FM*** ACCA Paper FM December 2019 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

My exam wasn’t great especially season A & B

Omg I hate it. Part A and B was a disaster. C about NPV and WACC was very pleasant. I hate the center where I sat. Manchester Chambers. Big room, approximantly 78 people in total. Stuffy and no air. Keyboard did not work. People treated like animals. Anyone got that Paris co question. Where mistake was made? That is not acceptable. They release exam when there is mistake. Maybe they have other mistakes as well somewhere hidden?

Did anyone get the NPV section C question? Did you do the project over the 4 years or 10? I was thrown off and done it over 4. Also multiple choice questions were horrible :-(

I’m completely with you on that. Section A and B were horrendous! Section C was OK but not sure it’s enough. No one in my centre got the Paris Question. I agree it’s totally not acceptable. My exam centre wasn’t the best either. Out of date PCs, uncomfortable chairs. Not ideal.

@kazcaiels said: I’m completely with you on that. Section A and B were horrendous! Section C was OK but not sure it’s enough. No one in my centre got the Paris Question. I agree it’s totally not acceptable. My exam centre wasn’t the best either. Out of date PCs, uncomfortable chairs. Not ideal.

I will arrange a Complant to Acca. That’s disgusting. Encourage everyone to do the same.

Which npv was the ten year ? Mine I think was only four years I’m assuming there are different exam types/question bank

Section A and B was Tough, Got The NPV Question with the 75M Mistake and WACC Question,

I did mine over 4 years, because it is the company's decision, however think that the tax allowable depreciation should have been adjusted to reflect that, but i didnt do it :(

Section À & B were horrendous. Got NPV & cash flow/working capital section C. We were interrupted about Paris Co but it wasn't even one of our questions. Shocking that ACCA would get that sort of thing wrong. Centre was nice & staff were great but there were no partitions and it was easy to see other people's screens.

I did it over 4 years, but I am not sure that it is right :(

The one I had wasn’t like that - all it said was residual value in fourth year

Oh guys. What kind of ten years. I do not remember that at all. Only 4 years in mine, inflation adjustments and tax paid at 20 percents plus allowable tax depreciation of 25%. But I hate a and b. Well need to get money ready for resit now. Acca money resits, more money for them ?

There was no mention of 10 years in mine I’m assuming different npv questions Mine had working capital How would ten years work in regards to tad as I thought you could only claim it on actual profits

Did anyone get the Paris co question? If so, can you remember any of its details? Stressing now as I forgot to check if it came up in my exam!

Anyone got cash flows in section C , as well as NPV, IRR, ARR and payback calculations. MCQ were tough though. Hope to get through this paper but seems difficult

Exam was total disaster for me. Only futures, forwards, foreign exchange, a lot of other complicated theory in parts A and B (only 10 questions with calculations from 30!). Nothing about inventory costs, Baumol model, NPV, WACC. I didn't hear anything about incorrect question and I'm not sure if this message even reached my centre. However, I don't remember any question about Paris so probably in this situation I'm lucky. Part C questions also hard for me. I had to calculate project over 4 years but using two methods (real cost of capital and nominal- I was not sure how to calculate it). Also 10 years depreciation was mentioned and now I am thinking if I should add profits also to year 5 when there was tax allowable depreciation and tax liability from year 4. Theoretical questions in section C also hard for me. I was totally lost during this exam and for sure will fail. Ready to resit in March.

@ita15 said: Exam was total disaster for me. Only futures, forwards, foreign exchange, a lot of other complicated theory in parts A and B (only 10 questions with calculations from 30!). Nothing about inventory costs, Baumol model, NPV, WACC I didn't hear anything about incorrect question and I'm not sure if this message even reached my centre. However, I don't remember any question about Paris so probably in this situation I'm lucky. Part C questions also hard for me. I had to calculate project over 4 years but using two methods (real cost of capital and nominal- I was not sure how to calculate it). Also 10 years depreciation was mentioned and now I am thinking if I should add profits also to year 5 when there was tax allowable depreciation and tax liability from year 4. Theoretical questions in section C also hard for me. I was totally lost during this exam and for sure will fail. Ready to resit in March.

The npv question I had did not require real cost, just nominal with comment on investment decision

Hey, I had the same section C as you. I believe in the question it gave you a nominal WACC and a real rate WACC? The first 9 marker, I used the nominal WACC (10% i think?) and then the second 5 marker I used real rate (6%?). It also stated general inflation was 4% - which I used for the real rate calculation but it wasn't overly clear!!

What did people get for the normal WACC question not the one discussed above Think I got 13%

@ryanwilkes1985 said: The npv question I had did not require real cost, just nominal with comment on investment decision

I had same as you. A lot of forward contract, foreign exchange. Full of theoretical questions, had no WACC, only appeared once in section A Mcq, remember answer came to 16%. Section c questions was full of theory, had cash flow which totalled 10 marks, which I believe I scored full marks on. I skipped the NPV question, had no time. Instead I focused on theory questions. Had working capital management, cash cycle management, merits between NPV vs IRR for the two directors choices. I had a damn mcq question on the steps for the bankers bill or whatever it’s called, total guest. Does anyone know whether this is correct or not, had a mcq on it, I chose it. ‘Translation risk on financial statements cannot be hedged.’

Forgot to add, I took my exam at the London test centre in London metropolitan uni, the people who sat on the left role, all their systems frozen!! Frozed during the last 5min of exam :( I had mine crashed during audit exam on Monday, the exam didn’t exit when time ran out, mouse cursor kept spinning. Finally the invigilator forced switch the system!

I got very confused with Paris Co question. The details were something like, project Z will cause a 27% reduction in energy consumption. And then the annual cost of electricity was given which was 30m and 2% increase in it each year. Tax rate was given and it was mentioned that TAD wasn't allowed. Also the cost of project was given which was 20m or 25m maybe. We had to calculate NPV and at first I thought 27% should be taken out of 30m as cash inflow but then I realised I was doing something wrong and then after that I couldn't figure out what to do and I messed it up badly. Does anyone know how this question was to be tackled ?

Mate the Paris co was wrong - it had a mistake You need to put in an extenuating circumstances report to acca

The other question Mean Co asked for wacc calculation. I think my wacc was 11% but I dont remember exactly. But the theoretical part of this ques where we had to critically discuss regarding capital structure and wacc relationship or something like that, it went bad for me as I didn't write much. It was worth 10 marks :(

@ryanwilkes1985 said: Mate the Paris co was wrong - it had a mistake You need to put in an extenuating circumstances report to acca

Really ? :O Do you know what the mistake was? Was it incomplete ?

We all got a sheet about it If you didn’t get a sheet - you need to put an extenuating circumstance s report A number was wrong

I reckon these CBE 3 hours is not long enough, given that navigating using the mouse and computer is frustrating and slow. Felt that the length of time given should not be the same as paper based version.

I did it over 4 years because in the paragraph at the bottom, it says the directors appraise projects over 4 years ????? For depreciation, it was straight line over 10 years so there would have been no reason to adjust TAD just because you did the appraisal over 4 years. Depreciation would be exactly the same. Can’t depreciate it faster than it’s supposed to be ?

Part A Part B was difficult ? part c NPV was ok and merits of NPV and IRR THEN WACC QUESTIONS and theory? I prefer part C than A and B????

@goodvibes said: The other question Mean Co asked for wacc calculation. I think my wacc was 11% but I dont remember exactly. But the theoretical part of this ques where we had to critically discuss regarding capital structure and wacc relationship or something like that, it went bad for me as I didn't write much. It was worth 10 marks :(

Hello. I have got approximately about the same around 11% Hope that’s correct.