ACCA June 2016 Exam tips – BPP, LSBF, First Intuition

BPP June 2016 Exam Tips

F5
• Q1-3: All areas of the syllabus.
• Q4: Planning and operational variances, mix and yield variances, and evaluation of company performance.

F6
• Employment benefits.
• Property income.
• Relief for pension contributions.
• Adjustments to profit to arrive at trading income for both companies and sole traders.
• Capital allowance computations. • Likely 10-mark questions on VAT, IHT and CGT.

F7
Q1-2
• Interpretation or statement of cash flows.
• Consolidation (if Q3 is not a consolidation).
• Other possibilities – conceptual framework, intangible/tangible assets and impairment, provisions and contingencies, revenue and grants, financial instruments, discontinued operations/assets held for sale, or earnings per share.
Q3
• Financial statement preparation (30-marker).
• Single entity or a consolidation
(statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income or/and statement of financial position).
• Statement of changes in equity, statement of cash flows extract, earnings per share calculation or linked written topic.
• Consolidation including one subsidiary and often an associate, with adjustments, eg fair values, deferred/contingent consideration, PUP on inventories/PPE, intragroup trading and balances, goods/cash in transit.
• Single entity preparation from a trail balance or restatement of given financial statement with usual adjustments for depreciation, revaluation and current/deferred tax.

F8
Q1-4
• Ethical threats and safeguards.
• Corporate governance and internal audit.
• Audit planning, materiality, audit procedures (especially substantive procedures), audit finalisation and audit reports.
Q5-6
• Audit risk.
• Internal controls
• Audit procedures – substantive procedures and tests of control.

F9
• Calculations on improvements to receivable management – early settlement discounts and factoring. • Weighted average cost of capital calculations – components.
• Ratio analysis to support financing decisions.
• NPV calculations, possibly correcting an incorrect NPV given by the examiner, which includes incorrect tax and inflation calculations.

P1
• Read any new articles recently published by the examiner.
• Use of stakeholder.
• Ethical and other CSR theories applied to scenarios
• Use of risk and governance – board directors, remuneration and reporting.

P2
Section A
• Preparation of a statement of financial position and/or a group statement of profit of loss, and other comprehensive income or statement of cash flows.
• Accounting adjustment and social/ethical/moral aspects of corporate reporting.

Section B, Q2-3
• Deferred tax, foreign currency transactions, financial instruments, pensions, share-based payment, non-current assets (recognition and/or impairment of tangible and intangible assets), borrowing costs, the effect of accounting treatments on earnings per share or ratios.
• Industry-based testing range of standards such as accounting policies and the framework, leases, grants, IFRS for SMEs, reorganisations, provisions, events after reporting period and related parties.

Q4
• Current development in corporate reporting and problems with existing standards – revision of the conceptual framework, regulatory issues over adoption and consistent application of IFRSs, implementation issues, application of the definition of control and significant influence (equity accounting), improvement in performance measurement, classification in profit or loss vs OCI, integrated reporting, revenue recognition.
• Group accounting.

P3
• Integrated reporting will increasingly feature in P3.
• Project management.
• Times series, relevant costing, decision trees and decision making techniques.
• Role of corporate parent, including BCG matric/Ashridge.
• Business process change, including the POPIT model and Harmon’s process-strategy matrix.
• E-business, e-marketing, and the impact of Big Data on areas like the 7Ps and CRM.

P4
Q1
• Project appraisal – domestic and overseas.
• Business valuations – cost of capital calculations.
• Risk management (hedging). Q2-4
• Risk management – currency or interest rate.
• Business re-organisation.
• Real options.
• Ethics and general financing issues – dividend policy.

P5
Q1
• Numerical techniques – KPIs,
EVA, transfer pricing, financial reporting measures, analysis of quality related costs, ABC.
• Performance management frameworks – building blocks model or balanced scorecard.
• Know the difference between evaluating a performance report and evaluating the underlying performance of the organisation. Q2-4
• Quality management – Six Sigma. • Information reporting – CSFs and KPIs, non-financial performance indicators.
• HR frameworks – reward and appraisal systems.
• Risk management and environmental management accounting.
• Performance management frameworks – building blocks, performance pyramid, balanced scorecard.

P6
• Groups of companies with overseas aspects.
• Unincorporated business particularly loss relief or involving a partnership.
• Capital gains tax versus inheritance tax.
• Overseas aspects particularly the new rules on residence.
• Personal service company.
• Company purchase of own shares.
• Enterprise investment schemes/venture capital trusts.
• Change in accounting date.
• Takeover.
• VAT partial exemption.
• Transfer of trade versus sale of subsidiary.
• Disincorporation relief.
• Pension contributions.
• Patent box, research and development expenditure.

P7
Section A
• Planning, risk assessment, evidence gathering and practice management issues.
• Non-audit engagement, with the prospective financial information (PFI) or due diligence.
• Audit completion or consolidated groups.
Section B
• Audit evidence and financial

LSBF’S JUNE ACCA EXAM TIPS

F5
Section B
• ABC and target costing.
• Relevant costing.
• Budgeting theory with flexed budgets.
• All advanced variances.
• Divisional performance and transfer pricing.

F6
• Chargeable gains – company making disposals with rollover and holdover relief.
• IHT – calculating IHT on lifetime gifts into a trust when the donor is still alive.
• VAT – due date for registration, calculation of VAT payable.
• Income tax – adjustment of profit for a sole trader/partnership, including capital allowances, for a sole trader in the beginning or middle of the trading cycle.
• Corporation tax – calculating corporation tax, large company and instalment payments.

F7
• Section A: MCQs can cover any topic in the syllabus, but at least half will be on standards.
• Section B: Consolidations/ published accounts will be a 15/30 marker, or vice versa; the remaining 15 marker will probably be on interpretation with adjustments needed beforehand.
If you are registered for the exam and feel reasonably prepared give it a go: September sees the biggest expansion to the F7 syllabus for at least 15 years.

F8
• Ethical threats and safeguards.
• Audit risk and response.
• Internal controls deficiencies/procedures/tests over sales.
• Substantive testing trade payables and receivables, and bank.
• Audit report scenarios.
• Internal audit – VFM audits.
• Reliance on internal auditor by external auditor.
• ISA 720 other information.
• Positive/negative assurance

P2
• Q1: CFS or BS or PL, in that order.
• Q2/3: Usual suspects drawn widely from the syllabus.
• Q4: Maybe financial asset impairment, equity accounting, SMEs, sustainability, leases.

P3
• Strategic analysis.
• Strategic choice.
• Management accounting techniques to support decision making (possibly close or continue).
• Process re-engineering and the need for IT controls.
• Project management.

P4
• Hedging interest rate risk using forward rate agreement, interest rate futures, options on interest rate futures and collars.
• Real options – to abandon, expand or delay using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
• Investment appraisal using adjusted present values, modified internal rate of return and internal rate of return.
• Cost of capital using the principles of Modigliani and Miller prepositions or geared and ungeared betas.
• Calculation of project specific WACC or WACC of combined activities.
• Valuation of business using free cash flows and price-earnings ratio methods. Best mode of payment – cash offer or share exchange.

P5
• EVA.
• Appraising performance metrics.
• Balanced scorecard.
• Impact on performance management.
• Corporate failure.

P6
• IHT with the death estate including BPR and APR and lifetime gifts into a trust and gifts with reservation.
• Domicile including deemed domicile and election to be treated as UK domiciled.
• Group question, involving losses, group relief.
• Research and development options for a large enterprise.
• Change of accounting date and trading losses made by an unincorporated business.
• Capital gains tax including entrepreneurs’ relief, shares matching rules and gift relief
• Incorporation relief.
• Residency rules, remittance basis and overseas aspects of income tax.
• Group registration for VAT.
• Partial exemption for VAT.
• Employee shareholder scheme/share option schemes.
• Ethics.

First Intuition Exam Tips for June 2016

F5
MCQ’s on the whole syllabus.
ABC.
Environmental accounting.
Limiting factors.
Relevant costing.
Flexed budget and budgeting discussion.
Transfer pricing.
Mix and yield variances.

F6
Employment benefits.
Basis periods.
Partnerships.
Pensions.
Loss relief for individuals and companies.
Groups of companies.
PAYE.
Administration of tax.
VAT small company schemes.
CGT: Entrepreneur’s relief, PPR, share disposals.

F7
MCQs on the whole syllabus.
Interpretation of accounts including ratio calculations and written analysis
Preparation of consolidated SFP and/or SPL with associate, PUP and fair value adjustments.
Preparation of single company accounts including tangible non-current assets, intangible assets, taxation and IFRS 15. Possible written element or EPS calculation.

F8
MCQs on the whole syllabus.
Ethics.
Audit risk and auditor response.
Internal control – deficiencies, implications and recommendations.
Audit evidence and substantive testing.
Subsequent events, written representations and going concern.
Modified auditor’s reports.

F9
Discussion of the economic environment and the impact on interest and exchange rates.
Working Capital Management – receivables and payables plus operating cycle.
Investment appraisal & cost of capital.
Business valuations.
Risk management (currency risk calculations).

P1
50 mark scenario question, to include: ethics, governance and risk management. Optional questions to include: Importance of internal controls, directors remuneration, business risks and their mitigation, integrated reporting and one v two tier board structures.

P2
Q1: Group question on disposals or cash flows.
Ethics.
Revenue recognition.
Leases – current issue.
Deferred tax.
Share based payments.
Pensions.

P3
Section A
• Environmental analysis, people with financial analysis.
Section B
• Project management.
• Strategic action.
• Information technology – pricing strategy.

P4
International investment appraisal techniques focusing on risk management tools such as Value at risk.
Impact on WACC following hedging of interest rate risk.
Capital structure; traditional debt finance & Islamic Finance – Sukuk Bonds.
Financial restructuring.

P5
Critique an existing performance management system and the performance hierarchy.
Quality as a critical success factor.
Value based approaches to performance management.
Effective use of information systems.
Environmental performance/analysis.
Balanced scorecard or Performance Prism.

P6
Group relief and consortium relief for companies.
Incorporation relief.
IHT planning.
Patent box.
Share schemes.

P7
Business risks in a scenario.
Identifying ethical and other professional issues in a scenario.
Matters to be considered and audit evidence for a couple of core accounting issues.
Money laundering.
Insolvency issues.
Discussion on audit reports.

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