SBL*** June 2023 ACCA SBL exam – Instant Poll and comments ***

Wc topics came?

Task 1 - analysis of company's current culture plus leadership. Used cultural web to answer part 1 which scored more points. Task 2 - appraisal analysis plus risk. Just realized I could've done bettter on the risk question. Task 3 - typical ACCA question unrelated to any studies. Basically they wanted to know your way of thinking. Hard to explain. Type 4 - Big data slides. I got a Toy company which wants to enter the gaming industry. Thats it overall. It was I guess OK hopefully I passed. Pissed off that I did not do risk questions better

I got NALA toys as well Interested if people assumed it was moving to an online gaming or like console gaming company, I tried to incorporate for both but felt it swayed more on the side that it would be available for immediate download- or I just decided that from the industry overview?? Doing the value added question I was wandering under manufacturing or logistics this would change the way its done. Sort of went in for more the perspective it was downloadable gaming. I over thought the Valued added translations quite a lot I think..... Was wondering if all remote had sat theirs yet as well?

From Canada 1) cultural web and leadership style 2) industry attractiveness ( 3 countries to compare) and types of risk 3) Integrated reporting 4) outsourcing or in-house of finance function

Have you sat it then?

I also got 1) culture and leadership style 2) appraisal analysis plus risk. Only thing I noticed with the financial appraisal was that the pre tax cash flow didn’t include the revenue figures. So I am guessing the finance assistant mistakenly omitted it. Not sure if anyone noticed this? 3)how the value adding activities of NT in the toy industry could be used in the computer game industry 4) Big data slides.

I had the same paper I know it was crazy especially when you have 3 countries to analyze

Had the toy company 1) Culture 2) analyse 3 countries 3) IR 4) outsourcing Also had a technical issue with my exam which meant I ran out of space! No one had ever seen it before but I had to wait half hour for it to get resolved. Lost all train of thought and momentum. Heartbroken

1) Cultural web & style applicable for change management- education /communication , participation and involvement/ Facilitation/negotiation/ manipulation 2) Porter’s diamond theory factor condition/ demand condition/ related and supporting industry/ firm structure strategy and rivalry to evaluate suitable country to start the diversification Risks of new business - strategic/ business risk, reputation risk & financial risk due to overseas operation 3) 4) Functions to outsource and keep in house based on strategically importance and complexity of the operations

1) Cultural web & style applicable for change management- education /communication , participation and involvement/ Facilitation/negotiation/ manipulation 2) Porter’s diamond theory factor condition/ demand condition/ related and supporting industry/ firm structure strategy and rivalry to evaluate suitable country to start the diversification Risks of new business - strategic/ business risk, reputation risk & financial risk due to overseas operation 3) IR - 6 capitals : Financial/ Manufactured capital/ human capital/ intellectual capital/ social capital & natural capital and KPIS to measure each capitals value addition 4) Functions to outsource and keep in house based on strategically importance and complexity of the operations

I had the same paper 1) cultural web n leadership style (theory X n autocratic style) I also used the 3 stages of changes to answer that 2) Porter diamond factors 3) Integrated reporting 4) outsource - daily transaction, manual process n end of month work Inhouse - toy production n customer service

Thanks, i'm filing my mitigating circumstances report now. Invigilator said he has never seen a message like that in 7 years of doing it, Essentially, said I had run out of space and could not write anymore! What was the outcome of your mitigating circumstances report? How do they account for it etc

I was thinking that all the questions are the same however, I see there are different set of questions. Firstly my case study was NT Brick Company, which were sold to ZC Company. I had main 4 questions; 1- a) Culture of the company ( I used Culture Web Model) b) Leadership models 2- a) Financial appraisal of the company b) Risks of the Company when moving into the new industry ( 5 Forces Model? not sure) 3) Is the set of 6 key activities also applicable to the computer games industry? Discuss. 4) Opportunities and threats in Big data

Toy manufacturer company Our role as external adviser Task 1a-- Analyse the current culture of company and recommend changes it can make (20 marks) Task 1b- Discuss different leadership styles and discuss which one will suit the company (12 marks) Task 2a- Analyse the financials of company ( NPV projections question) 16 marks Task 2b- Mention the risks faced by Co and recommend improvements it can make ( 18 marks) Task 3-Assess the value adding activities which Co can use in Computer gaming ( 18 marks) Task 4- Big data advantages and threats ( 16 marks) The best thing is I attempted full 100 marks paper. Task 4 and Task 2, I did very good. Task 1 good. Task 3 , very average but still I tried my best

I wrote the exam in this June diet and my question was if there are 4 tasks inorder 1,2,3,4 and I placed 2b at the first position in word processor and then 2 a and then 1 ,3 and 4 would this affect my marks, would I pass the paper( task 2b is a report continued from task 2A)

Did anyone notice the pretax CF on question 3 was not calculated correctly or was it just for me?

Hi - I had the same issue ? What should I do ? File a mitigating circumstances? I have no evidence though ? I didn't tell the invigilator ... I was already on my last question so I typed the rest in a spreadsheet . However, when I was reviewing there were some sentences I wanted to add and was so upset that I couldn't ! As you know every mark makes a difference. Please give me advice Ps exam told me I ran out of space and could not type more . Wth !!

For 1a did you talk about the culture when Kirk was the CEO or the culture now that he has quit?

Yes you can also talk about Kirk and the employee who disagreed with his views in the story section of cultural web and also power section where he was the sole decision maker ..

Culture web, leadership, risk management, financial appraisal, big data, success factors topic

I got brainwashed on task 1 . In the recommendation of cultural change i write head office location, department division, ha ha Am i getting any marks for that??

This is something that I did not expect. The first question totally blow off my mind and I think that impacted the performance in other questions. In the last 15 mins my screen freezed and I was unable to clear off the points that I mentioned for my ease of view. Also if I have not used the model anywhere, will it impact the performance?

The way I read that in my exam was that the second line was the contribution , so already revenue was already factored in

That Culture web question overwhelmed me I was defeated the rest of the exam...

What did you write in recommendations for culture change? How did you answer slide question?

Refreeze . Change and unfreeze

1A. Culture Got a few points under Stories, Symbols, Routines & Rituals, but couldn't for the life of me recommend any suggestions for how to change the culture to suit a diversification strat. 1B. Leadership Mentioned the old leadership style was Autocratic. Waffled about Freezing, Changing, and Re-Freezing. Recommended a democratic leadership style might be suitable, but didn't relate this to the case study very well / at all. 2A. Integrated Reporting Defined what integrated reporting was and tried to relate it to how it would help Staff and Customers concerned about the new diversification strategy, but didn't do it very well and half answered it really. 2B. IR Capitals and KPIs Ballsed this up pretty bad, couldn't remember the capitals, just knew there were six. 3A. Porter's Diamond - 3 Country Comparison Best question on the exam, more like this for the September resit thank you. Got carried away with this one and spent far too long answering it / writing too much. 3B. Risk Analysis / Identification Another nice question, thought the risks were pretty obvious in the text of the exhibit with the three countries. 4. Outsourcing Finance Activities (Presentation) This question felt easier to answer than 1 and 2, but not sure what I recommended to keep in-house or outsource was correct. The Professional Marks were awarded for being able to make a good argument, so perhaps no wrong answers if you can justify them. Outsource - AP - AR - Payroll In-House - Finance Analysts - Finance / Management Accountants - Collections

Still want to know what changes should make NT successful, I used freeze, change,unfreeze method, realised its for the answer HOW not WHAT.

Great summary! I am now less confidence about passing because seems like I missed one or two theories from this. I did tried my best to answer logically as possible tho haha

I took mine today since I missed last week due to network issues. It was all about governance, risk and audit.