*** P5 June 2012 Exam was … Comments and Instant Poll ***

For Q1 – I read the question thoroughly for 15mins, didn’t know where to start from till I got inspired.
1) I criticized the way he muddled up the statement, like no addition or subtraction sign, he didn’t deduct tax from PBIT, he was silent as to what constituted staff cost, an appendix should have aided his report to improve understandability by users of the report. When I was short of points, I had to include it didn’t confirm with IAS1.
🙂 I could only calculate NPV, then I included Net profit margin, Gross profit margin, ROI, Operating cost to revenue ratio.
C) I wrote something about they didn’t know their minimum order quantity, they should more planning and analysis, get their EOQ, Reorder Level and Reorder quantity right, They should approach a JIT system for food produce with perishable quality

2) I did fairly on the Performance prism, I wrote the five out then applied to the scenario. I identified the stakeholders as Investors, employees, booking agent and customers.
🙂 Appraisal of the airlines, I did sme analysis on their passengers, revenue, no of aircraft, Cheapo lifted more passengers, had lower profit and lesser aircraft. I calculated the percentage of this to others and some analysis I forgot to present on m examination shed but did with my calculator, I had 1hr left and I was still on No 2. So I had to write what u could.

3) I attempted DMAIC, I only knew the acronymn, and I was tempted to cancel and go for No 5 whic I didn’t like eventually but it was late to cancel out.

4) I defined benchmarking to see If I can gain easy marks, listed types and pointed out this was external. I picked other point such as teachers facilities management, ratio of students to staffs, I wrote whatever came into my mind, what the marker needs to do is to mark what’s relevant to him. No harm in trying. Then the information needed should have included number of students in each department, and about two more points I can’t remember now.

🙂 Then to evaluate the benchmarked position, I compared the research cost to the research contract value received since I the revenue driver, GU didn’t do more of research despite getting the bulk of the research contract value, then wrote some points also.

5) I had 15mins more, I wrote its a Internet based business and down time wouldn’t have made them perform and some other points then the partners could encounter delivery delays and they might not meet the SLAs

I don’t we t to write this paper again, I need to qualify… I pray God gives me the 51% of my dreams.

I second to most of whats been said before me… Specially the fact that the scenario’s were easy to understand but the requirements were confusing… n question 1 was probably the most difficult one with too much calculative info given and confusing requirements…
what i did in q1c) in ‘what gets measured, gets done’ is that i simply highlighted the mistakes/issues of waiters not smiling ,food not served at right temperature and food wasted and pointed out that according to the quote…if kpi were put on these issues than they would be resolved eg if questionnaire’s were given to customers with such questions regarding service of waiter n stuff then the waiters would be mindful of smiling n serving food at right temp….Also the fact that electricity issue was resolved seconded my point as it can and is measured and therefore the target in its case was achieved so if similarly measurable targets are put in other issues, they would also be resolved just as the quote says… what gets measured, gets done…
This is probably the only part of my answers that made logical sense…:P

..total disaster for me, Alex Watt is not fair at all……..

Chillax, and move on 🙂

@mountain123 said:
yeah I also think so…

hey guys I thought Q1(a) asked us to assess the company’s existing performance??? so I compared 2012 figures with 2011 and 2010… the question says calculate something….if it meant the format, content etc of the report were wrong, why need calculations??? did I misunderstand the question???!! my gosh….definitely gonna fail….

Ur rite… u r a deadman!!!

q1 a) performance indicators / evaluate content and imrprovents to current report

this was easy – improvements, no non financial considerations, or benchmarking.used. Presentation no narrative summary to help people understand it, the two other people said didnt understand list of numbers etc etc

calculations – npv 3 year appraisal (mine turned out negative and i didnt include depreciation as wasnt incremental cash flow). MIRR simple calculation. EVA simple calculation, said depreciation i assume was economic and didnt add back marketing as it was short term. include ROCE too. then did adv/dis of each.

1c) the quote – i applied balance scorecard + mentioned a couple of things on top of it

2) kpi’s airline. this was easy, and 3rd one was cheap airline so reasons for differences.

b) performance prism – i drew it and explained each element of it. struggled to apply it well though!

3) DMAIC – thought a and b were basically same. wrote alot and applied though

4) benchmarking, kinda ran out of time. tried to compare with what i had but said limitations of data etc, kinda combined a and b together again here too!

i thought the paper was reasonably ok. im hoping for pass mark…atleast. i agree with you all that requirement was confusing and it was very time pressured.
anyway best of luck to you all.

Guys, don’t expect real life situations to be painted in black and white… We’re being prepared to face the real thing. The world out there is complex, questions of life would not be straightforward, not to talk of the solutions.. ACCA would lose credibility if questions aren’t set in this manner.

Oh my, the questions gets more confusing the more you read it. Better off reading the first time than reading so many times. I was totally unhappy with the mark weightage of the questiions. 40 marks for question 1?! And look at question 5, a no-sub-question-17-marker?! Alex watt is definitely killing me. I was able to answer all question although time was really not on my side. The information load on question 1 was enough to set me back and question the knowledge i have on this paper but thank god i pulled through.

I have done well in previous papers relating to performance management such as f5 and p3 but p5 under alex watt is just ridiculous. I’ve wasted a good 2 years of my life doing this paper and all sitting were under his wing. Agree with the post that HE HAS GOT TO GO!

Good luck to everyone who attempted this paper and may the odds be in our favour this time around!

Q1
a) i wrote about the complete absense of non financial performance indicators in the report, information overload and irrelevant data for shiela and bert.
b) it was very difficult for me cuz i was expecting MIRR formula to be given in the formula sheet. and so i left it….. calculated gp and np margin and expenses/revenue.
c) again, i discussed that there isnt any performance management based on the non financial factors.. only financial measures are being considered which is not good. i suggested a few non financial indicators such as customer feedback… customer loyalty, no of new items on the menu etc etc. i also gave a few suggestions to come over the problem of rotting food and a few more issues mertis faced. and wrote one line about balanced score card should be used.
i think i wrote a lot of irrelevant things.

MIRR NPV calculation pissed me off…… i felt like tearing the question papaer apart. no formula was provided!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :@

I think i am just peed off more than anything else. I learnt all the topics.. every single one… and this paper has probably 1/3rd of the syllabus. No Transfer pricing, no Budgeting, no IT, no corporate failures, no HR, no Risk and uncertainity,

I can even (slightly) forgive the examiner for this but then to set questions which takes 10min to understand because they are not clear.. what is that testing? it is not our knowledge of the subject…

A classic example is Q3 on the 6 Sigma. Part A asked for a general explanation for 8 marks using the company in scenerio to illustrate an answer…. then Part B asked for exact same thing!!!

I am very disappointed.. only because i know i could not have studied harder.. i expected either to come home pleased or knew i gave a good attempt.. i cant really say how i did because of the poor questions set.

the weighting of each questions was wrong, the questions should have been explained clearer… testing our knowledge on application not on guess the question!

I have left a very very negative reply on the acca survey i would suggest you all do the same!

Also.. did anyone else note that we had no MIRR formula which i am told (and its in the BPP text) that we would get in the exam!!! I think another thing to complain about.

Ridiculous.!! am so angry cant type.

It was a disaster, not a single question was clear there. 14 marks for performance prism as well as measurement indicators, means 12 minutes for all facets of prisms, its application to the question data and the suggestions for improvements. It is not testing of students’ knowledge, it seems as an effort to fail everyone. Lets see how he marks this.