[alfo]

Wise man\woman !!!

[alfo]

HI Marcellec
I am in your same identical position.. this is my last exam and so demotivated.
I don’t need any more knowledge than what I already have about P5 for my job and failing this exams with marks between 40% and 49% is so annoying. We know the stuff just need practice according to ACCA examiner and time constraint which is not what real life requires. It is an infinite boredom to waste precious time to be part of this association. Do you want prepare a study plan in which we stick exams questions and deadlines?
Let me know

Rgds

[alfo]

Hi Michelle
In regards to your comment, I am coming from P6 (UK) and I gave up after failing once as I realised that every year you need to buy a new book and get familiar with new tax rates, exemption limits and the syllabus changes. Also to start P6 you must have all F6 theory in your head and be ready to apply it in a difficult scenario. P6 is written in a very confusing way and it will be easy only if you are working already in Tax.
Hope this helps

[alfo]

Hello
please note the 10 years rule has changed: you must complete the professional part in 7 years since you passed the first P paper (you will never loose F part )

https://www.accaglobal.com/my/en/student/getting-started/rules-and-regulations-for-students/time-limits.html

Rgds

[alfo]

…

[alfo]

Hi there – good luck for your results !!! – I found it a bit difficult and some question s were confusing. Q1 was very long with a lot of narrative and the budget calculation – I moved to Q3 after about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Q3 was ok – the 5s were listed but a lot of mental work to relate them to the scenario. Moved to Q2 30 minutes before the end of the exams and tried to answer as much as I could. This was my first attempt but I was already expecting something difficult after practicing with last exams papers.

Q1) Heading, introduction, conclusion and style 4 marks as usual.
i) I don’t remember exactly, only a lot of narrative about incremental but honestly don’t remember the requirements.
ii) I calculated a budget inflating the actual results Q: by 2% sales and cost of sales and reducing Distribution cost for 5% from Q3 – wrote assumptions that admin and fixed cost did not change because of the sales growth.

iii) If I remember correctly this part asked to evaluate the current budgetary systems in each of the 4 divisions and recommend an appropriate budgetary system to enable to meet the goals. I analysed the 4 divisions demands and cost patterns eg. Basic was in non growing market with a stable price > incremental ok – KIDS was a very volatile price due to popularity of the snacks > rolling budget and PD (product development) being shared between divisions I recommended ZBB

iv) What was the comment of the NED??? (getting confused with Q2 that NEDS comments on short termism)

V) If I remember correctly this part was about the study of Burns and Scapens (changes in the role of management accountant – hybrid accountant) and it was required an explanation of the results of their work AND to discuss how the hybrid accountant can contribute to achieve these 3 goals set in the strategy. If you want check it out: page 27 kaplan text book.

Kaplan in few words “new technologies and globalized markets – several employees can book financial information and do reports – accountant must be able to elaborate the information from the IS and able to give strategic advice to mngmt – accountant must have knowledge outside pure accounting e.g. IT, Sales, maybe production process – key role of the accountant providing information ” (I liked these section and I discussed about 1 months ago with a friend and I could remember well at the exams)
Q2)
i) Calculation of ROCE – left Roce as a last because looked time consuming for only 5-6 points. Went directly to the pro and cons of ROCE, short termism and suggested better model to evaluate shareholders wealth growth (which was the mission)
ii) Discussed ROCE, NEDS comment on short-termism and managers not investing (training and material assets ) to keep capital employed low and therefore maintain ROCE and bonus
iii) – how the Balance score card can help to focus on the long term and assess the proposed CSF/KPI for Financial – customer – innovation (I listed BSC elements and gave example how setting KPI for customers perspective, innovation and learning helps adopting a long-term view . for the second part: EVA is good for shareholder wealth, KPI for customer was ok but only consider 1 fault of the mould not quality / cust. satisfaction – KPI for innovation I suggested patents and investment in training and R&D

Q3)
i ) don’t remember. Anyone remember this part ????
ii) probably “how lean production reduce the waste” (I think I forgot to refer to waste in each line..probably I went out of topic… damn!) – Anybody remember this one ???

iii) Something like: are the actions implemented by the CEO useful for a lean production according to the 5s (daily tidiness check > sanitize – sorting the goods in alphabetical order > ok for Structure but what about if the most demanded products start with Z: they are far from dispatch areas – don‘t remember the other measure suggested by the CEO )

Q4) I did not try these one – check the question and realized I could have got stuck but not sure if it was the right decision

[alfo]

@ysuyan

if you enter on MyAcca and follow the steps below you will see beside each exam its expire date. the earliest you see is the date you must finish all the exams in order not to lose any –
hopes this helps. Alfo

MyAcca
>EXAM STATUS & RESULTS
>View your status report
>Detailed exam status

[alfo]

@adeelraza – I hope you are joking – F6 -F7 and F9 are not more difficult than exams such as Econometric, International Economics OR Macroeconomics … without mention the basics exams in the Economics degrees (eg Statistics o Mathematics: I am not talking about Averages OR Equations but I am talking about demonstrating the Statistics Formulas or solving Derived Functions, Integrations and trigonometric). Sorry this might be not funny but Professional accountants should be open minded not saying “that is dumb” 🙂
I have a MS.Econ. and passed F1 to P3 with only 1 fail (48) … after that I was stuck in Audit P7 for a while (Ohh my god so glad I passed last year)

Joke from OT teacher Mike Little “It is easier to sleep with an accountant” 🙂

[alfo]

HI Agnieszka

If you start in November you should be able to cover and practice all the 5 main subjects/Taxes.

However it is very important that you consider that ACCA will change the Syllabus in June16 (unless they extend the current one)

For example my book is for the exam until march 2016 – therefore in June 2017 I expect they will test FY16

So if you can try to sit in March it will be better and honestly nov-march are 4 months and you can do it.

Regads

[alfo]

@Palmy

Can you please close this thread?? I wanted to have some info about using the old books but I did not received any help.

I bought a new one.

Thanks

[alfo]

HI Fass239
Yes thanks I need the new material FA15.

How can I get from you?

Thanks

[alfo]

Hi Saadn

My honest opinion is that 3 exams (2 of which optional) is too much, however if you feel confident try them out. Consider that the optional are very demanding in terms of professional knowledge and exams technique. I would advice you instead P2 and P7 together as the IAS / IFRS studied in P2 are the basic knowledge for Audit.

In this way I think you have more chances to pass both of them.
I am not truing to scare you but have a look at the passing rate of P7 … it’s not a joke or at least for me was hard to pass P7 but passed P2 at the first attempt.

Consider that for P7 news skills are required such as clear and fast hand writing, good english which allows you to get the mark in 2 sentences etc etc.

Hope this helps

Regards

[alfo]

thank you
I am reading technical articles about how to tackle questions in order to improve my exam skills and answer in full the requirements.

rgds

[alfo]

Hi Ed I can help u only with Question one:

a) 11pt- business risk
you had to identify and discuss 5-6 risk: (i wrote about -Transaction in a foreign currency without a derivative financial instrument to cover the risk – a loan that that the entity was taking in relation to projected high gearing ratio and current ratio..liquidity / going concern … etc)
b) 8pt – 4 material misstatements (revenue recognition, foreign currency tranlation .. etc)
c)5pt – other relevant information needed (written repr.,agreement with supermarket …)
d)7pt Ethichal issues (gifts and hospitality when visiting foreign subsidiary)
4pt for professional briefing notes (date,from,to, subject, intro, conclusion ..)

[alfo]

Hi Aduror…

Question one was very similar to a recent past exam..

a) 11pt- business risk
you had to identify and discuss 5-6 risk: (i wrote about -Transaction in a foreign currency without a derivative financial instrument to cover the risk – a loan that that the entity was taking in relation to projected high gearing ratio and current ratio..liquidity / going concern … etc)
b) 8pt – 4 material misstatements (revenue recognition, foreign currency tranlation .. etc)
c)5pt – other relevant information needed (written repr.,agreement with supermarket …)
d)7pt Ethichal issues (gifts and hospitality when visiting foreign subsidiary)
4pt for professional briefing notes (date,from,to, subject, intro, conclusion ..)

hope it helps
good luck..hope I got 50 at least

[alfo]

HI guys
I chose Q2/Q3. I think Paper was fair but with time pressure.
Below what I remember from the first 3 questions. Try to workout how you did if you still remember what you have answered.
Hope we pass. Good luck

1
a swot 20

b belogun (how features can affect strategic change) 14

c tows (suggest 4 strategies: SO-SW…) 12

2
a Pricing strategy (including calculation with selling price) 16

b mkt physical evidence 9
People
process

3
a procedure to buy Sw 15
evaluation
decision
implemet

b advantages of package Vs bespoke 10

prof. mark 4

Rgds

[alfo]

Killer always goes back to the crime scene…

https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-students/acca/f5/exampapers/f5_2012_jun_q.pdf

[alfo]

Hello Acca fellows
I am reading comments since the 12th evening and I did not see anyone saying “I did well”. Even those guys that think the paper was fair said they are not sure about passing. I missed last year exam and because of that I had lot of time for studying. I really cover everything was in Kaplan book plus 8 past papers and I felt confident about passing with a good mark.

We are about 200 people here. How can we write a complain as someone suggested before?

About my exam: I try to solve all the questions a part from the n. 3 as most people in this forum. If you check Kaplan book you’ll find only 1 page about Time series (multiplicative model). I watched most of open tuition Lectures and there was a quick explanation about addictive and multiplicative model. What I am trying to say is that this part of the paper was considered “not important” and I would never expect a full question on it. This question stoles us 10 marks at least!

My only concern is: if Kaplan is considered “official publisher” how is it possible that one full question was covered in such a shallow way?
Also did ACCA examiners read what publishers write in the books? I can think only 2 answers and no one of these is positive for ACCA
1) Acca don’t read the books ( how ACCA can say that Kaplan is an authorised publisher)
2) Acca read the book (Did they put the 3rd question on purpose?)
I am fed up with the material because material should cover everything with plenty of examples.

I think I will score between 40-43 and 55.
ROI and Target Costing were achievable questions (for those that did not see before TQM, it was in F2 as well and the question was not about TQM but about “space for Standard Costing in a TQM environment”).
The first question was ok a part from the limiting factor part (there were not Price or contribution to rank. Even if you know the cost how can you rank without price?)
The variance question was confusing. I took the actual data from the “junior accountant analysis” and ignored all the other data because I think they were there just to trick us.

Good luck to everybody who studied hard. I hope they will increase the marks.

[alfo]

Completly RIGHT, I strongly agree with you.
It is not a matter of be proud of not to be ACCA student. You got the point, ACCA is constantly increasing the fees with no reason (considering this bad economy period ). Also this new thing about “early exam entry” it is another way of taking money. They play on the fact that we don’t know yet if we are going to be ready in March for june. the early entry fees is almost the same as before but the other 2 are higher than before.
Bayigga: you are right about the providers. But ACCA gave the power to them making them official providers..and why Kaplan and BPP books are so not well made? They are so poor in explanation. I studied accounting before but sometimes when I read I wonder how a new student could understand the subject with so little information…
A big thanks to OPENTUITION that helps a lot of us without asking any money!!

[alfo]

Q1
as you said “if Closing Inventory is Overstated = Gross Profits Overstated” >> in fact if Clsng Inventory is overstated we are counting less costs for that year.
(so we could tell “if Closing Inventory is understated = Gross Profits understated” )
Q2
Try to read the question in the opposite way. From the answer: if closing inventory is understated in 20X1 the Gross profit will be understated? (yes)
In the 20X2 opening inventory we wll have a certain amount of goods that are evaluated less than what they worth > the cost is understated > the Gross profit will be higher compared to the previous year ()
Always remember that cost of Sales is “OPN inventory+purchases – CLS inventory”
hope this helps

[alfo]

Thanks Adbul
I got BPP now.
I studied already this subjects at uni.. so nothing is new.
Thanks for your explanation anyway.
Alfo

[alfo]

Thanks for your advice, Ansi
If exercises are explained better I will go fo Kaplan.
I used Kaplan for F2 and I wasn’t happy because sometimes it doesn’t explain all the steps (in the theory) so I needed to guess the procedures from the exercises.
Bye
Alfo

[alfo]

Hi rouquinblanc
Don’t forget that relevant cost are that cost that come directly from a decision.
In this case I understood that
1) if I take the project I ll pay 4000 € of consultancy fee
2) if I don’t take the project I ll pay 1500 € (like a fine for leaving the contract)
So I think you should watch the thing as a company
(you are not the consultant ! We are talking about costs that firms pay)
WHAT IS RELEVANT ?
Eeither if I take or refuse the project I will pay at least 1500 (this 1500 are not relevant then)
If I take the project I ll pay 4000.
The decision to take the project will increase the costs of 2500.
I hope I was clear. Anyway the things are alternatives: cannot be 4000+1500.
****
Sabreen
It looks like the text of the esercise is not complete. How many hours are required in total?
However what are the relevant costs?
– for the first 400 hours = zero. There is spare capacity (people paid/doing nothing)
– for the remaining hours :
a) over time = relevant cost is 12*1.5 = 18 /hour
b) take workers from process X = 12 + 4 = 16/hour
you pay the workers and also lose the contribution of prod.X
Let me know the answer for this one.
bye

[alfo]

you re welcome. I finished the standard costing chapter …
Regarding the 2nd Question: the “Sales Volume” variance under marginal cost.
What is the effect on profit of selling more units??
Under Marg. Cost the difference between Standard and Actual units is valued as STANDARD CONTRIBUTION.
Contribution is :
Revenue – Variable costs
50 – (4+16+10+1) = 19 –> (contrib. to cover the fixed costs)
The difference in units is 3000-3500 = 500
500*19 = 9500 ANSWER A
(if it was asked the same but using absorption we need to value the units at the standard profit)
Bye

[alfo]

About your first question (CVP) to me is the answer A
Margine of safety 20% and units 5000 (in units 20% of 5000 =1000)
considering that Mar. of Safety is: units budgeted- BEF —>
BEF= 5000 – 1000 = 4000

BEF is also FIXED COST (x) / CONTRIB.
so 4000 = X/25
FIXED COST = 4000*25 = 100000
I am still studying Standard cost.
I will have a look later on

[Author]

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