ACCA 1.1i Exam Tips

ACCA Paper 1.1
Preparing Financial Statements
June 2006 Exam Tips

Section A - 25 MCQs (50 marks)

The MCQ’s usually have very wide syllabus coverage. So lots of question practice is important. The P&R Kit has an excellent bank of MCQ, broken down into the various syllabus areas.

Common areas examined are Income Statement adjustments, including calculation of accruals, prepayments, errors, bad and doubtful debts, inventory valuation and depreciation.

Accounting policy and application of standards are also favourites of the examiner.

Section B - Five compulsory questions (Worth between 8-12 marks each)

There is likely to be both computational and discursive questions in Section B. Some areas that we feel are likely to come up are:

• Partnerships - Partnerships have not appeared since June 2003 and the examiner penned an article in Student Accountant on this topic in May 2004. Possibly the preparation of a Partnership I/S.
  
• Errors, journals and suspense accounts are a good way to test double entry and is therefore a popular question. This could have an incomplete records element to it as well. (Note that there has been an article written about incomplete records)
  
• Limited company I/S has not been asked since June 2004 and is a likely question, given that historically it has been examined frequently. .
  
• Cash Flow Statements - CFS were not tested in the June 2005, but are tested regularly in the June sitting, so these could be a likely topic. Remember there are two methods of presentation for the cash flow statement.
  
• Interpretation of Financial Statements - Always a favorite for either a section B question or for quite a few MCQ's. (December 2004 there were five interpretation questions.)

REMEMBER TIME MANAGEMENT IS VERY IMPORTANT, 1.8 MINUTES PER MARK!!

Health Warning! The examiners deliberately try to avoid question spotting. Just because a question featured last time, doesn’t mean it won’t feature this time. Use the tips as areas to have a good look at, 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.

Useful Articles

Articles written by the examiner and other individuals pertaining to paper 1.1 are included in the ACCA website under students/paper 1.1

ACCA 1.3 Exam Tips

ACCA Paper 1.3
Managing People
June 2006 Exam Tips

Practice questions from the 2006 BPP Practice and Revision Kit are great way to prepare for your exam. It is essential that you attempt and debrief as many questions as possible. When you have read a chapter I recommend that you either complete in full or plan your answer to a question based on that chapter. It will cement your learning and keep you exam focused. Complete a question and only then look at the suggested solutions at the back of the kit. Allocate the appropriate time for each question (25 minutes for 15 mark questions) as this will ensure that your clock management skills are finely tuned.

In previous years the main thrust of Section A, the Compulsory Scenario Question worth 40 marks, has been broken down into about 5 discrete parts. The December 2005 paper included a scenario based totally on the area of leadership style. The question was broken down into 4 parts with Part A getting 16 marks and an even spread of marks for the other three parts. This would require you to have a broad knowledge and a clear understanding of the subject examined which was flagged by the examiner in advance as he wrote an article entitled “ Theories of Leadership styles” in September 2005.

It is difficult to predict whether the examiner will remain in a mainstream core area or exam somewhere less obvious. However he has written an article in Student Accountant prior to each exam (with the exception of June 2005), so this avenue shouldn’t be overlooked as a tip to his thinking.

In Section B there is a requirement to undertake 4 from 5 questions, each worth 15 marks. It is difficult to make tips of which areas he might examine. However some of his favourite topics include;

• Recruitment and Selection – a question in every previous exam to date
  
• Motivation
  
• Effective Communication Practices

Each question will examine both your knowledge and understanding of your knowledge. As a result each question is broken down into 2 -3 parts. Be careful to only answer what the examiner has asked.

Health Warning! Please note the examiner, Dr Ball, deliberately tries to avoid question spotting. Just because a question featured last time, doesn’t mean it won’t feature this time. Use the tips as areas to have a good look at, 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 this in the exam.

Relevant Articles

Read the examiner feedback comments on previous exams (see www.accaglobal.com ). This will give you a valuable insight into what the examiner expects from students when answering questions. He will also comment on common mistakes.

No articles publish yet so keep reviewing the Student Accountant or www.accaglobal.com for any article relevant to 1.3 Managing People. There has been an article publish prior to every previous exam (June 2005 being the exception) and the subject covered has formed the basis of a question.

I would also recommend that you read previous articles written by Dr Ball and then attempt a question based on the article. It is will help understand how he forms his questions.

Best of luck with your exams.