APMACCA Paper APM exam was - March 2021 Exam - Instant Poll and comments

The question asked were not straight forward. I had to read the questions a few times to understand what the examiner was asking.

Did anyone understand what they actually wanted you to do for the last part of Q1 - about the broadcasting regulator? I left it til last, and when I went back and read it again I still had no real clue how to answer it. There's every chance I get 0/12 on it. The rest of the exam felt fairly OK. Target costing was straightforward, the balanced scorecard wasn't too bad. Just hope I've answered what they wanted us to answer and I haven't strayed miles off topic especially in the big parts of the questions.

For me qu 1 A- evaluation of Performace report B EVA- Roce, RI C BCG analysis Qu 2 Stakeholders Map Risk and uncertainty Qu3 Balanced score card

For the balanced score card.. I recommended other measures that linked better to misson.. Like eva instesd of roce.. Concluded that it represented a balanced view.. As it had quantative and qualatative info and planning and control elements.. Hope that was the right track!

I wrote that ROCE wasn't appropriate since it is in the service industry and that internal perspective wasn't addressed. I also wrote that no. Of appointments measure for customer perspective used is not appropriate since it is beyond the staffs control. The learning perspective, I mentioned that it should not measure the qualification the staff already process instead what the org. provides Did this in a rush Didn't have time to complete. Ended saying it's unbalanced

I agree. I have difficulty understand the question. There is one to evaluate the usefulness of data used for benchmark, and the following request to evaluate the source of information used for benchmark. Also, what is ‘a summary of’ quality cost? BSC ‘well-balanced’? So confusing Spent a lot of reading the questions over and over. Run of time eventually

I had Finnart food company (50 marks), Finnon hair salon and then Taays company for the last question. Finished all apart from approx.10.5 marks on the last question. Really hoping for a pass but very time demanding exam. Had it been a 4 hour exam i would be more confident for a pass!

This exam really confused me - the whole studying for it was confusing. In the exam kit for example you’d get two questions both asking for benchmarking, but when looking at the answers one would say ‘figures should be used to compare’ yet the other question which was virtually the same would say ‘students should not have used figures to compare but instead just speak about the relevance of benchmarking’ ...in the exam you don’t know which avenue to go down when the question is just ‘evaluate the relevance of the benchmarking exercise’ - do you use the figures to do comparatives or just talk about relevance of overall benchmarking? So confusing. As they say “if you don’t write exactly what is being asked for you will get no marks”. The exam itself I felt had relatively easy questions such as BSC and target costing - but hard to pin point exactly what is being asked for because during tuition you are told time and time again that the questions can be confusing and you need to read them so carefully and it’s not just about the theory, but under exam pressure your brain does not do things in that structured way lol. I suppose it’s a hard qualification for a reason - and the hard work is worth it in the end.

I have been reading comments on another platform and some people say they didnt make any reccomendations for new measures for q1 as the q said. The board dont want more changes to the report as too many changes had been made previously... I made reccomendations though..... Think im wrong now.. Anyone make measure reccomendations?

I gave measures as alternatives to some existing ones.

Me too.. Sure there was nothing to say if you couldnt do that!

Same. I mentioned EVA, as they only had ROCE. But I did also mention the board not wanting much change. You just don’t know what the best thing to say is.

That is so true.. I dont have a great feeling about it!

I also remember a question on quality cost areas and then at the end realised I didn’t even open appendix 2 with quality cost figures in lol although the question seemed to ask for a generic description for the quality cost areas. I wasn’t too sure how to go into much detail about the figures even when I did see them?

I had the variant with the: Section A: Performance report, EVA and BCG Matrix I spent too much time on section A but I think this section went okayish (I hope) - although now I am reading that some people didn't recommend alternative measures due to the boards request. I did suggest some alternatives like EVA but mainly focused on objectives and how the current measures are linked to these objectives. Section B - Q2 Risk and Uncertainties - I was rushing this answer due to time. I left this one for last and didn't get to finish the last question with the bronze, silver and gold projects - That was 10 marks- I started it but didn't get to put much into it before time was up. Out of curiosity which one of these quality projects did people go for? O3 - Balanced scorecard and information systems - I was time conscious and again rushed through this so I would have enough time to go back to the risk question. I feel if I had more time as mentioned before 4 hours - I would have answered this one well. I gave pros and cons of the BSC and at the end said it wasn't balanced as lack of long term focus - More customer measure needed - maybe a survey - service industry should include more NFPI's and way to measure these - external benchmarking. Now it's the long waiting game. Good luck everyone.

Q1, i evaluated the performance report. it had everything needed. It was aligned with objectives. However i should have mentioned also, it was helpful to have the variances and the commentary was aligned. Part b was EVA calculation. This was straight forward but I'm sure i left some mistakes. As silly as i am, i added back corporate tax, instead of deducted it ;( ROCE, RI for divisional performance..i argued here and RI was my final suggestions and ROI as it was more fitted (no further funding was going to be received) BCG- this i did not quite understand. So i analysed the appendix and mentioned the dog could be de invested and use the cashcow for the research and development of a new product instead. Cash cow, try to innovate on the products, pizza is liked by many but maybe the price could be lowered to attract more growth. As for the healthy food (?), Use cash cow and invest in appropriate marketing strategies to create awareness of this new range of product. This will perhaps move it to the star quadrant. Q2 stakeholders matrix- i explained briefly the chair man was key player and how he should be treated. Employees i argued they have interest on opportunities but less power as opposed to the interest. So they should be kept informed via emails, regular meetings about opportunities. Bank: they had low interest and power therefore minimal activities for them..however not to ignore them because they have a level of trust on the business now but in the future they might start showing interest. B ) Risk appetite- here i struggled a bit because not much information was given about the three stakeholders mindset. I wrote anyway: Chairmain doesn't want mishap to be repeated. Therefore no risk taking person. He was risk averse Employees value their job and hence they would like to do things which they dont regret later or have a very minimal regret. Bank has a certain level of trust because company is compliant and has a good cash flow..they were neural. (Not sure). C) optimistic / pesimistic approach. I calculated contribution then argued it was not enough as the products have massive FC to be considered. So i calculated profit under both approach, under pesimistic i had chosen silver as highly profitable and gold under optimistic. However i mentioned it was worth waiting for the election to be over to avoid any issue of regret. But if there is a need to go for the production now, its better to take the pessimistic approach. Produce 50k only and get a lower profit to start with., Then if election is favorable, demand will rise, profit will rise. Hence company can switch to production of gold type. Q3. BSC- i criticised the kpis given. Financial, eva would be more appropriate to measure shareholder wealth. %of revisitng customers gives a measure of how many customers are satisfied thats why they come back. This can be collected also through surveys. % of successful service based on appointment. This shows whether the internal process of taking orders manually works or not. As company caters for man power and resources based on appointment..if customer take appointment but don't turn up, this means the internal process is not efficient. No. Of cusomers requesting their hairdresser. This would show how they value the training/ qualifications. I also added another one which concerns % revenue but i dont quite remember. My point here was to emphasize its not about the qualifications which the staff already have but how much they are updated with new hair styling techniques. This is whats more important in this industry. B) i mentioned why bsc is good. It reduces dysfunctional behaviour. It pushes managers to look at the bigger picture. It meets the objectives of the business. but what makes it unsuitable for this business. Reluctance of staff members esp managers were focussing much on financial aspects before., If objectives changes, we need to ensure they still lead to goal congruence. Outdated IT system which the company was using will need to be updated/changed if they wanted to implement bsc. And i have forgotten the remaining.

What other platforms to view feedback on APM?

Boris12345 wrote:Hi,

I had the same.

Can you give me more detail?

Hi I see that there were diffirent variants of APM. I thought we all write the same exam.

Yes. I found that too. At first, I thought I was completely out of the box then i saw the company names, I was comforted. So definitely they have different variants!!!

Can you tell me in more detail what appeared on your variant?

did anybody get fiag q.1 with the evaluation of the report and PEST and q.3 on risk and uncertainty with mendelow matrix and q.2 on reward scheme?

Hi yes I got fiag Then Tayy and spiggie

Hello, Hope you all are fine. I have quick question, I believe all of you attempted CBE exam for APM in march 2021? If yes, how did you practice? The practice platform of ACCA or past questions practice using MS Word and Excel instead of using pen & paper. I think practicing on MS word and Excel would improve the speed and will help normalize to attempt exam on screen. Awaiting your insights. P.s I have checked ACCA is not offering paper based exam in my location.

@awais21 I used MS Word when answering question... the practice platform was difficult to practice with because of my small laptop screen in addition to the website constantly freezing. In the actual exam it wasn't as bad.. my only issue was the highlight and the copy and paste which took a little more time. All the best to you! hopefully I get good results this weekend. But practice makes perfect!

@kermillia Many thanks for your kind answer and all the best wishes for your exam results. I have started practicing on MS Word and have attempted few questions. Its new and bit odd but hopefully I will get used to it well before exam day. Would you?infact looking for insights from all battle hardened soldiers ;).?be so kind to share any tips to study or pitfalls which should be avoided while preparing for this exam. The only pitfall I located is; it is easy to study for this exam and get carried away but past exam questions shake me well. Regards, Awais