P4 vs P5 (need some advice)

I and you wants to get out of ACCA nightmare. I have done already P4 once but I was not successful. I am doing P2 and P3 next June 2014 and thereafter am thinking of switching from P4 to P5. I agree with you that P4 is harder paper than F9. I did F9 and passed. As far as you are concerned, the dilemma you are faced with is decision on whether to attempt P5 or P4, having done F9 and not having done F5. There is nothing wrong with you preparing for P5 while not having done F5. Neither did I do F5. I completed Fundamental papers at the time when F5 had not been introduced. Our lack of knowledge of F5 can be corrected by filling the necessary gaps required to be filled for us to be able to approach P5.

I would advise you to read the following four technical articles which appear under paper P5 on the ACCA website under Students-qualification resources-P5-Technical articles:

Examiner’s Approach to Paper P5;
Paper P5 Syllabus Change for 2011;
Impact of Changes to Paper P3 and P5 from June 2011 and
Making the Best Option choices.

These articles will help you to get an insight of how P5 looks like and what you can do in order to fill the gaps.

The fact that you achieved a good pass with F9 tends to suggest that you do not have anything to fear for P4. Go ahead and do P4. It’s a challenging paper. In addition to passing ACCA and getting out of the nightmare, it will also build your knowledge of the industrial world and put you in a position where you will be discussing Financial Management issues in a wider breadth.

If you have got only one paper left either P4 or P5. Are we allowed to take both P4 and P5 so that chances of getting passed in one get increased ! is it allowed !

I was in the same shoes when i wanted to select either P4 or P5 after i passed my P7 paper. Just like you too, i didn’t sit for the paper F5 as i already passed it under the 2.4 syllabus or so. So i was confronted with the option of facing the almighty P4 or the dreaded P5. I was also inclined to P4 just like you but i just wanted to get over with ACCA nightmare. What i did was to analyze which of the devils (P4 or P5) to align with to enable me conclude my ACCA ASAP as this appears to be my immediate goal. I believe there is nothing stopping me from attempting any of the other optional papers in future as part of my CPD.

I ended up with P5 as i was saved the headache of dealing with the complex issues of FX, M&A, advance investment appraisals etc in P4. What’s more, i had a strong understanding of paper P3 on which most of the concepts of P5 are built except for few topics like costing, budgeting etc which in my opinion is not difficult to contend with. If you ask me, i will choose these over concepts like; call, put, futures, option, spot rate, Black and Scholes , pre-tax and post-tax cost of debt, when to gear, un-gear and re-gear the asset or equity beta that can make someone immediately grow grey hair in paper P4 !!!!
In addition, i can relate better with what P5 is saying as they are not far away from you because these are basically business issues i.e. costing techniques and measuring performance to determine rewards to managers. At this level, i expect you to be familiar with concepts like stakeholders, Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT, PESTEL, Quality, some ethical issues in a scenario and other soft issues you can deal with through moderate studies. So my decison was premised on all of these and i opted for P5 and the result was very good.
So evaluate your peculiar circumstance i.e. are you very analytical, do you prefer complex calculations to writing,explaining and analysing, your career path and current job function etc to select any of the option paper. You can also read up articles from ACCA about choosing between the option papers. I believe that would also assist you in making up your mind on which option paper to write.
Nonetheless, paper P5 is a very tricky and slippery paper and thus requires loads of question practice to succeed. I wish you the very best.