BPP ACCA Exam Tips December 2014

Paper  F5
• Area A: ABC, throughput accounting, target costing and lifestyle costing.
• Area B: techniques to assist decision making, including linear programming, CVP analysis, relevant costing, pricing and incorporating risk and uncertainty.
• Area C: budgeting systems, variance analysis, learning curves.
• Area D: performance appraisal – traditional ratio analysis. Non- financial performance measures – balanced scorecard.

Paper F6
• Income tax: employed earner and the sole trader.
• Capital allowances: aspects of groups.
• CGT: individual or company perspective with a number of disposals. We favour companies chargeable gains this time.

Paper F7
Section A
• Expect a few questions on non- core areas – inflation, specialized entities.
• Q1 & 2: interpretation/statement of cash flows – or consolidation if Q3 not a consolidation. Other possibilities are conceptual framework, intangible/tangible assets and impairment, provisions and contingencies, revenue and grants, financial instruments discounted operations/assets held for sales or earnings per share.
• Q3: single entity or consolidation, will include adjustments on other syllabus areas.

Paper F8

• Internal control.
• Audit planning.
• Audit evidence and audit procedures (both substantive procedures and tests of control).
• Ethical threats and safeguards.
• Audit finalisation.
• Corporate governance and internal control.

Paper F9
• Investment appraisal with an NPV calculation.
• Know your IRR, ROCE and payback.
• Working capital – receivables.
• WACC calculation – are you comfortable with costs of finance and their market value?

Paper P1
• Public sector governance.
• Integrated reporting.
• Ethical and CSR theories – applied to scenarios.

Paper P3
• Value chain.
• Critical success factors and KPIs.
• Role of the corporate parent including BCG matrix/Ashridge.
• Integrated reporting.
• Change management frameworks (POPIT and the business change lifecycle).
• Organisational configuration – new definitions

Paper P4
• Discounted cash flow.
• Business valuations.
• Risk management – interest rate.
• Business re-organisation.
• Cost of capital calculations – cost of debt and credit spreads

Paper P5
• Analysis performance v budgetary targets – read the Benchmarking feature (September 2012).
• Beyond budgeting.
• Key strategic, tactical and operational; information requirements of a business.
• Expected values and probabilities.
• PEST and Porter.
• Transfer pricing.
• Effect of reward systems on performance management.
• Balanced scorecard, building blocks and the performance pyramid.
• NPV and profit analysis.

Paper P6
• Groups, involving overseas aspects.
• Unincorporated business – loss relief or involving a partnership.
• CGT v inheritance tax.
• Overseas aspects – new rules of residence.
• Personal service company.
• Company purchase of own shares.
• Enterprise investment schemes/ venture capital trusts.
• Change in accounting date.
• Takeover.
• Patent box, research and development expenditure.
• Pension contributions.
• Disincorporation relief.
• Transfer of trade v sale of subsidiary.

Source: BPP/PQ Magazine