ACCA-P4 Exam tips2011年6月【大家论坛】

P4 Exam tips for june 2011 BPP Role and responsibility towards stakeholders: Ethical issues continue to appear regularly as an optional discussion question, normally with practical financial issues from elsewhere in the syllabus. The discussion question is normally one of the easier optional questions. Economic value added and ratio analysis can also be used to appraise the performance of a company. Advanced investment appraisal: The compulsory question often features an NPV question with an analysis of risk and / or financing; it could easily be set in the context of an overseas investment. Cost of capital calculations are regularly tested, make sure that you are comfortable adjusting betas for differences in gearing. Real options are also a popular theme. Acquisitions and mergers: This exam normally contains a question involving valuations which the examiner sees as a crucial part of the syllabus; valuations questions are also likely to cover strategic and financing issues. This area was not tested in December 2010. Corporate reconstruction: A question could also ask you to evaluate a management buy out i.e. whether a business will be worth more if it splits itself up. Advanced risk management: We would expect to see a numerical risk management question featuring either interest rate or exchange rate hedging; neither area was tested in December 2010. Foreign currency derivatives are due to be tested numerically; the new examiner has indicated that questions may well ask you to compare the results of a hedge using a number of different hedging techniques. First intuition Section A • Environmental Analysis, People with Financial Analysis Section B • Project Management • Strategic Action • Information Technology – Pricing Strategy Kaplan tips • Acquisitions and business valuation – free cash flow method. • Net present value. • WACC. • Options, futures and FRAs. Examiner’s tips Examiner Shishir Malde started off by giving his top tips for success in P4. Firstly candidates have to adopt a systematic approach. Answering all the parts of the question fully will help, as will having an organised approach and good answer structure. Good students also have good time management, he stressed. Looking at past papers Malde revealed that wholly written questions were generally well done, achieving 55/65% of their marks here. He then turned to the thinks students aren’t good at. Unfortunately, students have an over reliance on past papers and intensive study programmes. “Students must study around the subjects. Four or five days in a classroom is not enough to get you through the exam.” Malde was also concerned about the basic errors candidates make in calculations. Not understanding the context of the question is another problem, along with the usual ‘not answering the question’. PQs aren’t carrying forward their knowledge of F9. Malde thinks it’s critical that you haven’t forgotten what is in that syllabus and if you have then you should start P4 by revising F9! Other problems were: • Unclear structure and poor presentation. • Inadequate knowledge and understanding or inability to apply knowledge to the question. • Not answering all parts of the question. In December’s Q1 section 2/3 whole parts were left blank and that meant 16 marks gone straight away. • Poor time management. So, what are the lessons learnt over the last four sittings? Well, Malde explains P4 is a big complicated syllabus. He said he will also ask questions about what is going on in current economies. Effective use of past papers is the key. It helps students understand how he structures and builds up a question. “Please try not to question spot,” he asked. His exam answers are more a tutorial; so students don’t worry you aren’t expected to give that sort of detail in your answer. You should be looking at these for their ‘structure’. He plans to make the syllabus more streamline. That means few additions and a few topics being removed. Malde explained that section C is more substantial with investment, financing, valuation, options thinking. He said that Islamic finance will also be included as a topic area in the future. In terms of the exam students can expect a section A worth 50/70 marks. There will still be two questions of 25 to 40 marks. Professional marks are also available in this section. In section B candidates can choose 2 from 3. There will be a wholly written Q5 and he promises there won’t be any maths for maths sake. Malde wants his exam to be more analytical but probably less technically complex. MEET THE EXAMINER: After completing his accountancy training with PwC Shishir Malde held positions at the University of Greenwich and University of Buckingham before ending up at Nottingham Trent University. Before commencing his accountancy career Malde undertook degrees in computer science and management science, with minors in maths and philosophy. He became P4 examiner in September 2009. P4 Exam tips for june 2011