ACCA

ACCA Exam tips for Paper F4 EnglishQ1 Criminal law, civil law, arbitration December 7Q2 Lifting the veil June 8Q3 Meetings Pilot paperQ4 Corporate governance – auditors December 7Q5 Self-employed or employed June 10Q6 Damages, measurement and remoteness June 9Q7 Insolvent liquidation December 7Q8 Treasury shares – new to syllabusQ9 Intention to create legal relations December 7Q10 Bribery – new to syllabusACCA Exam tips for Paper F4 GlobalQ1 Criminal law, civil law, arbitration December 7Q2 Lifting the veil June 8Q3 Meetings Pilot paperQ4 Corporate governance – auditors December 7Q5 Sale of goods, anticipatory breach December 8 / June 9 Q6 INCOTERMS – the two new onesQ7 Insolvent liquidation December 7Q8 Treasury shares – new to syllabusQ9 Sale of goods, passing of risk December 9Q10 Bribery – new to syllabusACCA Exam tips for Paper F5Activity Based CostingCost volume profit analysisPlanning and Operational VariancesBudgets – mainly written, but with preparation of a flexed budget and commenting on it Financial and non-financial performance measures (with main emphasis on non-financial) ACCA Exam tips for Paper F6Students should never rely on tips from any source as exam success is based on a sound knowledge of the basic rules that underpin the computations required for each tax and the ability to apply this knowledge within the 3 hours and 15 minutes available. This is based on considerable practice of past examination questions which have been updated for Finance Act 2011 and by sitting a mock examination in the allotted time. It can be of little surprise that students fail exams if the last time they sat such an exam was when they failed at the previous sitting!If any of the areas tipped should appear then this, if you are prepared, should be a bonus – you should not be expecting these areas and then be disappointed when they do not appear and therefore be immediately at a psychological low in the exam room!Be properly prepared through work effort, expect the worst but know if you do your best you will pass whatever exam is placed in front of you!!Q.1 Income Tax / VATThis question always requires the preparation of an Income Tax Computation for at least one individual, possibly two (spouses or civil partners) or even three taxpayers (members of the same family) The two main sources of income tested within the computation are Employment Income and the adjusted trading profits of the Self Employed. Interest income is frequently tested with examples of taxable interest received net and gross plus exempt interest and of course some dividend income.A scenario involving a transition from employment to self employment part way through the tax year would allow both employment income with assessable benefits for part of tax year to be tested along with adjustment of profits and a capital allowances computation for a short or long opening period of account and dealing with pre trading revenue and capital expenditure. The adjusted profit would then be used to determine the assessments in the opening years of the new business and the computation of the overlap profits.The changes to the pension contribution rules with the introduction of the Annual Allowance (AA) and AA Charge will probably attract the examiners attention in this year’s exams so should be understood – this could feature as part of Question 4 or 5 instead.Class I NIC’s for the period of employment and or Class 2 and 4 NIC’s for the period of self employment could also be tested.If VAT was included in such a question then it could test issues of VAT registration, submission of first VAT return dealing with pre registration input VAT and suitability of small business accounting schemes such as cash and annual accounting and the flat rate scheme.Q.2 Corporation Tax / VATWill require the preparation of a Corporation Tax Computation for a Chargeable Accounting Period which will probably straddle Financial Years 2010 and 2011e.g. Accounting Year Ended 31 December 2011 or 9 months to 30 September 2011.A significant amount of marks are usually available for the adjustment of profit statement and Capital Allowances Computation. The company may be in a gains group. If VAT featured in this question it might include group VAT registrationQ.3 Chargeable GainsIf a question involves corporate gains rather than an individual then the main assets that a company may dispose of would include:Properties – this may involve establishing the cost of the property from an earlier acquisition via a no gain no loss transfer from a fellow gains group member and/or the cost may have been reduced by a rollover relief claim at the time of acquisition. The gain arising may now also be deferred by a full rollover or partial rollover relief claim or if a depreciating asset is now acquired a holdover relief claim may instead be available.Land – a part disposal of landSharesChattels – e.g. a painting from the boardroomQuestions 4 and 5IHT seems likely to be a regular feature of part of a question and it would seem likely that at some point the examiner will test the more difficult problem of CLT’s not only taking place within the 7 years before the date of death but there also being a CLT more than 7 years before death. This would not itself be chargeable on death but given the cumulativenature of IHT would impact on the transfers within the 7 years following it which do then become chargeable on death.Groups if not tested in Q.2Income tax loss reliefs and / or partnershipsACCA Exam tips for Paper F7Question 1, Consolidated satement of Income, subsidiary and associate,mid-year acquisition, share for share exchange, nci based on share price,fair value adjustment, intra group sales and pup, 5 mark chat – exclusionof subsidiary from consolidationQuestion 2, Usual question 2, preparation of financial statements,Financial Position, Income, Comprehensive Income, Changes in Equity from atrial balanceQuestion 3, Report on financial performance – possibly a simple cash flowincludedQuestion 4, Framework, possible element of reliabilty, relevance, faithful representationQuestion 5, Development expenditure or a complex asset depreciationACCA Exam tips for Paper F81 Inventory count.2 Nature of an assurance assignment/internal audit3 Going concern and analytical procedures4 Computer assisted audit techniques5 Contingent liabilitiesACCA Exam tips for Paper F91 a) Investment appraisal – lease v buy decisionb) Written on replacement2 a) economic order quantity calculationb) cash budget3 a) Capital asset pricing model (ungearing an equity beta)b) foreign exchange risk management – forward rates and money markets4 a) calculation of effect of raising finance (i) from equity and (ii) from debt on the earnings per share, interest cover, and gearing ratio of a companyb) written on other ways of raising finance.ACCA Exam tips for Paper P1(Not in any particular sequence)1 Different contributors to corporate governance ( internal auditors,external auditors, non-executive directors )2 Ethics, ethical dilemma, deontology / teleology, Kohlberg3 Board sub-committees, unitary board cf two-tiered board4 Role of risk manager, risk committee, MendelowAny of the questions could possibly include a computational element – soTAKE YOUR CALCULATOR INTO THE EXAM ROOMACCA Exam tips for Paper P21) Complex group – question Rod ( adapted past exam question ), orPiecemeal acquisition / partial disposal – question Beth ( December 2007 )or Base Group ( adapted past exam question )2) Management commentary – question 52 in Kaplan revision kit3) IFRS 10, 11, 12 and 13 – no past exam question – check the OpenTuition course notes4) a question on “Various IASs / IFRSs” – many examples from past exams5) Entity reconstruction – no past exam question – check the OT course notesAny one, including question 1, could ask for “special” style – report,memorandum, email or even letter! So make sure you answer in appropriatestyle.ACCA Exam tips for Paper P31 Strategic position and analysis; corporate parenting2 Communicating mission and core values (see recent ACCA SA article)3 Project gateways, project lifecycle and project initiation document4 Expected values/decision tree. Process improvement5 BenchmarkingACCA Exam tips for Paper P4Section AValuation of a business (for acquisition) – suggesting a range of values(part including present value of cash flows requiring calculation of the discount rate to use with CAPM involved)Foreign exchange risk management (forward rates/money markets/futures/options) Section BOption pricingWritten question on the European debt crisisPortfolio theory including written on international diversificationACCA Exam tips for Paper P51 Critical success factors and KPIs2 Activity based costing, ABB and ABM3 Transfer pricing4 Economic value added5 Performance Prism and corporate failureACCA Exam tips for Paper P71. Group audits2. Material misstatement risk (article)3. Non-audit services4. Standard Q3 – matters to be considered (ethical, professional, practical, accounting); state the evidence you should expect to find on the audit file(or identify the procedures you would expect to be followed)5. CAATs6. Completion of audit (Ma ke sure to read Lisa’s article from October 2011 student Accountant about “Completing the audit”)。