Please tell us in which country you live, and what work do you do.
Hi, my name is Aleksey and I am from St Petersburg, Russia. I am an associate in a deal advisory department at a large international firm.
Historically, I was mainly focusing on the financial due diligence engagements. As far as you may know, buy-side due diligence is about evaluation of the risks associated with a potential target for an acquisition and advising on the ways how to mitigate these risks. There are, however, some additional country-specific issues. For example, many small- and medium-sized companies in Russia neither prepare consolidated financial statements nor keep IFRS accounts. Since their financials are not fully comparable with those of the companies in the mature market, it may be difficult for an international investor to make an investment decision on the basis of such information. In addition, perimeter of a proposed transaction may not correspond to a current legal structure of the business. Therefore, during our engagements we spend a significant portion of time to construct some pro-forma consolidated financial statements and apply a number of IFRS-like adjustments to make it easier for our international clients to understand the financial position and performance of the company under analysis. I think that this real-life experience helped me to achieve high marks in F7 paper
How much time each week did you spend studying, on average?
An intensity of my preparation is not even. I try to read a textbook in advance when I have free time. Just before exam dates, my employer grants me several days of a study leave. During this period I spend almost all of my time on solving the practical questions
Which study resources did you use?
Usually, I read materials issued by the approved ACCA providers. If I have a question, I try to find an answer at OpenTuition
Did you get support from your firm?
Yes. My employer pays for my exams and materials. In addition, as I have mentioned before, I have a paid ACCA leave before exam dates. It really helps to concentrate on the preparation process
What was your approach to your studying?
As previously stated, I try to finish reading of the textbook in advance. In one or two week before an exam date, I read the whole textbook again and solve the examples from it. Unfortunately, I do not usually have any time to watch video lectures. And, finally, several days before the exam I solve the questions from a revision kit. I write out all the mistakes that I made during the preparation process and read them in the morning on the day of the exam.
My advice is that you should understand which “type of memory” (visual, writing or aural) is most critical for you and arrange your preparation process to maximize an influence on that sense which is the most important for your memory.
What would you say was the most important factor that helped you to achieve such a high mark?
Perhaps, an assiduity
How did you find out about OpenTuition, and which of our resources did you use?
One of my colleagues told me about OpenTuition several years ago. I do not use any other resources
impressive…I would like to speak to you privately if you don’t find a problem with it
my email address is li******@***il.com…thank you in advance.