Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Objective, system and historical background, constitutional provisions and ethics 8-12
Income tax 60-70
Sales tax 20-30
Total 100
Syllabus
Ref Contents Level
A Objective, system and historical background, constitutional provisions and ethics
b Constitutional provisions
1 Federal financial procedures (Article 78 to 88 of the Constitution of Pakistan)
2 Provincial financial procedures (Article 118 to 127 of the Constitution of Pakistan)
c Ethics
1 Ethics for tax legislation
2 Ethics for taxpayers
3 Ethics for tax implementing authorities
4 Tax evasion and avoidance
B Income Tax
1 Chapter I – Preliminary (concepts of terms defined section 2 sub-section 1, 5, 5A, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11A, 19,
19C, 20, 21, 22, 23, 29, 29A, 29C, 36, 37, 38, 41, 44A, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 68)
2 Chapter II – Charge of tax (excluding section 7)
3 Chapter III – Tax on Taxable income (Excluding Section 29A, 30 and 31)
4 Chapter IV – (Part I, II and III) – Common rules (Excluding Sections 78 and 79)
5 Chapter V Part I – Central concepts 2
6 Chapter V Part II Div I and II – Individuals (Excluding Section 88A)
7 Chapter V Part III – Association of persons
8 Chapter VII Part II – Taxation of foreign-source income of residents
9 Chapter X Part I – Returns
10 Chapter X Part II – Assessments
11 Chapter X Part III – Appeals
12 Chapter X Part VIII – Records, Information Collection and Audit (Section174 and 177)
13 The Income Tax Rules related to the above chapters of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001
14 First and Second Schedule attached to the Income Tax Ordinance 2001
C Sales Tax
Compared with the many hours learning the subject, most students spend very little time actually considering in
detail how to tackle the examination. You may be one of them, and we would like you to start planning now for that
day when you will need to be able to demonstrate what you have learnt
The first thing is that when examiners set an examination they are looking at it on the basis that they want good
students to get a pass mark. There are, however, quite a large number of students who will fail, not because they
haven’t put in enough hours on their studies, nor because they are unintelligent, but simply because they throw away
Remain calm because you will never know more than 80% of the content of the exam
During the first 15 reading minutes read the requirement at the end of the question first and
then the question
Underline important words
Always attempt the easiest questions first and theory before numerical
Draw an Order of Preference Table on the exam sheet like the one given below because
planning how to attempt the paper before beginning saves a lot of time and trouble later and
gives you clear direction and time limits:
Q#
(in order of ease) 3 8 6 1 4 5 2 7
Marks 12 15 5 10 8 18 10 12
Time
(marks x 1 mines) 12 15 5 10 8 18 10 12
Note the marks allocated to the question because they represent the maximum time you can
spend on the question
Leave a question when time up no matter what because it is better to lose the few difficult
marks than lose the other easy marks in every remaining question
SO BUY A NEW REGISTER AND SOLVE ALL PAST PAPER PRACTICE QUESTIONS GIVEN WITH EACH
LECTURE EXACTLY AS YOU WOULD ATTEMPT THEM IN THE EXAM!
EMPHASIZE ON YOUR EXAM TECHNIQUE AND PRESENTATION BECAUSE USING A LOT OF REGISTERS
NOW WILL SAVE A LOT OF EXAM REPITITION FEES LATER!
1. Learn the content, make summarized notes for last day revision, attempt past papers
2. Daily marking of previous day’s summary! Cumulative marks will show if you’re a pass
3. Solve past papers simultaneously if possible
4. Mark off every past paper and text book and syllabus item covered
5. Test every Monday for preceding week studied items under exam conditions(revision Saturday)
The notes taught in class are organized to provide you with what has been found to be the most appropriate
To make best use of this resource, you should consider the following as being a proven path
to success:
l Learn the meaning of each new term as it appears. Do not leave learning what terms mean
until you are revising for an exam. If you don’t remember what terms mean, your knowledge and ability to will be
l Attempt each topic’s past papers immediately after you study that topic. This is very
important. Do not look at the answers before you attempt the questions – you’ll just be cheating yourself. Once
you have answered one, check your answer against the given answer and be sure you understand it before moving
questions then we can tell you now that you will not pass your examinations. You should first
attempt each question, then check your answer fully against the answers. What you should not do is perform a
‘ticking’ exercise. By this we mean that you should not simply compare the question with the answer and tick off the
that assists decision-making. Work hard at presenting your work as neatly as possible. There are two subjects
we would like you to consider very carefully – making best use of the end of chapter past paper
You simply have to get up to a good speed in answering questions: you will always fail examinations if you are a
very slow worker. Adequately prepared students are those who not only have the knowledge, but have also been
trained to work quickly and, at the same time, maintain accuracy and neatness.
Speed itself is not enough. You also have to be neat and tidy, and follow all the proper practices
The examiner
What you should say to yourself is: ‘Suppose I were in charge of an office, doing this type of
accounting work, what would I say if one of my assistants put on my desk a sheet of paper
with information on it written in the same manner as my own efforts in attempting this
question?’ Just look at some of the work you have done in the past. Would you have told your
assistant to go back and do the work again because it is untidy? If you say that about your own
We can imagine quite a few of you groaning at all this, and if you do not want to pass the
examination please do not follow these instructions. If you do want to pass, and your work is untidy, whatcan you
do about it? Well, the answer is simple enough: start right now to be neat and orderly in
your work. Quite a lot of students have said to us over the years: ‘I may be giving you untidy work
now but, when I actually get into the exam room, I will then do my work neatly enough.’ This is
as near impossible as anything can be. You cannot suddenly become able to do accounting work
neatly, and certainly not when you are under the stress and strain of an examination. Even the
neatest worker may well find in an examination that their work may not be of its usual standard
as nervousness will cause them to make mistakes. If you are an untidy worker
now, your work in an examination is likely to be even more untidy.
Always remember in examinations that you should try to make life easier for the examiner.
Give the examiner what he/she wants, in the way that he/she wants it. If you do, you will get
better marks. Make their job harder than it needs to be and you will suffer.
Time planning
One of the problems with examinations is that students are expected to do a lot of work in a relatively short time.
The marks allotted to each question will indicate how long you should take in tackling the
question. Most examinations are of three hours’ duration, i.e. 180 minutes. This means that in a
normal examination, with 100 marks in total, a 20-mark question should be allocated 20 per
cent of the time, i.e. 20% 180 36 minutes. Similarly, a question worth 30 marks should
take up 30 per cent of the time, i.e. 30% 180 54 minutes, and so on. Alternatively it is 1.8
If the question is in parts, and the marks awarded are shown against each part, then that will
give you a clue as to the time to be spent on each part. If part of the question asks for a description,
for instance, and only 3 marks are awarded to that part, then you should not spend twenty
minutes on a long and detailed description. Instead a brief description, taking about five minutes,
is what is required.
Always tackle the easiest question first, then the next easiest question and so on. Leave the most
difficult question as the last one to be attempted. Why is this good advice? The fact is, most
examiners usually set what might be called ‘warm-up’ questions. These are usually fairly short,
and not very difficult questions, and the examiner will expect you to tackle these first.
You may be able to do the easiest question in less than the time allocated.
Even where all the questions are worth equal marks, you are bound to find some easier than
others. It is impossible for an examiner to set questions which are equally as difficult as each
other. So, remember, start with the easiest question. This will give you a feeling of confidence. It
Do not expect that these ‘warm-up’ questions will be numbered 1 and 2 on your examination
paper. Most accounting examinations start off with a rather long question, worth quite a lot of
marks, as question number 1 on the paper. Over the years we have advised students not to tackle
these questions first. A lot of students are fascinated by the fact that such a question is number 1,
that it is worth a lot of marks, and their thinking runs: ‘If I do this question first, and make a
good job of it, then I am well on the way to passing the examination.’
The last point concerning time allocation which we want to get through is that you should
attempt each and every question as required. On each question the first few marks are the easiest
to get. For instance, on an essay question it is reasonably easy to get, say, the first 5 marks in a
20-mark question. Managing to produce a perfect answer to get the last 5 marks, from 15 to 20,
This means that in an examination of, say, five questions with 20 marks possible for each
question, there is not much point in tackling three questions only and trying to make a good job
of them. The total possible marks would be 60 marks, and if you had not achieved full marks for
each question, in itself extremely unlikely, you could easily fall below the pass mark of, say,
50 marks. It is better to leave questions unfinished when your allotted time, calculated as shown
This brings out the meaning of a question so that it is difficult to misunderstand the question. For instance, let us
Many students will write down all they know about departmental accounts, how to draw them
up, how to apportion overheads between departments, how to keep columnar sales and purchases
The question is now seen to be concerned not with describing departmental accounts, but
Lastly, if the question says ‘Draft a report on . . .’ then the answer should be in the form of a
report; if it says ‘List the . . .’ then the answer should consist of a list. Similarly ‘Discuss . . .’ asks
You should therefore ensure that you are going to give the examiner
If you do not comply with (i) you may lose all the marks. If you manage to fulfil (i) but do not
satisfy the examiner on (ii) you will still lose a lot of marks.
Often – too often – students spend time writing out the text of essay questions before they set
about answering them. This is a complete waste of time. It will not gain marks and should never
be done.
If your plans don’t work out, you may find yourself with a question you could answer, but
simply do not have the time to do it properly. It is better to write a short note to the examiner to
that effect, and put down what you can of the main points in an abbreviated fashion. This will
show that you have the knowledge and should gain you some marks.
Summary
Remember:
4 Finish off answering each question when your time allocation for the question is up.
6 Do remember to be neat, also include all proper headings, dates, sub-totals, etc. A lot of marks
7 Only answer as many questions as you are asked to tackle by the examiner. Extra answers will
8 Underline the key words in each question to ensure that you answer the question set, and not
Best of luck with your examination. We hope you get the rewards you deserve!