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

I though it was a very fair paper. Definitely not easy, but it was the right level of tough – challenging but not ridiculously difficult. The questions were also clear (except maybe Q2c but I wasn’t sure how to link non financial internal / external to the alliance) and there was no info overload (ha ha). It was time challenging but you could definitely finish it on time if you paced yourself – which I did, and managed to finish right on the dot, except maybe would have liked to elaborate more on my last sentence but ah well!

Self studied this paper as I’m working, and enjoyed the syllabus, am hoping for a pass as its my last paper.

I did p4 last December and can see a huge difference between the quality of exam paper set. Both syllabus were interesting but the p4 exams tend to be a mess of info overload and ridiculous time pressure. Huge contrast to this which was reasonable.

I can say that the paper was fair. Question 1 surely was lengthy with lot of appendices. It became difficult to assess additional metric for response 2 of the question.

I attempted q2 and q3. Q4 had something about management style. Thats why did not attempted it since I skipped this in my revision :p.

Q3 was a challenging one. Had to calculate KPIs for Customer perspective on the BSC.

Overall, all the relevant models were already applied to case scenarios, thus eliminating potential easy marks. It became difficult to asses information when everything was already input on model.

Hope to pass the paper.

Have a good day.

I think this was a tough paper compared the previous attempts.

I must have sat a different paper….

Here is what I thought:

Question 1 – wording of questions difficult to understand as always – the very first question do you “assess the metrics” and give suggestions for new ones – NO – that won’t score, as the suggestion marks are in the second part of the sentence…

So what do you say – did you say ROCE suitable for a company with a low capital base?

What can you really say about the metrics without suggesting anything – do they meet the aims and objectives – thats where you are being directed – but even then – the metrics don’t really do that – or do they indirectly? isn’t revenue an indirect measure of customer satisfaction ? BUt if you comment on the change % – you are commenting on performance not THE METRICS as per the question – Its all too subjective….

Too much of that sort of fiddlyness for my liking – you can write and write, but the marker is capped on what they can give you for a specific par tof a 16 mark question – i.e. “up to 4 marks for metrics” – “up to 4 marks for suggetsions related to SWOT” so you can end up with a poor score by putting too much suggestion and analysis in the wrong area.

Question 3 – really easy of course…..or is it? DId you talk about the impact on the METRICS as asked or financial performance in general?

Were your suggested metrics actually justified , and when it says justified – in what context – did you mention the competitors, did you tie into the objectives or did you just say “customers won’t be satisfied adn will be nagative for financial performance” – again where were the marks given EXACTLY?

Question 4 – EVA – easy – or is it – its in the context of a DIVISIONAL performance measure – do divisional managers control WACC – is it suitable? We know why its suitable as a general measure of shareholder wealth….but EVA for divisons – hard to understand – but he already said that in teh question, so you won’t score for regurgiating that…

What I have seen on re-taking this paper – after failing at 45% and getting a mock marked at 70% by an ACCA examiner – is that there are a lot of red herrings – and if you focus too much on question practice – in the exam you suddenly think “oh this is easy” and then miss the actual point that is being tested which is actually far more precise and designed to trip up people who have rote learned the subject.

I absolutely love the subject but I hate this paper so much – its the only one I have failed and its because you can’t really prepare for it – it is more a test of english and trying to get inside teh examiner’s head than anythign else…

Shoul have done P6….

This is why I hate this exam!

Good luck I hope you passed but my undertstanding.

Q1 – I’m not sure you will get any marks for discussing historic trends – I think the marks were about the suitably of the metrics given the company has a low asset base and outsources all its activities….

8 marks for EVA around – lack of ability to control WACC, goal congruency with maximising shareholder wealth but suitably for divisional performance – in terms of controllability and comparability in teh light of the new product launch and associated marketing spend????

Q3 – are you sure – yes it was easy to do some ratios – but did you recommend and justify in the context of the scenario (not just general context) – i.e. where the marks are…

I hate P5

3 operating profits in the expected profit question (Then using the probabilities of scenario an average operating profit)
But no break even in Q1 🙁

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head Nav1980 thats the point of P5 – you can never really prepare. No amount of bookwork or question practice can prepare you for the actual exam.

Hope we Pass!

Breakeven?… – welcome to P5 !!

The examiner litters the page with “obvious” things and numbers screaming at you to use just the way you learned, except he asks a different question…

The only one that threw me was the ten marker in Q1 when it said in the text, disregard appendix 3 and all your calculations, and what impact will the new plant assuming a PBIT of $103m have on the value and choice of metrics. Typical Alex Watt!! Vague as anything…thats where it’ll be won or lost for me

I didn’t even use $103m anywhere. … I’m already prepared for a second attempt

I love performance management, but this examiner makes it really unpleasant. He is not clear at all. I might aswell sit the paper in Swahili.

Now I now every single model and properly apply to every scenario, I’ve completed revised a multitude of questions . No problems at all. But, yet, this exam, why can’t he just be a bit more straight forward? Or if he wants so much level of detail, then extend the time or make this exam a research!

I know it’s an exam, but it’s too much. Perhaps the books needs to be re-written. I don’t know, but I probably see this again September or December. I have no idea what to revise any more though.

Yep same here i think it was 300 something units :p. But that will be just worth 1 mark or something :/