Rectify the following errors assuming that suspense account was opened. Ascertain the difference in trial bala

Numerical Questions · Q13

Q. Rectify the following errors assuming that suspense account was opened. Ascertain the difference in trial balance.

(a) Credit sales to Mohan ₹ 7,000 were recorded in Purchase Book. However, Mohan's account was correctly debited.

(b) Credit purchases from Rohan ₹ 9,000 were recorded in sales book. However, Rohan's account was correctly credited.

(c) Goods returned to Rakesh ₹ 4,000 were recorded in sales return book. However, Rakesh's account was correctly debited.

(d) Goods returned from Mahesh ₹ 1,000 were recorded through purchases return book. However, Mahesh's account was correctly credited.

(e) Goods returned to Naresh ₹ 2,000 were recorded through purchases book. However, Naresh's account was correctly debited.

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Concept understanding — Purchase Journal Entry

Purchase Journal Entry – A First Look

Think of a shopkeeper who buys goods to sell. Every time they bring stock into the shop, something changes: the shop now has more goods, but it also owes money (or has paid cash). The purchase journal entry is simply the accountant’s way of recording that moment — the moment goods come in.

The Everyday Intuition

You walk into a stationery shop and buy 50 notebooks for ₹2,000. From the shop’s point of view, two things happen at once:

The shop gains notebooks (an asset).
The shop loses cash (another asset) or owes the supplier (a liability).

The purchase entry captures both sides of that single transaction. It is not about the sale to a customer — that comes later. This is the inward movement of goods meant for resale.

The Precise Meaning

In Accountancy, a Purchase Journal Entry records the credit purchase of goods (stock-in-trade) for resale in the normal course of business. If the purchase is for cash, it goes into the Cash Book, not the Purchase Journal. The Purchase Journal (also called the Purchase Book) is specifically for credit purchases of goods.

Important

Only goods bought for resale are recorded here. Buying a computer for office use, or buying raw materials for manufacturing, is not a “purchase” in this sense — those are asset purchases and go elsewhere.

Why It Matters

Without this entry, the business would not know:

How much stock it holds.
How much it owes to each supplier.
The true cost of goods sold when calculating profit.

The Purchase Journal is the first step in the trading account. If you get this entry wrong, the entire profit figure goes wrong.

Accounting Treatment – The Golden Rule

For a credit purchase of goods, the rule is:

Debit Purchases Account (increase in expenses/goods)

Credit Supplier’s Personal Account (increase in liability)

The logic: Purchases is a nominal account (expense), so an increase is debited. The supplier is a personal account — when we owe them, we credit.

Example

On 5th April, bought goods from Ramesh for ₹10,000 on credit.

Journal Entry:

Date	Particulars	Debit (₹)	Credit (₹)
2024 Apr 5	Purchases A/c Dr.	10,000
	To Ramesh A/c		10,000
	(Being goods bought on credit from Ramesh)

Note

The narration “Being goods bought on credit from Ramesh” is mandatory in the journal. It explains the transaction in plain words.

If It Were a Cash Purchase

If the same goods were bought for cash, the entry would be:

Date	Particulars	Debit (₹)	Credit (₹)
2024 Apr 5	Purchases A/c Dr.	10,000
	To Cash A/c		10,000
	(Being goods bought for cash)

Notice: the credit side changes from a personal account (Ramesh) to a real account (Cash). The debit remains the same because the nature of the transaction — gaining goods — is unchanged.

The Purchase Book Format (Proforma)

The Purchase Journal itself (the book of original entry) has a standard format. Each credit purchase is recorded here before being posted to the ledger.

Purchase Book (Journal) Format: …

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Rectification (Suspense A/c opened):

Ref	Rectifying entry	Debit (₹)	Credit (₹)
(a)	Suspense A/c Dr — To Sales A/c 7,000, To Purchases A/c 7,000	14,000	14,000
(b)	Purchases A/c Dr 9,000, Sales A/c Dr 9,000 — To Suspense A/c	18,000	18,000
(c)	Suspense A/c Dr — To Sales Return A/c 4,000, To Purchase Return A/c 4,000	8,000	8,000
(d)	Sales Return A/c Dr 1,000, Purchase Return A/c Dr 1,000 — To Suspense A/c	2,000	2,000
(e)	Suspense A/c Dr — To Purchases A/c 2,000, To Purchase Return A/c 2,000	4,000	4,000

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Each entry was booked in the wrong subsidiary book while the party account was already correct, so one nominal/goods account is wrong and the balancing figure goes to Suspense. Netting all the Suspense postings shows the trial balance was short on the credit side by ₹6,000 — i.e. ₹6,000 excess debit.

Treatment. When a credit sale is wrongly put in the Purchases Book, Purchases gets debited (wrong) and the nominal effect on Sales is missing; the personal account being already correct means only the two goods/nominal accounts and the Suspense Account are touched. We remove the wrong debit/credit and record the missing one; any single-sided gap is squared through Suspense.

Analysis of each error

Ref	What the books show now	What is correct	Correction needed
(a)	Purchases Dr 7,000; Mohan Dr 7,000 (correct)	Mohan Dr; Sales Cr 7,000	Remove Purchases 7,000; record Sales Cr 7,000
(b)	Sales Cr 9,000; Rohan Cr 9,000 (correct)	Purchases Dr; Rohan Cr 9,000	Remove Sales 9,000; record Purchases Dr 9,000
(c)	Sales Return Dr 4,000; Rakesh Dr 4,000 (correct)	Rakesh Dr; Purchase Return Cr 4,000	Remove Sales Return 4,000; record Purchase Return Cr 4,000
(d)	Purchase Return Cr 1,000; Mahesh Cr 1,000 (correct)	Sales Return Dr; Mahesh Cr 1,000	Remove Purchase Return 1,000; record Sales Return Dr 1,000
(e)	Purchases Dr 2,000; Naresh Dr 2,000 (correct)	Naresh Dr; Purchase Return Cr 2,000	Remove Purchases 2,000; record Purchase Return Cr 2,000

Rectifying Journal Entries

Date	Particulars	Debit (₹)	Credit (₹)
(a)	Suspense A/c ..............................Dr	14,000
	To Sales A/c		7,000
	To Purchases A/c		7,000
	(Credit sales to Mohan wrongly entered in Purchases Book)
(b)	Purchases A/c ..............................Dr	9,000
	Sales A/c ..............................Dr	9,000
	To Suspense A/c		18,000
	(Credit purchases from Rohan wrongly entered in Sales Book)
(c)	Suspense A/c ..............................Dr	8,000
	To Sales Return A/c		4,000
	To Purchase Return A/c		4,000
	(Goods returned to Rakesh wrongly entered in Sales Return Book)
(d)	Sales Return A/c ..............................Dr	1,000
	Purchase Return A/c ..............................Dr	1,000
	To Suspense A/c		2,000
	(Goods returned from Mahesh wrongly entered in Purchase Return Book)
(e)	Suspense A/c ..............................Dr	4,000
	To Purchases A/c		2,000

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Same / Similar Concept — real previous-year questions on the same or a closely similar concept, not this exact question.

CBSE 2025Set MARCH1 mark
$Q. Bought goods for cash : Cash Book Bought goods on credit : __________$
›Reveal solutionSolution

Bought goods on credit is recorded in the Purchases Book (also called Purchases Journal).

In the Kerala Plus One (DHSE) Accountancy course, transactions are entered in the appropriate subsidiary (special-purpose) book:

Transaction Book of original entry
Bought goods for cash Cash Book
Bought goods on credit Purchases Book (Purchases Journal)
…

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CBSE 2025Set ANNUAL1 markMCQ
$Q. Which of the following transactions are recorded in Purchase Book?$
(a) All purchases
(b) All cash purchases
(c) All credit purchase of goods
(d) All credit sales
›Reveal solutionSolution

Correct option: (c) All credit purchase of goods.

The Purchase (Day) Book records only the credit purchases of goods in which the firm deals. Cash purchases go to the Cash Book, and credit purchase of assets goes through the …

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Transaction	Book of original entry
Bought goods for cash	Cash Book
Bought goods on credit	Purchases Book (Purchases Journal)
…

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Q.Rectify the following errors assuming that suspense account was opened. Ascertain the difference in trial balance.

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