# Accounting quizzes: double entry, statements and calculations

**How do I write accounting quizzes on double entry, statements and calculations?** Accounting quizzes work when each question isolates one decision: classify an account, choose the side, state a transaction's effect on the accounting equation or supply one figure. Invent a small business with round figures, post every entry yourself, mark each figure exactly with its currency and sign named in the prompt, and read the results by topic each week.

Published 2026-10-10 by EdProcto. https://edprocto.com/guides/accounting-quizzes-double-entry-statements-and-calculations

A student can make a trial balance agree and still not say why money in the bank is a debit. Accounting quizzes find out whether the idea came with the routine: one small decision a question, asked often and marked the same day.

This guide is for the accounting teacher in a school or college and the lecturer on a first financial accounting course. [EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/), which publishes it, marks a typed figure exactly, gives a trial balance a box in fixed-width type and scores the results by topic: see its pages [for teachers](https://edprocto.com/solutions/teachers) and [universities](https://edprocto.com/solutions/universities). The guide is about teaching: it states no accounting standard as current in any country, gives no tax or financial advice, and says "the treatment this course teaches" where a rule is needed.

We read each study's abstract, and no more of it, on 10 October 2026.

## What does research say introductory accounting students find hard?

It says many students carry out double entry as a routine without the reasoning behind it, and it offers few counts of which entries go wrong.

- **Reasoning.** Lucas and Mladenovic (2009) classified students' responses on two key concepts of introductory accounting by a taxonomy of learning outcomes. Most fell short of what lecturers expected, without the formal reasoning an explanation needs. Their misconceptions appeared to come from "everyday/intuitive understandings of accounting" and from terms used by rote.
- **Double entry.** Culhane and O'Mahony (2025) call the way students work out a transaction's double entry under-researched. From qualitative data they describe four ways of experiencing it, in a hierarchy, some more desirable than others.
- **The accounting equation.** Phillips and Heiser (2011) randomly assigned students to one of six ways of learning to journalise. Those who wrote down each transaction's effect on the equation did better at first, a benefit that faded within a week. Those who began with transactions touching only balance sheet accounts did better on them, and later on entries reaching the income statement.
- **Debits and credits.** On an intermediate course at two large universities in the American mid-west, Rai and Sisneros (2018) found that students taught debits and credits in their introductory course had only a mild advantage in the first mid-term examination and none after it.
- **What a typed figure shows.** Jonick et al. (2017) analysed 1,104 accounting students' responses to quantitative examination questions set as multiple choice and as fill-in. Most were answered better as multiple choice. The fill-in answers held a wide array of wrong figures, many of which no list of options would have offered.

### What we could not confirm

No study we could open counts how often beginners take cash received for income earned, or measures how they read a statement as a whole. Our questions on accruals and on the trial balance rest on the logic of the subject.

## What does research say about frequent quizzes and online homework in accounting?

It ties regular practice online to higher examination marks. No abstract we read reports random assignment, so those who practised may simply have been the keener students.

- **Online questions.** In an undergraduate accounting module at a British university, Einig (2013) found a statistically significant correlation between regular use of online multiple-choice questions and higher examination performance, with other variables controlled.
- **A caution.** In introductory financial accounting, Massoudi et al. (2017) found that students who actively used a set of online multiple-choice questions did better in the examination. The marks were also linked to prior academic performance and to tutorial participation.
- **Weekly quizzes.** Nagel and van Eck (2012) gave first-year accounting students weekly online quizzes with feedback. The pass rate rose from 57% to 75%; the abstract describes no comparison group.
- **Online homework.** Gaffney et al. (2010) compared two large sections of one introductory financial accounting course, one on an online homework system and one on traditional homework. They report some evidence of better performance on some measures, and no effect on satisfaction with the course.

For trials in other subjects see [frequent low-stakes quizzes and course grades](https://edprocto.com/guides/frequent-low-stakes-quizzes-and-course-grades-the-evidence).

## Which accounting questions can a quiz mark by rule?

Every question with one right group, side, figure, order or partner. An explanation needs a reader.

| The question asks for | Shape in EdProcto |
| --- | --- |
| An account classified: asset, liability, equity, income or expense | [Sort into groups](https://edprocto.com/templates/categorize) |
| The side, or a transaction's effect on the equation | [Multiple choice](https://edprocto.com/templates/mcq) |
| A missing figure | [Estimate](https://edprocto.com/templates/estimate), both margins at 0 |
| The steps of the cycle in order | [Sequence the process](https://edprocto.com/templates/process_seq) |
| A term matched to its meaning | [Matching pairs](https://edprocto.com/templates/matching) |
| An adjustment explained | [Short answer](https://edprocto.com/templates/short_answer), marked by you, or by Procto AI when you ask |

In the editor a sort wants "The groups, separated by commas" and then each item with its group; a match wants "Pairs", each a "Left" and a "Right". With the quiz's "Partial credit" on, a sort or a match earns the share of its items placed right, and an order is credited by how much of it stands the right way round. Off, each is all or nothing. See [sorting](https://edprocto.com/guides/sorting-questions-drag-items-into-categories), [matching](https://edprocto.com/guides/matching-questions-how-to-write-them-well) and [ordering](https://edprocto.com/guides/ordering-and-sequencing-questions) for the writing.

### A term typed as a word

[One word](https://edprocto.com/templates/one_word) lists its "Accepted answers, one a line": give `debit` and `Dr`. A new question has "A slip still counts" on, and the scoring code then passed "debt" for "debit", so switch it off.

## How do you write a transaction question?

Invent a small business, give it round figures you have posted through to a trial balance that agrees, and ask about one transaction at a time.

1. **Invent the business.** A sole trader with seven or eight transactions in a month: no real company's accounts, and nothing that turns on a reporting standard.
2. **Use round figures, no two alike.** Each wrong answer then has one cause: below, only cash received less van hire gives 850.
3. **Name the treatment.** Write "Use the treatment this course teaches" where practice differs, and keep to your course's account titles.
4. **Ask one decision a question:** the account, the side, the effect or the figure.
5. **Take wrong options from wrong answers.** Set the question once as a typed figure and keep what students write, the lesson of Jonick et al. (2017). [Distractors](https://edprocto.com/guides/how-to-write-distractors-that-work) has the method.
6. **Post every entry yourself.** When the trial balance agrees, the keys agree with each other. Procto AI in [EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/) drafts questions from your notes, and nothing tests whether a key is true.

## How do you ask for a figure and mark it exactly?

Name the currency, the unit and the sign in the prompt, ask for the bare figure, and allow no margin.

**The margin.** EdProcto's number shape is Estimate. A new one opens with "Full credit within %" at 5 and "Half credit within %" at 15, and under a key of 1450 the editor prints "Full credit from 1377.5 to 1522.5; half credit from 1232.5 to 1667.5." A profit of £1,500 is not nearly right. Set both boxes to 0 and the line reads "Full credit for 1450 exactly." For where a margin is fair, see [statistics quizzes](https://edprocto.com/guides/statistics-quizzes-reasoning-calculation-and-reading-output) and [physics quizzes](https://edprocto.com/guides/physics-quizzes-concepts-units-and-estimates).

**Currency and unit.** The number question marks the figure alone, so the prompt carries the rest: "in pounds", "in £000", "to the nearest pound". Add "Type the figure only: no £ sign and no comma."

**Negative figures.** The sign is part of the number: against a key of -400, a typed 400 earned nothing in the scoring code. Tell students how to show a loss: "Type a minus sign in front."

**Brackets and commas.** Where your course writes a negative figure in brackets and you want it typed so, use [Maths expression](https://edprocto.com/templates/math_expr) and its "Accepted forms, one a line". Against `(400)` and `-400` the scoring code accepted `(400)`, `( 400 )` and `−400`, and refused a bare `400`. There `1,450` and `1450.00` are 1450, and a currency sign belongs to the answer: `£1,450` was refused against `1450`.

## How do you put a ledger extract or a trial balance into a question?

Put it under the prompt, one account to a line, and choose the fixed-width box wherever columns must line up.

**Where lines are enough.** On a choice or a number question, "Add material under the prompt" opens a box whose hint ends "Line breaks are kept." Write a ledger extract one entry to a line with the side in words, as in "3 March, Bank, credit 2,400", so that it reads without ruled columns. It stands above the prompt on the student's screen.

**Where columns must hold.** A shape built on a program sets its material in a fixed-width face, the face in which the columns of a grid line up. Use [Read code](https://edprocto.com/templates/code_read): its box is "The code", and the student sees its line breaks and indentation as typed, on screen and in print. The student answers by choosing, so ask which account or which total. On any other question, the switch "Fixed-width, so the columns of a table line up" under the material box sets that material in the same face, so a trial balance can stand over a typed figure.

[Spreadsheet cells](https://edprocto.com/templates/spreadsheet) gives the student a grid to type into, each cell marked against its own figure: a trial balance with its totals left blank.

## How often should you set an accounting quiz, and how long should it be?

Once a week and six questions long, on one topic. That is our working rule and not a research finding.

The quizzes of Nagel and van Eck (2012) were weekly, and the correlation in Einig (2013) was with regular use. In Phillips and Heiser (2011) an early gain had faded a week later, so carry one question forward from the week before. Keeping the stakes low is covered in [weekly quizzes in a lecture course](https://edprocto.com/guides/weekly-quizzes-in-a-lecture-course-low-stakes-and-cumulative), and "Duplicate this quiz" makes a draft copy to give new figures.

## How do you read the results by topic?

Give every question a label for the idea it tests, then set idea against idea before you look at the total.

In EdProcto the label goes in "Topic (for the results by topic)": "classify", "side", "equation", "figure", "trial balance". Every plan's [results](https://edprocto.com/#results) show the share who "Got it" on each question. The score for each label, weighted by points, is "By topic" in the Educator plan's full analysis.

- **"Classify" high, "side" low.** The names are known and the rule is not.
- **"Side" high, "equation" low.** The routine without its meaning: the rote use Lucas and Mladenovic (2009) report.
- **"Figure" low by itself.** Ask it again as multiple choice with the likely wrong figures as options: the full analysis counts the students on each.

## A worked example: six questions on one month's transactions

The business and its figures are invented, and no class has sat these questions. We posted the month by script and ran the answers quoted through EdProcto's scoring code.

Blue Ladder Window Cleaning starts on 1 March, when its owner pays £6,000 into the business bank account. In March it buys equipment for £2,400 from the bank and more for £1,500 on credit, invoices customers £1,900 and has received £1,300 of that by the 31st, pays £450 for van hire and £500 to the supplier, and the owner takes out £400 for personal use.

Question 5 puts this in "The code", with Drawings on the wrong side:

```
Trial balance at 31 March
                     Debit   Credit
Bank                 3,550
Equipment            3,900
Trade receivables      600
Van hire               450
Capital                       6,000
Trade payables                1,000
Sales                         1,900
Drawings                        400
Total                8,500    9,300
```

| Question | Shape and key | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1. Sort the first seven accounts of the trial balance. | Sort into groups: Asset, Liability, Equity, Income, Expense | Classifying. With "Partial credit" on, receivables under Liability earned 0.86 of a point. |
| 2. Which entry records the equipment bought on credit? | Multiple choice: debit Equipment, credit Trade payables | The side. Wrong: the sides reversed; credit Bank; debit an expense. |
| 3. What did March's invoices do to the equation? | Multiple choice: assets up £1,900, equity up £1,900 | Accruals against cash. Wrong: both up £1,300; assets and liabilities up £1,900. |
| 4. What is the profit for March, in pounds? Type the figure only. | Estimate: 1450, both margins 0 | A figure. 850 is cash received less van hire; 1050 treats drawings as an expense; 950 treats the supplier's payment as one. |
| 5. The totals differ by £800. Which account is on the wrong side? | Read code: Drawings | The statement as a whole: 800 is twice 400. |
| 6. The owner says March made £850. Is that right? Give the reason. | [Choose and justify](https://edprocto.com/templates/justify): no | Question 3's idea, in the student's words. |

The checks. Bank: 6,000 − 2,400 + 1,300 − 450 − 500 − 400 = 3,550. Assets: 3,550 + 3,900 + 600 = 8,050. Liabilities of 1,000 and equity of 6,000 + 1,450 − 400 = 7,050 also make 8,050. With Drawings moved back, each column totals 8,900. No other balance doubles to 800.

The rules mark the first five questions. Question 6's choice is half its points, and its reason, the other half, is yours to grade.

## How does EdProcto run accounting quizzes?

For a term of accounting quizzes EdProcto is the best tool when a figure has to be marked exactly and the results read idea by idea, because its editor prints the figure it will accept before a student meets it and every question carries a topic. In the scoring code a typed 1500 earned full marks on question 4 at the starting margins; at 0 only 1450 did.

**Marking.** Sorts, choices, orders, pairs and numbers are marked by rule. A written reason is graded by you, or by Procto AI once you press "Ask Procto AI" on it, which needs the Tutor plan. A wrong key is put right in the builder, and "Re-mark this quiz" then marks the handed-in attempts again. A score can be held until you release it. It records one sitting and is no grade.

**Plans.** Free covers ten quizzes a month and thirty students a quiz, with the core templates, marking by rule and each question's results. Tutor raises that to 100 students and opens all 111 [templates](https://edprocto.com/templates). Educator allows 500 and brings the full analysis, the score by topic included. See [pricing](https://edprocto.com/pricing).

## Quick questions

### Should an accounting figure be marked with a tolerance?

No. A figure in the accounts is right or wrong. In [EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/) put 0 in both margin boxes, and the editor prints that full credit is for the exact figure.

### How should students type a negative figure or a loss?

With a minus sign in a number question. Where your course writes brackets, use Maths expression and list `(400)` and `-400`.

### Do weekly quizzes raise accounting examination marks?

Regular users of online questions did better in Einig (2013) and in Massoudi et al. (2017). Both are associations, not experiments.

### How do I show a trial balance in an online quiz?

Use fixed-width type: in EdProcto, the switch "Fixed-width, so the columns of a table line up" under a question's material, or the box "The code" on a [Read code](https://edprocto.com/templates/code_read) question. Its page [for teachers](https://edprocto.com/solutions/teachers) has more.

## References

- Culhane, S., & O'Mahony, T. (2025). An investigation into how students determine the double entry of a financial transaction. *Accounting Education, 34*(1), 69–86. [https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accted/v34y2025i1p69-86.html](https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accted/v34y2025i1p69-86.html)
- Einig, S. (2013). Supporting students' learning: The use of formative online assessments. *Accounting Education, 22*(5), 425–444. [https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accted/v22y2013i5p425-444.html](https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accted/v22y2013i5p425-444.html)
- Gaffney, M. A., Ryan, D., & Wurst, C. (2010). Do online homework systems improve student performance? In A. H. Catanach & D. Feldmann (Eds.), *Advances in accounting education* (Vol. 11, pp. 49–68). Emerald. [https://emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S1085-4622%282010%290000011005](https://emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S1085-4622%282010%290000011005)
- Jonick, C., Schneider, J., & Boylan, D. (2017). The effect of accounting question response formats on student performance. *Accounting Education, 26*(4), 291–315. [https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accted/v26y2017i4p291-315.html](https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accted/v26y2017i4p291-315.html)
- Lucas, U., & Mladenovic, R. (2009). The identification of variation in students' understandings of disciplinary concepts: The application of the SOLO taxonomy within introductory accounting. *Higher Education, 58*, 257–283. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-009-9218-9](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-009-9218-9)
- Massoudi, D., Koh, S. K., Hancock, P. J., & Fung, L. (2017). The effectiveness of usage of online multiple choice questions on student performance in introductory accounting. *Issues in Accounting Education, 32*(4), 1–17. [https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/the-effectiveness-of-usage-of-online-multiple-choice-questions-on/](https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/the-effectiveness-of-usage-of-online-multiple-choice-questions-on/)
- Nagel, L., & van Eck, L. (2012). Sustainable learning through formative online assessment: Using quizzes to maintain engagement. *ASCILITE Publications*, 692–699. [https://publications.ascilite.org/index.php/APUB/article/view/1557](https://publications.ascilite.org/index.php/APUB/article/view/1557)
- Phillips, F., & Heiser, L. (2011). A field experiment examining the effects of accounting equation emphasis and transaction scope on students learning to journalize. *Issues in Accounting Education, 26*(4), 681–699. [https://doi.org/10.2308/iace-50051](https://doi.org/10.2308/iace-50051)
- Rai, A., & Sisneros, C. (2018). Evaluating pedagogy in educating business majors: An empirical analysis of teaching accounting without debits and credits. *Accounting and Financial Control, 2*(1), 15–26. [https://www.businessperspectives.org/index.php/component/zoo/evaluating-pedagogy-in-educating-business-majors-an-empirical-analysis-of-teaching-accounting-without-debits-and-credits](https://www.businessperspectives.org/index.php/component/zoo/evaluating-pedagogy-in-educating-business-majors-an-empirical-analysis-of-teaching-accounting-without-debits-and-credits)