Control accounts questions with answers

A new month of totals every time: post both control accounts, reconcile them with the ledger, and check every cell.

Course
Level

Set

How cells are marked
  • Every amount is a whole number and must be exact. Commas, spaces and a currency sign are fine.
  • Put each amount on its side and leave the other cell empty. Items that belong in neither account stay empty on both sides.
  • Checking a line also flags the cell you left empty on it. A total or balance that adds up your own wrong entries is pointed out as such.
  • Reconciliations: type each correction with its sign, + when it increases the balance and − when it reduces it; empty or 0 means no change.

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    How the problems are made

    Each problem is an invented month at a small trading business, with every item in Cambridge IGCSE topic 3.4: returns, cash discounts, irrecoverable debts, dishonoured cheques, interest on overdue accounts, contra entries, refunds, and debit and credit balances in each ledger. Reconciliations start from the true personal accounts and add three to five errors.

    An example from set CTR374

    The sales ledger control account opens on 1 June with debit balances of $10,380 and credit balances of $60. The debit side holds those debit balances, credit sales of $58,712, dishonoured cheques of $1,844, interest of $244, refunds of $36 and the closing credit balances of $509 carried down: $71,725. The credit side holds $63,436 before the balance, so the balance c/d is $71,725 − $63,436 = $8,289, which comes down on the debit side on 1 July. Open set CTR374

    Course words

    Cambridge and AQA: sales and purchases ledger control accounts. AAT: receivables and payables ledger control accounts. South Africa: Debtors' Control and Creditors' Control with a folio column, bad debts, and the + and − reconciliation table. The South African layout follows the Department of Basic Education's Mind the Gap Grade 12 guide and NSC Grade 12 Accounting papers (listed below), not any other textbook.

    Questions

    What goes on each side of the sales ledger control account?

    Debit: the debit balances b/d, credit sales, dishonoured cheques, interest charged on overdue accounts and refunds paid to customers. Credit: any credit balances b/d, sales returns, money received, discounts allowed, irrecoverable debts and contra entries. The purchases ledger control account is the mirror image.

    Why can a sales ledger control account have a credit balance too?

    A customer who overpays, or returns goods after paying, is owed money, so their account has a credit balance. The control account then carries both totals: the credit balances are carried down on the debit side and the debit balances on the credit side.

    What is a contra entry in control accounts?

    When a firm is both a customer and a supplier, the two balances can be set off against each other. The amount is credited to the sales ledger control account and debited to the purchases ledger control account, because both what they owe and what is owed to them go down.

    Why don't cash sales or the allowance for irrecoverable debts go in the control account?

    A control account totals the personal accounts in one ledger. Cash sales never pass through a customer's account, and an allowance (provision) for doubtful debts is only an estimate that changes no customer's balance. Trade discount and goods taken for own use never reach a personal account either.

    How do you reconcile a control account with the list of balances?

    Take each error in turn and ask where it happened. A journal total that is wrong, or a total never posted, changes only the control account. A posting to one person's account, or a balance listed wrongly, changes only the list. An item never recorded at all changes both. After the corrections the two balances agree.

    How is a debtors' reconciliation set out in South Africa?

    In a table with a Debtors' Control column and a Debtors' List column. The balances as drawn up go on the first line, then each error with + for an increase, minus for a decrease and 0 for no change, and the correct balances at the bottom, which agree. Creditors' reconciliations work the same way.

    What are the benefits of control accounts?

    They give the total owed by customers and to suppliers at once, without adding every personal account. They help find errors, because the control balance should equal the list of balances, and they make fraud harder when someone else keeps them. They do not show errors that affect both in the same way, such as an invoice never recorded.

    Sources, checked October 27, 2026: Cambridge IGCSE Accounting 0452 syllabus 2027 to 2029 (PDF), topic 3.4; Cambridge O Level Accounting 7707 syllabus 2027 to 2029 (PDF); Cambridge AS and A Level Accounting 9706 syllabus 2026 to 2028 (PDF), 1.4.4; 9706 examiner report, June 2024 (PDF); AQA A-level Accounting 7127 specification (PDF), 3.4; AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting specification (PDF), Principles of Bookkeeping Controls; AAT Level 3 Diploma in Accounting specification (PDF); Department of Basic Education, Mind the Gap Accounting Grade 12 (CAPS, PDF), chapter 5; NSC Accounting, November 2016 (PDF), question 2; NSC Accounting, February and March 2011, question 2; North West Department of Education, Grade 12 Accounting revision guide (PDF), 1.3 (the + / − / 0 table).