Commerce and Accountancy Books for UPSC Mains

Commerce & Accountancy is one of the optionals offered by the UPSC for the mains exam. It finds a few takers every year though not as much as public administration or geography. It is generally recommended for people who have had commerce in their graduation or higher levels. This article gives a few tips to prepare for commerce & accountancy optional in the UPSC mains exam.

Commerce is a technical subject and so only suggested to those with prior knowledge about it. It is also a tad lengthy in terms of the syllabus. Check out the UPSC syllabus for commerce here. However, a plus point of this subject is that you can score good marks in numerical problems. Only thing is you need to practice and have sound knowledge in it. In addition, most of the concepts would have already been done by you during graduation.

There are two papers in the optional subject – Paper I and Paper II.

Commerce and Accountancy Optional Syllabus

Commerce & Accountancy Paper I

• Financial Accounting: Refer to J R Monga & D S Rawat. Focus area should be accounting standards. For the numericals, presentation is important, so give proper working notes along with them.
• Cost Accounting: Refer to Maheshwari & Mittal. Focus on theory and numericals equally.
• Taxation: Refer to Girish Ahuja. Here questions are of a graduation level only. Theory is important here also like exceptions to any rule/section, etc.
• Auditing: Refer to Aruna Jha.
• Financial Management: Refer to R P Rastogi. This portion may seem a bit tough. While you prepare focus on the different models, concepts, terms, etc.
• Financial Markets and Institutions: Refer to Bharati V Pathak. Also look up steps taken by RBI, IRDA, SEBI, etc.
• Focus on numericals as they can fetch you really high marks.
• Keep a note of formulas and adjustments. Make a sheet of them so that your revision is easier.

Commerce & Accountancy Paper II

• This paper consists of theory only and includes organisation theory, organisation behaviour, human resource management and industrial relations.
• Make suitable notes for the topics in this paper.
• Make sure that while you write your answers you give more of a HR tone rather than a general or GS paper tone.
• Use examples to justify and explain your answers.
• You should also use diagrams wherever possible.

Commerce & Accountancy is an optional where you can score brilliantly if you apply properly. With the right preparation strategy and good answer writing practice, you should be able to get good marks in the two optional papers.

Visit BYJU’S Website for strategy and articles on free IAS prep and all the latest on UPSC IAS exam.

Also see: