Cambridge 0452 and 0985 · Sub-topic 5.1
Sole traders
The 5 skills the syllabus asks for, the slips that cost marks, and how our teachers explain it.
What students must be able to do
- Explain the advantages and disadvantages of being a sole trader.
- Prepare income statements (2027: statements of profit or loss) and statements of financial position for trading and service businesses.
- Define the headings of a statement of financial position.
- Make year-end adjustments: depreciation, accruals and prepayments, irrecoverable debts and allowance, and drawings.
- From 2027: also manufacturing businesses and combinations of types.
Official wording: Cambridge IGCSE Accounting 0452: syllabus for 2027-2029 (Version 1), page 15; Cambridge IGCSE Accounting 0452: syllabus for examination in 2026 (Version 2, December 2025), page 14. See all sources.
How our teachers teach it
The sole trader statements are the template for everything else in this section. Our teachers drill the layouts until students can set out the headings without thinking, and then spend the saved effort on the adjustments. A good routine is to tick off every note under the trial balance as it is used, so nothing is left unadjusted.
If any of these slips sound familiar, we can help. A teacher can mark your child's answers on sole traders line by line and show where the marks go. Book a trial class.
How the wording changed for 2027
The 2027-2029 syllabus speaks of statements of profit or loss and extends the business types to manufacturing and combinations. It refers to accumulated depreciation, and describes drawings as goods and other assets taken and private expenses paid. The 2026 syllabus uses income statement and provision for depreciation.
Where it is examined
Sole traders can appear in either paper, as a short question or as part of a longer task. Cambridge bases both papers on the whole syllabus. See the guides to Paper 1 and Paper 2 for the format.
Sources: Cambridge IGCSE Accounting 0452: syllabus for 2027-2029 (Version 1), pages 9, 22. See all sources.
Practise it
- Key terms: Sole trader, Income statement, Statement of financial position, Drawings, Gross profit, Net assets
- Skills: How to prepare an income statement for a sole trader, How to prepare a statement of financial position, How to record goods taken for own use
- Layouts: Income statement (sole trader) format, Statement of financial position format, Trading account (cost of sales) format
- Worked examples: income statement
- Practice questions: income statement
- One-to-one Cambridge 0452 tuition
Other sub-topics in topic 5
Sole traders: questions
What is the most common way to lose marks here?
Does the 0985 (9 to 1) syllabus cover sole traders too?
Which syllabus numbering should I use?
Get help with sole traders
The trial class works through Cambridge IGCSE Accounting questions with a teacher, so you see how the paper is approached. One-to-one and online, from RM75/hr.
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