.
Recurrent spending (salaries, overheads, consumables) is charged to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Capital spending (roads, buildings, plant, other projects) is charged to the Development Fund.

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JAMB Principles of Accounts 2003 past questions

JAMB Principles of Accounts 2003 questions and answers

Practise all 47 questions we hold from the 2003 paper, on a timed CBT screen

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