GCSE Accounting: A Teachers’ Guide

44 Pages·1991·3.757 MB·English

by  D. E. Turner, P. H. Turner (auth.)

GCSE Accounting
A Teachers' Guide
D. E. Turner
and
P. H. Turner
MACMILLAN
© D. E. Turner and P. H. Turner 1991
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place,
London WC1 7DP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
First edition 1991
Published by
Macmillan Education Ltd
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-54664-2 ISBN 978-1-349-12195-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-12195-3
Every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of the answers. Nevertheless, errors can
unfortunately still fcreep through' and the authors apologise for any inconvenience or concern
which may arise should there be any errors in the text or in this Guide. They would be very
grateful for a note of any which are found, and for any comments which lecturers may care to
make on the text generally.
CONTENTS
1. Overview of the Book 1
1. Aims and Objectives 1
2. Structure of the Text 2
3. Activities and Assignments 2
4. MCQs in the Classroom 2
5. The Appendices 3
6. A Suggested Teaching Approach 3
7. The National Curriculum 4
8. Accountancy Teaching in Overseas Countries 5
2. Commentary on the Units and Answer Guide 7
Part One 7
Unit 1 7
Part Two 7
Unit 2 8
Unit 3 8
Unit 4 9
Unit 5 10
Part Three 12
Unit 6 12
Unit 7 13
Unit 8 14
Unit 9 15
Part Four 16
Unit 10 16
Unit 11 17
Unit 12 17
Unit 13 18
Part Five 20
Unit 14 20
Unit 15 21
Unit 16 22
Unit 17 23
Part Six 24
Unit 18 24
Unit 19 25
Unit 20 25
Unit 21 27
Part Seven 28
Unit 22 28
Unit 23 28
Unit 24 30
Unit 25 30
Unit 26 31
Part Eight 34
Unit 27 34
Unit 28 35
Unit 29 36
Unit 30 37
3. Answers to the Multiple-choice Questions 38
.:L
OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK
1. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The book has been written to meet the requirements of all GCSE
examining bodies currently offering accountancy. In addition, it
meets the requirements of the RSA Stage 2 examination and
provides an introductory text for those wish to proceed
ultimately to professional and similar examinations. The book may
therefore include certain topics not required by the syllabus for
a particular body, and teachers and lecturers are therefore
advised to check the Contents List against the syllabus of their
particular body in order to identify such topics, and then to
decide whether to include them in the normal way (in order to
give a complete picture of the accounting process), to exclude
them, or to deal with them but briefly.
The book also attempts to involve students actively in the
learning process through interspersing the text with Activities.
These are an integral part of each Unit and are designed, in
particular, to develop the student's thinking and reasoning
abilities as well as his or her accounting skills.
The book has been planned to meet the following three
particular needs:
(i) An intensive one-year course. It is assumed that students
will work directly through the book (with the possible
exception of Units relating to topics not included within
particular syllabus requirements). The contents of the
book have been deliberately planned so that it can
conveniently be structured into a scheme of work lasting
one year. Some of the more difficult and challenging
concepts have been integrated wi thin the scheme from an
early stage in order to stimulate and capture the interest
of the more able students and for those hoping to proceed
ultimately to professional examinations.
(ii) A two-year scheme. Unit 17 provides a convenient objective
for the end of the first year if a straight unit-by-unit
approach is followed; alternatively, lecturers may prefer
to select the simpler units for study during the first
year, leaving the more demanding ones ( denoted by an
asterisk in the Contents List) until the second year.
( iii) A basic course consisting of a limited number of the
simpler (non-asterisked) units which are considered to be
sui table to the needs and abilities of the particular
students concerned, and the tutorial time available.
The Practical Assignments have been constructed to reflect these
needs.
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2. STRUCTURE OF THE TEXT
It will be seen from the Contents List that the text is divided
into eight Parts. Part One consists of only one Unit, which is
intended to set out the underlying theme and structure of the
remainder of the book. This Unit is crucial to the whole approach
on which the book is based (see Section 6). The subsequent Parts
each consist of four Units (with the exception of Part Seven,
where an extra Unit has been included to cover the background to
companies). Each Unit has a set of relevant Practical
Assignments, and each Part concludes with a set of Mul tiple
choice Questions (MCQs) covering all units within that particular
Part. AN MCQ test covering the whole text is given at the end of
the book, which, of course, is intended as a revision run-up to
the GCSE examination.
3. ACTIVITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS
Each Unit is preceded by an initial Activity which is designed to
, get the student thinking' about the topic concerned and so
prepare him (or her) for the accounting routines involved.
Desirably, the Activity should be undertaken before sight of the
Unit concerned, and can be presented to the student for response
either immediately or after 'time for thought'. Some are suitable
for group discussion. The situations suggested do not always have
a straightforward answer - which, of course, is often the case in
the real situation.
The subsequent Activities within a Unit are designed either to
develop a student's thinking and reasoning or to provide
immediate practice on a specific aspect of the topic.
The assignments are variously designed both to consolidate the
topic covered by the unit concerned and to assess learning. Where
possible, the questions have been based on an incline of
difficulty. Teachers and lecturers must be careful, therefore, to
select questions in accordance with the teaching needs they are
attempting to meet (see (i)-(iii), above).
4. MCQs IN THE CLASSROOM
The sets of multiple-choice questions which appear at the end of
each principal part of the book may be used purely for assessment
purposes or - with a little imagination - as a teaching vehicle
in their own right.
The types of questions used have been limited to those
currently used by GCSE examining boards in their formal MCQ
papers. If used for assessment purposes, they can be administered
with or without a time limit - say of l-l~ minutes per question.
Other types of objective test questions which appear in the non
MCQ papers have been included in the Practical Assignment
sections.
MCQs can fulfil a broader function than mere assessment. By
rigid adherence to examination-type response, with little thought
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and no reason, MCQs reduce men to monkeys and education to
indoctrination. Open class discussion of the reasons why wrong
answers have been selected is as important as - if not more
important than - simply identifying those which are correct. Some
of the options to questions in the text have been included
specifically to provide a basis for discussion. MCQs can also
form the basis of group work. Such activities, based either on a
complete set of questions or on a carefully selected range of
items chosen from a variety of tests, can be a very useful way of
developing reasoning powers and of identifying and clarifying
difficulties as well as being an invaluable revision and
consolidation technique.
5. THE APPENDICES
Experience has shown that most students - even able ones - have a
very weak knowledge of percentages, particularly of the
procedures required when percentages are given of unknown figures
- as commonly happens in 'cost price/selling price' and 'delayed
stock-taking' problems. In view of the extensive use of
percentages in accounting, it is suggested that teachers and
lecturers taking GCSE groups check on their students'
competencies in this area early in the course and introduce
remedial and consolidation work where and appropriate.
nec~ssary
Appendix A to the text attempts to provide suitable material for
this. Students should also be encouraged to use it as a reference
resource when they find themselves in difficulties.
The intelligent presentation of accounting data often involves
the use of visual rather than numerical techniques and, again,
students are often unaware of the precise rules which should be
followed in designing charts and diagrams. Appendix B summarises
these and can be included in a course as and where appropriate.
Appendix C outlines the basic rules for balancing accounts (a
matter which students are often slow to pick up) and is provided
as a useful reference summary to which students can be referred
(saves explaining it time and again when marking assignments).
6. A SUGGESTED TEACHING APPROACH
The text takes a gestaltist approach, the first Unit emphasising
the overall structure (Figure 1.1) and the end-objectives
(Display 1) of accounting systems. If this framework is well
established in students' minds, then the purpose and place of the
detailed routine processes and procedures which follow become
obvious and therefore more meaningful and easier to comprehend.
This allows the subject to be approached in a much more
intelligent and logical way and enables the reasoning and
cogni tive faculties of mind to be developed to a far greater
extent than is possible with more traditional approaches.
The first Unit, therefore, is crucial to the approach. It is
followed by a 'top-down' development - the purpose of which is to
establish the particular objective first, and then to examine how
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the system is designed to meet that particular need. This means
that, as the course proceeds, it is important there should be
regular reference back to the framework described in Unit I and
each new topic should be associated with the relevant objectives
and with its position on the 'map'.
Experience has shown that this approach takes much of the
tedium and boredom out of learning the routine processes, and the
whole study becomes much more meaningful and exciting.
7. THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM
GCSE Accounting was written in an attempt to meet the
requirements being introduced by the National Curriculum Council
(NCC). These set out two challenges for teachers of accounting,
i.e. those arising from:
(a) the plans for Key Stage 4 (i.e. 14-16-year-old age group
together with mature students taking GCSE);
(b) the specific cross-curricular requirements for post-16
students.
The major emphasis in the work of the NCC, to date, has related
to the core subjects (mathematics, English and science),
particularly at Key Stages 1 and 2 (age groups 5-11). GCSE has
been designated as the main means of attainments at Key Stage 4.
The general criteria in respect of the core subjects are expected
to be fully operational by 1994; those for 'other subjects' will
be introduced thereafter on a phased timetable. However, 1994
will also see the ten-level reporting scale in place for all
subjects - this is separate from, and distinct from, the seven
point grading scale for GCSE awards as such.
In addition to meeting the specific criteria of individual
subjects, all programmes of study will be expected to meet
specified cross-curricular requirements. These are not seen as
separate subjects but as objectives which can, for the most part,
be achieved through the normal curriculum subjects and other
timetable provision. For the 5-16 age groups, five 'cross
curricular themes' have been defined, and for the post-16 age
groups, six 'common core skills'. The emphasis of the five cross
curricular themes which must underpin the 5-16 curriculum is on
general social and economic understanding; specifically, they
consist of economic and industrial understanding, environmental
education, education for citizenship, careers education and
guidance, and health education. The six common core skills which
must be 'firmly embedded' in any syllabus design for post-16
students comprise communication, problem-solving, personal
skills, numeracy, information technology and modern language
competence. These are viewed as a natural progression from the 5-
16 requirements.
The common themes, both for the 14-16 age group and for the
post-16, obviously map out the direction in which teaching skills
must be developed in the foreseeable future and teachers of all
subjects accountancy included must begin the task of
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identifying the themes wi thin the context of their subject, of
developing them on a cross-curricular basis in conjunction with
other staff, and of assessing them in such ways as may be
required for the final subject-awards.
If the teaching of accounting is approached in an imaginative
way, it can satisfy the NCC cross-curricular requirements as
effectively (if not more effectively than) more 'general'
subj ects and the Acti vi ties and Practical Assignments in GCSE
Accounting have been designed with this end in view. They give
teachers and lecturers ample opportunity to incorporate wi thin
their teaching the ' ... wider range of skills, knowledge and
understanding ... ' which the NCC sees as the hallmark of education
for the future.
Readers of Core Skills 16-19 (NCC 1990) will note that the
assignments and exercises in GCSE Accounting more than meet the
numeracy and problem-solving specifications. A wide variety of
suggestions has been included for the development of
communication and personal skills and teachers should find no
difficu1 ty in linking the topic areas of the book with the
computer packages available within their respective institutions.
Careers guidance is an area where business studies staff
particularly if they have had experience in industry - can make a
major contribution : it is also an area where the need for close
co-ordination and integration with other providers is greatest.
No specific suggestions are put forward wi thin the book for
integrating the assignments with foreign-language competency
because the scope for this will depend very much upon the level
and nature of the foreign-language studies of the particular
students concerned. However, many of the assignments can be
modified to include use of foreign-languages - obvious examples
include exercises requiring the writing (in the foreign language)
of reports or letters of advice, and summarising, in English, the
important points contained in documents such as the foreign
language versions of the annual reports and accounts of
multinationals such as ICI and Unilever.
8. ACCOUNTANCY TEACHING IN OVERSEAS COUNTRIES
Accounting syllabuses throughout the world vary but little. The
differences in content, emphasis and procedure are minor, if they
exist at all - particularly now that almost all currencies are
decimalised. A number of the students will in fact be sitting UK
based examinations in any case. GCSE Accounting can therefore be
used with advantage by teachers overseas. The approach taken in
the book was, in fact, first developed by the authors when
teaching overseas, and it was found to be particularly
successful.
Where local syllabuses are being followed, the principal
differences will be found in the law relating to partnerships (as
in the case of Ghana) and in company law. In the latter case, the
law - and therefore the accounting requirements and practices -
will be found to be more in line with the UK 1948 Act rather than
the 1985 one. Nevertheless, many of the companies operating
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