As a moderator of the OBU Forum let me assure anyone who has found us for the first time that you are now within easy access of lots of great, reliable and sound advice about the OBU BSc Degree in Applied Accounting.
Spend a bit of time browsing our home page and see for yourself the FREE advice and service we offer and don't forget to read our FAQs which I compiled with help from an actual experienced OBU marker :
www.opentuition.com/obu
And the news gets even better - our poll of Open Tuition students' results for submissions regularly shows that our students achieved a pass rate of at least 79% compared with the average OBU pass rate of 57% (we say at least because it is highly likely that many more who had passed did not bother to come back to vote so it was probably over 80%). In addition students who have submitted Topic 17 (Corporate governance) and used our advice on our T17 forum have reported some great results in spite of having little real mentoring guidance (both alfred [P29] and eminathsana [P30] passed at the first attempt and achieved B grades) and confirmed our help was invaluable in their success.
We also provide a specific forum thread with helpful suggestions for tackling the Airline sector for Topic 8 so could be useful if you find yourself having to resubmit a previously failed RAP on this topic.
NOTE prescribed industry sectors are changing and airlines will not be allowed from P35 onwards so no one submitting their first attempt or changing topic or company for P35 may choose an airline - and only previously failed students who submitted between P32 and P34 can use an airline based on their previous work.
To solve problems first look using our search facility -just a few keywords will bring up relevant posts (remember a degree is about finding and researching for yourself!). Please try to select the most appropriate forum topic if you need to ask a question as it helps everyone to find it should they subsequently have a similar query. When you post a query it automatically will bring it to the top of the 'white' forum list so it can easily be found by everyone. However if you really can't find anything about your particular query then please post it on 'PLEASE HELP KEEP OUR FORUMS TIDY!!!!' where I will answer it and then post it to the appropriate topic.
Many of our contributors including our Moderator, Ehsan, have done the RAP for themselves so can offer help from their own experience and I have more than 13 years experience of reviewing RAPS and advising students so what we DON'T know about the OBU RAP on this Forum could be written on the back of a postage stamp!!!
Tired of being pushed to do Topic 8 by your mentor? Take a look at the Topic 17 Corporate Governance Forum - you may be surprised at how dynamic and interesting T17 can be! Our students achieved great success with this topic pre P35 often getting at least B grades. (The topic title changed then so it is still early days to judge the current position) but we still offer lots of good advice if you choose this topic (personal favourite of mine)
One word of warning on the subject of mentors: we advise that you do not respond to any posts from individuals plugging their 'mentoring' services as from P31 all mentors must be OBU registered mentors so you must select one from the OBU list. (There is provision for any ACCA members to do the online mentoring course and become registered and this also counts towards CPD so you may be able to persuade a potential mentor such as a supervisor to become a listed mentor). We also advise all students to register on the OBU Mentoring website EVEN if you already have a mentor as OBU is putting a lot of useful resources on this site to help students like you!
It is vital you do your work yourself and resist any mentor who offers you samples. OBU is actively targeting both mentors and students engaged in this practice. Several students have been stripped of the degree for this, mentors banned and at best you can be given at least GBP 600 penalty resubmission fee (it is set at double the normal fee) and at worst excluded completely from getting the degree and your case referred to ACCA for potential disciplinary proceedings. And do your spreadsheet yourself - again using one given out by the mentor can lead to misconduct issues if a marker detects you have based your work on a common spreadsheet.
.. and on this subject please do not solicit actual work from another student -this is not just against OBU rules but could end up in ACCA disciplinary proceedings being brought against you too - besides there us no need to as the OBU Information Pack and Mentoring website and this Forum can provide you with much better advice.
If you can't decide on a mentor (the OBU site merely lists mentors but does NOT recommend anyone in particular), then take a look at 'Advancing the Quality of the OpenTuition-OBU Experience' as we are able to approve one organisation that offers mentoring services based on their track record (details of them and comments made by their students can be found on that Forum). So if you are struggling to find a reputable mentor take a look- but you are under no obligation to use their services -we just offer it as an endorsement of assured quality.
One final piece of advice - as well as many students choosng Topic 8 because they mistakenly believe they do not have many options, many more who don't have a local suitable company often go for Topic 6 on Motivation. The problem with this choice is it depends on a survey and the surveys are often very badly done (T6 consequently has a very low pass rate and very few students actually pass at the first attempt). If you have internet access then you may choose ANY company wherever they are in the world subject to the current RAP rules so T8 may be viable (as well as T17 of course) provided you
select a company from the prescribed industry sector. My advice is: don't rush into doing any topic think carefully about it and other topics and the various requirements needed to pass. Also remember if you really want to do T6 you MUST spend a lot of time in preparing your questionnaire and planning your work otherwise your efforts will be misdirected and time wasted. However on the plus side we do have at least one contributor, Batala, who himself did Topic 6 successfully so between us he and I will try to help where we can if you do want to choose this topic.
The OT team, our moderators and contributors welcome you to the OBU Forum and we wish you every success with your Research and Analysis Project
Trephena - OT OBU Forum Moderator
PS Although Open Tuition is completely free to use at point of use it does depend for survival on advertising revenue -we would therefore ask that you do NOT use an ad blocker. If you do but still want to benefit from our advice it would be good if instead you made a donation so that we can be around to continue helping future students just like we hope we have helped you! Thanks.
Other Accountancy Qualifications
Archived - Welcome to all newcomers and returners to the OBU Forum
Yes I think the new industry selections for Topic 8 are dreadful !
The trouble is so many mentors, particularly those in Pakistan, are so locked into Topic 8 they are incapable of thinking outside the box and embracing different topics or encouraging students to take up different topics.
As I have already explained on this Forum, New Topic 17 requires good research rather than adherence to the latest provisions of the CG Code so having the latest book is immaterial (particularly as everything these days is on the internet). The key is to choose a company about which there has been a good amount of criticism about its CG practices (a few of these are mentioned on the post P35 Corporate Governance thread.
I always think Topic 18 (Marketing) is another good topic to choose and if done well can get a good grade so read through that forum thread too to get some ideas
8y ago#152Dear Trephena
Thank you for your promptly reply.
I will look into Topic 18 before I make decision.
Many thanks!
Dear Trephena,
Is there an average time i should budget to complete this project?
I.E hours/week or in total on average as i don't know how time intensive this is?
Thanks.,
How long is a piece of string? It very much depends on the grade you want and your ability (some people are more in tune with the requirements than others who are totally clueless). I think less than a month is pushing it as just writing 7,500 relevant words plus 2,000 for the personal reflective statement and putting together a presentation, doing adequate referencing and also a spreadsheet takes more time than most students estimate.
You are being sensible by considering this now - so why delay - why not start now? Then if you complete it ahead of schedule you can relax.
Personally I recommend 3 months because the more time you allow and devote to it the more likely you are to get a good grade. As to how many hours a week again it depends on you and your desired grade. Some topics are more engrossing than others - e.g. Topic 17 - in other words you might find that the more you research the more drawn in and interested you become and then you are motivated to spend more time (usually this reflects in a higher grade)
Dear Trephena,
Thank you for your reply,
Another 2 questions:
1: Which in your years of experience would say are the "Easiest" topics to chose. I know this is quite subjective, maybe more passable topics than others?
2: I don't think there are any pass rates? provided I work really hard, and get a reputable mentor I.E "The Learning Luminarium" as suggested by Opentuition, would I virtually be guaranteed a pass? again i know this is very subjective but i assume the mentors will not let me submit the project until they are certain i would pass?
Topics using secondary data are usually easier. I asked my marker frriend -and she says Topics 8, 17 and 18, and possibly 20 are the ones to go for. Although like me she is not keen on the new industry sectors for Topic 8.
Personally I would go for 17 (Corporate Governance) or 18 (Marketing). In terms of passing the rates are fairly similar (approaching about 70% according to her).
No decent mentor should let you submit - especially now that the submission fee for P37 & P38 is GBP 340 - it is a case though that many mentors lack the capacity to make an assessment of the likelihood of it passing (see our thread Advancing the Quality of the OBU-OT Experience - Recommended mentors as these mentors are more likely to be able to make a realistic assessment about how likely your work is to pass)
Dear trephena,
Thank you very much for your detailed reply , as Im waiting for my last F paper result, i should be in a position to know in mid July and my aim is then to aim for the November submission period.
Hi Trephena,
hope you enjoyed Greece though you left the sun here!
thanks for your response on T17.
Many thanks
Frank
@llkkjj - good you should have plenty of time to do a good project then without stressing yourself out. Spent some time now thinking about a topic - I suggest you read some of our threads on different topics as they give some insight to what is involved. A company and Topoc that interest you is also a good idea as it will keep you motivated
8y ago#160hello i'm new to the forum and I'm really not finding easy to choose a topic. ACCA is my first really exposure to accounting so i need your advice
It is probably 'safer' to go for a topic that requires only secondary data as many students struggle when it comes to primary data collection (for definitions of what primary and secondary data means please look at the Information Pack).
Secondary data topics are: 5 (Islamic banking), 8 (business & financial analysis), 15 (working capital); 17, (Corporate governance); 18 (Marketing) and 20 (Corporate and social responsibility). Unfortunately the prescribed industry sectors for topics 8 & 15 are not very good unless perhaps mining and mineral extraction is a key industry in your country (in which case you might be able to do ttopic 8 quite well) or if you are good at costing and management accounting maybe a topic 15 for a mine might be possible.
Otherwise that leaves 17, 18 or 20 (unless you are familiar with Islamic banking!) We have special forums for these so I suggest that you take a look at each of these for ideas of what's involved and problems (for Topic 17 make sure you look at the thread for Topic 17 from Period 35 onwards as the topic title and requirements have changed. Note: You may need to look at pages 2 or 3 of our listed threads to find topic 18 or 20 .
Then think about what company may be suitable and what interests you
I am currently doing topic 8. An analysis and evaluation of the business and financial performance of an organisation over a three year period.
My mentor told me that I should include 4 years of financial year end account eg 2014 - 2017, in order to analyse and evaluate the financial year of 2015, then 2016 and 2017.
However, I have read through some samples, that students are only including 3 financial year end accounts.
Should I listen to my mentor? Will I fail if I include 4 financial year instead of 3?
I am not sure why you are posting this query here when there is a thread for General queries Topic 8.
The topic title is 3 years so say 1 Jan 2015 to 31 Dec 2015 makes for the first year and 2016 and 2017 the second and third years. However there is possibly sense in what your mentor is saying because to understand and analyse a business you need to understand the management strategies and the rationale that lies behind them. You do this by reading the written reports within the annual report. Some strategies take time to be effective so earlier reports such as 2014 may help you understand the company performance in 2015 and onwards.
You will not be failed if you do 4 years but you are likely to be failed if you take a year by year approach rather than discussing the trends as a continuous period of 3 years (or 4 years). However there is no real extra merit in doing 4 years apart from understanding and getting to grips with strategies as explained above.
I have chosen topic 17 but I am struggling with models to apply in my research. Please which models do you think is appropriate for topic 17.
As your question directly relates to Topic 17 that is the thread you should post to.
The Assessment criteria talk about using appropriate models and business techniques (not just models). For Topic 17 the relevant CG code is part of this, discussing (briefly) agency theory and/or stewardship theory and considering a stakeholder model and evidence of application of these would be the 'norms' for this topic to satisfy the first two assessment criteria (see Appendix 1 of Info Pack)
(Please post any further queries to the relevant topic thread)
There is no prescribed format for Topic 20 and a sample report would not really be of much use as the appropriate headings and content depend on which organisation is chosen.
You are best off looking at Part 5 of the information pack where it sets out a suggested structure in general terms. You will need to discuss a model (Carroll's or Triple Bottom line or similar) and use plenty of headings and sub-headings throughout when discussing the different aspects of weak CSR
Yes I understand that the cost of a mentor can seem a lot of money.
However good ones do take a lot of the worry out of completing the work as they know how to advise on focus, content and structure.
Through the 3 meetings they are able to guide and direct your research and writing. OBU actually has a scheme of bursaries for extreme hardship where there is help with mentoring (free of charge if you qualify). As the submission fee is GBP 340 it would probably be better to explore this possibility with [email protected] first (there may possibly even be a reduced submission fee). Otherwise without proper professional mentorship your chances of failing are higher (so likely to involve another GBP 340 for the resubmission)
Whoever you are proposing to use for signing off your work will actually be making false statements if they have not mentored you - a sign they lack integrity. You really should contact the University if there is a genuine problem about money for fees or consider deferring to P38 and saving up for a mentor who is reputable who will be able to give you sound advice on your work
Please Help!
I submitted my rap in period 34, my case was referred to academic conduct officer due to plagiarism in sls its more than an year case is still outstanding its been 6,7 month my ACO has not responded I have sent her multiple reminders.She told me not to contact ACCA but i am very frustrated now what should I do should I report this issue to ACCA?
Please Help!
I submitted my rap in period 34, my case was referred to academic conduct officer due to plagiarism in sls its more than an year case is still outstanding its been 6,7 month my ACO has not responded I have sent her multiple reminders.She told me not to contact ACCA but i am very frustrated now what should I do should I report this issue to ACCA?
As a former Academic Conduct Officer myself I am puzzled by this state of affairs.
You should have been sent a decision letter which tells you precisely whether you were found guilty of a breach of the student regulations and what the penalty is if you have committed a breach.
There only two things I can think of. One is that you are seeing a message on the screen when you log into your account. You should contact [email protected] to seek an explanation of why the message is still there. The other thing might be that your case is being referred to the University Conduct Committee for a more formal decision and there is a delay in having the hearing. However referral to the UCC would normally have been set out in the decision letter
Which are the global regulatory bodies in mining industry?
Topic lockedNew replies are closed.