ALL EXAM TIPS P2 & P3

bpp

Paper P2
Section A

•The compulsory case study is likely to require you to prepare a group statement of financial position (balance sheet) and/or statement of comprehensive income (profit and loss account) with continuing and discontinued activities or foreign subsidiary. Alternatively, it could be a consolidated statement of cash flows which would include other accounting complications such as financial instruments, pensions, share-based payment and impairments.
•There will also be discursive requirements on a linked accounting adjustment and social/ethical/moral aspects of corporate reporting.
Section B

•An industry question (often Q3), testing a range of standards (NB: no specific knowledge of the particular industry is required).
•A discussion question (Q4) looking at current developments in corporate reporting, such as: small and medium-sized entities, revenue recognition, success/issues on implementation of IFRSs, management commentary, comprehensive income/presentation of financial statements, improvements in performance measurement. It may also include a related computational part based on figures from a case study.
•Single topic (e.g. share-based payment, deferred tax, pensions) or ‘multi-part’ question (Q2) testing a range of standards separately, such as: related parties, accounting policies, discontinued operations, recognition and/or impairment of tangible and intangible assets, government grants, foreign currency transactions, provisions, events after the reporting period (balance sheet date), leases, consistency of standards with the conceptual framework, the effect of accounting treatments on earnings per share or ratios.

Paper P3
Important areas to cover:

•Strategic analysis: Key models of analysis include mission and objectives, stakeholder analysis, PESTEL, Porters five forces and diamond models, the value chain, 9Ms and portfolio analysis. This may culminate in a SWOT and appraisal of the organisations overall position.
•Strategic choice: The syllabus makes a distinction between the approach and role taken by the corporate parent and a Strategic Business Unit (SBU). You should therefore ensure that you are aware of the differences and be able to identify the appropriate approach from the scenario in the question.
•Key models here include Porter’s Generic strategies, Bowman’s Strategy Clock, Ansoff’s matrix and Lynch’s expansion matrix.
•Finally the strategic criteria for assessing options of suitability, acceptability and feasibility may be employed to justify recommendations.
•Strategic action: Implementation issues cover much of the rest of the syllabus and could include issues of culture (e.g. Cultural web, Handy’s cultures, Miles and Snow), quality (TQM, six sigma, CMMI, V-model), process improvement and software selection (Harman, Skidmore and Eva), e-business or people management (e.g. planning, recruitment, performance management, development) or change management (Force Field analysis).

kAPLAN

P2 – Corporate Reporting
Section A

•group statement of cash flow which could include mistreatment and/or misclassification of items to be included within the statement.
Section B

•Non-current assets
•Held for sale and discontinued activities
•Impairments
•Employee benefits
•Intangibles
•Reporting financial performance

P3 – Business Analysis
Section A

•Strategy evaluation
•Financial and strategic analysis
•Managing change or culture
Section B

•Quality
•Project management
•Strategy and people

FIST TUITION

Paper P2

•Qn 1 = Group question on cashflows or Foreign subsidiaries
•Ethics
•Revenue Recognition
•Deferred Tax
•Impairment (especially goodwill)
•Share based payments
•Related parties

Paper P3
Section A

•Strategic Choice (Portfolio Models), People with Financial Analysis
Section B

•Strategic Position
•Strategic Action
•Information Technology

LSBF

Paper P2

•Complex groups.
•Cash flow statement.
•Revenue.
•SME.
•Segments.
•Provisions.

Paper P3
Strategic position – excternal analysis.
Strategic choice – joint ventures/alliances.
Culture and its effect on strategy.
Life cycle.
Change management.