Picked up accounting in 5th year, need help.

Hezip

Hey, So its now about a week after the christmas tests for me and I failed my accounting exam, which im dissapointed in because failing accounting has brought me down drastically for my ''if these results were for LC, how many points would I get''

I picked up accounting because in all fairness I always heard it wasn't bad at all, and about a third of our small accounting class never did business studies in the JC either.

I was okay at the start, then i missed out on a plenty of days and now im confused with pretty much every topic. I ALWAYS get mixed up what goes in where (Debit/Credit), and which side of the sheet they're meant to be put in, in the first place.

Does anyone know anywhere I can get decent notes for Accounting that explain everything clearly? I looked at revise wise and the sample pages they showcase on their website don't really show anything else than the P+L account layout.

I want to get atleast a H4 in this for my LC, seeing that the only trick to accounting is learning the method and then applying it. The accounting books we use are a mess in my opinion.

aon1998

Is there any particular topics your stuck on? I agree the books aren't great at explaining things so its important to have a good teacher.

Hezip

aon1998 wrote: »

Is there any particular topics your stuck on? I agree the books aren't great at explaining things so its important to have a good teacher.

Bank Reconcilliation Statements, Control accounts and Depreciation and Revaluation of fixed assets,

These are the chapters we covered so far, we're now doing Final accounts - sole trader.

Mostly need help with the bank reconcilliation statements and control accounts.

aon1998

Can't help you with reconciliation statements or final a/c's because I haven't done them yet. We're not doing Final A/C's because you can get away with not doing it and it is by far the hardest and longest question (worth 120 marks)

The key to control accounts is just thinking in your head if you were the business, would this make people owe me more money or owe me less (debtors control account)

You should try and ask someone in your class to explain it to you or ask somebody in the 6th year class because once you get the hang of 1 question then the rest are pretty the much the exact same.

Thats kind of the same for most of the course.

otpmb

Bank rec and control aren't really that important. Most people do Final Accounts (Sole/Company/Manufacturing) instead of control and something else- dep/reval/short suspense etc it's hard to explain but, if you take a look at the 2014 paper and read about section 1 financial accounting it will make more sense.

Bank rec comes up as a working in Company accounts, so you'll get some more practice then. I definitely wouldn't worry about doing badly at this point in the year, as you're probably doing leaving cert standard questions and they're hard.

As for remembering credit and debit my mother constantly goes on about crediting the giver, debiting the receiver but, I found I always mixed that up. I usually worked of the bank, money goes in on the left (debit) and out on the right (credit), I sort of tried to imagine the money going in and out, and then it goes the opposite way in the T accounts so the amounts cancel each other out. Honestly having small "tools" for remembering where money goes in accounts is best (like assets and expenses are debited, liabilities and gains are credited) rather then having to remember everything exactly (like rent received is credited)

To aon1998 who said Final accounts are the hardest and longest I disagree, the average score in that question is 80% as opposed to 65% in Question 2,3 and 4. Final Accounts are also really helpful in Section 2 of the paper. If I were you I'd look in to a couple of grinds on it at some point.

Accounting involves just a small bit of understanding into how accounts work and then just practice, lots of practice.

AccountingCert

I struggled a lot initially, no clue about debit or credit but I got a H3 at Christmas after being completely incapable with no basic understanding. All I did was go back to the basics and start really thinking about why you do each thing.

This website is incredibly helpful. Google David Wilson accounting, it's really useful.