AccountancyFrom school accountancy to B.Com
The first year of a commerce degree revises the accounting cycle and partnership and company accounts at greater depth, and then adds topics that school courses leave out. Most of what is on the Class 11 and Class 12 pages is examined again in B.Com financial accounting and corporate accounting papers: final accounts with adjustments, depreciation, bills of exchange, partnership admission, retirement and dissolution, issue of shares and debentures, ratio analysis and cash flow statements. If any of these feels shaky, repair it there first. Degree papers assume it.
The pages in this section cover three topics that are new at degree level and appear in almost every university's syllabus in some form. Consignment accounts deals with goods sent to an agent for sale, where the key skill is valuing unsold stock. Hire purchase accounts deals with assets bought on instalments, where each payment must be split into principal and interest. The cost sheet is the starting point of cost accounting: it builds up the cost of production layer by layer.
How degree questions differ
- Longer problems. One question may need three or four accounts and working notes. Present working notes clearly; they carry marks.
- More than one method. Hire purchase has the full cash price and asset accrual methods; consignment may be at cost or at invoice price. Read which is asked.
- Theory with reasons. "Distinguish between" and "explain" questions expect points set out in a table or numbered list, with an example.
Your university's syllabus comes first
Unlike school boards, each university sets its own B.Com syllabus, and under the current credit framework papers and their order differ from place to place. Topics such as branch accounts, departmental accounts, royalty accounts, insurance claims, amalgamation and valuation of shares may be in your course and are not yet covered here. Download the current syllabus from your university's own website and use it as your checklist; use these pages for the topics they cover.
For study, and independent. These pages explain accountancy as it is generally taught in Class 11, Class 12 and B.Com courses in India, in our own words with our own examples, reviewed in November 2026. This site is not connected with NCERT, CBSE, ICAI or any board or university. Syllabuses change: follow your own board's or university's current syllabus and textbook. Nothing here is professional accounting, tax or legal advice.