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*** ACCA Paper APM March 2019 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

Forums › ACCA Forums › ACCA APM Advanced Performance Management Forums › *** ACCA Paper APM March 2019 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

  • This topic has 71 replies, 38 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by mjmay.
Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 72 total)
1 2 3 →
  • Author
    Posts
  • March 6, 2019 at 11:01 am #507948
    opentuition_team
    Keymaster
    • Topics: 1380
    • Replies: 1404
    • ☆☆☆☆☆

    Vote in our Instant Polls about the ACCA Paper APM March 2019 Exam



    Please post your comments below

    March 6, 2019 at 12:20 pm #507998
    Anonymous
    Inactive
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 41
    • ☆

    APM!!

    March 6, 2019 at 1:54 pm #508018
    johnnygsy
    Member
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 6
    • ☆

    How did everyone find that? Thought it was pretty hard work getting everything answered in the time

    March 6, 2019 at 2:16 pm #508027
    Ewa
    Member
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 1
    • ☆

    Yes. There was no enough time to answer all the questions properly.

    March 6, 2019 at 2:29 pm #508034
    kabasale
    Member
    • Topics: 2
    • Replies: 5
    • ☆

    Very little time to respond çonvingly..

    March 6, 2019 at 2:41 pm #508039
    Ciara
    Participant
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 9
    • ☆

    Did q3 first, then q2 and left q1 until end…misread question however under pressure and treated investment as shareholders…will I get marks still?

    March 6, 2019 at 2:51 pm #508046
    Anonymous
    Inactive
    • Topics: 7
    • Replies: 10
    • ☆

    Did anyone get a really big negative EVA figure? The capital employed was around $94m but the NOPAT was around $1m, therefore it was a ridiculous calculation?

    March 6, 2019 at 3:02 pm #508053
    johnnygsy
    Member
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 6
    • ☆

    Yeah i got a big negative EVA, which i think was right because that’s why they were making changes to the company

    March 6, 2019 at 3:02 pm #508054
    Anonymous
    Inactive
    • Topics: 7
    • Replies: 10
    • ☆

    That is music to my ears, thanks johnnygsy!

    March 6, 2019 at 3:05 pm #508056
    notaclue
    Member
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 2
    • ☆

    I’m gutted.. that went horribly. Once I had messed up the first section of question 1, I just lost all sense and the rest of the exam was a disaster. This one is a definite resit. Now the decision is, do I resit this in June, or take the others as originally planned? Why on earth did I pick this as on option?

    March 6, 2019 at 3:08 pm #508061
    zhixiang85
    Participant
    • Topics: 6
    • Replies: 21
    • ☆

    Hi have something of a negative 8.8m EVA.

    I’m surprise not much adjustment needed for any doubtful debt, accounting depreciation other than adding back:

    Finance Cost 70% x $xxxx
    Non Cash Expense $110k
    R&D void for 20X4 $500k but, 75% in 20X5 which is $375k

    Less Economic Depreciation $1m+. I didn’t find any accounting deprecation

    C/E: using the beginning balance around $83m – $85m
    only added back non-cash expense again $110k

    WACC slightly above 10% (ke 14% x 65/100) + (kd 4.5%(1 – 0.3 tax) x 35/100

    just hoping my workings gain some marks even though the end result might be wrong. but i thought about it, since Vultures Retail actual earnings is already Net Loss after tax, i don’t think i should have positive EVA in the light of it’s restructuring process and R&D cost for the artificial sweeteners, but who knows in future government might may more attention to raise tax again? nothing is guaranteed. If the board is rightly imagine about the fortune of Vultures, then investor might hoping to see a positive EVA in future.

    Evaluation of EVA.
    Merits
    – adjusted to cash flow, hence unlikely subject to manipulation on accounting profit
    – absolute value translate creating or destructive value
    – comparative data for year on year basis if consistently used to track company performance

    drawbacks
    – in reality there’s 100+ adjustment, so it can be time consuming
    – Not comparable to other business in the same industry of the different sizes
    – short term focus rather than long term, subject to tunnel vision if using this measurement alone to make decision

    March 6, 2019 at 3:14 pm #508064
    accastudent1986
    Participant
    • Topics: 2
    • Replies: 124
    • ☆☆

    Can anyone remember specifically how they answered the question on EVA?

    I took operating profit then
    + non cash expenses ($200k i think)
    + 75% marketing spend ($337.5k)
    + accounting depreciation (both values)
    – economic depreciation
    No tax paid

    For capital employed i took opening bal then
    + accounting depreciation
    + Prior year marketing ($500k)
    – Economic depreciation

    For WACC I got 10.2%

    And calculated EVA as something like -$7.7m

    March 6, 2019 at 3:14 pm #508065
    Anonymous
    Inactive
    • Topics: 7
    • Replies: 10
    • ☆

    zhixiang85 – that’s exactly how I calculated it, however I was second guessing myself a lot as I hadn’t seen a negative EVA that big in all the past papers I went over! Glad to have confirmation that I was along the right lines, cheers.

    March 6, 2019 at 3:20 pm #508067
    zhixiang85
    Participant
    • Topics: 6
    • Replies: 21
    • ☆

    bennet846 – I did tried to spot if there’s some figures i can sort of “revived” the EVA into positive figure, but the question has too little adjustment and C/E is already at $9m at least, hence it is unlikely NOPAT will enough to tank the C/E deduction.

    Any positive EVA might become contradicting because Actual P/L already showing a $500,000 net loss after tax. EPS if available will be negative

    March 6, 2019 at 3:21 pm #508069
    Anonymous
    Inactive
    • Topics: 7
    • Replies: 10
    • ☆

    For the CE I added back the previous years $500k only, not the current year NCE of $110k

    March 6, 2019 at 3:21 pm #508070
    Elena
    Participant
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 26
    • ☆

    yea, EVA was negative,

    CE = 93,8 – opening+0,5 Marketing costs (long-term) fo 20×4 = 94,3

    NOPAT = 0,3 mln + 75% marketinf+ finance cots (1-30%)+ 10 mln non-cash+deperc 1,3 mln ( i took only first) – economic depre 1,9 = aprox 0,5 mln

    WACC=10,2%

    Eva = aprox – 9 mln

    What about Q3, 3 E – what did you write?

    March 6, 2019 at 3:27 pm #508075
    Elena
    Participant
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 26
    • ☆

    I spent a lot of time for q1 ((( esspecially for i)
    Less time for Q2 and Q3,

    What’s limitation to use ABM you wrote in Q2?

    March 6, 2019 at 3:29 pm #508076
    madzia123
    Member
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 4
    • ☆

    To be honest it wasn’t too bad. The biggest challenge is still time management, it is not possible to answer fully in time allocated..

    March 6, 2019 at 3:34 pm #508079
    Anonymous
    Inactive
    • Topics: 7
    • Replies: 10
    • ☆

    School 1 for better Economy and then School 2 for better Efficiency and Effectiveness

    March 6, 2019 at 3:36 pm #508081
    zhixiang85
    Participant
    • Topics: 6
    • Replies: 21
    • ☆

    Elena – the ABM was my weakest write up, given time-pressured i was trying to read the case fast, but kind of information overload when case starts to mentioned the different material used for product type, customer type, and the new bespoke type. Thankfully the examiner did not provide another appendix filled with numbers for calculation.

    as far limitation i had written
    1) time required for staff to train moving from existing costing system to ABM, can be demotivating process
    2) time consumption and complex due to the types of product and customers
    3) historical data might be unsuitable to migrate into new ABM because of it’s existing format, difficult to break down into related activities
    4) without investing into IT software, it would be too hard to handle for the amount of volume
    5) the cost to upgrade might be more than being beneficial, if further need to engage with external expert – outsourcing.

    March 6, 2019 at 3:38 pm #508083
    craig
    Member
    • Topics: 1
    • Replies: 3
    • ☆

    I thought Q1 was fairly standard and self explanatory, negative EVA as expected given recent poor financial performance.

    Q2 and Q3 very time pressured due to detail in question. I don’t know why ACCA continue to make these 25 mark questions unnecessarily long.

    I was surprised that corporate failure never came up given that it wasn’t in the December exam either!

    March 6, 2019 at 3:45 pm #508085
    zhixiang85
    Participant
    • Topics: 6
    • Replies: 21
    • ☆

    Qn 3.
    Effectiveness School 1 wins – actual achievement vs expectation. later part on League table issue, there’s possible of ‘gaming’ due to different marking scheme. most lenient marking scheme could have generate high achievement than strict marking.

    Efficiency School 1 wins – 57 students per teacher compare to 5 students per teacher in school 2. but again at a cost when school 1 teacher has to working 45 hours a week and the same salary as school 2 teacher, there in exchange of teacher satisfaction ratio and turnover

    Economical School 2 – Staff x Average salary

    there nothing in the league table displaying the rating for school meals, recreation facilities and living condition. The parent’s are confused by the league table itself because it’s difficult to prioritize. the highest amount of enrollment in school 1 could also due to geographical factor (accessibility to public transport) instead of the true credibility of the school – hope i didn’t write rubbish for this one.

    March 6, 2019 at 3:49 pm #508086
    zhixiang85
    Participant
    • Topics: 6
    • Replies: 21
    • ☆

    Transfer Pricing was my weakest topic and i was glad it didn’t came out 😀

    March 6, 2019 at 3:55 pm #508090
    maria
    Member
    • Topics: 2
    • Replies: 20
    • ☆

    @chullbulla said:
    I used budge numbers due to time pressure for EVA will I still get marks for something?

    I’m not an expert in marking but I am sure you’d get marks as choosing what to adjust & formula should gain marks . If it makes you feel better , I made similar error in a different ACCA exam ( using wrong set figures) and know by my results I didn’t lose that many marks. Time constraints are ridiculous in option papers .

    March 6, 2019 at 3:56 pm #508091
    PBAKOU
    Member
    • Topics: 0
    • Replies: 1
    • ☆

    Q1: integrated reporting requires also non-financial data that they are absent from the report
    For the stakseholders how did you approach it? I used the matrix keep them happy, informed, key players etc.

    Q2: ABM & ABC is more appropriate than absorption costing currently used to evaluate which activities create value and have a better pricing for the products. However additional costs raised from ABC implementation and also due to the different markets the approach is different. Where the product is anyway expensive, then the costs raised from the ABC implementation do not worth taking to achieve a better pricing.

    Q3: To use the league tables to benchmark the schools with so different activities (students with less abilitities and art school) would not result in a correct benchmarking. In addition the choice of the school depends also on the area of residence. Even if the 3 schools were ranked high it would be difficult to attaract new students.

    It’s my last one, second time , fingers crossed! however, the style that the examiner wants us to reply difers from all the other acca exams that you have to write the story of your life! you never know if you have passed this one!

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