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
P48 – Welcome to all newcomers and returners to the OBU Forum
It is a case of seeing if your account works. There was a webinar a week or two ago about the submission process so if you go to the University mentoring website you may find more up to date and reliable info there as it tends to change from period to period
Hi,
Anyone knows when will ''infopack'' for period 43 be published.
The Info Pack is now available on ACCA global and contains some very important changes to both some of the topic titles and the SLS
5y ago#124Hello,
I am a newcomer and this is my first attempt at OBU RAP.
I have started research for Topic 8 but with a difficulty.
For several industry sectors, I am struggling to find an independent Public UK company.
All companies I have looked at are part of a group, meaning their annual financial statements are consolidated, with no financial details/breakdown of the associate company I am interested in.
For example; In hospitality all the main hotels are part of a Group (some with their parent company based in the U.S or Europe).
Same with the Construction industry, bookselling industry etc.
a) Please how do I navigate this problem of consolidated financial statements?
b) Is there any other way I can find out the financial details / statement of an associate?
All suggestions and directives are welcome.
Thank you!
With the new Information Pack 'Old Topic 8' has been reformulated into Topic 4,5 and 8 and Topic 15 has bern replaced. You may now find it easier to find an . Organisation that meets your requirements.
Otherwise Topic 17-20 all of which only require secondary data and offer at least as good i(f not better chances ) of passing and getting a grade higher than a C should be looked at
5y ago#126@Trephena, thanks very much for the advice.
Hello,
I am a new comer who wants to do the OBU RAP however I am awaiting my final ACCA result to determine whether or not I am eligible. I wanted to know if I would have sufficient time to do the RAP for submission in November if I am only able to start in late July after ACCA results providing that I pass? Also I am studying for SBR in September as well so what do you think?
Many of my students start their RAP and juggle this with exams and in actual fact, odd though it may seem, it can be advantageous to do so [research studies show that taking breaks away and alternating tasks actually improves all round performance - strange as it may seem]. I personally advise students to start as early as possible because reports done in a rush are less likely to pass.
I don't know how other mentors operate, but I try to be flexible and so would timetable a student to start their RAP in June or July and then break off a month before their September paper to do exam study and return to it straight after the exam[s]. This may not work with some providers as they group students but it is something you should ask about when you contact them.
It is true that until you have cleared all the foundation/ skills papers [what were F4-F9] you are not eligible for the degree but that does not mean that you have to wait and can't start - although you must be mindful that topics and titles do change from time to time. This is usually when the new Information Pack is published and as that was last month I think it is highly unlikely that there will be changes until the next one in June 2022 [so affecting P45 and P46]
Thank you for your reply and insight @GillianM much appreciated!
Hi i am currently doing my research project and can anyone please share a sample of a research project topic 8 so i can get an idea
Sharing work is against the University rules - just take a quick look at some recent posts on the Result Deferred/withheld thread and you will see the consequences of doing so. Only somebody totally naive or unscrupulous would agree to send you a sample.
It is difficult to say - as it is probably about the same in terms of access to info. I usually advise a student to do the topic that interests them the most as that way they will stay motivated. Some students play 'safe' and go with financial analysis because they have done it before [although the approach is slightly different for the RAP as they probably have never had to apply a model when doing financial analysis previously]. Some students though see the RAP as a challenge to learn new skills and broaden their horizons. I tend to encourage the latter - last session I had a student who couldn't see the point of marketing - so decided to do Topic 18 to find out whether it was useful after all. She ended up recognising that marketing is key to an organisation's success and did a very good report [so I look forward to see what grade she gets].
However as I say the choice should be yours.... Regarding which may get a higher grade/pass rate - this depends how well the research, analysis and evaluation is done. My initial concern now that the title of Topic 8 has changed is that if may take a bit of time for higher grades to filter through [but I could be wrong on this - it will be one way or the other - mostly Cs or mostly higher grades but we won't know until after P43] whereas from my experience of students doing Topic 18 - most of students have done it well and have achieved above a C but it depends upon the organisation chosen [if doing this go for a very innovative company] as that is key to getting a higher grade
There is a referencing guide on our homepage https://opentuition.com/obu/referencing-the-open-tuition-ultimate-guide-to-referencing-your-rap/ [see all 3 parts]
Also consult the June 2021 Information Pack pp.38-40 which explains how to set out references.
The key to good evaluation is using the models to help you understand the management decisions and strategies and avoiding being 'descriptive' - which means just stating that there have been increases and decreases [e.g. just 'describing the trends] without providing explanations. The factors that underlie performance are influenced by management decisions and the strategies that are pursued both of which will be based on the PEST and SWOT. There should therefore be links between your commentary when using the results from ratio analysis to the models.
Hi everyone,
In P42, my Topic 18 RR was a pass but my SLS was under ACO Investigation and the outcome was not on my side. Feedback by ACO is as follows:
[8. Self-reflection Fail
ACO Feedback: Examples of previous student’s work were provided to guide on the style of writing and not to be used as a template. The guidance in the Oxford Brookes Information Pack provides some examples of the kind of questioning you should apply to your practice. You can use the mentor meeting template to prompt recollections of your thoughts and feelings as you progressed through this Project but do not look at any other examples to avoid accidental plagiarism. Write in your own words.]
Hence, I chose to resubmit in P43 but I am stuck on how to write my SLS differently than what I had wrote as I truly felt like I had already poured my original thoughts and work into the SLS I submitted, and the similarities arises due to depending on the template etc. I truly regret what I did :( Any advice and criticism as well as tips for Resubmission statement is more than welcomed!!
As in the feedback was provided only on 1 element (out of 9) of the RAP, I'm not sure how to elaborate it even further in the Resubmission statement.
I suggest that you look at the latest Info Pack - June 2021.
The SLS questions have changed so by answering those it avoids any problem. They are also easier to answer than the old questions too !
You should submit a brief statement that addresses the marker feedback and says what improvements you have made
It certainly won’t take 500 words!
Hi,
Thank you so much for your previous response!!!
So I just reconfirmed with the school in regards to my resubmission in P43 (failed in P41).
"We have checked and the ACO decision was Academic Malpractice, so you were given a zero letter for your RAP. This means that you have not yet passed anything. You will therefore need to resubmit ALL of the elements of the Research and Analysis project including the Research Report, Excel spreadsheet, references, SLS and presentation slides.
You can resubmit the same Research Report, but may need to update the financial information, if applicable. You need to rewrite the SLS as instructed by the ACO."
I would love to reconfirm if:
1) I can upload the exact same documents (Research Report, Excel spreadsheet, references & presentation slides) I submitted in P41 except for the SLS?
2) I do not have to update my RR to the latest financial information as I do not exceed 4 submission period yet from P41? Hence I can remain the 2017-2018-2019 financial statement in my RR? (My RAP Topic is 18 Marketing)
Please help, it's so hard to balance work with OBU and my mentor is not responsive either :( I'm so grateful for OpenTuition!!!
You should be looking at the trends over a period of time - so make most of your comments based on the 3-5 years prior to 2020. In the limitations of your findings [which the June 2021 now suggests you include in your report after your findings], you can highlight that the results fo 2020 were atypical because..... etc.
Hi everyone,
Are there any requirements for fonts size in RAP or PPT, or SLS?
I don't think that any particular stipulation is made however you should always consider the reader/marker and make your work as easy to read as possible. Do this by using a sensible font size for the Report and SLS. Some fonts tend to look more 'reader-friendly' than others - personally I tend to use Calibri, Tahoma or Verdana but as I say, this is a personal preference.
A couple of things I would say:
1. Try to make your text look good by avoiding it being too 'dense' as it psychologically makes it look like a hard read - have sensible size margins and use 1.5 line spacing
2. Make graphs, diagrams and charts a reasonable size and ensure they are all well labelled and given titles.
Apart from the cover sheet [where you have a bit more licence] have white as the background page colour and use a black font so that it stands out and is easy to read. If you want to try out artistic effects and experiment then normally the best place to do that is in your slides for the presentation. There are few restrictions for the PPT Presentation apart from the number of slides and not overloading them with too much information - the reader should not have to read too much and work too hard - you are supposed to be delivering the information in bite-size bits and adding interesting content [sometimes the occasional illustration, graph or chart]
Thank you, Gillan for reply.
I have got one more question: On page 24 Info Pack they have asked for ''declaration of authenticity''. Where do we have to state them, in which document. Is it in RAP ?. If we don't state them in any document, will it be an issue?
Once again thanks for quick reply.
Hi everyone, i forgot to save the result feedback when result eas released, how can I access it now.
If you cannot access these and they were not sent to you by email or you no longer have the email, then you will have to contact the University at [email protected] to request that they send you a copy. You will need to include your ACCA registration number and details of the Period you submitted in.
Remember to check junk mail as sometimes your email system may put the OBU email in the trash/junk folder thinking it is spam
thank you for sharing your post, thank you for sharing with us
Helo! I just want to know if i can use a company for topic 5 that had always been performing well but faced a slight downturn due to covid but increased profits again the next year?
Like - their profits were 8 billion in 2019, 6 billion in 2020 and 8 billion again in 2021. Would this be alright? Or would my project be failed because this exceptional performance didn't become evident in the last three years???
please help me out with this . This is for topic 5.
For a good Topic 5 you need to show that board strategic decisions based on the company's business environment has helped its exceptional performance [regardless of whatever may happened because of Covid 19].
As it says in the June 2021 Info Pack, a report that relies solely on Covid-19 will likely lack insufficient depth. Markers expect the financial analysis to be underpinned by the SWOT / PESTLE factors that prevailed during the 3 year period
Sorry Mart44 - only Oxford Brookes can answer this for you.
Hello Gillian, thank you for your response.
I do have one more question - how important is it to reference the graphs and tables in the report when all the figures have been taken directly from the excel spreadsheet?
How can I access to answers you have got from people as I am facing the same situation. Thanks ?
How can I access to answers you have got from people as I am facing the same situation. Thanks ?
How can I access to answers you have got from people as I am facing the same situation. Thanks ?
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