ISA reference in exam

No, no, and three times “NO”

There are NO marks for quoting ISA numbers, IAS numbers, IFRS numbers, section numbers from law, Statute titles, ISA titles, IAS titles, IFRS titles……..

Why would the examiner want to give a mark for something that you will only ever come across in practice when writing some pompous letter to a client and then you will have time to look up number and title on Google?

To be fair, suggested solutions by the examiner and by the reputable publishers invariably quote chapter and verse in their answers. Why? Well, the examiner does it, I believe, for the benefit of students who may wish to look up the reference for their own edification

I believe that the reputable publishers do it (am I being over-cynical here) in order to impress students concerning the length, depth and breadth of the knowledge of the author. They don’t (understandably) admit that they didn’t hold this information in their head and had to google it as they were writing their answer, not under exam conditions and spread over 4 or 5 hours with input from other colleagues.

Oh no! Because that would detract from the image of them being super-knowledgeable

I repeat, there are NO marks for numbers nor titles so don’t even think about wanting to learn them

(This idea of no marks for numbers / titles is from the examiner – it’s not just me saying this. It’s official)

You’re welcome – you can always say (if you really want to) something like “According to auditing standards ……” or similar for IAS and IFRS, but there is no need to and it will gain you ………zilch

You’re welcome Ashok

You’re welcome

It certainly does! Just think, you could have won the global P2 prize if you hadn’t wasted all that time learning that detail and then writing it in the exam!