*** ACCA Paper AAA September 2018 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

@raoul7370 said:
In the answer I have written for our college, I decided not to put in the redundancy provision as a risk. I write my answers to real exam time, to keep them realistic in length, and maybe with unlimited time I would have put it in. But the story said redundancies had happened early in the accounting year, suggesting the staff would have been paid in full long before the year end. Hence no provision would be needed.

The software relates to spending on intangibles, all of which had been capitalised. This was similar to another risk question from a few sittings ago. You can capitalise such internally generated software, just like development costs, as long as it meets the criteria (product likely to get completed and deliver economic benefits that exceed its cost), so the risk is these criteria are not met.

Not a provision for the current redundancy but the risk of possible further redundancies since 5000 had already been made redundant therefore it may be necessary to consider whether there would be further redundancies as a result of the robot and a possible provision needed.

@raoul7370

Can’t there be 2 different risks under intangibles? 1 being the R&D costs not being capitalized accordingly. And the other being amortization with a definite life. I think the Question said the software or something was amortized for a period of 15 years. And as the Co dealt with innovation, 15 years was way too long and so the amort expense being understated?

And also regarding the redundancy provision which you have mentioned. Can’t we say the provision being under disclosed and as a result of that profits being over stated?

@sokty said:
I don’t think we should talk about risk of under-disclosure because the requirement stated clearly that we should not talk about disclosure.

Yes, the requirement said “You are not required to consider audit risks relating to disclosure, as these will be
planned for later in the audit process.”

Disclosure means notes to the financial statements. Not the same as over or under statement. Or did I miss something.

{ But still the fact that saddens me the most is that the specimen paper, brought out months in advance of this sitting, is almost identical to the September paper. Any student who had practised it would have been very well set for Monday’s paper. The comments on here should be saying “nice of the examiner to ease us in gently to the new format with such predictable questions similar to the specimen”}

This is true 100% , i tried the specimen paper many times before exam , and when i sit i got astonished from copy and paste of this specimen , this the ONLY positive point in the exam

raoul7370 comments and opinion is very useful as i said it before , thank you Raoul very much for your point of view , otherwise guys we will be kept blind form examiners approach , we will never know how they think ,

All students who attempted Advanced Audit Assurance Paper should fill ACCA student survey regarding exams concerns.The last date is 13 sep to fill this survey.Your little effort may be considered by the examiner.

@angelamalta said:
Disclosure means notes to the financial statements. Not the same as over or under statement. Or did I miss something.

Correct (all of you) – no risks relating to disclosure notes could be mentioned (a shame given the new operating segment that seemed to be appearing). But a provision of course also causes a debit and credit, so would be fair game.

@mirzazafarbaig said:
All students who attempted Advanced Audit Assurance Paper should fill ACCA student survey regarding exams concerns.The last date is 13 sep to fill this survey.Your little effort may be considered by the examiner.

Well that is what it is there for, so yes. Do so.

One thing I find a bit odd though. The mock I wrote for our students was not well attempted, with a far bigger % of students running out of time than is usual. Thing is, I wanted everyone to get a chance to attempt as much as possible to embed good technique, so I chose to keep the scenario exhibits a little shorter than I might have done.

My point – I am not convinced the number of exhibits or size of the story is the problem. I think this is going to happen at every sitting, and is down to there being a 50 mark question.

As a former P1 tutor, the same thing happened every time with the 50 mark question on that paper, even though it was only 1.5 pages of story.

A lot of students seem to struggle when there are many different requirements and 1 big story. I remain sure that this is largely a lack of technique, or lack of timed practice of such questions, or a combination of the two. However (and the main reason I continue to post on this thread despite some of the delightful comments I get for doing so), I also think quite a few students simply do not realise that exam stories are deliberately larger than they need to be to supply sufficient points for students to talk about.

That 24 mark audit risk question probably needs only 9 well explained risks to get all the risk marks available. I reckon there are at least 20 risks in there. So find a many as you can, pick 9 you are comfortable explaining, and then move on.

Thing is, unlike P1 (where any requirement could mean having to read several parts of the story), P7/AAA has always tended to give the story in bite sized chunks. If more students realised this, I think they would, as I do, see it NOT as a 50 mark question, but instead as a 24 marker, a 6 marker, a 10 marker, and a 6 marker (plus 4 marks for a format which requires no reading at all).

While a little crossover is possible, it becomes clear quickly that:

– 6 marks of audit tests on goodwill need Exhibit 4 only

– 6 marks of ethics and prof issues needs just 1 paragraph of Exhibit 2

– 10 marks of audit strategy needs just 3 paragraphs of Exhibit 5 to read

The scary bit is of course Exhibit 3, with not just FS numbers but also notes to the FS (although these notes provide another bite by bite exercise, and lots of audit risks). The specimen paper had FS but no notes so of course this is going to take longer to get through.

Anyway, I hope those of you reading this take my comments for what they are – an attempt to help you pass the exam. If you believe that the very existence of exam technique is wrong, and that the exam should allow for deeper analysis and more time, and that tutors should teach the subject in its full glory, then sure, happy to do that.

I would happily discuss the finer points of auditing all day, as I suspect some of you might have realised…

@ashrafaziz said:
Let’s be practical & look forward to Dec 2018 session

i extract from this useful debate 2 points as possible solution of almost impossible P7 exam :

1- { Students should have started from Q2 and 3 and grab maximum points which is closer to 37 marks and then go on to scavenge for 20 marks in Q1. }

Begin with Q2 & Q3 while you are still fresh mind as its scenario is shorter than Q1 to guarantee at least 30 out of 50 points in 1st 105 minutes

2- { I sat four mocks before the exam all under exam conditions. 3 from the BBP kit and another from my college. When I was doing that exam, it was virtually like sitting it a fifth time. And I sucked hard my first two mock attempts believe me. }

Try mock exams under real timing & under real exam conditions , specially , try Q1
mocks only under 90 Minutes 4 times at least before sitting an exam as most of the complaints arise from Q1

CAN ANY ONES ADD TO THESE POINTS TO HELP TO PASS NEXT TIME ?

{ But still the fact that saddens me the most is that the specimen paper, brought out months in advance of this sitting, is almost identical to the September paper. Any student who had practised it would have been very well set for Monday’s paper. The comments on here should be saying “nice of the examiner to ease us in gently to the new format with such predictable questions similar to the specimen”}

This is true 100% , i tried the specimen paper many times before exam , and when i sit i got astonished from copy and paste of this specimen , this the ONLY positive point in the exam

raoul7370 comments and opinion is very useful as i said it before , thank you Raoul very much for your points of view , otherwise guys , we will be kept blind form examiners approach , we will never know how they think

Thanks to Raoul we touch the core point which result in the same , identical comments published in the examiner report on every exam , on the other side , students keep complaining from the same issues in every sitting, and the same problems will never be solved , in the end we have to “work within the framework forced on us”. as ALAYA said

The examiner report never disclose to us the points which Raoul uncover as examiner report always answers points specific to each exam question not overall approach of thinking applicable to any exam as Raoul explain

last point , i am somehow frustrated after leaving the exam hall this time , (3 thd time in P7 ) because i think that there are no solution to pass P7 , but i have to confess that there is many points that i didn’t study diligently like QC in audit of last question , what i want to say that if we must be honest with ourselves and cover all the syllabus 200% to be ready to write on any topic once we read the question , the very very very good preparation will kill the shortage in time problem

Agreed with most people’s view that the first question was too lengthy. Though I do not think we were expected to make use of all information; there was simply too much and I think in the end the technique should still the same: you gain credit as long as you give sensible answers. I personally did not have the time to calculate all applicable ratios (heck, by the time I finished reading I had to start writing) and focused on trend analysis and explanation instead. Spotting trends is much easier than calculating ratios. I see that a lot of people spent 2h+ for the first question, which shouldn’t have been the practice. No matter how long the question is and how much you still have to write, YOU MOVE ON WHEN THE TIME IS UP. This is easily the most important technique but one that is easily disposed of during the exam (honestly I spent 2-3 extra minutes after the time was up for one question and had to slap myself so that I moved on).

I can’t be sure whether I’ll pass; it was challenging and regretfully I had one or two knowledge gaps since I didn’t do P2/SBR before AAA. The rest of the questions felt fine though. Hope all goes well.

It was too lengthy I couldn’t complete section 2, Hoping for the miracle. It was very tough to complete the whole exam.

Good to have your comments on exam techniques for this Sep exam.

Anyone has p7 study material that they dont need anymore? Im thinking of starting study for p7, will be nice to have the study material. Thankyou