P2 – UK strand option

Which is the normal P2 exam for UK students? International and UK? or UK only?

Thanks.

@simonhunt09 said:
Hi there,

I’ve recently started studying p2, and I have been told there is a Uk option with the p2 paper.

What are the advantages and disadvantages for doing the Uk strand with this paper?

Many Thanks!

As Mike says, you have to have done the UK variant of P2 to be eligible to practice as an auditor in the UK with an ACCA qualification.

There is quite a big disadvantage to doing the UK variant. The UK paper is based on the international paper but is then “tweaked” to include things relevant to UK GAAP rather than international accounting standards. In practice, this means that students of the UK variant (like me), have to be able to discuss the differences between UK GAAP & IFRS in the exam, so the disadvantage lies with having to be familiar in name and content of two sets of accounting standards.

Fortunately, both sets of standards are pretty similar, with many having no notable differences worth examining, but where differences do exist, you need to be able to discuss and/or apply the different accounting treatment – up to 20 marks across the paper can be available for this according to the examiner. So there’s an extra burden on UK paper candidates to be prepared for this.

I sat the P2 (UK variant) last week, and it was only different from the international paper in parts b & c of question 1. Part b was completely different, Part c was similar to the international version.

Another point on the UK variant comes from an article in the ACCA student accountant. It is only “right now” that you need to do the UK variant of P2 be able to register as an auditor.. but.. with things increasingly looking to go completely over to international accounting standards.. is it really worth the extra effort of sitting the UK variant?

As I’ve said, I’ve just sat P2 (UK variant). If I don’t pass, then I won’t be sitting it again, I’ll go over to the INT stream which increasingly seems the place to be! 🙂

@MikeLittle
@fidget

Dear All
I am facing same question which paper to sit, any sugestion as i definitley want to have practice certificate otherwise there is no advantage of doing ACCA.

Hold your horses everyone!!! You only need to take the UK variant if you want to become an audit PARTNER. Do you think you will become an audit partner before we change over to IFRS? You can still become an auditor if you take the INT.

Quote:

“However, ACCA advises that if you wish to be a signatory audit partner in an
ACCA practice, you must have studied Paper P2 (UK).”

https://www.accaglobal.org.uk/content/dam/acca/global/pdf/sa_aug11_p2uk.pdf

I am doing the UK variant and this is a big regret and was a pure clerical error on my part – don’t do it if you have to! Having said that as there are only small differences and up to 20marks perhaps it is more obvious what may come up and what differences you need to discuss.

Anyone preparing for p2 exam (uk strand) set in next month?
How do you review for the UK Gaap differences between IFRS?
Where to find the study materials?

Yes there is. Will that be enough for the exam purpose as you reckon?

@mikelittle said:
Certainly at the back of an exam kit for Kaplan there is a section where 10 or so answers are provided prepared in compliance with UKGAAP – these are answers in addition to answers to the same question prepared in compliance with IFRS also in the exam kit.

I imagine BPP do the same (but I don’t know for sure)

Ok?

Thank you.

@mikelittle said:
It will be enough for question practice purposes. From what I can see there are not that many areas where the two sets of standards diverge so those few answers at the end of a revision kit / exam kit should be sufficient for your purposes

Dear Tutor,

I have a question with regards to P2 exam. I am studying for p2 and planning to sit for the exam in June 16. I have planned to join ICAEW once I complete ACCA by claiming 12 exemptions from ICAEW exams. For this purpose the ICAEW website states that I have to sit for UK advanced taxation p6 and advanced auditing p7 to claim 12 exemptions. However, there is no information available if I should sit for p2 UK or P2 INT. I am really confused. your swift response will be really helpful.

Regards,
Omair.