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Dear Gillian,
Thank you very much for your comforting reply. I will contact you via email.
Hello Gillian,
I have received my feedback for period 38 (after sending an email to OBU). I wish to appeal and would be very thankful for any advice or tips on the appeal process that you can give me.
I did topic 17 and researched Carillion for a whole year.
I was failed in the research report and the SLS and was given a pass for graduate skills. In the research report, I was failed in four areas – understanding of models, application of models, evaluation, and presentation of project findings.
Can you imagine that under application of models, the marker stated that Carillion was ‘an inappropriate choice of company’ and further advised that for resubmission I should choose a different organisation? The research report feedback is as follows:
Research Report
Technical and Professional Skills
1. Understanding of Accountancy/Business Models Fail
You haven’t applied your business models in sufficient depth to demonstrate
understanding. The inclusion of the COSO model doesn’t add any value as it is the UK
Code which the company has to comply with.
2. Application of Accountancy/Business Models Fail
Carillion is an inappropriate choice of company as the weaknesses in corporate
governance weren’t sufficiently evident before the collapse for there to be a response from
management. Your application of the UK code is very superficial and doesn’t identify
sufficient evidence of non-compliance that can explain the collapse or how improved CG
could have prevented the collapse. The evaluations of leadership effectiveness and board
structure and functioning in both the Table and in 3.3.1. are very brief and superficial.
3. Evaluation of Information, Analysis And Conclusions Fail
Whilst it easy with hindsight to see the causes of the company collapse there is limited
evidence of poor CG that would have justified an intervention by shareholders. The
financial ratio analysis doesn’t reveal significant differences between Balfour Beaty and
Carillion
4. Presentation of Project Findings Fail
There is repetition in your presentation, e.g between the tabulated evaluation of
compliance with the UK CG Code and the later narrative evaluation.
Overall Technical and Professional Skills FailResearch Report overall assessment Fail
For your resubmission your are advised to choose an organisation which has recognised
the weaknesses in its corporate governance and has taken action to remedy them. Two or
three business models should be adequate for an in depth analysis and focus more on CG
rather than financial analysis.Gillian, I disagree with the marker’s feedback. I actually did more critical evaluation and analysis of models than financial analysis. I have to say that I am disappointed in OBU. Thanks for your help.
@muzhiraartwell said:
Hi,I think you should write them an email. I wrote them an email yesterday enquiring about the feedback. I wrote them another email today following up on the very same email I wrote yesterday and I received my feedback 10 minutes later.
Thanks. I sent them an email and got my feedback 5 minutes later.
Still waiting for my own feedback too. The email last week said I would receive it by email by yesterday.
Thanks Gillian. I’m still hoping I got an A but failed only the SLS essay question 1, because although strengths and weaknesses can be gleaned from my answer, I didn’t explicitly say that these were my strengths and these were my weaknesses.
This is just an administrative hiccup that does not necessarily affect the academic quality of the OBU degree qualification. It’s good to keep things in perspective.
Let’s just wait patiently. Results will be released by email, in batches, from the 18th to the 19th. Control your anxiety. OBU are still within the limits of what they said they will do.
Dear Trephena, thank you so much for your reply. So sorry to have to trouble you again but I still need some clarification. Should I remove the hyperlinks from the reference list? I don’t have any URLs in the body of the report itself. Thanks.
Hello Trephena and Gillian. Please I have a question about my reference list. My mentor said I should remove the hyperlinks from my URLs. My understanding is that I should also change the colour from blue to black and should remove the underlining. I have doubts about this. Could you please very kindly confirm if my mentor is correct? Part of my hesitation is that if I remove the hyperlinks, it will be more difficult for the marker to access the websites to verify. Thanks for your help.
Hello Trephena and Gillian, thank you for the great work you both are doing here.
I am currently working on topic 17 and plan to submit this May.
Please I have a question – should the list of references be part of the research report and, therefore, contribute to the 7,500 word count limit or should the reference list be in a separate word document all by itself and, therefore, not contribute towards the 7,500 word count limit?
On page 19 of the OBU guide, it is stated that the research report should be submitted as a Word document and it is also stated that the reference list should be submitted as a Word document. Does this mean, therefore, that there should be two Word documents, i.e. one for the research report and another one for the reference list?
Thanks for your help.
@vickyshaw said:
Hi again. So I have spent pretty much all of today trying to write about Tesco’s shareholders relations and I am getting nowhere, so I am here to ask for any hints and tips on what i should be looking at when comparing Tesco’s shareholder relations to the Code (Section E). I really don’t know how to start. I’ve looked at the Code, I’ve looked at other examples of good shareholder relations, but I am finding it difficult to bring Tesco in.Any advice?
x
I missed this quote for my last post about topic 17. It’s past 3 AM. I guess my brain is fast asleep!
Hi vickyshaw,
How’s your topic 17 going? I’m also writing on topic 17 and I’m also stranded in part 3 after successfully completing parts 1 and 2. I can’t defer to the next submission period. My family would be unspeakably disappointed if I had to wait until November to submit. I’m still keeping my head up and working towards May submission in less than two weeks! I hope you are too (or that you’ve already submitted)!
Passed. Thank God. And thank you OpenTuition. All done with the Fs’. Now on to OBU and the Ps’.
@voldemortsapprentice said:
I am sorry if I have offended anyone but if you put the work in you pass, it’s pretty black and white.Apology accepted. I forgot to add that I passed both papers on my third attempts, one of them at 84%. That said, I wish you continued successes in your remaining ACCA papers!
@voldemortsapprentice said:
Passed with 67% and still haven’t failed an ACCA exam! (I’ve completed 8 now)I’ll be honest with people, how do you fail these exams, they’re not particularly hard if you put the work in?
If you’re doing an exam every 3 months simply do this:
1nd month = study
2nd month = revise what you have studied
2-3 weeks from exam = past papersIf I was failing the same exam multiple times i would seriously ask myself whether i can cut it as an ACCA affiliate and a real life finance professional
It would have been better if you had not posted any comment at all, than for you to come on here and post an arrogant, demeaning, and demoralising comment. Instead of tearing them down, you should encourage those of us who are struggling with resits. Resits aren’t from out of this world — they are normal. So far, I’ve had a total of four resits in two papers, two for each paper, but those, like flat tires, haven’t stopped me from continuing with my ACCA journey. You really ought to apologise for your posted comment. Apologising would say a lot about you. Not apologising would say even more.
Passed. Thank God. And thank you open tuition for the priceless FA 2015 video lectures and lecture notes.
Thanks John.
Sorry about the urgent comment.
And thanks a lot for your answers. I couldn’t have possibly imagined the answer to the first question, but it’s clear now. I actually had thought that the examiner had made a mistake!
Hello John,
I respectfully think that you got it wrong for the gross profit margin. The gross profit margin should be calculated individually for 2012 and 2013 and separately for divisions S and C. Doing so will produce the answers in the ACCA answer paper. I do not see why you combined the figures for divisions S and C instead of keeping them separate.
The time pressure for this paper was unexpected and surprising. Before I knew what was happening, I had run out of time without even reading two of the Section B questions. If I had managed my time better, I would have been happier with my performance. My advice to future candidates – for section B, you probably will be better off if you start with the two 20 marks questions.
