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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BPP ACCA December 08 Exam Tips (Optional Papers)

ACCA DECEMBER 2008 EXAM TIPS

ACCA Paper P4

Advanced Financial Management
December 2008 Exam Tips and Useful Articles
The purpose of this analysis is to highlight areas that we would expect to be tested based on the December 2007 and June 2008 exams. This will only be the third exam written by the new examiner, Bob Ryan, so it is extremely difficult to predict which areas of the syllabus are most likely to be tested.

No one knows what is in the exam, apart from the examiner; your safest bet is to achieve good syllabus coverage in your revision, as the examiner aims to do in the exam.

Role and responsibility towards stakeholders:

All exams to date have contained optional questions involving ethics; this is expected to continue, note that environmental issues could be an aspect of this question.

Advanced investment appraisal:

Overseas investment appraisal is due to be tested – this also gives the examiner the opportunity to test how political, economic and translation risk could be managed. This type of question could also ask you to give examples of trade barriers and the role of the world trade organisation in promoting free trade.

Real options are a popular source of exam questions, note that either call or put options are examinable in this context.

Acquisitions and mergers:

Issues could include valuation techniques, financing a takeover, and discussion of the UK/US shareholder based approach to corporate governance compared to the European stakeholder approach

Corporate reorganisation & reconstruction:

The ability to analyse a proposed financial reconstruction is an important topic in this syllabus area. A question could also ask you to analyse the options for a struggling business in terms of possible unbundling strategies, ethical issues could also be tested in this context.

Treasury & advanced risk management:

Either foreign currency hedging or interest rate hedging - given the emphasis on international aspects to financial management in this syllabus, a question on foreign currency hedging is more likely. Questions could also include discussion of the role of treasury and a framework for managing risk. Derivatives are due to be examined with numbers. The examiners recent article focuses on how interest rates are set by lenders to reflect credit risk; this is expected to form a part of an exam question.

Useful Articles:

If you want to read around the subject or improve your understanding there are a number of articles on the ACCA website. The most useful recent article to review is:

Title: How lenders set their rates

Author: Bob Ryan (the examiner)

Date: August 2008

Summary: credit risk and the normal distribution, how these affect lending rates

Look out for articles published by the P4 examiner in the lead up to the exam; an article came up shortly before the December 2007 exam and the June 2008 exam, both were examined.
[REMEMBER to Check TARC ACCA blog for more EXAM TIPS UPDATES]

ACCA Paper P5

Advanced Performance Management

December 2008 Exam Tips and Useful Articles

This exam and examiner are not predictable. Just because a topic featured in the last exam doesn’t mean it won’t feature this time. The examiner has already tested some syllabus areas more than once (and at consecutive sittings), whilst other topics remain unexamined. Use the following tips as important areas to cover, but remember that no one knows what is in the exam, apart from the examiner. Your safest bet is to achieve good syllabus coverage in your revision, as the examiner aims to do in the exam. Also remember that much of the paper (up to 70%) is compulsory, and your choice is limited even in the optional section.

The following is a guide to areas that you should include as part of your revision:

Section A:

Scope of strategic performance measures in the private sector Financial data has appeared repeatedly in the previous syllabus exams and on all the real exams to date, so it would be surprising if it were not included here. You may be asked to draw up an income statement or budget or to compare actual performance against a benchmark. This can also include the use of activity-based approaches, learning curves or optimal pricing.

Once the financial data has been collated and compared, questions usually include the need to comment on these and may require discussion of non-financial indicators, additional information to improve assessment or strategies to improve performance.
2008 P&R Kit Questions: Q31 Quicklink, Q32 GWCC, Q33 SEC.

Divisional performance and transfer pricing issues

It is notable when transfer pricing is absent from the exam but it has not yet been tested in a complete question. Given that the P5 syllabus covers world economics and fiscal policy, it may be tested in an international context.
2008 P&R Kit Questions: Q36 Business Solutions, Q37 NAW Group, Q40 CD (a).

Risk

Either of the two questions in Section A could be set in the context of a risky decision. This could link to suggestions of strategies to reduce risk or could encompass numerical evaluation of the risk involved and the likelihood of this being acceptable to management using probabilities, risk appetite or sensitivity analysis

2008 P&R Kit Questions: Q40 CD (b), Mock exam 2 Q1, Mock exam 3 Q3.


Section B:

At least one question in this section will be entirely discursive. It could well cover:

Current developments in management accounting

Many of the modern management and management accounting techniques have been examined here with both JIT and TQM common topics in the previous syllabus. Knowledge of these was used to discuss the impact they would have on information systems or performance measures.

2008 P&R Kit Questions: Q11 Costs and quality, Q13 Management Accounting Relevance,


Q31 (d) Quicklink.

Management accounting and information systems

An essay question on sources of information, relevance of operational management accounting information in today’s business environment or types of management information system is a likely choice at this sitting as it was a typical question in the previous syllabus.

2008 P&R Kit Questions: Mock exam 1 Q2.


Questions that may contain some numerical information might cover:

Alternative views of performance measurement

The examiner often includes a question where an organisation has to be evaluated against an established theoretical model. The balanced scorecard and performance pyramid have appeared in previous exams.

Theoretical models to assess performance and strategy

Linking strategic decisions to mission statements or suggesting strategic options using models such as Ansoff’s matrix or the BCG matrix lend themselves to questions containing a mixture of financial and discursive elements

2008 P&R Kit Questions: Q9 Better Budgeting, Q35 Specialist Car Company, Q48 Eatwell Restaurant, Q51 GER, Q53 Bettaserve, Mock exam 1 Q4, Mock exam 2 Q2, Mock exam 2 Q3.

Useful Articles:

If you want to read around the subject or improve your understanding, there are a number of articles on the ACCA website. Shane Johnson (your examiner) has promised to write articles on the new elements of the syllabus, prior to examining them, so more articles may appear between now and the date of the exam.

Keep checking the website between now and the exam as any articles that appear are likely tips for December.

There has, to date, been one article since the last exam, written by Michael Pogue, the P5 assessor, covering business failure. We suggest that you read this by following the link below:

http://www.accaglobal.com/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/2008/87/3113229

The following articles are particularly relevant to the P5 syllabus, given the tips above. Some of these were written to support the previous ACCA paper, paper 3.3, which was also written by the P5 examiner. Many others are available on the ACCA website.

‘Economic Value Added’ by Shane Johnson and Matt Bamber outlines the advantages of an

economic value added approach to performance measurement.

‘Defining managers’ information requirements’ by Jim Stone describes the use of critical success factors.

‘Management control - a pre-requisite for survival’ by Shane Johnson explains why increasing recognition is given to satisfying the needs of different stakeholders.

‘Performance measures to support competitive advantage’ by Graham Morgan uses the success of airlines such as EasyJet and Ryanair to examine how the balanced scorecard might be utilised to maintain the low-cost carriers' competitive edge.

‘The pyramids and pitfalls of performance measurement’ by Shane Johnson, outlines the issues which are central to the understanding and assessment of performance measurement.

‘Business strategy and performance models’ by Shane Johnson provides a brief overview of three models to assist accountants in the determination of business strategy and in the appraisal of business performance.

‘Examiner's approach to Paper P5’ by Shane Johnson, provides his approach to the Advanced Performance Management exam.


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BPP ACCA December 08 Exam Tips (P3)

ACCA DECEMBER 2008 EXAM TIPS

ACCA Paper P3
Business Analysis
December 2008 Exam Tips and Useful Articles
This exam consists of a limited choice in section B (two questions from 3) and a compulsory
section A question comprising 50 marks. Many questions lend themselves to be answered
using a range of models and ideas. Consequently it is dangerous to limit your study. Broad
syllabus coverage is important for success in this exam.

Certain key themes do however arise form the syllabus and examiners comments. Section A
is squarely located in the strategic elements of the syllabus (A to C) therefore the stages of position, choice and action will be the focus of this part of your exam.

Another favoured theme is that of software solutions to modern business processes including
supply chain management, e-marketing and enterprise systems.

Finally, people and finance are underlying themes of the paper and so the people and
financial aspects of the scenario may be sources of some marks in questions even if they are not specifically asked for.

Use the following tips as important areas to cover but remember that no one knows what is in the exam, apart from the examiner. Your safest bet is to achieve good syllabus coverage in your revision, as the examiner aims to do in the exam.
Strategic analysis
Key models of analysis include mission and objectives, stakeholder analysis, PESTEL, Porters five forces and diamond models, the value chain, Ms and portfolio analysis. This may culminate in a SWOT and appraisal of the organisations overall position.

Strategic choice
The syllabus makes a distinction between the approach and role taken by the corporate parent and a Strategic Business Unit (SBU). You should therefore ensure that you are aware of the differences and be able to identify the appropriate approach from the scenario in the question.

Key models here include Porter’s Generic strategies, Bowman’s Strategy Clock, Ansoff's matrix and Lynch’s expansion matrix.
Finally the strategic criteria for assessing options of Suitability, Acceptability and Feasibility may be employed to justify recommendations.

Strategic action
Implementation issues cover much of the rest of the syllabus and could include issues of culture (eg Cultural web, Handy’s cultures, Miles and Snow), quality (TQM, six sigma, CMMI, V-model), process improvement and software selection (Harman, Skidmore and Eva), ebusiness or people management (eg planning, recruitment, performance management, development) or change management (Force Field analysis).

Useful Articles:
The examiner, Steve Skidmore, was examiner for the old syllabus paper 2.1 Information
Systems.
The following articles are of relevance to the P3 exam approach:
1. Strategy challenge - the internet
Feb 2007
Examiner for Paper 3.5 Ralph Bedrock reviews the implications of the internet on
today's strategy makers and considers the impact of the internet on small businesses
2. Examiner's approach to Paper P3
Student Accountant January 2007
Examiner's approach to Paper P3
3. Strategic planning
February 2008
An article by one of the P3 markers showing the role of strategic planning.
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa_feb08_
jennings.pdf
4. How to approach the P3 exam
September 2007
An article by the P3 examiner outlining how to approach the P3 exam.
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa
_sep07_skidmore.pdf
5. Strategic Planning
February 2008
An article by David Jennings, an official P3 marker for ACCA
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa
_feb08_jennings.pdf
6. Business Process Change
September 2008
An article by BPP P3 author Adrian Thomas.
http://www.accaglobal.com/pubs/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/sa
_sep08_thomas.pdf


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