What are the five CA PRC papers, and what does each examine?
The short answer
PRC is five papers, each examined by computer-based objective questions (multiple choice and short objective items such as fill-in and matching), each of 100 marks with a 50 per cent pass mark, each sat and passed on its own in ICAP sessions held several times a year. The five: Business Writing and Comprehension Skills (grammar, vocabulary, comprehension and business documents), Quantitative Methods (business mathematics, financial mathematics, calculus basics and statistics), Principles of Economics (micro and macro), Introduction to Accounting (double entry through to the financial statements of sole traders and partnerships), and Introduction to Business (organisations, environment, management, functions, ethics and basic company law). Quantitative Methods and Introduction to Accounting are the papers with the lowest pass rates, because both are technique examined under time, and both are passed by working questions rather than reading.
What is the format, and how do sessions work?
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Papers | Five, each 100 marks. |
| Question types | Multiple choice, multiple response, fill-in-the-blank, matching and other objective items on computer. Working is not marked; the answer is. |
| Duration | In the region of ninety minutes per paper; ICAP states it per paper. |
| Pass mark | Fifty per cent in each paper. Papers are passed individually and a pass is retained. |
| Sessions | Several a year at ICAP examination centres in the major cities; papers are entered per session, so a student can sit two or three at a time. |
| Marking | Computer-marked; results within weeks. Check the regulations for whether wrong answers are penalised in the current scheme. |
| Attempts | As the regulations provide; a failed paper is re-entered at a later session. |
Business Writing and Comprehension Skills
- Grammar: parts of speech, tenses, agreement, articles, prepositions, active and passive, direct and indirect speech, sentence correction.
- Vocabulary: synonyms, antonyms, word formation, commonly confused words, business vocabulary.
- Comprehension: passages with objective questions on main idea, detail, inference and vocabulary in context.
- Writing skills examined objectively: sentence and paragraph construction, ordering, summarising, and the conventions of business letters, emails, memos, reports and meeting documents.
- Practise on Business Writing and Comprehension. The paper is the most passable of the five for a candidate with sound English, and the least passable for one who has never studied grammar as rules.
Quantitative Methods
| Half | Chapters | What the questions look like |
|---|---|---|
| Business mathematics | Fractions, percentages, ratios and indices; linear and quadratic equations and inequalities; simultaneous equations and matrices; financial mathematics (simple and compound interest, discounting, annuities, net present value); linear programming; differentiation and optimisation. | Numerical: compute the value, solve the equation, find the optimum. Speed on a calculator and the formula sheet decide the mark. |
| Statistics | Data collection and presentation; measures of central tendency and dispersion; index numbers; correlation and regression; probability and probability distributions (binomial, Poisson, normal); sampling and estimation. | Numerical and conceptual: compute a statistic, read a table, apply a distribution, interpret a result. |
This is the paper most students fail first. The mathematics is not advanced, but there is a great deal of it, the questions are numerical and exact, and the time is short. Practise every chapter on Quantitative Methods until each formula is automatic; the method is in how to pass PRC.
Principles of Economics
- Microeconomics: demand and supply, elasticity, consumer behaviour, production and costs, market structures (perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly), factor markets.
- Macroeconomics: national income and its measurement, money and banking, inflation, unemployment, fiscal and monetary policy, international trade and balance of payments, economic growth and development, with Pakistani context.
- Conceptual questions with some numerical ones (elasticity, national income identities, multipliers). Practise on Economics, where the micro and macro chapters map to the paper.
Introduction to Accounting
| Chapter | What you must be able to do |
|---|---|
| Accounting principles and the framework | Concepts, the accounting equation, users of accounts. |
| Double entry and books of prime entry | Record transactions in journals and day books; know which book a transaction enters. |
| Ledger accounts and the trial balance | Post to ledgers, balance accounts, extract a trial balance. |
| Bank reconciliation and control accounts | Reconcile a cash book to a bank statement; prepare receivables and payables control accounts. |
| Accruals, prepayments and provisions | Adjust expenses and income to the period; account for doubtful debts. |
| Depreciation and non-current assets | Straight-line and reducing-balance methods; disposals; the asset register. |
| Inventory valuation | FIFO, weighted average; cost versus net realisable value. |
| Correction of errors and suspense accounts | Identify the error type; correct through journal and suspense. |
| Financial statements of sole traders | Prepare the statement of profit or loss and the statement of financial position from a trial balance with adjustments. |
| Partnership accounts | Appropriation, current and capital accounts, admission and retirement basics. |
| Incomplete records | Reconstruct figures from incomplete information using control accounts and margins. |
The paper is examined objectively, but every objective question is a small computation: the closing balance, the depreciation charge, the corrected profit. It is passed by preparing every kind of adjustment until it is mechanical. The full set is on the PRC practice page, which narrows the accounting bank to exactly these chapters.
Introduction to Business
- Business and its environment: forms of organisation (sole trader, partnership, company), the economic, legal, social and technological environment, stakeholders.
- Management: organisational structure, planning, leadership, motivation, teams, communication.
- Functions: marketing, human resources, finance and banking, information systems, at an introductory level.
- Ethics and governance: business ethics, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance basics.
- Company law basics in Pakistan: incorporation, directors, shares, the Companies Act at an introductory level.
- Conceptual and definitional questions that reward reading the study text closely and knowing the terms. Practise on Introduction to Business.
Which papers do students fail, and why?
- Quantitative Methods, because it is a large numerical syllabus examined exactly and under time, and because students from arts and commerce backgrounds have not done mathematics since matric.
- Introduction to Accounting, because each question is a computation that must be exactly right, and because the adjustments (accruals, depreciation, errors) are learned as rules rather than practised as problems.
- Business Writing, for candidates whose English is conversational rather than grammatical; the grammar section is rules, and rules can be learned.
- Economics and Introduction to Business are passed by most candidates who read the study text and do the objective questions; they are failed by candidates who sit them unprepared alongside a harder paper.
The order in which to sit the papers, and a plan for each session, are in the CA PRC study plan. The whole qualification beyond PRC is in CA in Pakistan explained.