Edexcel IGCSE Accounting Tutors Online

Edexcel IGCSE Accounting is code 4AC1, written for first teaching from September 2017, with first assessment in June 2019. This page works from Issue 1, dated October 2016, which is the only issue of this specification and is valid for the International GCSE examination from 2019.

The first thing to understand is that the two papers are not equal. Paper 1 carries 66.6% of the total International GCSE and Paper 2 carries 33.3%. Paper 1 is twice the size of Paper 2 in weighting, so a student who treats the two papers as halves will have the priorities upside down from the start.

Paper 1 is Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting, code 4AC1/01. It is externally assessed, worth 66.6% of the qualification, and it is a 2-hour written examination set and marked by Pearson. The total number of marks available for the paper is 100.

Paper 1 is presented in two sections, and the section arithmetic is worth knowing exactly. Section A comprises ten 1-mark multiple-choice questions and three short-answer questions worth 5 marks each. Section B comprises five multi-part questions worth 15 marks each. So Section B is where the bulk of the paper sits, and it sits in five large multi-part questions rather than in many small ones.

Paper 2 is Financial Statements, code 4AC1/02. It is externally assessed, worth 33.3% of the qualification, and it is a 1-hour 15-minute written examination set and marked by Pearson. The total number of marks available for the paper is 50. It comprises two multi-part questions focusing on the preparation, analysis or evaluation of financial statements.

The content split between the papers is clean rather than evenly distributed. The qualification has five topics. Paper 1 will draw exclusively from topics 1 to 3, which are the accounting environment, introduction to bookkeeping, and introduction to control processes. Paper 2 is described in the specification as more holistic in nature, and it builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills covered in topics 1 to 3 in addition to the content of topics 4 and 5, which are the preparation of financial statements and accounting for end of period adjustments.

That structure has a practical implication. Paper 2 is not a self-contained paper on financial statements alone. Roughly a third of the qualification asks a student to bring forward the bookkeeping and control work from Paper 1 and use it in preparing and evaluating statements, which is why the specification calls it holistic. A student who compartmentalises topics 1 to 3 as finished business will feel that in Paper 2.

The qualification is linear, and all units must be taken in the terminal series at the end of the course of study. Both papers are available in January and June. That series pattern is worth checking carefully, because it is not the same as the June and November pattern that many international candidates assume.

The assessment objectives are three, which is fewer than most subjects at this level. AO1, demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of accounting terminology, principles, procedures and techniques, is 35 to 40 per cent. AO2, select and apply knowledge and understanding of accounting procedures to a variety of accounting problems, is 41 to 47 per cent. AO3, analyse, evaluate and present information in appropriate accounting formats and communicate reasoned explanations, is 17 to 20 per cent.

Application is the largest objective, which fits a subject built on doing rather than describing. The two papers do not carry the same balance, though. Paper 1 sits at 25 to 28 per cent for AO1, 23 to 25 per cent for AO2 and 9 to 10 per cent for AO3. Paper 2 sits at 11 to 12 per cent for AO1, 19 to 21 per cent for AO2 and 8 to 9 per cent for AO3. Both papers address all three assessment objectives.

Both papers are written examinations, and the question styles are a mixture of multiple-choice, short-answer and long-answer questions. The specification notes that the qualification is not accredited or regulated by any UK regulatory body, which is a useful thing to know when comparing it with a UK-regulated GCSE.

The qualification is graded and certificated on a nine-grade scale from 9 to 1, using the total subject mark, where 9 is the highest grade. Individual components are not graded. Students whose level of achievement is below the minimum judged by Pearson to be sufficient for a certificate receive an unclassified U result.