*** P5 December 2011 Exam was: Post your comments and vote in Instant Poll ***

@sheren123 said:
Oh God.. When dy sd risk n uncertainity in q1 i thght immedialty of FM n wnt on to say abt Npv irr eva bt did include ev i cdnt fcrse calculate mch.. Am i wrng to nt calculate minimax maximax maximin?? I js wnt 50 i rly dnt wna repeat.. GBU all to pass including me.. I cn nly pray now.. Why does it hv to b so hrd.. I mean v knw d whle sylabus bt its js sooo hrd?? N d pyramid?? Hu wud hv thght?? Wsnt rdy 4 dt.. Prt b ws k i gues.. Prt a sckd big tym.. I thnk its safe to say its d hardest paper iv eva seen.. Wel fcrse nxt cms p2 afta dt ppr lets c wthr i cn stnd by ds statement

You have a full keyboard in front of you.

Its got all the letters, if you use them, we can understand, if you dont, we cant.

txt spk is gud for txts nt for cmnts.(sorry, but it hurts my head to read your reply, and my head is tired after my P5 exam)

@shenren123

i think you just need to speed up ur reading speed
and thought processing time

you will be fine you’re really covered all syllabus of P5

Hi guys,

Few questions:
– when we can check the official responses on the ACCA site?
– to Andriy: I am at the 6th attempt, last exam for two years, also contemplating suicide. So pls save me by answering:

On Q1 I have calculated the payoff table and Expected Values, but I have made a n error in calculation: I have multiplied the steel cost * 500 units (for eg, for Type 1), but I forgot to do the same with the rest of variable costs (exam pressure, don’t ask why). My logic is correct, however numbers will not. I made the mistake by working in Thousands : after multiplying 500units*9.4 tones steel/unit* 1214$ => one number + rest of variable cost =Total cost.
Question: how much do you thing I will be penalized for that?

Q2: Perf pyramid: hom much was the part with the application? 12?
The correct answer appear to me when I arrived home: we should have mentioned the KPI’s are measured “in trenches”, at department level and identified current measures and suggest other where the case. Unfortunatelly, I did not started bottom-up, but top dow (the objectives are top down), therefore I did not fully cover Delivery, Cycle time ; flexibility;
Q: what was your plan in answering Q2? How many marks was Q2 in total and split?

Thanks!

Although I managed my time for the paper and was able to complete all questions, Qu 1 really threw me a curve ball, i managed to talk about mimimax etc but I dont think the calculation was correct and I did not do as a report…..aagggh. Hoping for 50% still.

Obviously, the 19 mark q’n was the make or break section. I got type II under risk neutral (expected value), type II under risk averse (minimax regret) and type II under risk-seeking (maximax); the calculations was an appendix with an e.g. being –
Demand 500 = fixed revenue of 7.5m + 19% of the variable cost p.u.*500 – 7.5mill R&D for type I, 7.5m + 19% of v.c.p.u.*500 – 8.75mill for type II, 7.5m+19% of v.c.p.u. – 10mill r&d, Demand 750 = 7.5mill + 19% of v.c.p.u.*500 – 7.5mill r&d for type I, *critically* 7.5mill + 19% of v.c.p.u.*750 – 8.75mill etc etc.
I was lucky enough to see this straight off so think i got over the line on this one.
The rest of q1 – report format, 4 marks, 3 marks after the 19 for discussing what to do based on the 19marker and 7 marks for risks facing hte co., i used PEST (and added financial risk given the PLC status and 20million variable earnings, shareholder complaints etc)

Q2 – washing machine parts company or some other equally sexy industry! Something like the explain the performance pyramid in general and how it would fit in with this company’s new swish mission statement. Another section on reviewing their dismal current PMS. Then, lastly, apply the performance pyramid to the co.’s info’n which is not on the board reports, under the headings of the pyramid (flexibility internally and externally, client satisfaction and productivity) as well as suggesting additional KPIs for 12 marks. T’was OK i thought.

Q3 School! i always hated school! lol First part, not so keen, IT related, common sense kinda stuff. Any earlier post mentioned audit kind stuff, and, yes, i mentioned seperation of duty and logical access hierarchy. Felt like i bluffed this sub-part, which was a considerable 9 marks. Next up was recommendations to the appendix (which is 13 pages long) – i used the A.C.C.U.R.A.T.E. mnemonic and how it should be in softcopy quarterly with drill down details per student. The benefits of a new system, benchmarking, efficiencies, redundancies, better service, more KPI to reflect the mission statement. Yadda.

Q4, book shop, budgeting-constrained (Hopwood) culture, uncontrollable variances, broke down to controllable KPI to empower managers, e.g. was marketing to sales %, staff costs to sales % as these are directly controllable. Difference between controllable and traceable. Brought in F&M building block re measurements and standards etc. Honestly can’t remember more than that.

This was my 2nd time sitting this, i passed all the other papers first time with no probs and all over 60% but i came a cropper last summer, i was stunned, having come ouf 100% confident so this time around i had to concentrate a lot harder on delivering marks in a kind of expressionless way, too much waffling last time. Given how cocky i was last time i still wouldnt be sure of passing this time – guess we’ll see late Feb.
Best of luck everybody 🙂

Soz, type III under maximax

@tzxsean said:
@darthvader001

for performance pyramid

i din explain the exact thing appear on the diagram

as it supposed to be different for each company

i just said that the KPI must measure the CSF and CSF support the vision

@tzxsean said:
@darthvader001

for performance pyramid

i din explain the exact thing appear on the diagram

as it supposed to be different for each company

i just said that the KPI must measure the CSF and CSF support the vision

I even draw the damn thing! I think I mentioned also these parts, however the question stated to look on performance measures in the Company and suggest new ones! Goddammit, I could do the question right now, but not in 30 min, including reading time!! It’s not humain!

Correct me if im wrong !

But from reading the comments……

– If you did the exam backwards, you felt it was ok, but tough in parts ?

– If you did the exam forwards, you got caught up in Q1, which made the rest of the exam more challenging ?

Do people agree that this is the general feeling ?

The exam was challenging.

Q1
I left Q1 at first then came back to it. I multiplied the percentages of probability for each level of demand and design type, so have 9 situations. Vareiable cost was 1214(hope i remember) x those expected values, Fixed cost was the 7.7m, 10m amd 15m, add together and 19% was the profit on top. I didnt do the maximax, min etc. I identifed few risk and suggested NPV as better project evaluation method.

Q2
I drew the performance pyramid and mentioned about how the mission objectives and operation measure relate. Said the company need to measure these as well. Suggeted customer satisfaction, Quality measure, productivity, Innovation and learning

Q4
Kaizen, described what it is and the benefits.
JIT purchasing and JIT production. described them ,mentioned it will help reduce cost, improve quality, increase productivity and profitablity. No need for invetory holding and budget variance analysis

Q5
Budget did my little bit, how it is not good that budget should go ahead despite the 12% fall in industry revenue. Did revised budget and compared with actual to show what is controllabe based on 12% fall in revenue and had favorable profit. Suggeted that reward system should include non Fkpi and budget target should be co-opt the branch managers (hope it was relevant), so that the reward can be motivating.

But finally, the “Horse is prepared for the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord”. I did my best studied so hard and I trust God to crown my efforts with success. I wish everybody goodluck too.

Hi just incase you are thinking abount changing your subjects after few attemps, my advice is not to. I passed P$ paper on my 5th attempt with 57 marks so there is hope!
I also found todays paper hard, infact I do not think this paper allows you to go indept with any of the scenario as simply there isn’t enough time and under pressure it is so difficult to think of KPI’s. I manage to do all the questions but could not add value to my answers due to lack of time.
So my question to you all is do the examiner want quality or quantity as both is not possible. I am sick of this examiner already, he is like the old P4 examiner where no body could pass as soon they sacked him…..oopps I mean changed him I passed.

@lakeside said:
In addition, I think ACCA should review this P5 exam and act fairly (ethically) in the passing of student on this Dec P5 exam.

What do you mean by that?
PS: I think you have a clear chance of passing.. my answers were large in content, but lacked the focus on some aspects you mentioned in Q4 and Q5.. Wish I could do it clear as you stated. I think my approach with Q1, Q2, Q4 and Q5 was not the best.. should have started with the clear kill points in the 20 marks questions

Definitely the paper was not easy.. I didn’t have any idea about the performance pyramid..not to draw the diagram even.. but however definitely i wrote about the NFPI and PI and how to measure it.. wonder how many marks I’ll get from the total 25 marks for that question ( No:2) fingers crossed for atleat 50 marks…

What should have been calculated in Q1? EV or minimax, maximix? Anyone calculated minimax regret?