[Arun]

I have passed with an A in the research project. A bit unfortunate that it was still a Lower Second Class due to my average mark in the ACCA exams but happy and grateful nonetheless that our efforts paid off.

A big shout out to @trephena for her help and guidance. Her advice made a lot of difference in enhancing the quality and refining my RAP. Thanks @trephena! Best wishes for you.

All those who plan to submit the RAP, do follow this forum and your queries are likely to be answered in a timely and appropriate manner.

Best of luck!
Arun.

[Arun]

Trephena,

Thanks for your response!

I did not mention that in my SLS and this has got me worried as I did not think this was going to be an issue.

Moreover I was told by my mentor not to use any direct citations which I had. Not one but two. When my mentor did warn me about using direct citations, I changed that in my report and rephrased them and remover the inverted commas. But I just checked the RAP that I had submitted and those direct citations are still there. Maybe I did not save my file after removing them and rephrasing them. Will I be penalized on that? As my mentor told me about a student who failed his RAP as he had used a direct citation.

Secondly I mentioned in part 1 that I will be using SWOT and Porter’s 5 forces but after going through your comments in the airline thread I changed my selection to SWOT and PEST and did my business and financial analysis using both those models but forgot to mention PEST instead of Porter’s 5 forces. Anything to worry?

Thanks again.

[Arun]

I submitted by RAP yesterday and not that I can do anything about that but I just wanted to confirm that while referencing my report yesterday, the approach that I followed was that if an article in Sydney Morning Herald was written by Jamie Freed in 2016 then in the author’s field I wrote Jamie Freed’s name and not of the newspaper ie Sydney Morning Herald so that the reference appeared as (Freed, 2016).

Is that okay?

And moreover I had done my parts 1 and 2 last year but could not complete part 3.Therefore for those references I merely had to make guesses for the dates of access. Is that okay?

Thanks.

[Arun]

Is Word 2013 acceptable?

[Arun]

Hi,

Just to confirm, as long as I use external sources here and there in the financial analysis I can use the annual reports to reason out the variations, is that right?

As I know a mentor who told us to use the annual reports for only figures and not for reasoning.

Thanks.

[Arun]

Hi,

i) My main company is Qantas and its comparator that I have chosen is Virgin Australia but there seems to be a disparity in the size and nature of both the companies in that Qantas operates on a more global scale. Therefore I am starting to rethink whether the two are comparable in the financial analysis.

I noticed this when I was comparing the revenues of the two as Qantas’ revenue ranges from 15,000-16,000 m whereas Virgin’s ranges from 4,000-5,000 m. Should I just get along with the analysis.

ii) Any tip on how to make the variations among the elements of the financial statements more noticeable in the graphs. As in the case of revenues I have made a column chart but the increasing trend is hardly noticeable.

Thanks.

[Arun]

Does it make a difference if in my annexures I have slightly changed the layout of the results but keeping the underlying figures and bottomlines same of course e.g. in my balance sheet I have presented as follow:

Non-current assets+Current Assets=Equity+Non-current Liabilities+Current Liabilities

whereas in the financial statements presentation is as follows:

(Current assets+Non-current assets)-(Current liabilities+Non-current liabilities) i.e. Net Assets=Equity.

Thanks.

[Arun]

Thanks Ehsan. Btw I think you too are doing on Qantas and Virgin Australia which happen to be my main company and comparator respectively as well.

Are you submitting or have you submitted in period 34 as well?

Regards.

[Arun]

Hi,

To what extent can I use refer to the annual reports of the main company and the comparator while doing the financial analysis in case I am unable to find the relevant reasons from external sources.

Secondly is it confirmed that this is the last submission period for which reports on airlines industry can be made and after this period there will be new industries/sectors to choose from?

Thanks.

[Arun]

@ Trephena

I am on part 3 of my report but I cannot seem to know where to start. What should be the sequence of the analysis in part 3?

And how many annexures do we have to make and is there a proforma/format that we have to follow for them e.g. the excel file for the ratios – is that compulsory or optional?

Thanks,

[Arun]

John,

I also wanted to ask that around 45-50% of the exam is theory based so if we go through the notes, would that be sufficient to do well in the exam?

[Arun]

Okay thanks John.

[Arun]

Even I wanted to know as I too was confused on that while watching the lecture.

[Arun]

Will surely do Mike! 🙂

[Arun]

Hi Trephena,

I started working on the RAP and was targeting the March submission period but could only manage to complete parts 1 and 2 of the report.

Now I need to submit the RAP in the upcoming November submission period as after that the choice of sectors may may change and I too may need to change my company and the comparator which I don’t want to and I may also need to change the first 2 parts as well which will require additional effort.

Just to make sure, I only to need to start off from where I left or are there things that I need to make sure of before I resume?

Secondly, how should I start my part 3 which is the most important of all the 3 parts?

Thanks.

[Arun]

Hi Mike,

In the same example when you say that the NCI’s share of Dimitrys’ investment in Vitalis is double-counted (which is why we need to subtract $16,000 in W4), do you mean it is included in the NCI value of the subsidiary i.e. $23,000 and also in the NCI value of the sub-subsidiary of $61,360?

Thanks.

[Arun]

Hi Mike,

2 hours, really!! How come it takes me days to finish the notes then. I appeared for P3 in June and I was hardly able to finish the course notes even once and did not even get to watch the lectures due to lack of time.

Yes I started a bit late since I am also working as a trainee in an audit firm but still by that rate still I should have been able to finish the notes at least once. That I am confident enough about passing the exam is a separate issue but does this indicate a serious flaw in the way I prepare?

If yes I should be correcting it ASAP since this will help me in the future exams.

Thanks.

[Arun]

Hi Mike,

I will then get on with watching the lectures and studying through the notes. Meanwhile I will also buy a revision kit and do you suggest that I start the kit after completing the lectures and notes or simultaneously while doing that?

Thanks.

[Arun]

Hi Mike,

Are the lectures and notes for P7 adequate enough to achieve a pass or do we need to use a study text as well?

Thanks.

[Arun]

Thanks for that Mike.

Also in Example 3 of Chapter 3 on pg. 22, I still don’t get why do we have to subtract 16,000 while calculating the value of NCI investment of the sub-subsidiary and I find it annoyingly confusing as I may be missing out on something basic so could you help.

Thanks again.

[Arun]

Its just an example that you give at the start of the video where you explain the third way of NCI calculation if goodwill figure is already given. Start watching the video from 03:35.

Thanks.

[Arun]

Sorry!

I was talking about pg. 8 in the notes where it tells you how to value unquoted securities in the context of problems with the cost of acquisition.

Thanks.

[Arun]

Hi Mike,

In the lecture on ‘Associate companies and Joint Ventures’ you start with the third way in which the examiner can ask to value the NCI where he can give the NCI’s share of goodwill and we then need to work backwards to calculate the value of the NCI’s investment.

In your example our cost was 200,000, fair value of subsidiary net assets was 220,000 and the NCI’s share of goodwill was 8,000.

I worked it out as:

8000/0.2= 40,000 (to get the total goodwill by grossing it up)

Then solving it mathematically (assuming NCI value as x and solving for it):

(200000+x) – 220000 = 40000

Therefore x = 60000.

But that’s not the correct answer. Where am I wrong?

Thanks a ton!

[Arun]

@trephena – Thanks for your timely response! I hope you will be there to answer my queries should I have any as I progress with the RAP as I have found your responses to be very helpful and to the point. 🙂

[Arun]

Hello,

I have chosen Topic 8 for my RAP project and for my research I have chosen Qantas as my main company and Virgin Australia as the comparator.

I have only been able to find the consolidated accounts of both the companies in their respective annual reports. Now doing the research on the whole group by using their consolidated accounts will make things a little complicated, that I can understand, but I am left with not much options.

I tried using different airlines but in some cases either the year end dates differed, the currencies differed or just that the standalone accounts were not available.

I just want to know am I following the correct approach and what points should I be bearing in mind during the research especially considering the amount of time that I am left with.

Regard,

Arun.

[Author]

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