Bookkeeping

Journals and source documents

The source document chooses the journal. Cash in, cash out, credit sale and credit note are four different books.

CAPS

Grade 10 · Accounting · Bookkeeping

Accounting is a system: document, journal, ledger, then the statement.

The papers
Grade 10 is the accounting equation, journals, the ledger and trial balance, and the financial statements of a sole trader, with VAT at a basic level.
The logic
Assets equal owner’s equity plus liabilities. Every entry needs a source. VAT on sales is output VAT. VAT on qualifying purchases is input VAT. Profit is not the same as cash.
The relation
Source document → journal → ledger. The document names the journal, and the journal names the accounts
How a marker reads it
Do not enter this in the cash receipts journal, because no cash arrived.

Each paper is 150 marks. A foreign total that does not balance is wrong even if the individual entries look neat. Show the note or the calculation the face of the statement came from.

Worked example

A butchery in Kimberley has an invoice issued to a customer of R1200. Name the journal and the two accounts.

Before any working — hunt first

Given

Numbers and units already in the sentence: R1200. Copy each one into a column. A name without a number is not given.

Missing

After you copy the given, the letter that still has no number is missing. The paper is pointing at: Name the journal and the two accounts. Circle that word — that is the missing variable.

Find

We are required to find: Name the journal and the two accounts. Write that as a symbol on the left, with a question mark, before you touch a formula.

Calculate

Write Source document → journal → ledger with empty letters. Cross out every letter that already has a number. Calculate the letter that is still standing — that gives Name the journal and the two accounts.

Simplified approach

The source document chooses the journal. Cash in, cash out, credit sale and credit note are four different books.

Culture note

A butchery in Kimberley, with the day's slips still on the spike.

Formulas

Source document→journal→ledger

The document names the journal, and the journal names the accounts

Step 1 / 6

Name the document

The source document is an invoice issued to a customer for R1200.

Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.

More worked examples

Board walkthroughs on this topic. Open one, copy the working, then try the next.

Example 1 / 20

Goods are sold on credit to B. Dube for R2 900. The business uses a mark-up of 45% on cost. In which journal is this recorded, and what amounts go in the Sales and Cost of sales columns?

4. Step-by-step working

01
Identify the given
A credit sale with an invoice as the source document → Debtors journal (DJ).
DJ
02
Divide
Cost price=2 9001,45=R2 000.
2 9001,45=2 000

How we got there

Read this like a teacher at the board. We go slowly, name every number, and say why we take each step.

Explain in another language · 11

1. What is the question asking?

Read the question twice. Circle the unknown. Underline every number and unit. The paper is asking: Goods are sold on credit to B. Dube for R2 900. The business uses a mark-up of 45% on cost. In which journal is this recorded, and what amounts go in the Sales and Cost of sales columns?

In other words — as if you have never seen this before

If you have never seen this before: Credit sales go to the Debtors journal. Cost price = selling price(100% + mark-up). We will name a method in words, write the formula with no numbers, then substitute one line at a time.

2. What do we already know?

Credit sale R2 900. Mark-up 45% on cost.

3. Which method — and why this one?

Credit sales go to the Debtors journal. Cost price = selling price(100% + mark-up).

4. Step-by-step working

01 / 05
Identify the given
A credit sale with an invoice as the source document → Debtors journal (DJ).
DJ
Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
02 / 05
Divide
Cost price=2 9001,45=R2 000.
2 9001,45=2 000
Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
03 / 05
Sense-check
Mark-up = 2 900 − 2 000 = R900, and 9002 000 = 45%.
9002 000=45%
Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
04 / 05
Step F — Box the answer with its unit
Debtors journal: Sales R2 900; Cost of sales R2 000.
Why this step: A number without a unit is half a mark on a Physics paper, and a marker can miss a Maths answer that is buried in working.
05 / 05
Step H — What the marker is looking for
On an NSC memo you usually earn: (1) a method mark for naming the right formula or idea in words, (2) an accuracy mark for substituting the given numbers with units, (3) an accuracy mark for the boxed answer with its unit. Write those three lines even if you are unsure of the arithmetic — blank pages score zero.
Why this step: First-timers chase the final number and leave the method blank. The memo still pays out for the idea and the substitution even when the last line is wrong.

5. The answer

Debtors journal: Sales R2 900; Cost of sales R2 000.

Copy onto your answer sheet — in this order

Formula: DJ

Answer: Debtors journal: Sales R2 900; Cost of sales R2 000.

6. Check it like a marker

Do not take 45% of the selling price (R1 305); the mark-up is on COST.

7. A trap first-timers fall into

First-timers often grab the first formula they remember, mix units (cm with m, minutes with seconds), or drop a minus sign. Write the formula in words first: “this equals that, because…”

Share on WhatsApp

Next lesson →

General ledger and trial balance

Accounting

Take topic quiz