Cambridge 0452 and 0985 · Sub-topic 3.4
Control accounts
The 4 skills the syllabus asks for, the slips that cost marks, and how our teachers explain it.
What students must be able to do
- Explain why sales ledger and purchases ledger control accounts are kept.
- Identify the books of prime entry that supply the totals.
- Prepare control accounts including credit sales and purchases, receipts and payments, discounts, returns, irrecoverable debts, dishonoured cheques, interest on overdue accounts, contra entries and refunds.
- From 2027: understand how digital recording affects control accounts.
Official wording: Cambridge IGCSE Accounting 0452: syllabus for 2027-2029 (Version 1), page 13; Cambridge IGCSE Accounting 0452: syllabus for examination in 2026 (Version 2, December 2025), page 13. See all sources.
How our teachers teach it
A control account is a summary of a whole ledger in one account. Our teachers teach it by listing every journal total that would touch the ledger, then sorting each item to the debit or credit side. Because the sales and purchases versions mirror each other, students practise one carefully and then see the second as the same layout turned over.
If any of these slips sound familiar, we can help. A teacher can mark your child's answers on control accounts line by line and show where the marks go. Book a trial class.
How the wording changed for 2027
The 2027-2029 syllabus adds the impact of digital recording of transactions. Both syllabuses state candidates do not need to reconcile control account balances to the ledger balances. The 2026 text also says control accounts that form part of the double entry system are not required.
Where it is examined
Control accounts 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: Control account, Contra entry, Dishonoured cheque, Trade receivable, Trade payable
- Skills: How to prepare a sales ledger control account, How to prepare a purchases ledger control account
- Layouts: Sales ledger control account format, Purchases ledger control account format, Control account reconciliation format
- Worked examples: control accounts
- Practice questions: control accounts
- One-to-one Cambridge 0452 tuition
Other sub-topics in topic 3
Control accounts: questions
How are the two control accounts related?
Does the 0985 (9 to 1) syllabus cover control accounts too?
Which syllabus numbering should I use?
Get help with control accounts
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