P48 – Welcome to all newcomers and returners to the OBU Forum

[trephena]

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 :

http://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.

[Tamas]

Hi Trephena,

Hope you can help, now I understand that for Topic 8 we have to choose an organisation of a predetermined industry sector.
I am leaning towards topic 17 or most likely topic 18 marketing – in this case can I choose any organisation from any industry?

Thanks for your advice

[trephena]

Hi Tamas

The good news is that the restriction of choice of company only applies to Topics 8 and 15.

It is definitely worth thinking about other topics and both 17 and 18 have reasonable pass rates (better than Topics 8 & 15). I expect you have already looked at our forum threads on Topics 17 & 18 – if not take a look.

[Topic 20 could also be good (my tip on this particular topic for P38 would be Facebook as its CSR is pretty appalling in terms of attitude to users’ privacy, response to governments’ censure and its deliberate avoidance of tax worldwide is insulting and immoral) As you can tell – I am quite indignant about how some big tech companies abuse their considerable positions of power !]

[Tamas]

Hi Trephena,
Thank you for your prompt response.

I am just a bit worried that it would be more difficult to achieve the objectives on financial analysis part and using spreadsheet for a topic thats on social responsibility, although to research Facebooks poor SR sounds very interesting.
I just want to make sure that I research something that I will be actually enjoying rather than the only motivation is to pass the RAP.

Will read through the Topic 17, 18, and 20 Forums and see if it helps to finalise my choice

[GillianM – OBU Registered Mentor]

The spreadsheet requirement (Assessment Criterion 7) is fairly easy to satisfy as only basic formulae are involved. Most of my students do Topic 17 and I usually suggest they look at the year on year percentage increase / decrease in share price (and also plot a graph) and /or do comparisons in directors’ bonuses as a percentage of earnings (or the ratio of it to average worker pay and the like). It very much depends on what the CG issues are and what is irrelevant in the context of their organisation – but there is always some scope for a few calculations.

It is commendable that you want to enjoy the process of doing your RAP (and means you will be motivated to produce a good quality report). In that respect I think you would find Topics 17, 18 or 20 far more exciting to do than Topic 8 (for a start the research is far more interesting). Good luck!

[Tamas]

Thank you for your advice. I have decided to do Topic 20.

[7122517f]

Hello trephena, I am willing to submit my thesis in this coming period 38 but I am unaware about style of secondary sources of reference. I am giving an example in below regarding about the style

Example: According to Van Der stede (2006) cited in (eldring 2009, p.23) “performance measurement plays a key role”

Is this the right style I am following? I am really very confused please guide me

[trephena]

That sounds fine. Have you read our ‘Open Tuition Guide to Referencing your RAP’ (link available on our homepage)? You will see that although you need to identify sources and list where they came from 100% perfection is not demanded – so as long as there are sufficient details to track the original source there should be no problem. So chill on this one!

[elizamay]

Hi trephena! Just wondering, do you know when will P37 result be announced?
Previously they had a trouble with their website that caused the submission period to be pushed back, I wonder if the announcement will also be deferred because of this. I haven’t got any email or news about this…

[trephena]

The due date for results is not until 20 March. We do not know at this time whether the results will be delayed or not – however as this would be an issue for anyone who fails and has only P38 to submit, we would expect either the results to be out on time on that date or that some provision will be made for such students.

[waheedvedi]

Hope you are doing well.

I’m going to submit my Research Project in Period 38 and interested to go with Topic 08.

Can you please recommend main company (International) and comparator company (International) for 1773 Diamonds & Gemstone Mining.

Thanks

[trephena]

Sorry, we have now adopted a policy of not recommending particular companies for Topic 8 – just helping with approach to the producing the RAP. The current industry sectors are not very ‘student friendly’ in our opinion and we advise that students consider whether it might even be in their best interests to look at other topics rather than instantly assume that Topic 8 will be suitable – particularly as several other topics offer a better chance of passing first time.

Choosing companies is a huge responsibility and we feel selecting a particular topic and then the ‘right company’ [companies] for this, is something that you need to discuss with your mentor.

If you experience problems with evaluation and presenting your findings etc. we have articles on those and forum threads. We are also happy to give our advice and answer your particular queries.

Kind regards
Trephena

[chrishanalmeida95]

Hi all 🙂
I’m new to the forum and glad I found this page earlier on.
Cheers !!

[accastudent110]

Hi, I’m due to submit my RAP in May this year. I have been scanning the OBU forums trying to find the answer to my question but haven’t seen it yet. My main company’s 2018 annual report is out and was released within the 90 days period so I would have to use it but comparator company only has reports till 2017. Would it be alright for me to use annual reports for they years 2015-2017 for both companies and state the limitation? Or would i be penalized for this?

[Tamas]

Hi all,

I have now submitted my RAP to OBU.

There has been a change and now we all need to fill out a google sheet before, then attach the documents to an email and send it to the University.

I have done that on the 6th of May, and I supposed to get a confirmation email of receipt, however I only received an automated email.

Did any other students submitted in this period so far and if so did any of you get a receipt of confirmation?

Many thanks

[Anonymous]

DId OBU allow student to delay submit RAP to period 39 ?

[GillianM – OBU Registered Mentor]

It depends whether you are still within the 10 year registration period since you first registered with ACCA. You cease to be eligible to submit once the 10 years allowed is exceeded.

If you chose topic 8 you need to be aware that the industry sectors will change for Period 39 so if you don’t submit in P38 you will need to change your companies.

[amme74]

Hi, I have chosen topic 2 and just have a query on referencing. I have researched the company I work for and so a lot of the information is based on internal reports/management accounts, how do I reference these? Some are published to our Intranet so I can give the web address for those, but different documents have been referenced so rather than (ABC, 2019) do I have to give document name each time otherwise I will have a lot of (ABC, 2019) but all referencing different things? many thanks

[proticz]

Hello everyone

I am planning to start my OBU research for the period 39.
I am kind of confused at this point of time, which topic should be undertaken

I am quite familiar with topic 8 ( as ratio analysis) is there but at the same time, this topic requires a lot of work which can be cumbersome for a student who is planning to sit for P level paper.

I have gone through the information pack and everything but still finding it difficult how to start it off.

I am bit tensed about my P level exam for the upcoming session as well

please suggest me
how do I start off?
and what are the steps need to be done if I choose t8 or t17

I am seeking help from everyone who has been in such a position like me before.

[trephena]

All of the topics require some work and you need to plan your time so that possibly you start it, break off to sit a P paper in September and then continue with it after the paper.

Try to choose a topic that is connected in some way with the P papers you plan to sit in September or December e.g. Topic 16 on risk management may have links with auditing (depending on the company chosen). Somilarly Topic 19 has connections with Stategic Business Leader (the merger/acquisition may be linked with specific strategic business decision or in the case) or with Topic 17 the weak corporate governance that lead to the failure and collapse of Carillion was due to inappropriate business strategies (as well as greed by the directors)

[proticz]

thank you for your wonderful advise
I am planning to sit for SBR

can you please suggest me what would be the best topic for someone who is sitting for SBR in december session

I just want to choose a topic which would eventually go in flow with my research work and my knowledge from the SBR paper as well

can you please suggest what should be the best option

I have not appeared SBL yet tho..

[hussain001]

Hi Trephena,

Thanks for spending time responding to this.

I’m planning for topic 8 period 39 submission. I have chosen to go ahead with 4010020 Automobiles industry, I chose main company as Bajaj Auto Ltd and competitor Hero Motor Corp or TVS motor.

The problems that I face are:
1) Main company and competitor are subsidiaries of a Group of companies. Is it an issue if it is a subsidiary in a group or if the group has diversified companies?

2) Main company and competitors do have subsidiaries within themselves, will it be a problem if it has subsidiary companies within them and diversified subsidiary companies?

Thank You

[soyenka]

Hello everyone,

I am new here and submitting for the first time on topic 8. I am almost done with the RR and the SLS. I am looking for a free site to check my level or plagiarism and vocabulary. Could anyone help me out please?

[GillianM – OBU Registered Mentor]

I doubt you will find a free one that is reliable. However WriteCheck (supplied by Turnitin – the same programme used by Brookes) costs less than USD 10 so is well worth paying for and using.

For more money you can get grammar checked.

[ehtasham]

Hi, I hope you all are doing well. Please help me out with this.

How can I check my work for potential plagiarism when WriteCheck is unavailable?

I am not sure this is the correct forum for my question.
I have got an extension for P39 and I will be submitting my Rap project before 16th Dec.

I want to check my project for plagiarism and i do not any other platform except Writercheck.

I will be waiting for your advice.

Regards
Ehtasham

[Author]

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