VCE Accounting exam (VCAA)
The VCE Accounting exam (VCAA) is a single written paper of 100 marks, sat in 15 minutes of reading time and 2 hours of writing time, and it makes up 50% of your study score. Every question is compulsory and written (about eight questions, each split into parts of 1 to 12 marks), you may use a scientific calculator only, and the paper covers Units 3 and 4. In 2026 it is on Wednesday 11 November, 3.00 pm to 5.15 pm.
This guide describes the VCE Accounting Study Design 2025 (version 1.1), accredited for Units 1 to 4 from 1 January 2025. Papers from 2020 to 2024 were set against the previous study design, so use their questions as practice, not as a map of today's dot points.
For the papers themselves, see VCE Accounting past exams (VCAA, 2020 to 2025, marked). For which topics carry the marks, see VCE Accounting most tested topics. The units and outcomes are on the VCE Accounting study design page.
What is in the VCE Accounting exam?
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Weight | 50% of the study score (the Unit 3 and Unit 4 SACs are 25% each) |
| Marks | 100 |
| Reading time | 15 minutes |
| Writing time | 2 hours |
| Covers | Units 3 and 4, with all key knowledge and key skills examinable |
| Format | One paper, no sections and no multiple choice, every question compulsory |
| Questions | 8 in each of 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025; 11 in 2022; 10 in 2020 |
| Materials | A question book and an answer book (the 2025 paper was 12 pages and 20 pages) |
The 2024 assessor report puts the point plainly: all areas of the study design are eligible for assessment, and it found students missed questions on topics they knew less well, not because they ran out of time. Skipping a unit is a bad bet in a paper where one question can be worth 21 marks, as Question 4 was in 2025.
The exam also does more work than its 50% suggests. VCAA statistically moderates each school's SAC scores against how that school's students perform on the external assessment for the study. Your rank within the school stays the same, but the scores your SACs convert to depend on how your school's Accounting cohort does in the exam. The mechanics are in how the VCE study score is calculated and VCE SACs explained.
When is the VCE Accounting exam in 2026?
VCAA's 2026 timetable puts Accounting on Wednesday 11 November 2026, 3.00 pm to 5.15 pm. That session is the 15 minutes of reading time followed by the 2 hours of writing time. The 2025 exam was on Friday 7 November at 3.00 pm, with writing from 3.15 pm to 5.15 pm.
The written exam period in 2027 runs from Tuesday 26 October to Wednesday 17 November. The date for Accounting is on the VCAA timetable for that year, so check it when it is published. The full list of studies is on the VCE exam timetable.
Three timing rules apply to every VCE written exam. You cannot begin writing or use a calculator until the supervisor announces that writing time has started. You cannot leave in the first 30 minutes of writing time. And you cannot leave in the last 5 minutes.
What can you take into the Accounting exam?
A scientific calculator, and nothing that stores text. VCAA lists Accounting among the studies where only a scientific calculator is permitted. A calculator that can graph, do symbolic work, be programmed or hold text and symbols in memory is out. You bring your own spare batteries, and the assessors make no allowance for a calculator that fails during the exam.
The 2025 cover lists one scientific calculator as the approved material. The 2023 cover was more detailed: pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers, sharpeners, rulers and one scientific calculator were allowed, and blank sheets of paper and correction fluid or tape were not. Read the cover of the current paper and follow your school's advice, since the cover is the rule for your sitting.
VCAA's allowance for bound references is written for specified mathematics exams, so do not plan around bringing notes or a reference book into Accounting. The study design's terminology and formulas are what you carry in your head.
What kinds of questions does the VCE Accounting exam ask?
The 2025 paper is a fair picture of the mix. Each type below is something you can practise on its own.
| Question type | 2025 example | What the marks go to |
|---|---|---|
| General Journal entries | Q1a, a sales return from a credit note (4 marks); Q7a, balance day adjustments and a customer deposit (12 marks) | A mark for each correct account and amount, or for a correct pair of lines, so a wrong title or amount costs marks |
| General Ledger accounts | Q1c, Prepaid Advertising and Advertising (4 marks); Q4b, Allowance for Doubtful Debts and Accounts Receivable (7 marks); Q8b, Disposal of Delivery Van (4 marks) | Each posting, correct cross-references, and balancing and closing the account |
| Accounting reports | Q4c, Operating Activities of a Budgeted Cash Flow Statement (6 marks); Q7b, Current Liabilities of a Balance Sheet (4 marks) | Titles, correct items, and the totals |
| Source documents | Q1a, a credit note; Q3a, a supplier invoice | Reading the document to work out what the transaction is |
| Indicators and trends | Q2c, a slow inventory turnover; Q6a and Q6b, Return on Assets and Asset Turnover | Using the indicator's name correctly and explaining what the change means for the business |
| Modelling | Q5a, shift profit at current wages and with a 20% increase (4 marks) | Applying the stated percentages and rates to a table |
| Discuss with a recommendation | Q5b, whether to keep a night shift (6 marks) | Financial and ethical considerations, then a recommendation |
| Theory applied to the business | Q1d, a qualitative characteristic (3 marks); Q6c, accounting elements (3 marks) | The exact term, then its definition applied to the case |
VCAA's recent reports say similar things about this mix. Accounting reports "were generally handled well" in 2024, General Ledger questions appeared throughout the 2023 and 2024 papers and lost marks to cross-references and reversed entries, and modelling questions have become frequent and are generally answered well (the 2024 and 2022 reports both say so). The topic-level split of the marks is on the most tested topics guide, so it is not repeated here.
How are discuss questions marked in VCE Accounting?
In 2024 and 2025 the discuss question was worth 6 marks and marked in three bands, and in 2025 the top band needed a recommendation. The 2025 criteria for Question 5b:
| Marks | What VCAA wanted |
|---|---|
| 5-6 | Detailed discussion of the two options, including financial and ethical considerations; a comprehensive discussion that integrates positive and negative factors when making a recommendation; accurate use of accounting terminology. "Requires a recommendation for full marks" |
| 3-4 | Limited discussion of the two options; positives and negatives of the financial and/or ethical considerations; general use of accounting terminology |
| 1-2 | Basic comments with limited reference to financial and/or ethical considerations; one ethical issue and/or one financial consideration |
The 2024 discussion question (Q2a, 6 marks, a change of supplier) used the same shape, and 25% of students scored at least five marks. The 2025 mark distribution for 5b ran from 7% on 0 to 12% on 6, with an average of 3.4.
The assessors' common error in 2025 was students "repeating the information provided in the question". They named the shift profit and the community benefit but did not discuss either. The higher-scoring responses used the figures they had just modelled in part (a) and set them against the non-financial information in the question.
For what each command term asks of you across VCE, see VCE command terms.
What costs marks in the VCE Accounting exam?
These are six 2025 questions where the state cohort dropped a large share of the marks, with VCAA's average out of the marks available. They describe the 2025 cohort only.
| Question | Task | Average | What went wrong, per VCAA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6b (3 marks) | Explain how Sales and Asset Turnover can both rise while Return on Assets falls | 1.2 (43% scored 0) | Students could not explain how the two indicators relate; the missing link was a falling net profit margin and worsening expense control |
| 8a (1 mark) | Depreciation of a traded-in van to 31 December 2024 | 0.3 (74% scored 0) | Depreciation was not applied for the six months the van was held; some students gave accumulated depreciation instead of the year's expense |
| 8c (3 marks) | Depreciation of delivery vans for the year | 1.0 (42% scored 0) | Three vans held for different periods each needed their own amount; a common error was depreciating vans for the whole year when one was bought on 31 December 2024 |
| 4d (3 marks) | Why budgeted operating cash flow may exceed budgeted net profit | 1.2 (35% scored 0) | Students did not see that operating activities means day-to-day trading, and referred to GST received for a business that sells only on credit |
| 3b (3 marks) | Journal entry for an inventory write-down | 1.4 | The free coffee cups were left out of net realisable value, or an inventory loss was recorded instead; the narration also needed the item and Memo 63 |
| 7a (12 marks) | Balance day adjustments | 6.3 | Two days of accrued wages, a month's insurance (not the year's), and depreciation including equipment bought on 1 October were each calculated wrongly by some students |
Across the 2024 and 2025 reports, a few mistakes recur often enough to plan around.
Misreading the question or missing its constraint. VCAA's 2025 report says "Students should ensure that they identify the constraints in a question." In Q2a the question asked for reasons other than theft, and answers that gave theft earned nothing for that reason. In Q2b the business already used security cameras and bag checks, and answers that suggested them again earned nothing.
Naming a control when the question says describe. In Q2b one mark was for an acceptable internal control and one for describing it. VCAA's advice: "Teachers should ensure that students provide a description when the question requires it, rather than simply identifying an internal control."
Wrong or loose terminology. The 2024 report says students must be able to apply "all terminology covered within the course, not just the regularly used terms". Its example for indicators is that inventory turnover should be described as slower or faster, not as increasing or decreasing. The 2021 report recorded students still writing debtors, creditors and stock instead of Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Inventory, and losing marks for it. In 2025, "Unearned Revenue" instead of "Unearned Sales Revenue" was a recorded error.
Cross-references and entries in the wrong direction. The 2024 report lists ledger marks lost to incorrect cross-references, reversed entries and entries left out. The 2025 report adds reversed debits and credits, incorrect balances and accounts not balanced and closed on balance day. The 2023 report separates the task words: "prepare" a ledger means record the entries, while "complete" it means balance and close the accounts as well.
A rote-learned answer. The 2024 report says students "needed to demonstrate their understanding of the benefits of each method" of cost assignment instead of giving a memorised definition. The 2025 Q2d is the live example: FIFO is an assumption about cost flow, not the physical movement of the stock.
Not being able to read an unfamiliar format. VCAA tells students to be ready for accounting report questions "to be presented in a variety of ways" (2024 report, p. 20) and to give information from reports "in a variety of formats" (2025 report, p. 22). The 2023 cash-versus-profit question was set in a new style and more than 25% of students scored no marks.
What does a strong answer look like?
These pairs use 2025 questions. The weak versions are the common errors VCAA named, and the strong versions follow the report's expected answers.
| Question | Weak | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| Q1b, a non-financial indicator | "Credit notes show the value of sales returns has risen" | The number of credit notes is the number of sales returns, a rising count signals dissatisfied customers, and that points to product quality, order handling or delivery |
| Q2b, an internal control | "Bag checks" or "security" (already in use, or only named) | A control that was not already in use, then a sentence on how it works, such as security tags on high-value items that alert staff when an item leaves the store |
| Q2d, FIFO | "Selling the oldest stock first means less goes out of date" | FIFO is an assumption, not the physical flow; labelling every item for Identified Cost is slow for low-cost pet food, and the effect on inventory is the same either way |
| Q6a, Return on Assets | "Revenue is falling" | Less net profit is being earned for each dollar of assets, so the assets are being used less effectively and may need replacing |
| Q7c, a deposit | Recorded as revenue or as a current asset | Unearned sales revenue, a current liability, because the goods have not been supplied and the obligation falls due within the next 12 months |
How should you use reading time and the 2 hours?
The paper is 100 marks in 120 minutes, which is 1.2 minutes per mark. By that arithmetic a 3-mark explain question deserves about 4 minutes and the 12-mark adjustments journal about 14. That is a pacing guide, not a VCAA rule. The 2021 report did advise students to allocate time in proportion to the marks for each question, and noted that some students did not attempt every question.
VCAA's reports from 2022 to 2025 tie reading time to the first mistake on this list, and the 2023 and 2024 reports tell students to read each question thoroughly and highlight its key parts. You cannot write or mark the paper until writing time starts, so use the 15 minutes to read each question part for the command term, the entity and the period, any constraint, and whether a narration is required, then highlight once writing time begins. The 2025 paper asked for a narration in Q3b (worth a mark) and said none was required in Q1a and Q7a.
One other habit the reports reward is using the business in the question: the 2025 report says the higher-scoring answers to Q2c referred to a pet food business, to use-by dates and to credit terms of around 30 days.
How do you prepare for the VCE Accounting exam?
Start from the structure above. A study plan that tracks the question types in the table is more use than one that tracks chapters alone, since a skill such as General Ledger posting turns up throughout the paper, not in one question.
- Do full papers under timed conditions. The 2020 to 2025 papers are on the VCE Accounting past exams page, with marked questions, and VCAA publishes an assessor report for each. VCAA's NHT papers are extra full-length practice once you have done the main sittings (see VCE NHT exams).
- Read the assessor report straight after marking. It gives the expected journal entries and the mark-by-mark scheme, then the common errors. Compare your errors with its list.
- Drill the mechanical types separately. Journal entries from source documents, ledger posting with cross-references, and report extracts. VCAA says repeatedly that these are practised skills.
- Write discuss answers in full. Take a 6-mark discuss question, write a recommendation with both financial and ethical points, and check it against the band table above.
- Rehearse the terminology. Use the study design's terms for indicators, qualitative characteristics and accounting elements.
For a whole-of-year plan across your subjects, see how to prepare for VCE exams.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the VCE Accounting exam?
Fifteen minutes of reading time and 2 hours of writing time. The 2025 paper ran from 3.00 pm to 3.15 pm for reading and 3.15 pm to 5.15 pm for writing, and the 2026 timetable has the same 3.00 pm to 5.15 pm session.
How many marks is the VCE Accounting exam worth?
The paper is 100 marks, and the written examination is 50% of the study score. Each of the Unit 3 and Unit 4 school-assessed coursework scores is 25%.
Can you use a calculator in the VCE Accounting exam?
Yes, a scientific calculator only. VCAA lists Accounting among the studies where calculators with graphic, symbolic or programmable capabilities are not permitted. You cannot use it during reading time.
Is there a formula sheet or bound reference in VCE Accounting?
VCAA's bound-reference allowance applies to specified mathematics exams, and the 2025 Accounting cover lists one scientific calculator as the only approved material. Check the cover of the current paper and your school's advice.
Is there multiple choice in the VCE Accounting exam?
No. The 2025 paper was 8 compulsory questions, every one made of written parts, and VCAA's 2024 report describes the exam as eight questions consisting of multiple parts. Parts run from 1 mark to 12 marks.
What does VCAA say students get wrong in the Accounting exam?
Misreading the question, missing a constraint stated in it, using incorrect terminology, wrong cross-references in General Ledger accounts, and giving a rote-learned answer that does not fit the business in the question. Each of these appears in the 2024 or 2025 assessor report.
Sources
- VCE Accounting Examination, VCAA, 2025, 2025 paper, pp. 1-11; 2023 paper, p. 1. Cover details (timing, materials, structure) and the question parts quoted in the tables, 2020 to 2025.
- VCE Accounting Assessor Report, VCAA, 2025, 2025 report, pp. 1-22; 2024 report, pp. 1-4 and 20; 2023, 2022 and 2021 reports, general comments. Mark distributions, criteria, expected answers and the Common errors commentary, main sittings 2021 to 2025.
- VCE Accounting Study Design, VCAA, December 2024, Units 3 and 4 assessment. Version 1.1. The written examination is 50% of the study score and 2 hours long; Unit 3 and Unit 4 SACs are 25% each.
- Future examination periods, VCAA, 2026, p. 1. Written examinations Tuesday 26 October to Wednesday 17 November 2027.
- VCE examination timetable 2026, VCAA, 2026, p. 6. Accounting, Wednesday 11 November 2026, 3.00 pm to 5.15 pm.
- VCE Exams Navigator 2026: External assessments, VCAA, 2026, pp. 4-6. Scientific calculator only for Accounting; calculator conditions of use.
- Examination rules, VCAA, 2026, p. 2. No writing, marking the paper or calculator use before writing time starts; no leaving in the first 30 minutes or the last 5.
Syllabus and assessment material referenced in this guide is reproduced by permission, © VCAA. See our VCAA licensing notice. The VCAA does not endorse or make any warranties regarding this study resource. VCE® is a registered trademark of the VCAA.
Keep reading
Practise what you just read
Work through real VCAA Accounting questions and get your written answers marked against the official criteria, instantly.