SBRJune 10 Exams - Paper P2 was ... Post your comments here

The exam is hard enough guys , please don't ruin your summer by discussing the details of the questions.. Just let us know whether you find it easy or difficult

For me it was difficult. Magt of earnings for 15 marks, thats unfair!
That is unlike Greham to set questions like that, are we seeing a new trend.is this anything to do with current situation?

I agree with some of the P2 tutors...Graham Holt (aka Mrs Trunchbull from Matilda) should be put out of his misery.

Q1 - Hard as hell as always.... Parts (b) and (c) were totally unfamiliar... I couldn't find that stuff in any article of his... Management of Earnings? huh? Where did that come from?

And I don't know about which financial asset/instrument is being changed. I went through his article - convergence between IRFS and US GAAP but it wasn't in there. Guess you're making it up GRAHAM.

About as filthy as the P4 exam..... except at least with this one we knew the examiner would put in a load of nasty $#% in it before crawling back into his little academic hole surrounded by books and internet wives.

True say! let us not ruin our summer, most of all we have tried our best and we need to hope for the best.

Best wishes everyone!

Bogged down with the debenture loan issue in Q1, wasted a lot of precious time, had to give up in the end.
Earnings management - if anybody chose P7, it's all in there.
Q2, I managed to scrabble a few things here and there. Does anyone know what part b was on about, I had to leave it blank coz I haven't a clue . Don't think I will get more than 10 mks :(
Q4 leases, had a look on the notes, the sale and lease back is all about FV, I didn't mention a single word of FV :( The inflation,I didn't know where to put it so managed to create a term 'inflation reserve', I hope the marker will see the funny side of it
Couldn't possibly be a pass.

hi everybody
I have registered here just for this exam! Just to find out if ( being a women ) I am exaggerating or this exam was unconventional!Earnings management? I did write around of creative accounting,but it is not the term used by ACCA approved publishers! I came across agressive managing in the books when the order is accounted as sale but that is it! And yes, sometimes I did not know what they were asking me for! Considering the time factor it was not helpful. And q no 4 ? It was so strange! I have read in one of ACCA technical articles about possible amandmends to Leases that Operating lease may be accounted as an asset and a liability as the scenario would indicate but again nothing in the book...

Guys what abt associate ifrs 5 ?? in question 2 part b or c :(

Well from the look of it, I'm not the only one complaining! It was my first experience with ACCA Level Exams, and honestly one of the worst. I've always done pretty well in exams, especially after studying at the reputed Middlesex Uni in UK, thought I would be strong enough to tackle ACCA, but guess I'm wrong!
It was a good experience and if I have to repeat it again, I'll be more prepared!
Anyway, those who have P3 tom like me, go ahead and concentrate for it. Hope for the best!!!
And then we'll be freeeeeee....start planning activities for this summer...ACCA is just a certification, if you fail, then do it again (well not as easy as it sounds though)...lol
All the best people!!!

i don't think the paper was that difficult.. i attempted q2 and q4.. hopefully will get 50%.. Hope you guys have a great summer and enjoy the World cup.
GO Fernando Torres, Spain.. :)

Mr. Holt is evil. I've never had such bad time management in an exam. I spend 2 hours on the first question, so I only had 1/2 hr each for the second 2.
I've never seen not one question where a subsidiary disposed of another sub to an associate. I attempted 2 and 4 because I'm scared to death of hedging. All I remember about 2 is that Cate lady kept trying to scheme for her accounts to look good. And the second part of the qus. 4 asked something about how to account for the operating lease as an asset?? That confused me. How can you account for an operating lease as an asset?

lol...I did 2 and 4 as well!
But I'm totally against talking about answers once the exam is over, coz if u find yourself to be wrong, your HOLIDAYS (waiting period till results) are ruined. Just wait for the results, and God Willing things will be fine!
No worries and pray for the best!
Gotta get back to P3 now........................

That exam was tough! tough! tough!. I think that I made a mistake in Q1 with the 50% disposal. I read it as disposing 40% not actually 50%. Like most others I don't know nothing about hedging!!!!
I made up some fairytale about the earnings management crap.
At the last minute I attempted Q4 with leasing - I am not so hot on sale and lease back stuff. Oh well.

Mra2z

I think the paper wasnt an easy exam too and not too difficult for anyone that has fully prepared.Having said that,I wasted too much time on Q1 and couldnt do the 3rd to 5th adjustment but I did the ones that could earn me extra marks.I was not expecting SME or any other specific area becuase I know I cannot predict the examiner.He is such a funny man.I knew I could give anything that comes a go but definately not with the several adjustments that requires more writting with just few marks.I hope for 50%

well i didnt even know what i was doing in the exam got so confused guess when you realise what you were expecting aint what the examiner askas, but guess thats the whole point of the exam, but the truth the paper was horrible to me

Question Two is cover those topics: deferred tax asset, impairment method, hold for sell asset and pension obligation disclosure

This must have been the most awful exam ever. At what point was it reviewed and considered to be fair or that is not yet done? OMG!!!!

This exam had to be the worst exam I have ever done, I studied more for this exam than for my finals for my degree and i still made an absolute mess of it, totally unfair and anyone who thinks it was an easy exam, get real!!

Reclassification of assets, different treatments for operating lease, where or how does this appear in the exam and study kits, the only question i could find any sort of similarities with it was Seejoy, the football club and that was a sale and repurchase Question three was ok and understandable with current conditions and hedging is ok once you have the basics but no other questions which were attemptable on the syllabus like previous ones like Johan and Margrett. Question 4 seem to be new updates that are happening to the standard...I am of to get drunk and enjoy my summer and the world cup.

Tips for December 2010? :) I say cashflows haha

@pizzaaaa said:
Guys what abt associate ifrs 5 ?? in question 2 part b or c :(

The last adjustment clearly mentioned that we didn't have to make adjustments for IFRS 5 -Assets held for sale and discontinued operations for the disposals in the question. So didn't have to do anything about it. It was just an additional information provided, you didn't have to refer to it anywhere in the calculations of Q1.

What the hell was that????? Is small comfort to know I wasn't the only one to get the shock of my life when I opened the paper. I worked my butt off for this and I believed I was pretty well prepared based on past questions and the Kaplan mocks.

There was simply no way you could have studied for this! I've just wasted the past month of preparation.

okay...in crickeing terms it was a dushra, I mean it came form an angle not expected and really hit me for six. Never recognised Q2 was about SME's...I think that was leaning towards sleezy onthe parth of the examiner.
To choose basic IFRS and go that much in detail, like management of earnings....come on Graham Holt.......and conpletley leave out conceptually challenging IFRS like EPS and what about Foreign Transactions! I really don't think that knowing what management for earnings would have made a better accountant out of me as opposed to knowing about EPS and Share based payments.

Somebody please explain on what basis Q2 was on SME.

I will def have to re-sit it..... Awfull feeling!!!
Anyone please tell me... Why did we 3 line of figures for amortised ocst of bond in Q1 if it was classified as available for sale and thus to be recognised at fair value/cost ??????

ooh what a disaster. it was a tsunami., Graham Holt is being really harsh!! I ried fighting the battle till the end but lost it though., everything was a nightmare to solve., Hope to get 50!!

Hi All, Sorry this is really bugging me - can anyone remember what Q2 part (b) was? Something about impairments but I can't remember the exact scenario (apart from the company name Cate) and hence can't remember what I wrote (if anything!). Overall the paper was a bit hit and miss, so recalling what I wrote will help me sleep a bit better tonight!

By the way, if it's any comfort to you guys, I was lucky enough to have been tutored by one of the ACCA markers. No inside info, but he did mention that whenever everyone finds a particular paper hard or considers it unbalanced (the ACCA listen to student and tutor feedback), the marking is more lenient, in which case a 47 or 48 (for example) is considered a pass and bumped up to 50.

Judging by the majority of comments here it looks like it was a tough paper - and I personally thought a sub-subsidiary income statement was a bit OTT, especially with the part sub, part associate thrown in! So hopefully the feedback will get through and they will mark leniently!

Good luck all!

I agree with most I practiced ALL the questions from the Kaplan kit and this paper was so contrary to what I was familiar with. I dont feel good about it at all

This paper just knocked me down!
All least topics expected came up! Definitely the pass rate is gonna be very low this session!

It was a night mare. I prepared for Statement of financial position and cash flow. Insome statement was not taken seriously. And other questions also were confusing. Lucky if I get thru. Any way I started to look forward to Dec 10.

I am so disappointed that SOCI came instead of a SOFP or Cash Flow.
I would have really preferred a Cash Flow question.

I never even expected leases to come either. Honestly I think there were alot of other questions relating to P2 current issues and foreign exchanges etc that could have showed up.

I think it would be a good idea for the P2 Tutor to do video lectures showing the working out of Past Paper questions (say for the last 5yrs), because the methodology he uses to calculate stuff in his lectures is much more comprehensive and easier to understand than those shown in the Answers for the past papers.

That would greatly assist online students especially those doing self study (like I did) to see how how it all comes to together in a exam type question.

Did anyone attempt the Management of earnings question?
I havent heard of it before and i didn’t attempt it at all. I am a bit worried now that i thought of it. This question was 15 marks of the exam

Hi all please take timeout to fill the ACCA exam survey. it might be the difference between pass and fail. Many people find the exam tough and unfair, and this should be campaigned
Here is the link :

https://www.accaglobal.com/allnews/students/2010/NEWSQ2/News/3331775