CSEC Office Administration Paper 3 May/June 2015 - Free CXC Past Paper with Answers

Instructions: Read the following case study and answer ALL questions.

CASE STUDY

'Cheques' and Balances

Harlington's Business College is an offshore educational institution in Hamilton, Bermuda. The college has been experiencing some challenges with significant errors and omissions in its accounting records and documents over the last two years. Despite all of this, they continued to make a sizable profit. Normally, the duties of the accounts clerk at the college would include receiving payments from students, making out cheques to suppliers, preparing wages for some employees, among other things.

You are Halle Marson, hired with good references specifically for the department, and with the task of assisting with efforts to correct some of the problems mentioned. On this assignment, you worked very closely with the accountant, Shaun Andrews. You will be expected to deal with incomplete documents, identify errors and make recommendations as necessary.

When checking the payroll for August 2014, you realized that no wages sheet was prepared for the week ending 19 August 2014, resulting in no payment for national insurance. Note that each employee works a 40-hour week and receives a basic pay of $550 per week. You are required to use the following information to complete the wages sheet on page 3.

Overtime – paid at a rate of $45 per hour.
National insurance – calculated at 10% of gross wages.
Income tax – calculated at 17.5% of gross wages.
Pension – calculated as 5% of gross wages.

The question requires completing a wages sheet on page 3, which is a visual element (table).

Shaun was asked to secure $150 000 from the profits of Harlington's Business College to open an account to assist financially challenged students in paying for their core areas

Shaun was asked to secure $150 000 from the profits of Harlington's Business College to open an account to assist financially challenged students in paying for their core areas.

Give TWO reasons why Shaun would want to open a savings account rather than a current account.

Shaun was considering depositing $150 000 into the central bank instead of a commercial bank.

Suggest TWO reasons why this decision would NOT be a wise one.

On reading some information from a brochure on the operations of a credit union, Shaun is further contemplating whether to open an account at the credit union.

Outline THREE benefits the college would experience if Shaun decides to deposit the money in the credit union.

During the financial year, Shaun receives a tangible donation of US $20 000 from past students to assist financially challenged students. He wishes to use the service of a bureau of exchange/cambio.

Explain ONE reason for Shaun's decision to utilize a bureau of exchange/cambio.

Halle was assigned the task of checking through the batch of dishonoured cheques as there were quite a few of these for which payments were refused.

Give FOUR suggestions Halle could provide as reasons for the dishonoured cheques.

Assume you are Shaun Andrews, complete the cheque below (including the stub/counterfoil) for the amount of $1 500 to be paid to MOJ Publishers for a set of books purchased for the college's library. Use the current date.

The question requires completing a cheque, which is a visual element.

In checking through documents, Halle discovered that the current petty cash system was not being properly used, nor was the book correctly written up and as a result, a few cheques were found written for amounts as little as $7. To prevent these problems from continuing, Halle has the task of getting the petty cash system operating correctly again.

Use the petty cash form provided below to (a) correct any errors identified (b) balance the account and show the amount to restore the imprest.

Show all working under the table.

correct any errors identified

balance the account and show the amount to restore the imprest.

To improve the department's performance, the accountant, Shaun Andrews, considered ordering some up-to-date accounting software. Before ordering, he wanted to be assured of ways in which the department could improve efficiency from using such software.

Outline THREE benefits the department would experience if management implemented the up-to-date accounting software.

Halle has discovered that Harlington's Business College often stores large sums of cash on the compound and this increases the chances of robbery and theft.

Recommend THREE approaches that the college should take in safeguarding the collection and storage of cash.

The following is an extract of the cash book and bank statement of Harlington's Business College for the month of May 2014.

Prepare the updated cash book and a bank reconciliation statement for the college, starting with the cash book balance.

Based on the information provided in the cash book and bank statement shown on page 9, suggest TWO reasons why the accountant would want to reconcile the cash book of Harlington's Business College with the bank statement.

CSEC Office Administration Paper 3 May/June 2015 Questions

Question 1 (8 marks)

CASE STUDY

'Cheques' and Balances

Question 2 (9 marks)

Question 3 (10 marks)

Question 4 (8 marks)

Question 5 (3 marks)

Question 6 (6 marks)

Question 7 (6 marks)