*** P5 December 2015 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

Very difficult paper, if any one remembers the questions and Mark allocations? If I remember:

Q 1
EVA Calculation and comment – 15 marks
Weakness and suggestions of KPI – 6 marks
Assessing the CSF & KPIs for new initiatives which are JIT, Kaizen & zero defects – 15 marks
The New IS and the relevance to the 3 initiatives – 10 marks
Structure – 4 marks

Q 2
Didn’t attempt so don’t remember

Q3
Explain measures of suitable BSC – 10 marks
Evaluate and calculate crowd (should be only calculation) – 7 marks
Behavioural aspects of PM (don’t really recall) – 8 marks

Q4
Explain high threats, assess suitable performance measurements and detail (must be expecting for min 5 PMs) – 15 marks
Management accountants change of role – 10 marks

Not enough time, too lengthy and examiner perhaps wants to keep pass rates < 30%

Hi guys, re EVA calculation:

1. I don’t think R&D should have been adjusted to capital employed as it was mentioned in the question that all of that was incurred during the current period.

2. Post-tax interest charge is added back only if you start from profit after tax but the junior started from operating profit so post-tax interest charge did not need to be adjusted for

My only worry is that I highlighted that marketing capitalised should not be added back because if it was capitalised in the first place then there is nothing to add back (i.e. no expense was made in the period so nothing to add back). But I just looked at June 2014 model answer and the use the same terminology i.e. “marketing capitalised” to add back marketing that was clearly expensed there. However I can only hope that examiner will appreciate that it was not clear whether the marketing spend was expensed in the period or capitalised in the period.

The exam was rather fair and okayish when compared to what i had expected, Time management was the key and crucial thing, Here’s what i did
Q1- a- EVA. Took opening balance of CE, Adjusted tax in calculation of WACC, Operating lease 115/5- Deducted this as economic depreciation from profit, and added 115-Depreciation in CE, Added RD expense to profit, added marketing expenditure assuming life of the brand was 4 years and ammortised it, EVA was higher then that in question it was 200+.
Q1-b- Different product mix, new products don’t have to be successful
Q1-c- JIT- greater supplier interaction, a culture inducted into company- would decrease wastage, decrease innovation and decrease labour hour as well. Kaizen- Innovation and autonomy to employees, Would increase labour hours, Greater innovation. Zero-defect, Conformance, non-conformance, Increase labour hours as more care is put in quality, Less wastage and Less innovaton.
Q1-d- Had only 20 minutes for this and Q4-d- so blabbered random stuff.
Q3-a- Takes look at wider perspectives so address concerns of all parties involved, helps avoid focus on a particular measure, control, assist in evaluating decisions by different Point of views.
Q3-b- Overcrowded only in Peak time region A, others had spare capacity, government comments were generalized and wrong about whole right to the extent of region A peak times, should be addressed as we depend on government for contract renewal.
Q3-c- cant really remember what was it.
Q4-a- Explained how high threats can be managed, Wrote about barriers of entry for New entrants, Diversification or strategic alliance for substitute, Long term contracts or supplier acquisitions, difficulties to measure and quantify threats, PMs- Dependency on suppliers, sales lost to substitutes, number of potential entrants.
Blabbered random stuff about Part b due to lack of time though wrote that outsourcing would require greater supplier interaction, and management accountant would be asked to analyse data provided by systems.
Hoping for the pass, Attempted 80 marks in full spirit and the other 20 marks were just random blabbered stuff. Overall a fair time-pressured exam.

Seagot!!

truly you reminded me of Inception the movie, I couldn’t resist bursting out loud. Surely examiner is a luckiest person likely he’s the top boss at acca. Had anyone been reviewing his famous “diet” most of his drafts would have land in reviewer’s cabin labeled “not healthy”.

Guys seriously tell me what do you think the examiner really thinks about shocking handwriting? I find that for Q1 my handwriting ok and then it just goes downhill from there on as the time pressure increases. In the past however i have passed exams with truly shocking handwriting though not all the time.

Just how bad is everyone’s handwriting? Do you think the examiner really punishes us for the handwriting, i mean ultimately as long as he/she can read it (even if it takes them time) then we’re ok?

I felt bad about question 4 because up to now I dont know what the questions was asking with the exception of performance measurement to provide… I was highly confused with the requirement.

I read somewhere that markers only have about 8 minutes to mark each answer booklet.

With the general time pressures of the exam and time lost on trying to understand the requirements, I can imagine that handwriting for most people will become pretty shocking during the exam.

I do believe markers would try to understand the points being made but there’s only so much they can do under their own time constraints.

Probably contributes to the low pass rate.

It was too time pressured….the exam wants to keep the pass rate at 30%

Who remember what part C in Q3 was about?

Hybrid paper Sep/ Dec link:

https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/ACCA_Global/Students/prof/p5/d15_hybrid_p5_q.pdf

Time management is always a big enemy, i just pray for 50 on spot, nothing else.

“The hybrid”Is this the paper that was written in September