
Keep an eye..coming soon...really soon...wait everyone..


NOTE: These exam tips should only be used in conjunction with proper studying. We cannot guarantee that these tips will appear in the actual exam as we have not seen the exam papers. Examiners are not predictable so it is vital that all core syllabus areas are revised fully. The tips are based on Kaplan’s experience and understanding of the ACCA exams and will help focus your last minute revision.
Please also read all the Examiners Articles – available on the ACCA website or in the Student Accountant magazine.
F4 – Corporate & Business Law (English variant)
English legal system
• Delegated legislation/interpretation of statutes
Obligations
• Formation and terms of a contract. Duty of care in tort or professional negligence
Employment
• Dismissal
Company law
• Incorporation procedure or articles
• Maintenance of capital
• Termination of directors office and directors powers
• Types of meetings and resolutions
• Fraudulent behaviour - Money Laundering
F5 – Performance Management
• Budgeting
• Learning curves
• Variances, possibly including mix and yield
• Performance measurement including financial and non financial performance indicators
• Transfer pricing or ROCE/ RI
• Throughput accounting
F6 – Taxation
This will be the third exam for F6 and the paper is 100% compulsory, we suggest you revise the entire syllabus.
The following topics are areas which the examiner has highlighted as being important, core areas and will be regularly examined.
Question 1 [25 or 30 marks]
• Income Tax
• Income from employment [in particular, the assessable income, benefits and allowable deductions.]
• Income from self employment [in particular, the basis of assessment, allowable expenditure, assessable profits on commencement and cessation, capital allowances and relief for trading losses.]
• Property and investment income [in particular, property business profits, savings income and dividend income.]
• The computation of taxable income and income tax liability
• The self assessment system [in particular, the time limit for submission of information, claims and payment of tax.]
Question 2 [25 or 30 marks]
• Corporation tax
• Profits chargeable to corporation tax [in particular, the allowable expenditure in calculating the tax adjusted trading profit, capital allowances, property business profits, and relief for trading losses.]
• Computation of corporation tax liability
• Gains group aspect
Question 1 or 2 might include a small element of chargeable gains.
Value Added Tax [10 marks]
A minimum of 10 marks will always be allocated to VAT which will be examined either as part of Question 1 or 2.
The VAT element will be self contained and so can be answered on its own.
• The computation of VAT liabilities [in particular, the tax point, valuation of supplies, non deductible input VAT, relief for impairment losses on trade debts]
• Default Surcharge
• The annual accounting scheme.
Question 3 [20 marks]
Capital Gains Tax
• Computation of capital gains
• Computation of the amount of allowable expenditure for a part disposal
• Computation of a chargeable gain on disposal of a chattel
• Computation of exemption when PPR is disposed
• Share identification rules - Individuals
• Exemptions and reliefs [in particular rollover and holdover relief]
• Computation of capital gains tax payable by Individuals [in particular the calculation of taper relief.]
Question 4 [15 marks]
Some aspect of Income Tax or Corporation Tax not examined within question 1
Question 5 [10 marks]
Some aspect of Corporation Tax or Income Tax not examined within question 2
Partnerships [with explanation of loss relief]
Corporation tax loss relief
Change of accounting date
National Insurance contributions - will not be examined as a separate question, but may be examined in any question involving income tax or corporation tax.
F7 INT – Financial Reporting (international variant)
Question 1
Consolidation possibly 3 company SFP or 2 company I/S and SFP
Question will probably include the update to IFRS 3 affecting Goodwill and NCI calculations
Question 2
Preparation of published accounts from TB to include I/S, SOCIE and SFP - possible transactions, depreciation, revaluation, income tax and deferred tax, lease, development costs.
Question 3
Possible mixed interpretation question to include calculation of a basic statement of cashflow and a report to include calculation of ratios and interpretation of the accounts using the cash flow and ratio results.
Question 4 and 5
Construction Contracts, IASB Framework (elements or qualitative characteristics), Impairment or Provisions.
F7 UK – Financial Reporting (UK variant)
Question 1
Consolidation possibly 3 company B/S or 2 company P/L and B/S
FV adjustments to both purchase consideration and subsidiaries net assets, inter-co loan and PURP.
Question 2
Preparation of published accounts from TB to include P/L, STRGL and B/S - possible transactions, depreciation, revaluation, income tax and deferred tax, lease, development costs.
Question 3
Possible mixed interpretation question to include calculation of a basic cash flow statement and a report to include calculation of ratios and interpretation of the accounts using the cash flow and ratio results.
Question 4 and 5
Long-term contracts, ASB Statement of Principles (elements or qualitative characteristics), Impairment or Provisions.
F8 – Audit & Assurance (UK & International variant)
Q1 – Audit procedures: payroll, CAATs & substantive tests (30 marks)
Q2 – Facts/standards: engagement letters/acceptance (10 marks)
Q3 – Risk & audit approach: identification of risks in audit risk model (20 marks)
Q4 – Specialist audit areas: internal audit (20 marks)
Q5 – Collection of evidence/reporting: events after the reporting date (20 marks)
F9 – Financial Management
• Investment appraisal - NPV/IRR with tax, inflation and working capital is a favourite topic of the examiner, although areas not examined to date include payback, replacement analysis, capital rationing and lease v buy.
• Working Capital Management - receivables are traditionally the most popular topic but payables and cash are due a turn.
• Cost of Capital – given recent articles CAPM, its advantages and disadvantages, and its use in calculating a cost of equity and a risk-adjusted WACC must be expected.
• Risk Management - hedging foreign exchange risk
• Business Finance - gearing/capital structure calculations and comment
• Valuations - asset and cash flow based values
P1 – Professional Accountant
Section A: Compulsory
• always covers range of syllabus areas
• some element of ethics in this question
Section B: 2 from 3
• one question solely on governance
• one question with significant ethics element
Key topics – in section A or B:
• internal audit: independence or appointment (possibly via audit committee)
• remuneration committee
• directors induction and / or appraisal
• ethical decisions: AAA or Tucker
• stakeholder categorisation
• normative / instrumental views of stakeholders
• board structure: family / insider or unitary / two tier
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
• sound internal controls
P2 INT – Corporate Reporting (International variant)
Compulsory group question within part A could be:
• Cashflow (not examined under the new syllabus, but in the pilot paper)
• Group income statement which will examine aspects of IFRS 3 revised (goodwill and NCI at fair value)
• Accounting for changed shareholdings in group structure
Within the compulsory question, there may also be some explanation and application of ethics and/or a written element which includes IFRS 3 revised.
Multi-topic question to include aspects of:
• Impairments
• Share-based payment
• Financial instruments
• Retirement benefits
• Discontinued and held-for-sale
• Deferred tax
• Provisions and events after the b/s date
Current issues:
• Retirement benefits – Discussion Paper within examinable documents
• Financial Instruments – Discussion Paper within examinable documents
• IFRS 3 Revised
• Harmonisation of international standards
P2 UK – Corporate Reporting (UK variant)
Compulsory group question within part A could be:
• Cashflow (not examined under the new syllabus, but in the pilot paper)
• Group income statement - accounting for changed shareholdings in group structure during the year
• Some explanation and application of ethics
Multi-topic question to include aspects of:
• Impairments
• Share-based payment
• Financial instruments
• Retirement benefits
• Discontinued and held-for-sale
• Deferred tax
• Provisions and events after the b/s date
Current issues:
• Retirement benefits proposed changes to UK and international standards - i.e. harmonisation
• Financial Instruments – proposed changes to UK and international standards:
1. ASB issues Amendment to FRS 25 'Financial Instruments: Presentation'
14 August 2008 @ 10:00
http://www.frc.org.uk/asb/press/pub1676.html
2. ASB to issue Amendments to Permit Reclassification of Financial Instruments
16 October 2008 @ 17:00
http://www.frc.org.uk/asb/press/pub1739.html
3. Possible revisions to reporting business combinations per IFRS 3 Revised to harmonise UK and IFRS
4. Harmonisation of financial reporting standards generally - i.e. UK FRS, IFRS and US GAAP
It may be a little too soon for a question on problems re fair values which, although this is a problem in the real world at the moment, in the context of when the examiner probably wrote and had the paper checked for quality control is more likely to be examined next time. Therefore, the first improvement standard is less likely to be examined than the topics above.
P3 – Business Analysis
Section A
• Question 1 will still focus mainly on the strategic planning process. Key areas may be:
? SWOT
? Ansoff
? Acquisition
• Also expect an implementation issue such as culture or change management
Section B
• If culture and/or change management do not appear in the compulsory question then they may appear in the option questions
• Other areas may be:
? TQM
? Supply chain management
? Choosing & evaluating an IT system
P4 – Advanced Financial Management
Section A
• Business valuation (various methods, with pros and cons)
• Option pricing – Black Scholes model
Section B
• Interest rate hedging (futures and options), bond pricing and credit spreads
• Stakeholders and conflict of objectives
• Investment appraisal – with foreign currency
P5 – Advanced Performance Management
• Corporate failure as per recent article (July 08)
• Pricing (transfer pricing)
• Strategic planning and gap analysis
• Performance measures for both private and public sector
• Environmental management accounting
P6 – Advanced Taxation
- IHT vs CGT for lifetime gifts
- Sole trader/partnership cessation (IT, NICs, CGT and VAT), possibly with incorporation
- Lease versus buy for assets
- Employed versus self-employed (IT and NICs)
- Badges of trade (IT vs CGT)
- Trusts (not a whole question)
- Corporation tax – possible areas:
- Overseas aspects of personal tax-R&D
-SSE
-Expansion overseas/CFCs
-Group reorganisations
-Liquidations
Please Note
Tips should not be relied on - they are only intelligent guesses.
Their only purpose is to give you suggestions for topics to concentrate on in your last few days of preparation.
Do not exclude other topics from your overall preparation.
No exam tips available - Multiple choice questions cover entire syllabus
Numbers in brackets are the question numbers from the BPP revision kit
Question 1
Activity Based Costing / (+ Throughput)
Question 2
Variances - normal, and planning & operational
Question 3
Budgeting - zero-based written / time series & regression
Question 4
Financial and non-financial performance measures
Question 5
Pricing - cost-plus; theoretical (optimal) pricing / different strategies
F6 is very predictable so no tips as such
Practise as many exam standard questions as you can.
Make sure you do to time. After the 15 minute reading time you have 1.8 minutes per mark. If a question is split between part (a) 10 marks and part (b) 10 marks then only spend 18 minutes on part (a) and then move on to part (b).
Look at all the requirements of the question, can you answer an easy parts first, for example one part maybe standalone and on something very straightforward, so do this part first
You do not have to answer the questions in the order they are set, if question 5 is the easiest do this one first.
Question 3 will be the hardest so leave this until last but make sure you leave 36 minutes to answer it.
Do not panic if you can’t remember something in a question, don’t spend too much time trying to remember it, have a go or even guess. Then you can move on to other parts of the question.
Above all you need 50% to pass, so find the marks you can do. There will always be more than 50% of the question which is examining core areas of the syllabus, only a few marks will be fringe areas, but you do not have to worry about these as you can find the 50 marks you need to pass
Consolidated Statement of Financial Position with an Associate
Preparation of Financial Statements from trial balance or draft financial statements
Cash Flow ( possibly with a bit of interpretation )
Construction contracts
Short earnings per share or chat about eg Framework
30 Mark question:
The audit of and internal controls relating to non-current assets.
10 Mark question:
Letter of representation
20 Mark questions:
Computer aided audit techniques (CAAT)
Audit acceptance and planning
Audit of liabilities, including accruals
NPV calculations / capital rationing / written on limitations
Foreign exchange risk management - calculations involving netting / forward rates / money markets; written on other methods
Calculation of WACC including ungreaing beta
Stock control arithmetic / written on Miller-Orr cash management
Typical Paper P1 - Question 1 - look at last 8 (?) questions from BPP revision kit - lots of corporate governance, audit committees, internal auditors
Risk and environmental auditing - see examiner's article from April 2009 Student Accountant
Ethics - a scenario question looking for advice and comment on different ethical attitudes
A discussion question about the advisability of the requirement of appointing neds to public company boards
Consolidation with partial disposal -> subsid.
possibly Subsid -> associate
+
Corp Governance element
Report to directors on various IAS matters & correct accounting treatment
Share based payment calculation & chat
Discussion about relevant / correct accounting treatment of contentious matters / environmental reporting
Part A - 50 mark case study
Typical case study - analyse strategic position and advise. Perhaps with a foreign investment element this time, and particular attention to risk eg scenario planning.
* Business process change and quality. See January and September articles in Student Accountant.
* Internet - e-commerce etc
* Business structure and culture.
Question 1
Preparation of budget and actual profit statement (including
learning curves)
Non-financial performance measures
Question 2
Comments on financial performance (from extracts from accounts
written section on extra information required to make more detailed
comments
Choice questions:
Question 3
Decision making under uncertainty
Question 4
Written question about problems arising in the budget process and
description of 'beyond budgeting'
Question 5
Calculate financial viability of project (NPV) and comment on
different strategies to be considered
Risk. (business risk and audit risk)
Question 2
Article by P1 examiner on risk and ethical article (March Student Accountant)
Article by P7 examiner - 'Massaging the figures' (April Student Accountant)
Ethical scenarios and professional issues
Audit reports and impact of various issues on the extent of qualification
ACCA Exam Tips
NOTE: These exam tips should only be used in conjunction with proper studying. We cannot guarantee that these tips will appear in the actual exam as we have not seen the exam papers. Examiners are not predictable so it is vital that all core syllabus areas are revised fully. The tips are based on Kaplan’s experience and understanding of the ACCA exams and will help focus your last minute revision.
Please also read all the Examiners Articles – available on the ACCA website or in the Student Accountant magazine.
F4 – Corporate & Business Law (English variant)
English legal system
• Delegated legislation/interpretation of statutes
Obligations
• Formation and terms of a contract. Duty of care in tort or professional negligence
Employment
• Dismissal
Company law
• Incorporation procedure or articles
• Maintenance of capital
• Termination of directors office and directors powers
• Types of meetings and resolutions
• Fraudulent behaviour – Money Laundering
F5 – Performance Management
• Budgeting
• Learning curves
• Variances, possibly including mix and yield
• Performance measurement including financial and non financial performance indicators
• Transfer pricing or ROCE/ RI
• Throughput accounting
F6 – Taxation
This will be the third exam for F6 and the paper is 100% compulsory, we suggest you revise the entire syllabus.
The following topics are areas which the examiner has highlighted as being important, core areas and will be regularly examined.
Question 1 [25 or 30 marks]
• Income Tax
• Income from employment [in particular, the assessable income, benefits and allowable deductions.]
• Income from self employment [in particular, the basis of assessment, allowable expenditure, assessable profits on commencement and cessation, capital allowances and relief for trading losses.]
• Property and investment income [in particular, property business profits, savings income and dividend income.]
• The computation of taxable income and income tax liability
• The self assessment system [in particular, the time limit for submission of information, claims and payment of tax.]
Question 2 [25 or 30 marks]
• Corporation tax
• Profits chargeable to corporation tax [in particular, the allowable expenditure in calculating the tax adjusted trading profit, capital allowances, property business profits, and relief for trading losses.]
• Computation of corporation tax liability
• Gains group aspect
Question 1 or 2 might include a small element of chargeable gains.
Value Added Tax [10 marks]
A minimum of 10 marks will always be allocated to VAT which will be examined either as part of Question 1 or 2.
The VAT element will be self contained and so can be answered on its own.
• The computation of VAT liabilities [in particular, the tax point, valuation of supplies, non deductible input VAT, relief for impairment losses on trade debts]
• Default Surcharge
• The annual accounting scheme.
Question 3 [20 marks]
Capital Gains Tax
• Computation of capital gains
• Computation of the amount of allowable expenditure for a part disposal
• Computation of a chargeable gain on disposal of a chattel
• Computation of exemption when PPR is disposed
• Share identification rules – Individuals
• Exemptions and reliefs [in particular rollover and holdover relief]
• Computation of capital gains tax payable by Individuals [in particular the calculation of taper relief.]
Question 4 [15 marks]
Some aspect of Income Tax or Corporation Tax not examined within question 1
Question 5 [10 marks]
Some aspect of Corporation Tax or Income Tax not examined within question 2
Partnerships [with explanation of loss relief]
Corporation tax loss relief
Change of accounting date
National Insurance contributions – will not be examined as a separate question, but may be examined in any question involving income tax or corporation tax.
F7 INT – Financial Reporting (international variant)
Question 1
Consolidation possibly 3 company SFP or 2 company I/S and SFP
Question will probably include the update to IFRS 3 affecting Goodwill and NCI calculations
Question 2
Preparation of published accounts from TB to include I/S, SOCIE and SFP – possible transactions, depreciation, revaluation, income tax and deferred tax, lease, development costs.
Question 3
Possible mixed interpretation question to include calculation of a basic statement of cashflow and a report to include calculation of ratios and interpretation of the accounts using the cash flow and ratio results.
Question 4 and 5
Construction Contracts, IASB Framework (elements or qualitative characteristics), Impairment or Provisions.
F7 UK – Financial Reporting (UK variant)
Question 1
Consolidation possibly 3 company B/S or 2 company P/L and B/S
FV adjustments to both purchase consideration and subsidiaries net assets, inter-co loan and PURP.
Question 2
Preparation of published accounts from TB to include P/L, STRGL and B/S – possible transactions, depreciation, revaluation, income tax and deferred tax, lease, development costs.
Question 3
Possible mixed interpretation question to include calculation of a basic cash flow statement and a report to include calculation of ratios and interpretation of the accounts using the cash flow and ratio results.
Question 4 and 5
Long-term contracts, ASB Statement of Principles (elements or qualitative characteristics), Impairment or Provisions.
F8 – Audit & Assurance (UK & International variant)
Q1 – Audit procedures: payroll, CAATs & substantive tests (30 marks)
Q2 – Facts/standards: engagement letters/acceptance (10 marks)
Q3 – Risk & audit approach: identification of risks in audit risk model (20 marks)
Q4 – Specialist audit areas: internal audit (20 marks)
Q5 – Collection of evidence/reporting: events after the reporting date (20 marks)
F9 – Financial Management
• Investment appraisal – NPV/IRR with tax, inflation and working capital is a favourite topic of the examiner, although areas not examined to date include payback, replacement analysis, capital rationing and lease v buy.
• Working Capital Management – receivables are traditionally the most popular topic but payables and cash are due a turn.
• Cost of Capital – given recent articles CAPM, its advantages and disadvantages, and its use in calculating a cost of equity and a risk-adjusted WACC must be expected.
• Risk Management – hedging foreign exchange risk
• Business Finance – gearing/capital structure calculations and comment
• Valuations – asset and cash flow based values