Level III Syllabus

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Level III Certificate in Bookkeeping and Accounts

From April 2014

Course Code L3C

Level 3 Certificate in Bookkeeping & Accounts syllabus

Introduction

The Level III Certificate in Bookkeeping and Accounts covers the preparation of ledger balances, control accounts and reconciliations, adjustments and preparation of final accounts for non-incorporated businesses or organisations.

Occupational Role: Self Employed Bookkeeper/Employed Bookkeeper

On completion of this qualification candidates will be able to carry out the role of an employed or self-employed bookkeeper, be able to reconcile bank statements with the ledgers, produce a VAT return, control the sales and purchases ledgers, post year-end adjustments and produce the final accounts for a sole trader, partnership and not-for-profit organisation in both a manual and a computerised system.

Prior Knowledge

Before commencing the study at this level the candidate should have achieved ICB Level II Certificate in Bookkeeping or its equivalent with another awarding body.

Qualification aims

On completion of this level of study a candidate will be able to:

Understand the following areas of underpinning knowledge:

The importance of adhering to a set of ethical principles
How and when to take action to cope with unethical behaviour

The concepts of business entity, going concern, historical cost, consistency, prudence and accruals

The legal requirements for forming a partnership
Different ways of processing VAT for EU and non-EU transactions
Alternative VAT systems e.g. VAT margin scheme

Prepare a bank reconciliation statement
Understand the purpose and use of control accounts as a checking mechanism
Account for VAT and prepare a VAT return
Prepare a ledger account to record the disposal of a fixed asset and to calculate the profit or loss on disposal
Calculate adjustments to the accounts including:

Opening and closing stock
Depreciation of fixed assets
Accruals and pre-payments
Provision for doubtful debts

Prepare the final accounts for a non-incorporated business including processing of adjustments for opening and closing stock, depreciation, accruals, prepayments, provision for doubtful debts in the following areas:

Sole trader
Partnership
Not-for-Profit Organisation

Assessment and Grading

The testing of knowledge and skills for the qualification will comprise three online assessments, all of which are taken in the candidate’s home or place of work plus one assessment taken at an external ICB centre.

Paper BA4 – reconciliations and final accounts of a sole trader:

Home / place of work based assessment to include:

Underpinning knowledge (5% weighting)
Reconciliation and correction of errors (customer and supplier reconciliations, bank reconciliation, correction of errors) (15% weighting
VAT Returns (15% weighting)
Posting adjustments including disposal and acquisition of fixed assets (15% weighting)
Final accounts of a sole trader (20% weighting)
Production of final accounts of a sole trader with adjustments using a computerised package (30% weighting)

Paper BA5 – final accounts of a partnership

Home / place of work based assessment to include:

Underpinning knowledge (10% weighting)
Posting adjustments including disposal and acquisition of fixed assets (30% weighting)
Final accounts of a partnership including the appropriation account and production of partners’ current accounts (30% weighting)
Production of final accounts of a partnership with adjustments using a computerised package (30% weighting)

Paper BA6 – final accounts of a not-for-profit organisation

Home / place of work based assessment to include:

Underpinning knowledge (10% weighting)
Posting adjustments including the subscriptions account and disposal and acquisition of fixed assets (30% weighting)
Final accounts of a not-for-profit organisation (30% weighting)
Production of final accounts of a not-for-profit organisation with adjustments using a computerised package (30% weighting)

Paper BA7 - Level III External Assessment

A single assessment to be taken at an ICB examination centre will be a mixture of multi-choice and data entry questions which will cover all elements of the syllabus.

The full qualification will be graded at Distinction with Honours, Distinction, Merit or Pass

All tests and the examination must be successfully achieved to gain the full qualification.

Each assessment will generate a separate accreditation notification.

The home or work place based assessments will be graded as follows:

Distinction	95 -100%
Merit	90 - 94%
Pass	85 - 89%
Fail	0 - 84%

The assessment taken at an external ICB centre will be graded as follows:

Distinction	90 -100%
Merit	80 - 89%
Pass	70 - 79%
Fail	0 - 69%

Once all tests and the examination have been successfully completed a final certificate can be applied for which will be graded at Distinction with Honours, Distinction, Merit or Pass. Unit results will be aggregated. To achieve the relevant grade in the full qualification, the following aggregate marks must be achieved:

Distinction with Honours	390 marks and above
Distinction	375 – 389 marks
Merit	350 – 374 marks
Pass	325 – 349 marks

Level of Membership

Successful achievement at the full qualification will lead to the offer to upgrade to Associate Member of ICB. Associate Members are entitled to use the designatory letters AICB.