Grade 12 Mathematical Literacy: Financial Document (repost )

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Hello, Math Monkey students, and welcome to my channel. If you've been here before, I welcome you back. It's been a minute. This is my little platform where I turn struggling math students into maths masters. And I offer a wide variety of resources to help students excel in grade 12 maths. From exam guides, hosting live workshops and programs, and tons of free videos and advice on my social media platforms. So, be sure to subscribe, follow me on those platforms. The details of how you can get hold of my resources are in the description box below. And in this video, I'm going to be looking at financial documents. I'm going to be teaching you what a financial document is, the different types of financial documents, and help you answer exam type questions on those documents. So, without further ado, let's jump into this video.

[00:00:56]>> [music] [music] >> Okay, so financial documents and you know as per usual we are starting right at the beginning. What is a financial document? And by now I'm pretty sure you do know this but essentially I want you to think of a financial document as a printed document that records or tracks the way money moves. Okay. So that's the purpose of the document is to be able to track have a record of how money moves, what transactions have taken place or what potential transactions will be taking place. Now financial documents can range from anything to a till slip, a bank statement, an invoice, a quote, any document that tells you what is happening with money.

[00:01:53]Okay. Now what do I want you guys to take note for as a strategy for your tests or for your exams? Firstly, whenever you get a financial document in a test or in an exam, you need to read all the information given in the document before you even read the questions or before you even attempt to answer. Literally, you look at every single number, every single word, every single value before you go to the questions.

[00:02:23]Secondly, you're going to ask yourself, okay, who is this document from? Who is this document for? Knowing the story behind the document is just as important as the information on the document.

[00:02:37]Then you need to make sure that this will come when you actually go through the document and read anything. You have to understand the transactions that's taking place, right? So think of a document as a story and you have to understand the story to be able to answer questions on the story, right? So you want to know which values are being added together, which values are being multiplied um with each other, you know, which values have been omitted. A lot of the times in exams and tests, they ask you um they they ask you to calculate the value that they've left out that they've omitted, right? And then also ask questions like does this include that? does this exclude that and highlight those sort of notes. This is essentially a strategy when answering a financial document questions because you need to know that any financial document can be given to you and you have to use your understanding, your knowledge that you've accumulated thus far to be able to interpret, understand what is actually happening on this document before you answer the questions. Okay.

[00:03:43]So, let's go through a few. So, the first document we're going to be looking at, and we're going to be doing a lot of documents. We're going to do quite a few in this video. Um, so if you need to watch this in bits, that's fine, but make sure that you get through the entire video. Right, the first one we're looking at a till slip. Now, you all have been you all are familiar with a till slip, right? You go to a shop, you buy a few things, then the till slip is essentially telling you, I've exchanged money for these items. So that is the transaction that a till slip is tracking, right? Then we look at okay, what is on the till slip? What did we buy? The things that's important here is obviously what shop is this and what's the details around the till slip. But then we're looking at what was bought.

[00:04:36]Was there any discount? But very important is excuse me which values include VAT and which values are zero rated VAT. Now zero rated VAT just means that there is no VAT added to those items. Okay. So all the other items will have VAT. Let's say it's 15%.

[00:04:59]um it's generally whatever the percentage is in the country at the time that you should be using in the test or in an exam. Okay. Um and that 15% won't necessarily be told to you in the exam.

[00:05:11]You are expected to know whatever the VAT value is in your country at the time that you write the exam. Okay. So that's essentially so when I get this I look okay this is a pick and pay till slip and I can see the details around this at the top and at the bottom and then I use all the items and then I look at the hashtag and the hashtag here says zero rated I look at the total I pay attention to how I paid so this was paid with a card this says I paid for 14 items and then these values at the bottom here is where students get confused okay So vet included right just means that this is the total for the till slip and this is the this is all the values that was added that is going to include that right so that means it's all of these values added together excluding the values that have the hashtag then the zero rated value is 148.99 these two values here should give you this value over here, right? And then the VAT, which in other words means the value that goes to the government that the shop is going to pay is going to be 10421 for this entire slip.

[00:06:33]Okay. So again, a till slip explains how we exchange um money for items. And then the things you are looking at is what was bought, how was I, how did I pay and then where was what's the story around the till slip and then also the information on that. I can guarantee you if they are asking you questions on a pay slip on a till slip they're going to be asking you that questions. So make sure that you understand. I do have a video on that. I think it's the one on percentages. Have a look at that. Okay.

[00:07:05]So let's answer a few questions. So I can so you can see what are the typical questions that they would ask you from a tillip. So here it says write down the name of the cashier. So obviously I will look here cashier and that will be Jasmine boys. Right. The second one will be calculate the percentage discount the customer received on the two ply toilet paper. Now, because I read through and went through the entire till slip before on looking at the questions, I automatically know where I'm going to find this information. So, I'm going to go here on my list. I'm going to then look for where is the toilet paper transaction. And you will see it's literally the first one over here. And it says calculate the percentage discount. So, they got 15 rand discount here. So this question is asking what percentage is 15 of 84.9.

[00:07:59]So we say 15 over 84.99 and multiply it by 100 and our percentage is 17.65%.

[00:08:08]So notice here whenever they ask you to give a percentage you multiply by 100 and if they ask you to or if there's a percentage in the question then you will have a divide by 100 uh in the calculation. Okay. Right. Next question.

[00:08:26]How many kiwis was bought? So again we look on the list. This is the list. We can see where everything is bought. We look for where are my kiwis over here.

[00:08:35]You'll see next to it, it says four each. So, there are four kiwis in the pack. Second one, calculate the cost per kiwi after the discount. So, if you notice here, we've got 44.99.

[00:08:51]Then, there was a discount of 13 rand.

[00:08:57]So, I'm first going to calculate, okay, what did I actually pay for all four of them? Okay, so it's the price minus the discount. So for the four kiwis, I paid 3125.

[00:09:10]Then I take that value and I divide it by four to find out what the price is of one. And that will give me 781.

[00:09:17]Note, you don't have to do or use include units in your calculations. It's only the unit in your final answer that matters. So that's why the rand is only visible in the final answer. And then when we're working with money, we round off to two decimal places. Fine. Next question. Define the term zerorated in the given context. Now I mentioned this and explained this to you in the beginning. These are items on the Tulsa that does not get a VAT charge added to it. Okay. So this value that you are paying for this item goes straight to the shop, goes straight to pick and pay and does not go to um the government.

[00:09:58]It's only the 104.21 21 which is the VAT value that ends up going there and that's for and that is included in the prices that do not have a hashtag next to it.

[00:10:10]Fine. Number five, the total of items that include that is 789.92.

[00:10:18]And you will see here's the value over here 798.92.

[00:10:23]This is now all the values including that. So it says show how the VAT is calculated using the VAT inclusive value. So they want to know show how VAT the actual just the VAT value of 104.21 is calculated if you use only the 798.92 value. They telling you you use the VAT inclusive value. So the way you're going to do this is you're going to either say what that value is multiplied by 15 / 115. I know there's a lot of teachers who teach this method. So I included it here. So that means that this is actually calculating what is the VAT value included in this value and that's 104 and 21 cents. The method that I show that is in my percentage video is you'll take the 798.92 and you divide it by 1.15. This will give you the value before that. So if this is the value after that, this is the value before that. Then the difference is the actual that value. So whichever method makes more sense to you, whichever method you feel comfortable with, that will be the method that you apply.

[00:11:35]And that is still slips.

[00:11:38]Okay, let's look at the next one. Now, we're going to be looking at a municipal account.

[00:11:44]Um, so a municipal account is essentially what um homes get uh for you know using municipal services like water uh sometimes electricity rates uh suridge etc. Right? So I want to explain to you how to interpret and understand a municipal account. Not only is this beneficial obviously to make sure that you understand in an actual exam, but this is actually the municipal account that you get in real life. If one day you choose to own a home, you are more than welcome to even I would even recommend that you ask your parents to see yours so that you guys can analyze that document because I can't tell you how so many people um don't know how to interpret their own municipal accounts cuz they see a lot of numbers, they see a lot of things and it confuses them and then they panic and then you know they don't go into but this is something this is a skill that you can always make sure okay am I being charged correctly and then really go through your accounts knowing what it is that you're being charged for. So, let's look at this municipal account. Firstly, on a municipal municipal account, you'll generally get the first page that looks like this. This is the top of the first page. I couldn't fit it all underneath each other, but essentially these will be underneath each other on an actual um municipal account, right? And this essentially tells you what is the who this is for and who this is from. And then it tells you a summary of what you owe, what the bill is, and what the balance is. And then on the right here, they give you extra bits of information by when it should be paid, um how it should be paid, etc., and the different pay points over here. So this entire page you can see as the summary of this account.

[00:13:36]Later on in the other parts of this document, they show you how the different values or how they got to this value. But the first page essentially is if you want to know exactly what you owe, what you need to pay, etc. will be given straight to you on the first page.

[00:13:53]Okay. So, um I'm going to go through this in detail when we look at the questions, but I just want to sort of explain the whole document and then we'll sort of break it down and see um how we would answer questions on this.

[00:14:06]Okay. So now this is the first page.

[00:14:09]This is what the first page would look like. This is what the second page would look like. So the second page basically tells you how the values on the first page was actually calculated. Right? So think of it as this is my total payment but this payment has got four different subsections before I got to that total.

[00:14:29]So each four is what's going to be explained now. So the first thing you have is property rates. Okay. And then they explain to you, they show you how the property rates was calculated. And then essentially this is now your total for property rates which is 46 rand 48.

[00:14:47]Right? Then excuse me the second part here is water.

[00:14:54]And here again it tells you the kil how you were charged and the total then for the water was 381.84 84. On the right, the refuge. This is for picking up the bin, the truck that comes every week.

[00:15:08]Sorry guys, I seem to be getting a wind attack at the moment. Um, so we've got refuge. So for picking up for this month will be 10287 and then you have seage. Um, and this is then charged as 203.07.

[00:15:28]So that's for flushing your pipes etc. Right? Then it says here add 15% on amounts marked with and above. So that's the that value and then the actual total value is then 837.43.

[00:15:45]So in other words for this specific money the charge is 83743 cents. Now let's go back to the first page. You will notice here it says latest account which is 83743.

[00:16:02]So this is essentially the summary of all four of these. Okay. Then I also want to just bring to your attention that what is actually happening on this first page. So if we look at this it says previous account balance was 2890.01.

[00:16:19]So this means what did they owe right from the previous account? So they didn't pay all the money off. They owed 20 2,891.

[00:16:33]However, on the 14th of the 8th, they made a payment of 5,72.61.

[00:16:41]Do you see that? That's actually more than what they owe. So that means that they end up having a credit of 2182.60.

[00:16:51]So think of when you have a credit in a game, right? When you've got credits in a game like um so if you've got five credits that that means that you every every game you play, you use that credit, right? So that means that credit is actually in your favor, right? So this person has now paid more. So they've got credit. So they can use and get um and and and as the months go on they can be charged but they might not necessarily have to pay in because they still have credit.

[00:17:21]So in this case they have 2,18260 credit then this month which I've just explained how they got to this value which is the 837.43 this month is um this is the payment for that month. Right? So again we then take this value and we now add it right to this to get the 1346.17.

[00:17:49]Okay. Now why do we add? Remember this is in the minus.

[00:17:53]So we're going from minus 2182.60 plus 837.43.

[00:18:00]That will give us a value of 1345.17.

[00:18:04]This minus indicates it is still a credit. So technically if they have a bill next month of 1345.17 they don't have to pay anything in. So the 5072 was really a big bulk payment that sort of gave them leeway for the next few months. Okay. So the total value here which is 1345.17 is essentially what credit they have at the end of this account. And here on the right it sort of gives you the summary.

[00:18:38]It says total due if not paid in cash.

[00:18:40]Notice this is minus. So nothing actually has to be paid. None of these have to be paid. If these were values without the minus then those values actually have to be paid at any of these outlets.

[00:18:53]Okay. So that's how a municipal account works.

[00:18:58]Now let's answer some questions on that.

[00:19:00]So the first question is to whom is the account addressed to. Now we all can see that it's under the barcode here. It's Adrian devel.

[00:19:09]Second one write down the account number. So this question is just testing have you looked at what all the information. So I go to this block here at the top. I see okay here's the account number and that's the answer that I write down.

[00:19:22]Okay, next one. It says, show how the value of 2182.60 was calculated. Now, technically, you'll notice that this is actually a negative number. So, this 2182.60 is actually a negative number. So, how was that calculated? They took what they owe, which is a 2890.01, 01 and they subtracted the amount of remember if I owe something and I pay that they must deduct what I've paid from what I owe and that's why I subtracted so technically it's -218260 number four explain what the negative value represents in question three again I mentioned that the negative value indicates that he has paid more than he owes and therefore has a credit has credit left.

[00:20:12]Okay, I see the red therefore is spelled incorrectly. There should be a E there.

[00:20:18]Okay.

[00:20:20]And then let's read the next one. So this is now so this these few questions was based on the first range. Now let's actually look at you know the nitty-gritty the the the actual things that happened in that month. It says how many kil of water was used according to this statement. So if I look at the left here, you will notice here that the kilo liters of water is over here and here you will remember if you actually remember the tariffs that we did in the first term, you will see here that this is the kil and this is now 6.1150 kil and then the price. So here they used these are the values. So look at what values I've calculated to find out how many kil. So this is the amount the 61 uh the 6.1150 then we add this value kil and then we add this value which is three and in total we end up with um 14.7168 kil.

[00:21:19]Okay so you'll see that this is essentially how they work out the kil liters that we cover in tariffs. You see how these sort of work together. Okay, next question. Convert your answer in question five to liters. So here they're testing are you able to convert from kil to liters. So we know that we multiply by a th00and to go from kil to liters.

[00:21:40]And so that's what I did there. And my answer is 14,716.8 L.

[00:21:49]Excuse me.

[00:21:52]Next one. What percentage of the total charge for this account was for water?

[00:21:59]Okay. So here's water the 381.84.

[00:22:03]But what was the total of this account?

[00:22:06]Right? The total for this account if you remember from the previous um part is 837.43.

[00:22:13]So that is essentially all those four subsections added together. So the 381.84 this is for the water. The bottom is for the total bill for this specific month only. multiply by 100 and it will give us 45.60%.

[00:22:34]Okay.

[00:22:36]Right. So that sort of concludes our section on the municipal account. So we've looked at the tillip, we've looked at the municipal account. This is going to be a long video uh because I want you guys to sort of be confident so that when you are given questions, you can navigate because you've been exposed to these documents.

[00:22:55]Right. Next one is invoice and quote.

[00:22:59]Okay, so I want you to just take have a look at this these two. This is in this is a quote. This is the invoice to the same company for the same services. And I'm going to jump straight into the questions here because I think that a lot of what is addressed in here or what I want you to understand about this is actually included in the questions. So the first one is essentially for you to understand what the difference is between these two. So what is the difference between an invoice and a quote? So a quote is essentially if I go to a shop and let's say you're getting married, right? And you want to find a wedding venue and what you will do is you will go to different venues and ask them if I was supposed to if I go and um use your service, what are you going to charge me for the venue? Right?

[00:23:49]And so I go to four or five different places. Each of them give me a quote. So the quote is just telling me if you use our services, this is what we will charge you. Now an invoice is you as the customer chooses. Okay, I like we like this venue. It fits in our budget. So we're going to go with this venue. Now when you look at this venue, you then tell them, okay, we're going with yours.

[00:24:14]We choose to use your services. And then they give you an invoice. So the invoice is essentially you agreeing that this transaction is going to take place or that yeah that this that you chose that and that you're going to pay for that where the quote is just saying if so there's no commitment of payment with a quote. So in simple terms let's explain this. How would you write this out?

[00:24:39]You'd say a quote is a document given before goods and services are provided that shows the estimated cost. An invoice is a document given after the goods or services have been provided that shows the final amount due.

[00:24:57]Okay. So please make sure that you know the difference but not just that you know the difference but that you can explain the difference in such a way that the person who's marking knows what you are explaining.

[00:25:09]Next question. How many light pictures are included? Now did you notice what I did wrong in this video? I didn't go and read through these these documents before actually looking at the question.

[00:25:20]So let's do that. That's something that you should do first before you go to the questions. Right? So it says here on the left hand side is a quote and they tell you that the quote was given on the 12th of the 1st and then um they tell you who the client is and the address of the client and then right at the top they say that this is Bright Solutions Electrical. Now the description tells you what it is that you're getting a quote for. Now remember they saying to this um to Sarah Sarah if you choose our services this is what we are going to charge you. So if you choose the electrical wiring installation it's going to cost you $350.

[00:25:58]The light fixtures for three of them is going to be $75 and then the service call fee is $50. So in total this is going to be $625 with a 8% tax which is then $50 and that gives you a total of $675.

[00:26:14]Then Sarah says okay that's within my budget I like that we're going with you please send me these items.

[00:26:24]Then they say okay fine make the payment it's going to be 675 and we'll send you the items. Okay so notice how these work. So now let's actually answer the question. It says how many light fixtures was included in this purchase.

[00:26:38]Now you literally now because you looked at everything you'll see okay invoice is three. So our answer here will be three.

[00:26:48]Next one. Write the unit price of one electric wiring installation to the unit price of the lighting fixture as a simplified ratio. Now if I look at one electrical wiring installation one is 350 and then it says for the unit price. So the unit price of a lighting fixture is 75. Please guys whenever you're being asked a ratio question order matters.

[00:27:20]The order must be in the same it must be in the same order as the question. So, this question is asking for the electrical wiring installation to be your first number and then your second number to be the lighting fixture. So, that means I've got the $350 to the $75 which then as a ratio is 14 is to3.

[00:27:41]Notice in a ratio the order matters but I don't include the units.

[00:27:49]Okay? So, that is a ratio. Now, how did I simplify the ratio on your calculator?

[00:27:55]All you can do is you can say smaller number divided by bigger number. So, you go 75 / 350. And you'll see your calculator will tell you it's 3 over 14.

[00:28:04]So, that is the simplified values. You just have to put the three under the 75 because that's the smaller of the two fraction values and the 14 under the 350 because that is the larger value. I do have a video on ratios. If you want to know more that about that, you can go to that video. Number four, show with calculation that the tax is 8%. So essentially, they want you to show that this $50 here is actually 8% of the subtotal, right? So let's look at that.

[00:28:36]So we're going to say, okay, if I say 8% of the 625, it gives me $50.

[00:28:48]So it is 8%. Or I can calculate what is 50 of 625 and then calculate the percentage and that will give us 8%.

[00:29:00]In an exam you must remember that the markers write different options on the memo. So as long as what you are doing makes sense and actually answers the question, it doesn't matter. you will get the same amount of marks no matter which method you use as long as you're using a correct method.

[00:29:20]Number five, convert the total due to South African rand if the exchange rate is $1 to 17 rand 35. Now again I've got a video on exchange rates but I will remind you how we do this. So whenever you are given an exchange rate question the first thing you do is you write down what is the relationship between the two units that they asking you to convert.

[00:29:43]So in this case the information provided was in dollars but they wanted in rand.

[00:29:48]So we first write down what is the relationship between dollars and rand and they give it to us in the question as $1 is to 17 rand 35.

[00:29:57]Then we look at what is it do they want us to convert? They want us to convert the total for for for this order which is 675 including the VAT sorry including the tax. Right? Then we go anticlockwise divide first then multiply. So I say 17 rand 35 / 1 * 675 and then your answer is 11,017 rand 25.

[00:30:30]Okay. So do you see that um um financial documents opens up questions that they can ask you about ratios, about percentages, about um exchange rates. So the the financial document can can really include questions from all of the other sections. That's why it's important for you to be able to understand the scenario of the document so that you can answer the questions that they ask based on the document.

[00:31:05]One more guys, we're almost there. I know this is a long video, but I thought that once you have a strong and you are confident about all of these different documents that you can answer the questions based on this. So, we've got bank statements, account statements.

[00:31:18]Now, in this case, we are looking at this is a bank statement. Now remember I told you a a financial document explains to you or it shows and records what's happening with money. Now what can happen in a bank? Money can either come in or money can go out. That is literally the only things that can happen in a bank account. Money comes in, money goes out, right? So you just need to be able to answer questions on that. So let's look at this on the left hand side here. We see okay this is um bank smart and we've got the address.

[00:31:51]We've got the information of who this is and then we've got the date, the transaction, debit, credit, and banks. Now, what I want you guys to note is in a bank statement when money leaves the account that is a debit transaction. So, debit means money goes out of a bank statement. Right?

[00:32:19]If money comes in then it would be a credit. Then we add it to the total in our account. Now balance in this case means what money was in the account at the start of this period. Now in this example it's 1,02265.

[00:32:38]Now all the debit values is all the money that has left. All the credit values is all the money that's come into the account. Now to calculate the balance watch this. If I I just do the first two trans the first transaction.

[00:32:52]This is how much I had in my account.

[00:32:54]Debit means 10650 means that this money is leaving my account. So that means my balance is less. Again, debit 32550.

[00:33:05]That means my money is less. So then I end up with 590.65.

[00:33:10]Okay.

[00:33:12]So now that we understand what a bank statement is, it's money going in and out and which columns is going in and then we look at the transactions and the details. We also paid attention to the date, the account number and then also the person. Okay, that this is um this is John, right? So it says what is the name of the bank that issued the statement? Again, this we just look from the information this is banks smart.

[00:33:38]Second one, what is the time period of this bank statement? So that is the 1st of the 5th 2022 to the 30th of the 5th 2022.

[00:33:48]Next one, determine the value of A and B. Now if I look at A, A is a balance. A balance of what is where there's 590 rand in my account and then credit which means money comes into the account is 18.056.92.

[00:34:03]That means that a must be the balance plus the salary.

[00:34:08]And that gives us 18647.57.

[00:34:13]Okay, just take a moment make sure you know where you got where I got all of those values.

[00:34:18]Right now, if we look at B again, what is happening with B? Now I've got a balance.

[00:34:24]Then something happens in the credit and then I've got another then I've got a balance after that value. So essentially what is happening here is I've got money is going into the account but how much?

[00:34:38]So the way to find out how much the way to find B is by saying what was the balance after minus the balance before.

[00:34:47]So I've got the 11347.57 minus the 10547.57 and that B value is 800 rand that was deposited into the account.

[00:35:02]Okay, next question. John's rent increases by 10% in June, but his salary remains the same. Calculate what percentage of his salary is new rent actually in. So if we look, this is his salary and his salary they say is going to stay the same.

[00:35:26]However, the rent that he pays, if you look here, his rent is 7,600, is said to increase by 10% in the next month. So, in order for us to calculate what percentage that is of the total salary, we first have to find out what is the new rent amount. So, we have to add 10%.

[00:35:45]So we say 7,600 plus 10% of 7,600 will give us 80 um 8,360.

[00:35:56]So that is going to be his new rent in June.

[00:36:01]Okay.

[00:36:03]Then we go okay that value now of over the salary multiplied by the 100 then gives us the 46.3%.

[00:36:17]So 46.3% of his income goes to his rent.

[00:36:26]Okay.

[00:36:28]And that is financial documents. So there's that video. If you found it helpful, I would appreciate a thumbs up.

[00:36:36]If you have any questions in the comment section below. If you have any recommendation for future videos, you can also add that in the comment section below. Reminder, if you want to attend a workshop, a program or you want to get hold of my division exam guides, all the details will be in the description box below. And I will see you in the next video. Bye guys.