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I don’t think that would be a safe assumption. I’m sure if you are asked for a report then they expect a report format ….which actually takes very little additional time to produce.
It is probably simply that the BPP tutor who was responsible for the answers was a bit careless in hitting the requirement accurately.
Locking room: general. Not specifically related to any application like wages or invoicing.
Basic IT training to entire staff: basic and entire staff implies general control.
1 You should certainly read the model answers, but these will be much more detailed than you could ever achieve in an exam. If you make a relevant point it will receive appropriate marks so if you really think something is worth saying then say it but make sure you don’t begin to make rambling irrelevant points. Stick to the question data and requirements.
A structure that can work in many questions is: survey the data making calculation as necessary; analyse the data; draw conclusions as required.
2 Yes you can repeat questions but leave it a while so that you have to rediscover it. There’s no point in doing it within a day or so.
3 Yes, technical articles are often long. Perhaps dip in when you feel you need more material on a topic.
You have posted on the APM forum. Please repost on the relevant forum(s).
I would say that the correct answers are: TRUE, COULD BE EITHER, see below.
Adair’s model is known as ‘action-centred leadership’. The clue is in the word ‘action’ ie what leaders should do with respect to task, group and individuals.
The Ashridge model presents a spectrum of management approaches from Tells through to Democratic. The problem with the question is the word ‘proposes’. Ashridge proposed (ie suggested or recognised) that there were four styles and one of the styles proposed was democratic. However, if the question means that Ashridge proposed that the democratic approach was best then they did not.
Marking is very flexible. If you mention something relevant to the scenario and task you will get points.
Model answers are always longer than you could hope to write in your exam, so don’t worry if you don’t match totally.
However, you have to try to decide whether your answer is so far away from the model answer that you might actually have missed the main point(s) of the question.
Vulnerability tracking identifies, assesses, prioritises and fixes security vulnerabilities within an organization’s IT infrastructure. Penetration testing can be a way of discovering vulnerabilities and seeing if the fix works properly.
The term ‘vulnerability assessment’ is sometimes used identically to ‘Vulnerability tracking’ or as in the preceding paragraph, assesses how serious a vulnerability is. That helps to prioritise the tasks of fixing the system.
The syllabus has barely changed for several years so those notes should be OK.
Reading the syllabus or study texts won’t really help your ‘common sense’. You are right to be wary about concentrating too much on models. These should be known, but will more often be used to give strength, structure or intellectual justification to your answer rather being the foundation of it.
If you have to write a report to the board, for example, they would not be impressed by a description of three models. Nor do you have to use a whole model: they can be used by you as checklists, for example.
Say that you had to give a report on the business entering a new country. PESTEL would be an important way of remembering the environmental influences. However the question might say nothing about sociological, environmental or legal issues. But you could still refer to the political, economic and technological issues that the question might include. You don’t even have to use the word PESTEL.
Take an interest in the financial press. You do not have to remember or quote any real-life matters, nor will any of your questions be likely to match any real-life issues (papers are often set about a year in advance), however you will absorb information about issues that are commonly commented on in the press. and see how investors, banks etc approach their analyses.
It is difficult yo give you advice on this matter. You know your strengths and weaknesses better than I. You say that you are interested in APM (good) but also say you struggle with this type of subject (not so good).
There are models to be aware off but, in fact, a commonsense business approach is more important. The questions are likely to present unique scenarios to which you will have to respond by addressing the specific question requirements.
In addition to browsing the APM page on the ACCA’S website, I suggest that you look at some past exams and answers. These will give you a good idea of the style of the paper and what might be required of you and might help in your decision-making. Don’t worry if you can’t do technical calculations like EVA as these techniques will be covered on your course. Rather try to get a feel about whether or not you could respond adequately to the overall question. Eg, could you bring together the question data, perhaps make some simple relevant calculations and write a report, with recommendations where required.
You need to post your query on the AAA Ask the Tutor Forum. This is APM.
You need to post your query on the AAA Ask the Tutor Forum. This is APM.
Yes, but be careful you are not overlooking something relevant in the pre-seen or exam data.
I agree. My opening sentence for approach (a) did say ‘If asked to give advice…’. Your advice would be the conclusion/recommentation.
The list you set out is very comprehensive, and can be a useful checklist. However ee, as the question you attempted shows, risks might not be described in ways congruent with the list.
However, you do not need to express risks using the same terms as the marking scheme.
So, investing in a brand new industry would almost certainly give rise to financial risks, market risk, legal and compliance risk, operational risk and technology risk.
Impact on brand = reputation risk
Ethical risk = legal and compliance.As well as using your list, ask yourself “What could go wrong with this project?”. That can be an effective way to identify potential risks.
It depends a little on the requirements but:
(a) If you are asked to give advice eg choose between alternative strategies, try a structure like:
1 Summarise the evidence from the exhibits. However, do not simply copy data from question to answer (no marks for copying!), move it forward eg by working our % sales increases, or changes in % market share, or the size of competitors. Always move things forward
2 Draw Inferences from this data eg that the strength and size of competition makes it unlikely that the company would be able to compete on costs. This is where models can sometimes help.
3 Come to a conclusion/recommendation.
This might all be dressed up as a report.
(b) If you are asked to brief the board eg by producing PowerPoint slides, go from summarising the situation, perhaps briefly describing an approach/model, then reach a conclusion if required.
Don’t worry too much at the start about finding a model that fits. Concentrate on a common-sense, logical approach and use models only if they help you to make sense of the situation and suggest possible responses to the problem.
Ignoring the transfer price for the moment, if there are capacity limitations, eg material, the way to maximise contribution is to work out for each product:
Contribution/unit of restricted resource (here material)
Then make the products (up to their maximum sales volume) in the order of this index, highest first. This gives you the best way to eke out your precious material so that it always earns the highest possible contribution per unit used. So if Product A earns $2 per kg used and the Product B $3 per kg used use the material for B first then turn to A.
In the example in the notes, labour is the restricted resource and, as the answer shows, it is better for the Division A to first dedicate labour to making Product X ($4/hr) than Product Y (only $3 per hour). Ignoring Division B, Division A would make only product X. If 10 hours of labour were removed from making X, then the loss in contribution would be $4 x 10 = $40.
To make a unit of Y, A’s own variable costs are $70. But A will also perceive an opportunity cost of $40 because it can’t then make a unit of X.
To persuade A to sell to B it will therefore have to have revenue which covers both its own variable costs and the opportunity costs. So, the required transfer cost is $70 +$40 = $110.
HTH
Buy a Revision Kit/Question Bank from BPP (20% discount if you buy through this site). Study a chapter in our notes, doing the questions in each chapter. Then try appropriate questions in the revision kit.
Practise, practise, practise questions!
PVS is considering establishing its services in B4P outlets. PVS owns its brand and expertise but would allow B4P to offer those. So PVS is the franchisor.
Similarly when McDonalds let’s someone set up a McDonald’s outlet, McDonalds is the franchisor and the other party is the franchisee.
