BPP ACCA December 08 Exam Tips (Optional Papers)

ACCA DECEMBER 2008 EXAM TIPS

ACCA Paper P6
Advanced Taxation Core Areas & Relevant Questions
The areas that we would expect to see most regularly in the exam are:
1. Termination payments and share incentive schemes (see August 2007 BPP Study Text question 6 and 37)
2. Overseas aspects of income tax (see August 2007 Study Text question 11)
3. Inheritance tax involving lifetime gifts and death estate (see August 2007 Study Text question 18 and 38)
4. Capital gains tax (see August 2007 Study Text questions 13,14,16,19)
5. Groups for corporation tax (see August 2007 BPP Study Text question 28)
6. Overseas aspects of corporation tax (see August 2007 BPP Study Text question 29)
7. Close companies (see August 2007 BPP Study Text question 27)
8. Reorganisations and liquidations
9. VAT particularly imports and exports, partial exemption, VAT groups, special schemes (see August 2007 BPP Study Text questions 31, 32)
10. Standard tax planning measures (see August 2007 BPP Study Text question 33)



ACCA Paper P7
Advanced Audit and Assurance
December 2008 Exam Tips and Useful Articles
After two broadly similar sittings of this paper, candidates can expect more of the same in December for Paper P7, and should remember the key context of this paper - that you are being asked to consider things from the perspective of a senior manager or partner in a
professional firm. However, from December 2008 onwards, the examiner has stated that accounting and reporting issues from the P2 Corporate Reporting syllabus could now be examined, so it remains to be seen how significant this will be. Overall though, candidates
sitting Paper P7 must still consider the following:


*Applying topics seen before in a more commercial context (planning & risk assessments, audit procedures, reporting, quality control and ethical issues for example) without forgetting the need for common sense in such cases

*The introduction of new topics such as group audits, quality control, forensic accounting and practice management

*The need to write clear concise reports that address the needs of the professional assurance provider and their clients in a practical way.

The examiner has stated that there will be a very broad syllabus to pick from. Therefore, it is vital to reinforce the message that question spotting is a waste of time - a broad approach to covering the syllabus is required, with plenty of question practice under exam conditions.

In addition to the points addressed above, the syllabus also includes the following topics that may be due an outing this sitting:

**Legal and regulatory issues affecting assurance providers, especially in the context of
firms’ professional liability and the new UK Companies Act 2006

**Specific procedures for obtaining evidence and evaluating the quality of audit work
carried out, in the context of topics such as fraud and error

**Current firm level issues like transnational audits, advertising and tendering

**The use of the various types of audit report available to practitioners

**The requirements of other forms of assurance engagement, such as Value for Money
(VfM) studies or agreed upon procedures

**Engagements covering forensic accounting (see article below) or social &
environmental auditing

**The correct treatment of accounting issues such as construction contracts, share
based payments, revenue recognition or financial instruments.


Useful Articles
If you want to read around the subject or improve your understanding there are a number of
good resources on the ACCA website:
Title: Examiners approach to paper P7
Author: Lisa Weaver (the examiner)
Date: 30 January 2007
Reference:
http://www.accaglobal.com/students/study_exams/qualifications/acca_choose/acca/professio
nal/aaa/technical_articles/2881879
Title: How to tackle audit and assurance case study questions (in two parts)
Author: Lisa Weaver (the examiner)
Date: 1 August 2007 (part one)
14 September 2007 (part two)
Reference:
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa_aug07_weaver.pdf
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa_oct07_weaver_part2.pdf
Title: Continue to be ‘Rest Assured’
Author: Lisa Weaver (the examiner)
Date: 15 October 2007
Reference:
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa_oct07_weaver_rest_assured.pdf
Title: Group audit issues
Author: Lisa Weaver (the examiner)
Date: 10 March 2008
Reference:
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa_mar08_weaver.pdf
Title: Audit reports to those charged with governance
Author: Lisa Weaver (the examiner)
Date: 10 April 2008
Reference:
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa_apr08_weaver.pdf
Title: Forensic auditing
Author: Lisa Weaver (the examiner)
Date: 11 September 2008
Reference:
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa_sep08_weaver.pdf

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