[inebimo]

I’m also stuck on Data Analytics Unit 7(End of unit assessment) – Regression Analysis.

I can only answer one out of four questions and I need to answer atleast two questions to move to the next stage. Helpppppp!!!

[inebimo]

Q1a. Evaluate the performance system using Balanced score card and suggest two additional measures for Customer Perspective, Internal Perspective & Innovation & Training

Financial Performance – Measures revenue, operating profit, dividends paid and roce. The shareholders’ objective was business growth and they also depended on dividends paid. The re-calculation for Roce was 28.5% and 31%. However, Roce is not a good measure for Fearties because it is a service business and may have have a low asset base because it’s because resource is its staff. Dividend paid was also a good measure because most of the family members depended on it. I cant remember the rest of what I wrote. I also suggested EVA.

Customer Perspective – Number of repeat customers and brand awareness (The question sspecifically said that management kicked against customer survey scores)

Internal Perspective – % of staff with certification and I can’t remember the 2nd one

Innovation – No of training days & I can’t remember the 2nd one

b) Problems with using non-financial measures – 1) Difficulty in benchmarking, internally and externally 2) It is highly subjective as it is based on opinions 3) Due to previous focus on financial measures, the mgt information system will need to be changed to enable collection and processing of non-financial information

c) Current management style is budget-constrained because they are overly focused on cutting costs as can be seen in their poor pay package to customer-facing staff, the pay was below the standard of Beeland

I suggested a non-accounting style, especially with the introduction of BSC which had mostly non-financial measures bla bla

d) Something about reward system and appraisals.

I went off point and talked about the elements of a good reward system
1) Strategic perspective – Reward system must be aligned with overall organisational objectives
2) Reward objectives – To recruit and retain (they currently had problems with this)
3) Reward techniques – Ensure rewards are fair within the organisation and also externally by meeting the benchmarked standard…which they currently failed to meet
4) Reward Competitiveness – Ensure external requirements are met e.g relevant legislation or industry requirements

Because I felt I had written rubbish, I proceeded to define what an appraisal is, applied the scenario and talked about the current annual appraisal system being too infrequent and how the employee has to be appraised based on factors he can control.

Question 2. Corporate failure using K-score (very similar to a past question – Culam). This question was a disaster for me, I couldn’t quite put my thoughts together in a coherent manner.
I talked about the unsuitability of the K-score for Freeze because the K-score was based on all the failed companies on the Kayland stock exchange which spanned accross various sectors while Freeze was in the oil industry. Also, the data on which the K-score was developed is historical and may be outdated.
Thor is a privately-owned company while the K-score was based on listed companies, Also Thor had a different currency which was translated to Jayland dollars….the risk of foreign currency retranslation can lead to errors bla bla
I cannot remember what my K-score was

Financial Gearing – I got 0.1 for both Freeze and Thor
Operational Gearing – Freeze was less than 1 and Thor was 3+
My interpretation was a disaster

Question 3 – BPR implementation and how it will help the company reduce costs and improve lead times
Implementation of BPR will result in a flattened hierarchy…information flow will be more efficient and information will be available on a real-time basis which will lead to faster decision making…..and therefore, improved lead time
The traditional organisational structure will be broken into process teams
Team members will be given more responsibility which will increase staff motivation
The difference between the current manufacturing and outsourcing was 0.35 or something like that. In addition to the supplier’s costs, we had to add the cost of shipping and the import charges

3b) Impact on Information system…

Introduction ERPS, real-time information, can’t remember the rest

3c) Impact on ethical standard….The new supplier is 17,000km away…I mentioned the impact this will have on the environment, talked about ensuring the supplier conforms to the labour laws in their country etc etc

I really really really really hope I pass. I am so desperate! Fingers crossed and heart beating for the next one months till results are out!

[inebimo]

I got 51% and I am beyond shocked. I’m almost convinced Acca made a mistake as I was expecting a very bad fail.

The only thing I did in Q1 was the format. I did not do ANY workings AT ALL.

I don’t even think I attempted 1b and 1c.

I guess my in depth study of all the standards (except cashflow) paid off.

Or maybe ACCA just had pity on me due to the high forex in Nigeria 😀

Boy am I SHOCKED!

[inebimo]

Q1. Mix and Yield Variances. Simple and straightforward. Got 3 Adv or something like that for material mix.
Converting to kg was: 45g/1000 = 0.45kg etc and total input was 0.61kg

Yield was 20 something Fav

Part b asked for possible reasons that can lead to material Yield being adverse. The only one I remember writing is that baking the bread had too many processes involved (5, I think) and that meant too many hands were involved which could lead to material waste

Q2. I had to look long and hard at this question before I figured it was throughput. By the time I finally kinda understood what it was, it was too late to do anything. I think the information given about throughput was irrelevant and designed to confuse. Worst question for me. Thank God it was 10 marks and not 15.

Q3. Clearly incremental and clearly not participative.
It was more of an imposed style.
Part b asked for effects – demotivation of JT and CD, lack of goal congruence and use of old techniques by the old man, I’ve forgotten his name
The comment about “3 marks for saying JT and CD will go and get unmotivated and cry in their office” got me laughing like a hyena?

Q4 was a divisional performance question. Including head office costs, I got 14.4% ROI for Div F and a bonus of 4 x 2,400 = 9,600
Excluding head office costs, I got 34.5% ROI for Div F and a bonus of 17 x 2400 = 40,600 but capped it at the maximum (30 or 36k, can’t remember)

Div N was about 6.5% ROI with head office costs and 9.5% ROI without it. The manager didn’t get a bonus in either case. I added the new investment and 8% additional profit to the 2nd calculation.
I’m not sure about my Div N answer sha.

Q5 was limiting factor analysis and I was initially scared but I think it turned out well.
Part a was
Mat A – 1kg x 1.60
Mat B – 2 kg x 1.50
Labour – $8 x 2 hrs
V O/H – $0.80 x 3 machine hrs
Total- $23

Part B
Mat A had enough material to make only 600 units
Mat B had enough for 800 units of component x
Labour was also unlimited
At the end my answer was:
Manufacture: $23 x 600 = 13,800
Buy: $28 x 200 = 5,600
Total = 19,400

If we had bought all for $28 x 800 = $22,400
Therefore we saved $3,000

Although my presentation for part B was ALL OVER the place.

Mcqs were fair, much easier than opentuition’s and kaplans mock which I both failed yesterday and was sad as a result. Sully me huh!
I hope I manage to get 20 marks in the Mcqs at least and get 50 at least to get over the f5 nightmare

[inebimo]

Q1 – I thought was ok but I think I messed up on traditional costing. I just blanked out. Abc seemed ok although number of batches got me confused.

Q2 – Most perfect question ever. I completely ignored fixed costs because we were looking for contribution, not profit. The optimal solution was at point B or C. Cant remember. But it was for Build stage and demand (y=66,000).
At the end, x=20,000 and y=66,000.
Contribution was 1,360,000 or smthn like that.
Build stage was the only scarce resource
Test and Program stages had slacks which were pretty easy to calculate.
I even calculated shadow price of Build which wasnt asked for. My dream question!

Q3. Given that I’m writing f9 as well, I cant believe I forgot what to do with Asset Turnover. I did ROCE and Operating Profit Margin.
Transfer pricing did not exist to me because I didn’t revise the topic. Painful, I know!

Q4. I spent atleast 10 mins staring at this question and was dumbfounded I did not know what to do at all! Still a mystery.
I eventually managed to explain what maximin is and also give factors that give rise to uncertainty in budget preparation – Economic stability, Competition and Customers

Q5. I astonishingly blanked on variances. I only managed to discuss sales performance of Valet Co in part b

I’m wishing and praying to get atleast 50

[inebimo]

Total O/H = 12,000,000
Bottleneck Hrs = 12hrs x 5 days x 50 weeks x 85%= 2,550hrs

Cost/bnr= 12,000,000/2,550hrs = 4,706

Small Panels =0.6hrsx1,000 units = 600hrs
Large panels = 1950hrs (1950/1.4= 1,393 units)

[inebimo]

ACCA lost my F7 answer booklet. I’m devastated. They sent me an email saying I’ll have to re-write in December without paying exam fee. I don’t think that’s adequate compensation. Has any1 else ever experienced something similar?

[inebimo]

I got 45% and I can’t get over my shock because i thought the paper was very easy and I wrote very well. I was expecting 70%>. So heart breaking!

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