10 original questions for the Administration exam, each with four options, the correct answer, an explanation and a source. They cover all 4 modules: financial management, management, construction labour relations and legislation. The official exam lasts 3 h and the pass mark is 60%.
Updated October 2, 2026
How to use them
Answer each question before you open the answer, as you would in the exam room.
Always read the explanation, even when you were right: it names what makes the other options tempting.
Note the module of each mistake. It tells you where to go back, and the exam page lists every module with its elements.
These are examples we wrote. They are not real exam questions: the RBQ does not publish the number of questions or the weight of the modules. For laws, the source names the text and the article without quoting it, and the exam information sheet says which texts are handed out in the room.
10 worked questions
Question 1
Module 1: Financial managementRecall
The controller has a company’s balance sheet and income statement in front of her. The fiscal year ends on December 31. What is the difference in time period between these two statements?
AOption A: The balance sheet is drawn up at a single date, and the income statement covers the fiscal year.
BOption B: The balance sheet covers the whole fiscal year, and the income statement a single date.
COption C: Both statements cover the fiscal year, but with a different level of detail.
DOption D: The balance sheet covers the current fiscal year, and the income statement the previous one.
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. The balance sheet is drawn up at a single date, and the income statement covers the fiscal year.
The balance sheet is a snapshot of assets, liabilities and equity at the closing date. The income statement adds up the revenues and expenses of the whole fiscal year ending on that date.
The current ratio of an electrical contractor in Victoriaville is 2.0. Accounts receivable make up 80% of its current assets, and half of those receivables are more than 90 days old. Sales are stable. Which reading is best supported?
AOption A: Liquidity is assured: a ratio above 1 is enough to pay suppliers this month
BOption B: Liquidity is overstated: a good share of current assets will come in slowly
COption C: Liquidity is understated: receivables are worth more than cash
DOption D: Liquidity is irrelevant: only the debt ratio tells us about the ability to pay
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Liquidity is overstated: a good share of current assets will come in slowly
A ratio of 2.0 compares current assets with current liabilities, without saying how fast the assets turn into cash. Here, most of the assets are receivables, half of them more than 90 days old. The short-term ability to pay is therefore weaker than the ratio suggests.
A worker submits two receipts: diesel bought for the site truck and family groceries. Which one can the company reimburse as a business expense?
AOption A: The receipt for the site truck’s diesel
BOption B: The receipt for the worker’s family groceries
COption C: Both, if the total stays reasonable
DOption D: Neither, unless authorized in writing
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. The receipt for the site truck’s diesel
The diesel serves the work: it is a reimbursable business expense. Family groceries are a personal expense, which the amount does not make reimbursable.
On Monday, the head of a roofing company in Terrebonne blocks two hours to draw up next month’s job schedule and set each crew’s objectives. Which step of the management cycle does this work correspond to?
AOption A: Controlling results
BOption B: Directing staff
COption C: Planning the work
DOption D: Organizing resources
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. Planning the work
Drawing up the schedule and setting objectives means deciding where you are going and with what means: that is planning. Organizing then assigns the people and equipment, directing guides the work under way, and controlling compares actual results with the plan.
On a framed-wall job, the planned end date is still being met. Yet labour hours exceed the target by 20% and part of the walls was torn out and rebuilt. Which reading of the situation avoids relying on the date alone?
AOption A: The rework on the walls has an hours cost that the date alone does not show
BOption B: Meeting the date confirms that productivity is in line with the planned budget
COption C: The hours variance will work itself out if the same pace is kept
DOption D: The extra hours only matter if the end date is exceeded
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. The rework on the walls has an hours cost that the date alone does not show
Holding the date by redoing walls uses up hours that do not show in the schedule. Monitoring has to look at hours too, otherwise a cost overrun goes unnoticed.
Module 3: Construction labour-relations regimeRecallDocuments provided
A masonry contractor in Québec City believes that the licence issued to him by the Board is enough to show that his employees are qualified with the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ). What should he be told?
AOption A: The licence takes the place of a competency certificate for his employees
BOption B: The competency certificate is issued by the Board with the licence
COption C: An ASP Construction training card is enough for his employees
DOption D: The licence comes from the Board; the certificate, from the CCQ
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. The licence comes from the Board; the certificate, from the CCQ
The contractor licence is issued by the Board (Régie du bâtiment du Québec). The competency certificate is issued by the CCQ, which can require proof of both on a site. The two regimes are separate and neither document replaces the other.
Module 3: Construction labour-relations regimeRecallDocuments provided
An employer has journeyman electricians and journeyman insulators. How does she determine the number of apprentices she may hire in each trade?
AOption A: She applies the ratio set by the regulation for each of those trades
BOption B: She applies a single ratio, posted at the office, to all her trades
COption C: She applies the ratio of the larger trade to both trades
DOption D: She counts the apprentices already hired, regardless of the trade’s journeymen
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. She applies the ratio set by the regulation for each of those trades
The ratio of apprentices to journeymen is worked out trade by trade, as set out in Schedule B of the Regulation respecting the vocational training of manpower in the construction industry (s. 19). It cannot be replaced by a single figure, borrowed from another trade, or applied without regard to the journeymen of the trade concerned.
Module 3: Construction labour-relations regimeApplicationDocuments provided
In May, a CCQ representative comes to the office of an employer of bricklayer-masons working at the La Baie wharf and asks to examine the register of hours. What must the employer do?
AOption A: Give him only a copy of the last monthly report sent.
BOption B: Refuse, because the register is an internal company document.
COption C: Require written notice of a few days before the review.
DOption D: Allow him to review the register on site.
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Allow him to review the register on site.
The Commission may, at any reasonable hour, examine an employer’s mandatory register and make copies, and an employer who refuses it access on request commits an offence (R-20, s. 81 and 83). The employer also tells the Commission where its register can be examined (r. 11, s. 2, par. 6). The employer therefore allows the review. It cannot refuse because the register is supposedly internal, make the review conditional on notice, or replace the register with the last report.
A load-bearing wall of a workshop in Thetford Mines collapses four years after the end of the work. Which regime can the client invoke against the contractor?
AOption A: The licence bond provided by the contractor
BOption B: The one-year guarantee against poor workmanship in the work
COption C: The legal construction hypothec on the building
DOption D: Liability for the loss of the work
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Liability for the loss of the work
The loss of the work engages the liability of article 2118 for five years after the end of the work, so still at four years. The licence bond and the guarantee against poor workmanship last only one year, and the legal hypothec secures the contractor’s payment, not the client.
Module 4: Legislation and regulationRecallDocuments provided
The owner of a licensed business sells the business to a buyer who has no licence. He would like to transfer his licence to the buyer as well. Does the Building Act allow it?
AOption A: Yes, if the Board is notified within 30 days
BOption B: Yes, if the buyer keeps the same guarantor
COption C: No, unless the seller pays the maintenance fees
DOption D: No, the buyer must obtain his own licence
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. No, the buyer must obtain his own licence
Under section 56 of the Building Act, the Board remains the owner of the licence and the holder cannot assign it. The buyer of the business must therefore obtain his own licence. The 30-day notice in section 67 informs the Board of a change in legal structure, but it allows no assignment.