APM*** P5 June 2011 Exam was … Post your comments here and vote in Instant Poll ***

Like most people, I found the exam more easier than last December however once you get down into the questions, you realise that you had to write to justify the marks given
In Q1- I did that last and thank god I did because had I started that I would have still be doing it when the exam ended.
For the head office costs like shawn99michael I also noticed that was included but I said in the report that I would not be including it so unsure if correct or not
Q2- Balance scorecard I pretty much did the same as everyone but was suspicious as the exam also provided the balance scorecard so what else could I add
BCG- that was my first question and I spent to much time on that one and still unsure if the products I chose were correct
Building blocks do not even get me started, I thought this was a P5 paper and not a P3 paper
Call me a cynic but anyway I reckon that probably this was his last paper (don't know why I think that)
Maybe he was being nice after the December paper where P5 had the second lowest failure rate but if this is kindness maybe we are lucky :)
Finally cannot believe no mention of TQM, learning curve or MIRR and thank god nothing on HR issues
Anyway can forget about it until August :)

Olga533- U are right 3% was the number given to be a market leader

Can anybody tell me q2 10marks what was about? I know i had to do something with BSCard. Did i have to analyse info given the question or had to add more to it?

Exam was not difficult just that time crept up on you. Anyways hoping for a pass this time around.

@wacko2408 said:
Confused at how zuldlegend put on here what was in exam over 2 1/2 hours ago when it only finished at 1.15 ???

The exams are not held exactly at the same time all over the world but the rules not allowing you to leave the exam hall until the end or entering the exam hall after 1 hour has elapsed prevent from people transferring info to other places.

I felt it was horrible.
It was really long reading with lots of information to be realted to questions. All the questions were this way.
After attempting the 2 compulsory ques, there was hardly any time to properly read through the questions to apply the depth and thought ACCA is requesting.

After P4 disaster of yesterday, I felt this was average but a lot to write. I'm not sure anymore. I did write something though but you can never trust these exams. They know how to spring up surprises. Meanwhile, everything was on performance measures. I kind of expected Building blocks cus it has not been examined for a while. But balanced score card and EVA, that was in last sitting or so. I did practice for those ones but as I said, these exams spring up surprises. We shall see in 2 months time.

I also felt the timing was impossible- I had to leave parts woth almost 20marks- haven't a clue if I passed this time but the questions were generally nice, just time consuming :( hope I pass!

Hi everyone, well done on getting this far!!

I thought is was a fair exam in terms of content but tough in places due to the structure.

I struggled to grasp the TRF pricing element on Q1, I know how to do these questions normally but this was very tricky and not the clearest requirement compatred to previous years (EG Calculate the prices fro option 1 and option 2).

Can someone clear up if the requirement was a REPORT as I totally missed that!

Not surprised by the other Q's as a non-financial measure was guaranteed plus some strategic elements from P3.

My technique that I do is get the unrelated theory elements done first (such as Q1 part d) as they are generally easier marks and you can waste alot of time on the calculations for not alot of marks. I think the split for this one was at least 60% discursive if not more.

Fingers crossed :)

Hi everyone, well done on getting this far!!

I thought is was a fair exam in terms of content but tough in places due to the structure.

I struggled to grasp the TRF pricing element on Q1, I know how to do these questions normally but this was very tricky and not the clearest requirement compatred to previous years (EG Calculate the prices fro option 1 and option 2).

Can someone clear up if the requirement was a REPORT as I totally missed that!

Not surprised by the other Q's as a non-financial measure was guaranteed plus some strategic elements from P3.

My technique that I do is get the unrelated theory elements done first (such as Q1 part d) as they are generally easier marks and you can waste alot of time on the calculations for not alot of marks. I think the split for this one was at least 60% discursive if not more.

Fingers crossed :)

@polo5678 said:
Hi everyone, well done on getting this far!!

I thought is was a fair exam in terms of content but tough in places due to the structure.

I struggled to grasp the TRF pricing element on Q1, I know how to do these questions normally but this was very tricky and not the clearest requirement compatred to previous years (EG Calculate the prices fro option 1 and option 2).

Can someone clear up if the requirement was a REPORT as I totally missed that!

Not surprised by the other Q's as a non-financial measure was guaranteed plus some strategic elements from P3.

My technique that I do is get the unrelated theory elements done first (such as Q1 part d) as they are generally easier marks and you can waste alot of time on the calculations for not alot of marks. I think the split for this one was at least 60% discursive if not more.

Fingers crossed :)

Question 1 was indeed a report mate. And there were 4 professional marks for that question.

Very time pressured. Bring back Shane and the calculator. New examiner things p5 is p3. Fair exam but too specific in detail !!!

WACC calc was tricky. Need to use Ke ad Kd less tax to get to WACC. New examiner likes EVA !!!

That transfer pricing in the question was awful. Kicked myself that I didn't have enough time to finish question 4. Question 5 was ok but I couldn't explain the different costings i could only list so i passed on it

@olga533 said:
What about 3% figure ive used it. dont know if its right ?

The 3% was the market share to compare against.

I found that the exam was shocking. Couldnt believe that had I not spread myself so thinly across the syllabus, I would've aced this exam. Figured out most of the stuff on there. Didnt see any input/output analysis as someone said. But I interpreted the stakeholder thing in Q3 to apply Mendelow stakeholder mapping matrix on there. Could be wrong. I also messed up the EVA. I'm praying for a pass....not interested in being a prizewinner. I just need to qualify...been doing my Options since Dec 2009...its about time.

@papagp said:
WACC calc was tricky. Need to use Ke ad Kd less tax to get to WACC. New examiner likes EVA !!!

Didn't they give the cost of capital at 9% ? there was no market information to work out the cost of equity was there or am i losing the plot here ?

Hi All

Without going into too much detail, famous last words, my main sticking points were.

Q1- a)straight away i spotted the overhead allocation and couldnt decide whether the figures for the calcs should include them, or act as if they werent there?? i ended up doing two sets of calcs, one lot including them, one lot without. i knew this wasnt ideal, but i thought if i made a call either way it would be wrong!
Also wasnt the whole point in the WACC that there was no share capital, it was just debt, so the wacc was just the the debt (100%x whateva the cost of debt was)?

Q1-b) how annoying, i was actually hoping trf pricing would come up, but the way he worded the question was so weird i didnt actually understand what was going on in the scenario (i wrote this on my exam paper).

Q2 & 3- were fine in a sense, but felt 20 marks for basically just talking about a model related to the scenario was too heavily weighted. felt like i was kind of repeating myself a lot.

Q5- i only picked this because when i saw the BCG i panicked, i hadnt looked at this since studying p3! Again annoyingly, I had studied Environmental Management Accounting, it was tipped by the tutor, but it was only when got to this question (in the last 20 mins of the exam) i realised they were talking about 3 different types?? I knew what it was, the advantages, why people would use it, the costs etc. but didnt even know there were 3 types. When i got home and looked in the text book, there were indeed 3 types! Messed that one up then!

Overall I think although ok from the outset, there were a lot of marks on very few areas, obscure areas of the syllabus were tested (apart from q1), and he needs to explain himself better in the questions. I best have passed, cos i cant be bothered sitting this one again!

Guess that was a bit too much detail! OOPS!

whoops, messed up the bold function there!

@shawn99michaels said:
Didn't they give the cost of capital at 9% ? there was no market information to work out the cost of equity was there or am i losing the plot here ?

i assumed there was no equity, ie. it was just 100% debt ??

the exam was easy but still points were not linking with the models jeeeez plus time pressure was an issue again

Nasty examiner. We do not got to the exam hall for writing thesis, do we? I studied a lot and solved lots of past question but didn't help.

Q1: The question just took out an additional 10 minutes of planning time. Firstly what was transfer pricing for when you didn't test the calculations. Second how to find WACC when the total capital is given & the ratio is not. Rest was fine just straightforward comments.

Q2: The question was fine but took time to understand that the their were two organizations involved a profit & a non profit. That where i got stuck how to use the stakeholder matrix on NFP organization.

Q3: I couldn't understand the statistics given. Where there two audit firms or one. Overall the question was fairly simple if you understood the buisness, which was purely P3. nothing to do with P5.

Q4: I never got one thing how do you measure divisional performance via BCG Analysis. Its like using a juicer to cut oninons.

Q5: Very vagur, didn't attempt.

I beleive the examiner wanted to retest our P3 knowledge so he brough most of the topics form that syllabus. Didn't concetrate on costing, TQM, Buisness Process Reengineering, Corporate Failure, Budgeting, Ratio Analysis, NPV, all topics which are the core of P5. What was even worse, calculations were as if nothing.

Did questn 1 last and didn't remember to put in the detail in a report format? Would probably lose up to 5 marks for not doing that. Am I not fucked?

@abdulwaris said:
Q1: The question just took out an additional 10 minutes of planning time. Firstly what was transfer pricing for when you didn't test the calculations. Second how to find WACC when the total capital is given & the ratio is not. Rest was fine just straightforward comments.

So that's the answer the riddle you had to work out the weighted average from the total cost of capital !. I was really suspicious about our beloved examiner giving us a cost of capital without having to work out some complicated stuff !

well in hindsight considering how much work you had to do to work out the wacc for a mark or two I'm kinda glad i just use the cost of capital ! Definite resit for me gona buy a P3 book and revise from that as the P5 revision kit is about as useful as a chocolate teapot for this exam as its very different now.

So with the EVA calc I did all the NOPAT stuff and put my assumptions in about depn, leasing, interest?? etc and then put in my calc but just put that I couldnt calculate the wacc as cost of equity not given. Do you reckon I will get any marks for that or do you think he will just think I am dumb? I hear all you guys when you say this is like P3 I mean no NPV, IRR, MIRR (which was tipped as new), Ratio Analysis or budgeting or probabilities which again was tipped.
The examiner really needs to learn how to write questions in speak we can all understand. I believe he is a maths professor?? Would love to think I have done enough to pass but then I know I havent :( Did answer everything but even I thought when I was writing - wtf are you going on about!!! ha

bcg was decent enough. building blocks was ok although didn't finish all parts. Did good q2 spent too much time on this though. Q1 was reasonable although tranfer pricing part confused me. Fingers crossed.

q1 a) asked to evaluate performance of the division and CRITICALLY ASSES the proposed performance measures ?The examiner didnt ask to compare divisional performance using new measures (EVA, RI) . So i compared divisional performance with old measures ie ROI and then went on explaining EVA, RI with pros and cons rather than calculating them due to insufficient info for EVA calc.(no wacc,economic depreciation , non capitalised expenses.and other adjustments to profit)

for q1 you were given ke and kd - you can make an assumption around gearing say 50:50 and assume finrep deprec = econ deprec.

Attempted q1 last as it looked like a bit too much hassle. The other questions were easy enough but you'd want to be a machine to answer them within the given time limit. Another borderline ACCA exam. Hope yis all pass!