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

There is a lot of queries on the meaning of earnings management. I think the question does mention that it's the process of smoothing the profit/loss by the company, obviously to make the results and position look good to the market & shareholders. One of the many ways to do that is by reporting "below the line" i.e reserve accounting. As regards the question, by reclassifying financial asset to Available for Sale category, then this gains/losses pass through STGRL i.e accounted through reserves. By doing, the performance on ordinary activities will look better wth respect to key ratios. Hope that helps. But I still think I failed as it was a very testing and time pressured paper.

Q1 was a total nightmare. It was like they thought of every possible complication and then twisted each one to make it even more difficult. And the fact that it was on an income statement, which is hardly even covered in BPP material, was just nasty. Sounds like most people, me included, were banking on cashflows coming up.

Hedge accounting too - I never saw any questions on hedge accounting in the BPP practice kit. And 15 marks on management of earnings - not covered anywhere I know of. Do ACCA and BPP even talk to each other?

In case anyone wants to email a letter of complaint to BPP for the rubbish revision notes and practice and revision kit that didn't go over the scenarios and topics that came up in the exam (can't decide if it's BPP's or Holt's fault) their email address is:

[email protected]

Hopefully they can get their act together before it comes to resits!! Out of interest - did anyone who studied with Kaplan find the exam any better than the BPP students?

I have used all 3 but found Kaplan better than BPP because they are not waffly but the best manual is from IFP (Emile Woolf) - explains in details, easy to read, and lots of examples. Wished I had used that from day 1..........

Regarding Q2 b as far as I remember the entity claimed that its investment got impaired but did not want to use market share price as basis for fair value and insted used different methods, that did not confirm the decrease in value. And as for operational lease, a possible new standard (long term project) MAY result in lease being treated as asset and liability. However, it is JUST mentioned in one of the articles in ACCA magazine.

saira3007

its tempting to blame BPP and they defo deserve their share of the blame - especially for having confusing and error ridden material.

But the lion's share of the blame has got to rest with Holt. He must have lost a winning lottery ticket the day he wrote this paper

At least BPP 's mock covered Lease question.

@right_angle said:
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

Thanks for this, I will be putting my vote in !!

I was with kaplan, they did predict an income statement but I cant find where any of the questions in the book were even really similar to exam, so I dont think it was just BPP that had this was wrong!!

See you all in December :)

the key to passing P1 is to master the IAS in and out and remember that every aspect of the kit is important. I believe the paper ws a rather fair paper.

the key to passing P1 is to master the IAS in and out and remember that every aspect of the kit is important. I believe the paper ws a rather fair paper.

sorry i meant P2

@faithleona said:
sorry i meant P2

Did you see the size of the kit !!!

Can I ask how and where did you study?

The paper was fair only that it was alittle bit different from the past papers.

Paper was fairly ok. But Q1 was too much !!

However feel so happy........... atleast I can sleep now (covering arears also)

@saira3007 said:
In case anyone wants to email a letter of complaint to BPP for the rubbish revision notes and practice and revision kit that didn't go over the scenarios and topics that came up in the exam (can't decide if it's BPP's or Holt's fault) their email address is:

putitright@bpp.com

Hopefully they can get their act together before it comes to resits!! Out of interest - did anyone who studied with Kaplan find the exam any better than the BPP students?

thanks..i will definitely putting my feedback in!!!hopefully with all the negative feedbacks they received,the passing rate can be pulled down..then evrybody will be happy but seems impossible though..haha~~just trying to console myself now..overall, the paper was sucks for me..

@faithleona said:
the key to passing P1 is to master the IAS in and out and remember that every aspect of the kit is important. I believe the paper ws a rather fair paper.

So the key is to know all the IAS and every aspect of the kit inside out. Thanks for the tip!!!!

Even if I had spent the last 6 months learning and doing nothing but P2 I'm still not convinced it would be a done deal to pass this exam. There isn't enough time in the exam to do Q1 with the care needed to avoid errors and go back over your work - even if you know how to do all the computations!

@broonsta said:
So the key is to know all the IAS and every aspect of the kit inside out. Thanks for the tip!!!!
Even if I had spent the last 6 months learning and doing nothing but P2 I'm still not convinced it would be a done deal to pass this exam. There isn't enough time in the exam to do Q1 with the care needed to avoid errors and go back over your work - even if you know how to do all the computations!

I so agree with you! I spent so long on the first question that I just ended up rushing through the rest. And it's not because it wasn't doable. I even forgot to proportion out the Ceram co for the 6 mnths it was a subsidiary! I wouldn't have forgotten if I hadn't been so time-pressed. Just too many things to remember!

btw those of you who weren't expecting Income Statement... didn't you read ANY tips? Kaplan, BPP and even the tips on this site said to expect SOCI...

Q1 was different as there was the partial disposal of a sub subsidiary....adjustmennts were more or less straight forward...as for the purchasing of the bond....i guess it was a financial asset as opposed to a financial liability..
i did not interpret Q2 to be about SMEs...
i too hope i get 50%

Hi, it was not good at all, too much was asked on very insignificant parts of IFRS..like managemnt of earnings. I can see how figuring out that Q2 was about SME is going to make me a better accountant. Why didn't he just come out and say so up front!
I think that i knew too much and did not get the oppertunity to prove it....I feel cheated!

It was totally totally a disaster :(
Q1 is vertical group with disposal sub( Associate & still a sub). but it is required to the CSOCI which I have no idea about it but I am quite familar with the CSOFP.
Q3 is hedging accounting
Q4 is leasing which i was expecting for SMEs.

how could this time to be so "Hard"? and bad wording?felt hopless.........

Management of earnings question. The second point I blabbed on about change in accounting policy using IAS 8. The company were adjusting the way they were going to account for loss making financial instruments. They would be changing policy and therefore would need to disclose this in the financial staments. Therefore, it would only be unethical if they did not disclose their attempts to 'smooth' their earnings. Did anybody else look at from this angle? Of course the process of smoothing is also unethical too!

No matter how hard a paper is, it is about exam technique. I did section B before section A. Allocated 1.8 minutes for every mark and made sure I did each question in the allocated time. I then went to Section A and did question 1 b first and left the part a (IS) for the last hour. Did not stress too much because I had at least covered 65% of the paper. I totally ignored the adjustment for financial instrument completely due to time pressure and thought it was only worth 3-5 marks. Made sure I did the PAT & OCI attributable to NCI AND Parent to gain a few marks. The best way to be on top of the game is to have the exam technique right...These examiners know how to fool us and thats why they put lengthy questions in Section A so you can spend loads of time on it and before you know it you are marked out of 50 marks only because of the time pressure. Thought I should share what I know and sorry if it is a bit obvious to some of you but lets hope it will help others.

Best wishes everyone!

management earning is creative accounting.To me this p2 had much to do with straying outside out conversional reading materials?? But, the challenge is to what extent and path one should persue! The paper was a teaser.

Wishing you the best!!!

man q1 was horrible while q2 q3 was ok.so only q2 q3 could save me..............

Where did Clare's message and my reply go?

I guess paper wasnt dat bad

it was very bad but I manage to do gud 4 passing I guess pray 4 me

but datz sure pass rate will be reducng substantially frm 58% to into 30zzzzzz diz tym

does anyone knows when the results will be given?

Someone sent me this article today. It was published in May 2010. Yes, one month before the exam. In any case I wish I had seen it before the exam, it might have helped me with Q4! Guess we can’t only depend on Student Accountant…

https://www.accaglobal.com/members/publications/accounting_business/CPD/leasefuture

btw Exam results are out on Monday 23 August 2010

After reading all the comments, I really think this paper is a disaster for me.

However, it was a fair paper for those well-prepared candidates. Anyway, if I can pass then it is a miracle. I am prepared to re-sit again this coming December 2010, hopefully, I am more well prepared by then because I don't really understand how to calculate financial instruments and leases.

I can not really remember but I answered q1,2 and 3. Of course there is nothing about "management of earning" in study materials maybe in ACCA Archives.