My 10 tips for passing F8

Hello All,

i am sharing below some information that i followed in order to study for f8. Now please be mindful of this that its NOT necessary that this will work for you just because it did work for me. It is imperative that you must complete the whole syllabus of f8 along with the lectures and notes on open tuition in order to prepare well for your exams. These tips are only for guidance.

OK, so i gave my f8 last December and i got 80. For me, f8 was very tricky paper since the whole subject has been about application and nothing about numericals etc. I think the following steps below worked for me and its likely that they might work for most of you out there.

Steps:

1) First of all before studying for f8, i think students should understand the concept of financial statements (Income statement, Bal sheet and cash flow). What i meant here is that students should understand the science behind the elements of the three main financial statements. For example take Account Rec. Students should have a strong understanding of the term AR in context of why we have AR? How it impacts the 3 financial statements? What other elements are linked to AR and how will they be impacted if there is an increase or decrease in AR? This is all pretty basic stuff but believe me it is really important to have this knowledge going into F8 since this particular information will be crucial for you during the topics of Substantive procedures, Audit risks and completion/review.

2) Once you get your basics right and grasp sufficient understanding of financial statements (Including its elements, all of them) then you should start off with understanding the concept of auditing, types of audits, elements of assurance engagements, rules and regulations of external auditors, internal audit, rights and duties and so on.

3) Once you complete this then do the topic of ETHICS. Make sure to apply common sense since ethics has always been the most easiest of all topics. IF you do past paper questions of ethics then believe me this will adequately prepare you for your ethics question

REMEMBER that its crucial to get your basic understanding of Financial statements first (step 1).

4) Once you understand this theory part regarding auditors in Step 2 then you must get a brief understanding about what an audit cycle is. Its better to just get the introductory understanding of the cycle at this stage. its on page 27 of OT NOTES.

5) Next the students should study the planning stage of the audit and acquire a through understanding of assessments of risks and understanding the entity. DO NOT spend too much time here and learn the planning stages of the audit in a chronological order. An important point that you must do here is NOT to study the audit risk topic at this stage and do not attempt any questions regarding audit risks at this time. Ill explain why later below.

6) tests of control. It is very crucial to understand the control procedures of sales, purchases, inventory, wages etc (remember that SALES test of control question came last time so its likely that purchases will come in june 2015). Do the past papers and watch OT lectures to understand the tests of controls for sales, purchases etc. This will sufficiently prepare you for this.

7) Substantive Tests: Once again i am repeating that it is imperative for you to do step 1 since substantive tests involves validating the figures on the financial statements and if you have a weak understanding of the elements of FS then you would be more likely to struggle at this stage. Do not use the BPP text book in doing substantive tests. I think Kaplan is excellent for this stage including the OT lectures and past papers.

8) Completion and Review: this is the easy part, however you must attempt all past paper questions for this topic. I think BPP revision kit is excellent for this stage since it has got some really comprehensive and tricky questions which will prepare you well for this. PLEASE make sure to understand the terminology of audit reports.

9) Once you finish the above steps then do the topic of audit risks and its questions from past paper. the reason why i told you all to do this at the end is only because the topic of audit risk requires knowledge which you will learn while doing substantive tests. for example when you try to validate receivables via substantive tests then one of the methods is to review after date cash receipts. You will learn the detail concept of reviewing after date cash receipts only when you study the substantive tests topic. So its better to do the substantive tests topic first so you will have a proper understanding of the responses you could give while dealing with audit risks. The best method to prepare well for audit risk questions is to first select all of the questions of audit risks that came in past papers. Next use the acca past paper solutions and list down each risk identified in those questions and make a note of all responses. You will notice that on many occasions, the examiner has tested the same risks and they have been repeated particularly the ones related to going concern, bad debt, inventory and provision. REVISE this list daily and at least 7 consecutive days before the exam. This will prepare you well for audit risk questions as you have done all the past paper risk questions and their responses.

10) follow the above process in sequence. Do not disrupt the sequence since the order is pivotal towards the successful implementation of this process. MAKE sure that you do past papers and avoid BPP text for this paper if you can. BPP revision kit is a must however. USE kaplan, OT notes and BPP revision kit to cover the core elements in the course. ALSO important are the technical articles particularly the ones added recently.

The paper is very lengthy as it involves 6 questions and 20 mcqs. Its better to work on MCQS in the first 15 minute reading time and leave the actual 3hr time for the six questions.

If you follow these tips then HOPEFULLY it will work for you.

GOODLUCK