*** P1 June 2012 Exam was … Comments and Instant Poll ***

you need to wait for another 2 hour

It wasnt that bad I just gotta say Kaplan exam tips rock. They were very accurate. anyways Q2 was independence of NED, risk committee and risk mitigation difference for large and small companies.

I have a question in Q1 part C where they asked to asses internal controls you had to mention COSO framework right? and would i not get marks in Q4 part a as i didn’t mention insider and outsider but explained corporate governance pretty well.

good paper but facing time management problem little bit

@faizan said:
It wasnt that bad I just gotta say Kaplan exam tips rock. They were very accurate. anyways Q2 was independence of NED, risk committee and risk mitigation difference for large and small companies.

I have a question in Q1 part C where they asked to asses internal controls you had to mention COSO framework right? and would i not get marks in Q4 part a as i didn’t mention insider and outsider but explained corporate governance pretty well.

Not sure if Q1 C was COSO or not. I cant remember the phrasing of the question but I described the objectives of an internal control system and then pointed out with examples for the study the risks that these objectives were under threat…underskilled staff etc…could very easily be wrong though

It was a good paper. Requirements were clear, scenarios were easy to follow and understand. I wished the P5 paper was written this well.

@faizan said:
I am confused about it too but before going to exam i was reading the revision kit in it the tutorial note said whenever you read a question which has “assess” or “review” internal control.. use the COSO framework to answer.

Good point but I think that’s moreso if they have an internal control system in place already and you have to assess it and see if it’s good. In this one I think you had to point out reasons why establishing internal controls would be difficult..which meant you needed the objectives of an internal control system and then to point out the reason from the narrative why this couldnt be met..ie assess the risks.

@rhymenoceros said:
Good point but I think that’s moreso if they have an internal control system in place already and you have to assess it and see if it’s good. In this one I think you had to point out reasons why establishing internal controls would be difficult..which meant you needed the objectives of an internal control system and then to point out the reason from the narrative why this couldnt be met..ie assess the risks.

Hmm you could be right because i’m 50/50 on this as they did mention stuff related to control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information system and monitoring in the case study but you could be right.. thinkin about it. the note did say if the system is working well not about why its difficult to have internal controls. Maybe i’ll lose marks in this 🙁

Did anyone write like this in Q1 part C about internal controls? COSO or what rhymenoceros used?

This was my first ACCA exam as I did a degree and got the exemptions. Not sure how I did, think I might be a marginal fail. The time restraints on the exams are really difficult. I answered everything but not to the depth I know I needed to due to time.

Hope COSO was not the system I should have used on Q1 or I will have lost that whole section of marks in C. A lot of the stuff I knew like the back of my hand didn’t come up so I was a bit gutted but it could have gone worse. I think I did ok, but now reading all the comments getting a bit worried. Not much I can do now though but it’s hard not to think about it.

Q1. what about pressure group in Mendelow matrix? it’s “keep satisfied” or “key player”?

high level of interest, but how fairly evaluate influence? I wrote that it’s “keep satisfied” that can accumulate power and transfer to “key player”

The purposes of internal control were simply the “objectives” therefore…
Facilitate operations
Ensure compliance
Ensure effective external and internal reporting e.t.c

I hope that clears a few things up for people

There was no need to use coso as you have to relate to the scenario to get marks and there was nothing in it that required coso framework however there were some clear things due to which it would be difficult to implement ics and that was what the question was asking

The paper was ok..ish
I thought it had a lot of theory in it, hence the time management issue.
I managed to complete all, barely, except Q1 the briefing report… only did very small part of it.
Re Q1 Internal Controls I think it should refer to the objectives (i.e. purpose) so I am not sure if COSO review comes into it.
I also got a bit stuck with the application of AAA 7 step – although I laid all the 7 steps well but could a bit muddled up. The decision was obvious I thought – Pealand.
The problem I found was Q1 was too lenghty to read, contained a lot of information, I suppose to help you out but it all takes time…….