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82% – was expecting a much lower mark as I ran out of time and rushed the written answers and skipped one 2 mark question. Pleasant surprise.
Already confirmed that it’s possible. I have a lot of venue options. I’d sit one at 9am and the other at 1:30pm. I’m getting high marks in my other exams and got 93% on F3. My work was linked to the topic which helps.
However it’s my first P paper and I don’t know how much of a step up it would be and how different the approach is. It would be good to have insight from others who have attempted the paper. I have a degree already so have done exams that are more involved and applied, albeit in a different, academic, subject. I don’t think the F papers are really degree level.
The hardest thing at F level is the breadth of knowledge to learn. If SBR isn’t so much about knowledge but applying it in a different way that would be good to understand. Or if it’s better to a different paper instead that’s an option. I’ve just done FM so AFM would be a good move as I enjoyed the learning. I can only do two papers if I delay returning to work so need to decide soon.
Marriage is no different to a girl/boyfriend, in fact it’s easier because you know each other well and are committed. Loads of people have a relationship and study around work. I’m sure most ACCA students are coupled up.
Kids are the biggest hurdle. Having a supportive spouse/partner is essential, plus discipline. Especially if self studying from home. Classroom lessons and married with no kids sounds like bliss.
Couldn’t a higher dividend just indicate higher profitability? Wouldn’t that increase share price/make the company more attractive to investors? Which could see growth accelerating and therefore more future dividend more likely = NPV of future dividends larger.
I can understand if it’s a higher dividend payout as a percentage of earnings – so the retained income is less meaning less investment in NPV positive.
I’ve watched all the videos and googled, I could only find it related to the clientele effect.
Kids are the biggest hurdle. Having a supportive spouse/partner is essential, plus discipline. Especially if self studying from home. Classroom lessons and married with no kids sounds like bliss.
I’m considering sneaking in the ethics model this weekend. It’s suggests 20 hours study time which wouldn’t be practical but I suspect this is more than really needed.
How long did you take?
September should be the same syllabus as it’s 2018/19 rules used. June is the first session with the 18/19 rates so they will only change for next June.
Doing it with old tax rates is a pain as you’ll have to look them up and ensure you remember the current rates for the exam.
Buy a new one, it’s only £10 ish from BPP for the ebook using the discount code.
I got two of the questions in the attached – 31 & 33.
@delamanisp said:
I am not sure if we had to use the 50% rule for finance cost. If I recall correctly, it did not mention anywhere that the property qualified for furnished holiday letting. Am I missing something here?Yes, FHLs allow for 100% deduction for mortgage interest while residential lettings have reduced this to 50% with a 20% of the other 50% for 2018/19. It’s reduced further in 19/20. The government are trying to reduce the number of buy to let landlords by making it less profitable. Same with hefty stamp duty hikes for second homes (presumably covered in ATX).
@maro999 said:
I really can’t remember right now. I was in such a rush because there was a LOT to do in section C so I am now thinking back and start wondering whether I should have used the accruals basis for that one. I hate post-exam stress!I used the cash basis for the property income and stated this, it was definitely an individual not a company. So no accrual adjustments for insurance or rent. But 50% interest deductible and 20% of the other 50% as relief on total income. Work related accommodation not taxed. And car an easy one as low emissions but only three months.
It was a surprise not to get a rollover or gift relief question. I revised it especially but annoyingly not loss relief to the same extent. The IHT one was very easy as it had not gifts at all and was under the NRB, so no point gifting to kids if they die soon. It was hard to type an explanation into the spreadsheet as there was no wrap text function.
Bea – I had a pension and spouse transfer too. Both just a few marks so not expected to be complicated. Had a loss relief question I couldn’t face so left, again just a few marks so not a big deal – I had a sore throat and head so not on form. Because the large questions had multiple sections or even different people/companies it didn’t feel overwhelming, mostly just short questions of max 10 marks.
My last one was income tax for an individual and I realised the accommodation benefit wasn’t taxable as it was required for the employment. Lots of IHT too which I had cracked. A few cars and capital allowances I was happy with, including one using the indexation- remembered to use to Dec 17 max or not at all if bought after that. One question on wasting chattels with the exact same numbers as a past paper question. But no rollover or gift relief calculations. There was so much to learn which didn’t come up. I’m sure I passed but not expecting high marks.
I did find the spreadsheet annoying and slow as it’s not close enough to excel to have the right functionality – can’t insert or delete rows, formulas don’t always work if cut and pasted and I couldn’t sum or use comas, never mind complex formula like = B2*((10-1)*2%).
Yes you answer all questions.
There won’t be seeded questions in future exams so it’s just 3 scenarios with five short questions in section A. Then written responses for section B questions.
I presume you have rights to a visa/passport via family.
Most non EEA applicants need a sponsor (employer) in order to get a visa. We’ve done this for employees but only for specialists where there is a skills shortage and no current UK residents who are suitable – they make you jump through lots of hoops and it’s very expensive. There’s no way we’d be able to do this for an accountant. There are too many already here who are highly qualified. The other route is transferring with a current employer.
Just be realistic, the competition is fierce. I had over 200 applicants for a lower level accounts role. Most I rejected because they were over qualified – they had degrees or ACCA part qualified or even qualified with good experience – and many whose English wasn’t great, although they may have passed a test.
The economy is uncertain and some industries are laying off staff or moving out of the UK. It should be ok but accountancy is likely to be less in demand anyway due to automation- I’m encouraging my kids to look at engineering and programming.
Most foreign applicants spent a few years working in shops/cafes etc before getting low level office roles. Even in London (where I’m based) job can be hard to find unless you specialise.
Its strange how there isn’t always a link to actual pass rates here – I did AA, fairly straight forward and students fed back it was an easier exam than most, second only to Law. Yet it has the lowest pass rate of the F papers. AAA seems similar and I saw lots of comments in the results chat about resits, so open tuition students aren’t immune. Compare to FR which more students rate as harder but with a much higher chance of a pass.
I worried about AA because of the pass rate but was fine. It would be good to see the distribution of pass marks as I expect it may be a higher pass mark paper for many, with less borderline fails.
Two exams alongside working full time is realistic if you can commit all you free time to study – not much social life and no kids or other big responsibilities.
If you aren’t working, no kids and reduced social life then you could manage three.
But there’s more to qualifying than exams so I wouldn’t rush it, experience means more and studying slower will mean you are likely to understand and remember the content better.
I do wonder if it’s realistic to move to the uk with ACCA as it’s not a shortage skill. There’s no end of ACCA qualified candidates already in the uk all applying for jobs well below qualified status. Personally experience is more valuable than ACCA exam passes.
If moving to the uk is the goal, rather than accountancy, I’d consider retraining in a shortage area. Programming for example is far more in demand and you’re more likely to find an employer.
It could come up but it’s easy to tell how good your English is without a test – just from your writing and speaking to you in interview. I’d expect written to be near perfect and spoken close behind – same goes for English born candidates, I expect excellent grammar and spelling. I don’t know how that compares to the exam standard.
The examiner can see the formulas so use them as much as you need, just like real life work on Excel. There are videos and often live webinars explaining the functionality of the CBEs which I found helpful, plus you can try them out – all on ACCA study support online.
I did it for PM so expect it’s the same although I’ll be checking out the specific TX resources just to be on the safe side.
My experience of AA was four sets of five multiple choice type questions based around one scenario in section A. Only three of these scenarios are marked, one set of five questions was to test the questions for future exams. Section B was three scenarios with a mix of short and long typed answers.
Could you get your employer to pay for an online course? This is what I’ve done so far on my F papers, either opentuition (free) or another site, which is still much cheaper than a college course. Another option could be doing a revision course with BPP/Kaplan etc which is a bit cheaper than a full course. You’d just have to study here first and hone your exam technique in the revision course. I might explore that option when I start the P papers later this year.
I just used open tuition and other free online resources. Didn’t bother with a revision kit as I find past papers are enough. My exam was similar to those available via ACCA.
My time is usually four weeks of study (watch videos), four weeks revision to better understand the materials (notes & other online resources) and four weeks on practice questions and past papers (as many as I can find).
