Bookkeeping test practice

What the real test usually looks like

There is no single bookkeeping test. Employers buy one from an assessment publisher or write their own, so the length, the time limit and the topics depend on who made it. Your test invitation is the best guide to yours. Four public pages show the range:

• SHL's Canadian Bookkeeping Professional. SHL says it measures a candidate's capabilities as a full-charge bookkeeper, across accounting principles, accounts payable and coding, accounts receivable and billing, bank reconciliation, depreciation, financial statements, payroll posting, closing and journal entries (SHL).
• SHL's Accounts Payable test. Its fact sheet describes a multiple choice test of at most 12 questions, about 9 minutes on average with 15 minutes allowed, covering the accounts payable process, the vendor master, accounting principles, invoice and payment processing and claims management (SHL fact sheet).
• An adaptive Bookkeeping Fundamentals (U.S.) test. Creative Organizational Design lists a computer adaptive test of up to 30 questions, about 25 minutes on average with 90 minutes allowed, on topics including payables and receivables, adjusting entries, cash, financial statements, fixed assets, inventories, payroll, recording transactions and taxes (Creative Organizational Design).
• HR Avatar's Bookkeeping Fundamentals (US). HR Avatar lists it at about 10 minutes, on accounting principles, the accounting process, accounts, cash and accrual accounting, debits and credits, payment terms and reconciliation, with questions drawn from a larger bank (HR Avatar).

Content areas commonly reported across publishers:

• Debits, credits and accounts: which accounts go up with a debit and which with a credit, and where each one sits.
• Journal entries: recording purchases, sales, payments and receipts.
• Payables and receivables: vendor invoices, payment terms, customer balances and credit memos.
• Bank reconciliation and cash: matching the books to the bank statement.
• Adjustments: accruals, deferrals and month-end entries.
• Statements, depreciation and payroll: where items appear, depreciation charges and payroll postings.

What our mocks cover. Our full mocks have 35 questions in 30 minutes, in six sections: debits, credits and accounts (6), journal entries (7), payables and receivables (7), bank reconciliation and cash (5), accruals and adjustments (5) and statements, depreciation and payroll (5). You can go back and flag questions, and a calculator is allowed. If your test also includes a task in accounting software, practice that with the employer's own instructions too.

SHL, HR Avatar and Creative Organizational Design are trademarks of their owners. Intellect Council is not affiliated with any of them.

Question types with worked examples

One worked example for each section, with the trap most people fall into.

1. Debits, credits and accounts. The owner puts $10,000 of personal savings into the business bank account. The entry is debit cash $10,000, credit owner's capital $10,000. Trap: crediting revenue. Money the owner invests is equity, not income the business earned.

2. Journal entries. You bought $1,000 of supplies on account and return $200 of them as damaged. The entry is debit accounts payable $200, credit supplies $200: you owe less, and you have fewer supplies. Trap: crediting cash. No money has moved yet, so the return reduces the amount owed.

3. Payables and receivables. A $2,000 invoice is dated May 1 with terms of 2/10, net 30. You pay on May 20. You pay the full $2,000, because the 10-day discount window closed on May 11. Payment is due by May 31. Trap: taking the discount anyway because the bill is still within its 30 days.

4. Bank reconciliation and cash. A check for $560 was entered in the books as $650. The books show $90 less cash than they should, so the book side of the reconciliation adds $90. Tip: when a difference divides evenly by 9, look for two digits swapped. $650 - $560 = $90, and 90 / 9 = 10. Trap: adjusting the bank side, which recorded the right amount.

5. Accruals and adjustments. The supplies account shows $900, and a count at month end finds $350 of supplies on hand. The adjustment is debit supplies expense $550, credit supplies $550. Trap: expensing the $350 left on hand, which is the amount still owned, not the amount used.

6. Statements, depreciation and payroll. A van costs $9,000, is expected to sell for $1,000 at the end of its 4-year life and is depreciated on a straight line. The yearly charge is ($9,000 - $1,000) / 4 = $2,000. Trap: dividing the full cost by 4, which ignores the $1,000 the van is expected to be worth at the end.

How to prepare

1. Read your invitation first. Find out which publisher's test you will take, how long it is, whether a calculator is allowed and whether it includes a practical task in software. Formats vary too much to assume.
2. Know every account's home and normal balance. Asset, liability, equity, revenue or expense, and debit or credit. Most bookkeeping questions follow from these two facts.
3. Write each entry before you look at the options. Name the accounts, decide debit or credit, then check that debits equal credits. The options are built to tempt you if you start from them.
4. Learn payment terms by heart. Read 2/10, net 30 as "2% off within 10 days, the full amount within 30", then practice the date counting and the discount.
5. Do one bank reconciliation from each side. On the bank side, deposits in transit and outstanding checks. On the book side, fees, interest, returned checks and errors.
6. Practice the month-end list. Accrued expenses, prepaid items used up, supplies counts, depreciation and payroll withholdings. For the wider accounting basics behind them, try our accounting fundamentals practice.
7. Practice at the real pace. A test like SHL's Accounts Payable allows 15 minutes for at most 12 questions (SHL fact sheet), a little over a minute each. Take full timed mocks so the pace feels normal on the day.

How scoring usually works

Scoring depends on the publisher and the employer. The publishers cited here do not publish a pass mark, and the employer decides what result it wants for the role. Two public examples:

• SHL's Accounts Payable test reports an overall score plus scores for accounts payable fundamentals, accounting principles and payment settlement (SHL fact sheet).
• HR Avatar says its bookkeeping test is not meant to pinpoint a candidate's exact skill level, and recommends using it alongside other measures, such as cognitive ability, job fit and behavioral history (HR Avatar).

Some adaptive tests, like the Bookkeeping Fundamentals (U.S.) test above, change the questions as you go, so two people may see different numbers of questions (Creative Organizational Design).

Our practice score is the number of our own questions you answered correctly, with a breakdown by section, so you can see where to focus. It is a practice score: it is not a score on any publisher's test and does not predict a hiring decision.

Common mistakes on bookkeeping tests

• Recording a sale twice. When a customer pays an invoice, the credit goes to accounts receivable, not to sales again.
• Taking a discount after the window closes. Count the days from the invoice date, not from the day you received it, unless the terms say otherwise.
• Adjusting the wrong side of a reconciliation. Items the bank has not seen yet adjust the bank side; items only the bank knows about adjust the books.
• Recording net pay as the wage cost. The expense is gross pay; withholdings are liabilities until they are paid over.
• Forgetting the salvage value in straight-line depreciation.
• Leaving entries unbalanced. Before you choose, add the debits and the credits. If they differ, the option is wrong.

Cash basis and accrual basis in one example

Several publishers list cash and accrual accounting as a topic (HR Avatar). One example covers most questions on it.

A bookkeeper finishes a $1,500 job for a client on September 28 and sends the invoice the same day. The client pays on October 10.

• Accrual basis: the $1,500 is September revenue, because the work was done in September. On September 30 it sits in accounts receivable.
• Cash basis: the $1,500 is October revenue, because the money arrived in October. Nothing is recorded in September.

The same idea works for expenses: accrual records them when they are incurred, cash when they are paid. If a question does not say which basis, bookkeeping tests usually expect accrual.