The Cambridge AS & A Level Accounting (9706) May/June 2026 papers and mark schemes are out, and they’re free. All four papers, 9706/12 to 9706/42, can be downloaded and printed on the Tutopiya Learning Portal. Below is a breakdown of what each paper tested and how the mark scheme gave marks, taken from the papers themselves.

Key points from the 2026 9706 papers

• Bonus issues appeared twice: a multiple choice question combining a bonus and a rights issue on Paper 1, and a 3-mark retained earnings calculation on Paper 2, where reserves had to be used in the right order.
• Overheads and costing methods carried weight. Paper 2 had a 7-mark apportionment table, Paper 4 compared absorption costing with activity based costing (ABC), and Paper 1 had eight costing questions.
• Just in time (JIT) came up on Paper 2 and Paper 4, once as an advantage and a disadvantage, once as two disadvantages.
• Seven of the nine written questions had an “advise” part worth 5 to 7 marks. Each one gave 1 mark for a decision supported with a comment.
• Own figure (OF) marks were everywhere. Most final totals in the statements could still be earned after an early slip, as long as your method was right.

All May/June 2026 9706 papers

Paper	Code	Duration	Marks	What it tests
Paper 1 Multiple Choice	9706/12	1 hour	30	30 questions across the AS content (AS)
Paper 2 Fundamentals of Accounting	9706/22	1 hour 45 minutes	90	Four structured questions (AS)
Paper 3 Financial Accounting	9706/32	1 hour 30 minutes	75	Three questions using an insert (A Level)
Paper 4 Cost and Management Accounting	9706/42	1 hour	50	Two questions using an insert (A Level)

Timings and marks are taken from the front cover of each 2026 paper. Papers 2, 3 and 4 are answered on the question paper and you may use a calculator. Papers 3 and 4 put the data in a separate insert (Sources A, B and C). For the full syllabus content, see the Cambridge International AS & A Level Accounting 9706 syllabus.

Which variant is this? Cambridge sets different versions of each paper (variants) for different time zones. The papers here are variant 2: 9706/12, /22, /32 and /42. All variants cover the same syllabus at the same difficulty, so variant 2 is just as good for practice as the one your school sat.

Download the 9706 May/June 2026 papers →

What came up in 9706 Paper 2 (Fundamentals of Accounting), May/June 2026?

Paper 2 had four compulsory questions worth 90 marks: two of 30 marks and two of 15.

Question	Topic	Marks
1	Airport Transfers (sole trader, incomplete records): total revenue from credit and cash customers, including discounts allowed and an irrecoverable debt (7); cash stolen (3); profit or loss on disposal of a vehicle (3); statement of profit or loss (12); advise on a computerised accounting system (5)	30
2	Naila (retailer): cost of sales (1) and purchases (2) from gross margin and inventory turnover; trade payables turnover in days with the formula (2); trading section for the next year (5); advise on dropping slow-selling items (5)	15
3	J Limited: revised profit after correcting the allowance for irrecoverable debts, depreciation and tax (4); retained earnings after a bonus issue (3); statement of financial position (8)	15
4	Y Limited (food manufacturer): overhead apportionment and reapportionment of two service departments (7); overhead absorption rates (4); two reasons for over-absorption (2); selling price of an order (6); advise on a special order at a lower margin (5); two features of AVCO (2); one advantage and one disadvantage of JIT (4)	30

What made it hard: Question 1(a) gave the discount as 2.5% for early payment, so you had to work it back from the amount received. The money paid by customers who took the discount was 97.5% of what they owed, so the scheme found the discount as 2.5/97.5 of that amount ($305), not 2.5% of it.

What came up in 9706 Paper 3 (Financial Accounting)?

Paper 3 had three compulsory questions worth 25 marks each, based on Sources A to C in the insert.

Question	Topic	Marks
1	A club with a café: two differences between club and trading business statements (2); life membership fees and an accounting concept (5); café statement of profit or loss (5); income and expenditure account (8); statement of financial position extract showing the accumulated fund and liabilities (5)	25
2	W plc: two uses of a statement of cash flows (2); statement of cash flows under IAS 7 (18); advise whether to occupy a new building or let it out (5)	25
3	G Limited takes over a partnership (Andy and Ben): purchase consideration including goodwill (4); partners’ capitals before the takeover (3); realisation profit shares (4); capital accounts with final settlement (5); G Limited’s journal entry (4); advise on buying a leather supplier for shares plus a directorship (5)	25

Watch for: the 18-mark cash flow statement put marks on the workings. Profit from operations, depreciation on two asset groups, the loss on disposal, tax paid, share issue proceeds and dividends paid each had their own working.

What came up in 9706 Paper 4 (Cost and Management Accounting)?

Paper 4 had two compulsory questions worth 25 marks each.

Question	Topic	Marks
1	Budgeting (Source A): two disadvantages of JIT (2); purchases budget for three months (4); cash budget for three months, including supplier discounts, labour, a bonus and $40 000 of advertising (12); advise whether to cut the advertising budget (7)	25
2	Costing two products, P1 and P2 (Source B): unit production cost with absorption costing (6); two advantages and two disadvantages of ABC (4); change in overheads per unit under ABC, stating increase or decrease (8); advise on using the same 50% mark-up for P2 (7)	25

What this means for you: under ABC, P1’s overheads per unit fell and P2’s rose. Question 2(d) rewarded you for using that result: with lower overheads, P1 could carry a higher mark-up, and P2 might need its own pricing.

What came up in 9706 Paper 1 (Multiple Choice)?

Paper 1 has 30 questions, one mark each. In 2026 they covered:

• Principles and users (3): advantages of a limited company, the prudence principle in inventory valuation, what different users want from accounts.
• Double entry and non-current assets (4): gross profit in a trial balance, revenue expenditure on a van, part exchange entries, correcting profit after a disposal.
• Verification and control (5): benefits of reconciliations, a suspense account, a bank reconciliation, sales and purchases ledger control accounts.
• Adjustments and correcting profit (5): the allowance for irrecoverable debts, correcting draft profit, the trading section, private fuel charged to the business, opening capital.
• Partnerships and companies (4): the Partnership Act 1890, a partner’s current account with a loan, items that don’t change total equity, a bonus then rights issue.
• Ratios (1): non-current asset turnover.
• Costing (8): overtime wages, job costing, cost per unit in a batch, an overhead absorption rate, marginal compared with absorption profit (twice), break-even assumptions and cost-volume-profit analysis.

How the 9706 May/June 2026 mark scheme gives marks

Accounting is mostly marked figure by figure. The 2026 schemes start with a key to their abbreviations, and knowing it tells you exactly where marks sit.

1. OF means “own figure”, and it protects you from one mistake. If you carry your own wrong figure into a later step and use it correctly, you still get the marks labelled OF. In Paper 2 Question 1(d), revenue (from part a), stolen cash (from part b), the gain on disposal (from part c) and the final profit of $9230 were all OF marks. One error in part (a) does not wreck the 12-mark statement.

2. OF only works if your method is complete. The general rule is that full marks go to a correct and complete method using your own figure. Paper 3 Question 3 shows the chain: the purchase consideration from 3(a) fed the realisation account, the realisation profit was split 2:1 between the partners, and each share was marked OF in the capital accounts. Skip a step and there is nothing for OF to attach to.

3. Some marks are “CF”: correct figure only. CF means the figure must be right with no extraneous items. An extraneous item is anything that shouldn’t be in the calculation, for example an expense like salaries included in gross profit. Including one wrong item can cost a mark even when your arithmetic is perfect.

4. “Row” marks need every figure in the row. In the Paper 2 Question 4(a) overhead table, each of the first three rows (depreciation, power, rent) earned one mark only if all four department figures were correct. The two reapportionment rows and totals were then marked OF. Curly brackets work the same way: Paper 4 Question 2(c) gave one mark for each pair of P1 and P2 figures, so both had to be right.

5. Signs and labels carry marks. The schemes state that marks for figures depend on the correct sign or direction, so cash outflows need brackets in a statement of cash flows. Paper 2 Question 1(c) gave a separate mark for writing “profit” after the $1900. Paper 2 Question 4(b) gave a mark for each rate ($8.06 and $27.12) and another for stating the basis: per machine hour for baking, per labour hour for packaging.

6. Formulas earn their own mark when asked for. Paper 2 Question 2(b) asked you to state the formula. One mark went on trade payables divided by credit purchases times 365, and one on the answer, 36 days, which was itself OF from your purchases figure.

7. “Advise” questions are points plus a decision. These are not levelled. Paper 2 Question 1(e) gave up to 2 marks for advantages of a computerised system, up to 2 for disadvantages and 1 for a decision supported with a comment. Paper 4 Question 1(d) allowed up to 6 marks for comments and 1 for the decision. A one-sided answer can’t reach full marks, and a decision with no reason earns nothing extra.

8. “Explain” means point plus development. Paper 2 Question 4(g) gave 2 marks for the JIT advantage and 2 for the disadvantage: 1 for the point and 1 for its consequence. “Less inventory held” scored 1; adding “so storage costs fall” scored 2.

Which papers should you sit?

• AS Level: Paper 1 and Paper 2.
• Full A Level: Papers 1, 2, 3 and 4.

All questions on every paper are compulsory, so there are no options to choose between. Papers 3 and 4 depend on the insert; practise reading a source and finding the figures you need before you start writing.

How to use the 2026 papers as a mock

1. Keep them for last. Use older 9706 papers for topic practice and save May/June 2026 for a timed mock close to your exam.
2. Show every working. Label each one (W1, W2) as the scheme does, so a single error still leaves your OF marks intact.
3. Check your format. Mark your statements for headings, the correct sign on every figure and the right order of items.
4. Rework the trickiest figures. Try the 2.5/97.5 discount, the bonus issue from share premium first, and the overhead reapportionment again without notes.
5. Write every “advise” answer in three parts: at least two points for, at least two against, then a decision with a reason.

More A Level Accounting resources

• A Level past papers 2026: all subjects

🔍 Looking for a specific past paper? Use our free Past Paper Finder to search by subject, year and exam board.

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Frequently asked questions

Are the 9706 May/June 2026 past papers free? +

Yes. All four question papers (9706/12, 9706/22, 9706/32 and 9706/42) and their official mark schemes are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

What came up in 9706 Paper 2 May/June 2026? +

Paper 2 had four questions: incomplete records and a statement of profit or loss for a taxi business, ratios and a trading section for a retailer, a company's revised profit, retained earnings after a bonus issue and statement of financial position, and overhead apportionment and job pricing for a food manufacturer.

What is the own figure rule in 9706? +

OF means own figure. If you carry a wrong figure from an earlier part or working into a later one and use it correctly, you still get the marks labelled OF. In 2026 the profit for the year on Paper 2 Question 1 was an OF mark, so an earlier revenue error did not cost it.

How are the advise questions in 9706 marked? +

They are points-based. The mark scheme lists points for and against with a maximum for each side, plus 1 mark for a decision supported with a comment. On Paper 4 Question 1(d), for example, up to 6 marks went on comments and 1 on the decision.

Why can't I find 9706/21 or 9706/23 for 2026? +

Only variant 2 of the May/June 2026 papers is on the portal at the moment. Cambridge sets different variants for different time zones; variants 1 and 3 test the same syllabus in the same format, so variant 2 prepares you just as well.

When will the October/November 2026 9706 papers be available? +

Cambridge usually releases the October/November papers in the new year. We add them to the Learning Portal once they are published.

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