Syllabus for AFA Post - LDCE

 Syllabus for AFA Post - LDCE 

• Authority: Railway Board Letter No. E(GP)/2022/2/4 dated 22.07.2022  Click for the Railway Board letter 

SN	Topic	Marks	Marks
1	General Principles of Government Accounting and Audit with Special reference to Railways	15
2	Books & Budget including Traffic Book	15
3	Traffic Accounts & Statistics	15
4	Establishment	15
5	General Expenditure	15
6	Workshop Accounts	15
7	Stores Accounts	15
	Professional Subject	105	105 Marks
9	General Knowledge	25
10	Official Language (Optional)	15	40 Marks
	Part II	40	40 Marks
11	Part III - Management Accounts & Financial Justification for Expenditure	30	30 Marks
	Grand Total		175 Marks

  

Comparison of New Pattern with 175 marks with old pattern i.e., 2 Papers with 150 Marks each

Old Pattern		New Pattern		Change
Topic	Marks	Topic	Marks
General Knowledge	25 Marks	General Knowledge	25 Marks	No change
English	25 Marks	English	Nil	Removed English portion. Reduced 25 Marks
Official Language	15 Marks	Official Language	15 Marks	No change
General Principles of Government Accounting and Audit with Special reference to Railways	50 Marks	General Principles of Government Accounting and Audit with Special reference to Railways	15 Marks	Reduced 35 Marks
Books & Budget including Traffic Book	50 Marks	Books & Budget including Traffic Book	15 Marks	Reduced 35 Marks
Financial Justification for Expenditure	25 Marks	Financial Justification for Expenditure	15 Marks	Reduced 10 Marks
Management Accounting	25 Marks	Management Accounting	15 Marks	Reduced 10 Marks
Traffic Costing	25 Marks	Traffic Costing	Nil	Reduced 25 Marks
Traffic Accounts & Statistics (optional)	50 Marks	Traffic Accounts & Statistics (Compulsory)	15 Marks	Reduced 35 Marks
Establishment (Optional)	50 Marks	Establishment (Compulsory)	15 Marks	Reduced 25 Marks
General Expenditure (Optional)	50 Marks	General Expenditure (Compulsory)	15 Marks	Reduced 35 Marks
Stores Accounts (Optional)	25 Marks	Stores Accounts (Compulsory)	15 Marks	Reduced 10 Marks
Workshop Accounts (Optional)	25 Marks	Workshop Accounts (Compulsory)	15 Marks	Reduced 10 Marks

 

Appendix 2 exam - Major Reform - introduction of MCQ

Major change in the pattern of Appendix 2 Exam

80 % of GRP  - Objective type Questions

20 % of GRP - Descriptive type Question (one Question)

80 % of Optional paper - Objective type Questions

20 % of Optional paper - Descriptive type Question (one Question)

No Negative marks in Appendix 2 exam. 

Click below for Railway Board Letter

Appendix 2 exam - major reforms in exam pattern - Railway Board letter

Reforms in Appendix 2 exam and Group D to Group C exam in Accounts Dept

Reforms in Accounts Dept Examinations

Objective type questions - Departmental examinations (except Accounts & RPF)

Click for Railway Board letter - Objective type questions

Salient features of Railway Board Letter No.E(NG)I/2018/PM I/4 dated 14.12.2018 – RBE 196 -Objective question paper (multiple choice questions)

·         Applicable to  1) Promotion of staff within Group C by Selection or Non-selection process and 2) Group D to Group C

·         Question paper will be 100 % objective type. That means all the questions will be of multiple choice only.

·         Applicable to all Departments, except Accounts and RPF.

·         Large Question Bank may be created.  Questions can be selected randomly from the Question Bank.

·         Examination may be in CBT (Computer Based Test) or Pen & Paper mode.

·         Negative marks.  1/3^rd of marks will be deducted for wrong answers.

·         These new instructions would apply for those selections which are notified after the date of these instructions i.e., from 14.12.2018.

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 Reforms needed for Appendix 3 (IREM) Examination

Herein suggested the following few measures in connection with the Appendix 3 (IREM) examination conducted by the Railway Board. 

v It's time to initiate the reforms by revisit the structure, syllabus, pattern of the Appendix 3 (IREM) examination to suit the changing trends.

v The existing examination pattern, i.e., consists of six papers (descriptive nature) and syllabus areoutdated one.  It should be replaced by the two parts like “Prelims” and “Mains” in Civil Services exams, JEE, or many other competitive exams.

v The Preliminary exam should consists of multiple choice questions.  It is easy to conduct as well as test the basic knowledge of candidates, before allowing them to appear in Mains examination. Tests on English skills, Reasoning skills, computer skills should be included apart from General Rules & Procedures (covering all subjects) for selection of talented supervisors in Accounts Dept.

v The preliminary examination should be conducted online by taking advantage of Information Technology.  Thereby lot of time, expenditure will be saved with good transparency.

v  Removal of "With Books" Examination, because it has not served its purpose.  Instead, it creates confusion in the minds of candidates with the long list of carrying the codes and manuals.

Existing Papers	Proposed Papers
1. General Rules & Procedures – GRP	1. GRP –proposed to be held in multiple choice format instead of descriptive in Prelims stage
2. Advanced Book Keeping	2. Continued
3. Optional one (with Books)	3. To be deleted
4. Optional One (without Books)	4. Continued
5. Optional Two (with Books)	5. To be deleted
6. Optional Two (Without Books)	6. Continued

OVERALL

Existing	Proposed
Six Descriptive papers	One multiple choice Paper and Three Descriptive papers

v Lot of advantages to the Administration, if adopted the pattern as two stages instead of single stage (6 Descriptive papers)

v Example: If 2000 candidates are appearing Appendix -3 exam, the savings to the Administration is as follows.

In One stage (existing)	In Two stages (proposed)	Savings
12,000 Descriptive Answer sheet	3,000 Descriptive Answer sheets	9,000 Descriptive Answer Sheets
(Evaluation of 12,000 Descriptive answer papers i.e., 2000 x 6	(Evaluation of 3,000 Descriptive answer papers i.e., 1000 x 3 (descriptive) –With the assumption of filtration of 50 % candidates only in prelims exam (multiple choice questions)	Almost 3/4th savings - evaluation of 9,000  Descriptive answer papers

v Like other recruiting agencies i.e., UPSC, SSC, Time Table of Appendix-3 examinationto be announced in the beginning of year.  It enables the candidates to plan their preparedness for attempting the examination.

v  It should include a) Examination notification date, Last date for receipt of applications, Examination date, Date of announcement of results.

v Syllabus to be redesigned and made it simple and define clearly to suit the present trends, as the existing one is outmoded.  Subjects like Accrual accounting/Commercial accounting, costing, Information technology should be added to the syllabus.

v Many more changes may be initiated depending on the present requirements of Indian railways Accounts dept.