APM*** ACCA Paper APM March 2020 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

Q1 did evaluation well then forgot how receivable days am dincetory days was calculated ( giving this exam after nearly 10 years of p5 ) so forgot the ratios. VBM was such a confusing question so was JIT. Bad exam will need a res it for sure

For 1st question, did anyone manage to calculate any thing for the additional proposed indicators? I think it was TSR, ROCE and inventory days? I thought info was missing for these to fully calculate so I commented on what they can reflect but didn't have any numbers. Did anyone calculate something?

I also sat cbe and spent a lot of time moving screens around. My desk space was tiny. I calculated inventory, roce and receivables but not TSR as couldn't locate share price information and knew I was starting to run out of time for question

@borisdmello said: Added back the 200k to NOPAT right? because its a non cash income... it was just for 10 marks so I just wrote Comment and two limitations... should be enough right?

I deducted it because it was a reduction so had been added to profit in the first place and commented that provisions are an example of over prudence. I then added the full 500k to the ce at the start of the year to eliminate accounting estimates. The eva I said about being absolute, assumptions in wacc, time consuming and complex

December 2019 was a better exam for me. Did what I could using the scenarios as a guide for answering the questions.

I totally agree with you hassan, i feel i was better prepared to answer these questions in the exam. i think i did much better than my last attempt. But only time will tell.

I excluded the TSR calculation as if it didnt exist. lol But did the rest of calculations.

Also EVA of zero ha, was kind of like it must be right because would be toooo weird a coincidence (... Probably wrong actually ?) Tough but fair paper. VBM part a, I doubt I had enough real matter to get anywhere near the marks on offer.. Plus Burns and Scappens:,Had some general waffle but lacked integration points I reckon. Alas its done.... at least until next time ?

Is it possible to scrap a pass by completing just Questions 1 & 2.

Overall the exam was ok and managed the finish the paper. Q1 was the most manageable. Suprised JIT came up gain. Did not like the VBM question the 15 marks was too much and didn't know what to say. I think he examiner has made the questions more straightforward now. Really hope i pass as it is my last one

I excluded them as they are not quality costs

q1 - (ii). additional performance measures. I did not do TSR, I ignored it like it was never there. The other calculation was easy. For inventory days, Inventory was given in the appendix and COG (Revenue - GP). The ROCE calculation give around 35% for each year. Inventory days was about 31 days and Receivable days was about 3 days. (i) - Most of the performance indicators did relate back to the company mission and strategic objectives, however not all. Eg. the indicators was not clear how the company measured - increase individual spending. There was a measure that measure the percentage of individual spending but this only indicate that these were one off and the company had a difficulty getting customer to make additional purchases- and this raises questions such as Are customers satisfied with the overall service? The ROCE and Profit measure did measure growth, but not sustainable growth for the shareholders. EVA suggested. Finally, the performance report should have been benchmarked against other online retailers instead of internal bench marking, as this type would be probably acceptable from an operational perspective. Changing roles or management accountant was easy. Didn;t remember who the hell was Burns and Scapens - But i did highlighted and discussed all of the same factors, - increase competition, technology and strategic focus. I thought that the big data investment was too expensive to undertake, giving the cost of $50, which will need software to process this data and maintenance cost, in addition to the company previous experience, which it had non. So it was a high risk undertaking for the company.

@ awogbod2 - I really hope you pass as well. This is my last paper also but the third time sitting it.

Q3- The JIT was implemented by the customer, and we had to suggest changed in the supplier production and distribution process in order to facilitate this process. Areas of improvement mentioned were: - Quality of course of the raw-materials as there were 4 vendors supplying raw materials, one had recently supplied questionable in quality and quantity. - Production changes form a large batch to as per order from the customer, mainly because the large batches led to stock obsolesce due to the dress been seasonal and maybe out of fashion. - Changes also would be need in technology, management information system and also changes to performance measures to measure quality, as there was a 5% return rate of damages, i think. Cost of quality was easy, i also excluded cost of materials and labour as the scenario did not mentioned if these were higher quality materials or newly trained staff. I did had a zero prevention cost and suggested investment in this areas to reduce external failure cost where were very significant.

Q 2- Focused on VBM and EVA. However the problem that faced the company was increase competition. The competitors were catching up in terms for cost per unit and quality. I discussed according to the four areas given in the scenario (setting targets and indicators, setting time frames etc.) EVA calculation was simple, you could have stared with operating profits or profit after tax as suggested by OpenTuition online lecture on APM. And finally discussed a few disadvantages including its usefulness in terms of this company using it as a performance measure. Thanks OpenTuition - I used all materials to prepare for this exam, including of course lost of past exam papers.

Again is it possible to scrap a pass by just completing questions 1 & 2 ?

@ikamarakay said: Again is it possible to scrap a pass by just completing questions 1 & 2 ?

If you had a really comprehensive Q1 and 2 it is possible. I heard even prizewinners get the late 30''s or 40 on Q1. Did you put anything for Q3? as it is easier to get 8-10 marks out of 25 than an extra 8-10 in Q1

@cyhap3 said: @ awogbod2 - I really hope you pass as well. This is my last paper also but the third time sitting it.

thank you. It is my second time actually. I really hope we get a nice surprise in 6 weeks. Im fed up of these exams hahha!

Did anyone else get a negative EVA?

@ikamarakay said: Again is it possible to scrap a pass by just completing questions 1 & 2 ?

Definitely possible if you nailed those. I could spent lots longer on question 1 but moved on with 1.5 hours to go

Just to see if I am on the right track below is a summary of how I attempted this paper. Q1 Analysed the report based on the mission statement and objectives to say whether it assists in giving the information, the stakeholders need, did a comparison of some of the figures year on year and explained how the report was limiting in information for what the stakeholders would want. Also mentioned about the operating costs were lumped together so could not see if improvements in purchasing and inventory management had been achieved. Noted the comments on the bottom were just concentrating on the positive figures based on the report. Calculated ROCE for both years, could not calculate any of the other figures based on the information given, but I did write down the formulas and explained how they would be useful referring back to the mission statement. Explained the changing role of the management accountant, forgot to mention the point on the hierarchy as I forgot what the point was called but did talk about it and explained about goal congruence and quicker responses to decisions. Talked about the technology factor referring to the ERPS and talked about the competition aspect. Talked about big data, explained the four V’s, then went on to detail the opportunities (market share, customer profiling amongst others) and risks (legal, GDPR, theft and loss amongst others). Q2 For part a I referred to the scenarios points and explained whether they would add value to the business and explained both financial and non-financial performance measurements. For part b, I calculated the Eva and explained the pros and cons. I made adjustments for the interest, R&D and provisions from what I can remember. Q3 I think was a tricky one as it was asking about the JIT implementation of your client’s only customer and how that affects your client. For part a, I detailed out the purchasing and production implications as per the scenario and for part b I listed out the costs that were conformance and non-conformance then reported on the implications and changes to these costs based on the scenario.

questions were okay if you had practised enough. i found question 3 particularly hard. lets hope we pass.

Good answer planning is required with particular emphasis on timing. You get a lot of marks for the first 5 minutes on any question section; 0 - 20% is a lot easier than 80% - 100% so it is optimum to answer everything set to some extent.

@jennie1984 said: Definitely possible if you nailed those. I could spent lots longer on question 1 but moved on with 1.5 hours to go

No, just questions 1 & 2, but strongly believe i was thorough.I linked every point to each case objectives and specific situation.

@ikamarakay said: No, just questions 1 & 2, but strongly believe i was thorough.I linked every point to each case objectives and specific situation.

I also strongly believe that my calculations for EVA, ROCE, TSR , Inventory days and Receivable days were impeccable. Comments and evaluation of each were linked to the specific case objectives ( Primary, secondary and other desirable features) and case specific circumstances. I only hope i make it this time as this is my 3rd attempt.

@awogbod2 said: thank you. It is my second time actually. I really hope we get a nice surprise in 6 weeks. Im fed up of these exams hahha!

Fingers crossed.!!

This particular exam breaks my heart a little. It was such a doable paper, yet again I really struggled with time. I spent too much time on Q1 parts (i) and (ii) but feel I evaluated the report with key points and linked it back to the overall strategic objective and the subsidiary objectives. I also think I did ok on the inventory days, ROCE. I believe it was possible to calculate the inventory days because the operating costs were the cost of goods sold, But now I think that is wron so I over thought it. I think I would have picked up all the professional marks based on the flow of the evaluation report. And headings etc. Bascially I need to pick up every mark possible! I then left (iii) and (iv) and went back to them in the last 10 minutes, forgot what B&S was so talked about (iii) broadly because it did say 'broadly' which I felt was giving us a chance to pick up a mark or two even if we did forget B&S as it was so specific. I attempted the VBM question 2 part (i) and feel I did quite well there, linking back to the Appendix 1. As for Question 3, I feel I did quite well with JIT question. Broke it down on production and purchasing, tieing into Multiskilled workers needed to reduce waste, Close relationship with supplier needed, Quality needed, Working in cells needed, Reduced set up times to reduce waste, I am so hopeful I scored full marks in this question, Because I failed to attempt the cost of quality report. I really hope I pass, I got 46 before and feel the same way I feel now about it. Hopeful I can get the 50, That is all I want. I will just be grateful for 50. :-(

It is also my last exam and I am failing to become an affiliate, I so badly want this qualification.