ACCA Financial Accounting (F3) Certification Practice Exam

In a trial balance, items that appear on the same side must have similar classifications, either as debits or credits. In this case, both carriage outwards and prepayments belong to the category of expenses.

Carriage outwards is an expense that a business incurs when goods are transported to customers. On the other hand, prepayments refer to costs that have been paid in advance for services or goods to be received in the future, also classified as expenses on the income statement.

Since both items are treated as expenses, they are recorded on the debit side of the trial balance, maintaining consistency in classification.

The other choices present a mix of items that do not consistently belong to one side. Drawings are typically a reduction in equity and therefore are not aligned with accruals, which represent liabilities on the credit side. Carriage inwards relates to inventory and typically appears as a cost of goods sold (an asset), while rental income is treated as a revenue. Purchase returns act as a reduction to purchases, which would appear on the credit side, while opening inventory is listed on the debit side, indicating a mismatch.