J Pro Business Training

Well after some time analysing my students, I have come to the following conclusions about the students and tuition providers

About the students
1. 80% are the lazy last minute kind and 20% are the hard working types
2. REAL Studying only starts after the results have been released
3. Students want to have full attention from their lecturers but large classes can be intimidating
4. Students need real feedback regarding their performance

About the tuition providers
1. Spread the classes to achieve utilisation of space & lecture cost
2. Assume that students can absorb from day 1 of the class till the end
3. ACCA is a volume game, the more students the higher the profit - capping the student numbers is difficult.

This has led to the development of J Pro Business Training - solution for last minute type.

I belief that students should only study nearer to the exam, increasing the overall retention of materials studied - hence the training for the students only starts in September 2010

I also belief that students need to be guided and require focused attention by the trainer, hence there must be a limit to the amount of students being taught - quality of learning is enhanced when there is focus.

I consider weekly classes are tedious on the student as well as the environment. The amount of time used in travelling to and from the lecture locations could be better utilised in self-studying and relaxation - hence classes should be clustered into "block training" (4D + 4D) x 8 hours = 64 hours

Most of the students said that the revision is the most important aspect of the overall preparation process for the ACCA examination - hence revision should be packed to the maximum (3D x 9 hours)= 27 hours

I am currently establishing the training centre in Kemuning Utama area - near the new KFC, this should take another 1 month. Once that is completed - this semester I will be offering P3 and P7 as the initial papers. For the June 2011, I should be getting the centre registered with ACCA and offering the F5 - P7 range of papers, as well as the CAT papers.

Hope my former students can spread the word and be supportive of this venture. Thanks for you support in advance.

Comment on which paper to select for P level ACCA Optionals

Actually this is hard for me to comment on. I can give my opinion but final decision is yours.

If your ACCA F5 paper was great and you are good with your ACCA P3 paper, this provides a good basis for attempting the ACCA P5 paper - which I feel is CONSULTANT paper - since it involves designing performance management systems for the company.

If your ACCA F6 & ACCA F4 was great and you fancy a career in the tax department in the future, then ACCA P6 looks like a possible choice (only if you are studying the same variant as your country - not worthwhile for o'seas students)

On the other hand if you liked ACCA F9 and fancy a job in the investment banking side, ACCA P4 would be ideal paper.

Finally the paper that I would be biased towards - ACCA P7 is a great paper if your ACCA P2 and ACCA F8 is in great shape. The F8 part is not that critical since, this paper is a partner level paper, whereas the ACCA F8 was manager level paper. I belief that all audit firms would want their audit staff to have ACCA P7 background.

So which is the easier paper? - Actually all are equally easy and hard, it depends on the level of previous knowledge, your understanding of what you have already studied and finally your career destination. If you are clear with what you want, studying it is easier, but if you select a paper because it is easy, more likely you are "following the letter rather than spirit" of studying, increasing the risk that you might actually fail the paper.

My final advice - use the force in selecting the path (Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode 4)

Do you think crash courses for ACCA should be better?

It has come to my attention that most of the students seems to be asking questions about what they had studied only after the final revision (which usually focuses on questions practice) rather than full blow studies.
This indicates that most of the students are only really studying last minute - is this a generational effect or the norm of the ACCA/CAT student? I would suppose that it is a norm, but you can comment on this.
There is a study approach which has been used by other certification programmes - like SAP or ORACLE, which crams everything for the exam (0 to 100%) in say 7 - 16 days 8 hours class just before the exam. This seems to be in alignment with the current mentality of the students that take the examination - fast certification. Do you think that this is feasible within the ACCA or CAT tuition market?
Comment on this matter - since I am thinking of creating this crash courses for ACCA/CAT students.
A pilot test was done for P7 ACCA last round, where the classes only started after the results, and students had sessions over a 2 month period - which it seems to have worked so far.
Do you think say 64 hours of classes + 18 hours of revision (8 days of 8 hours + 3 days of 9 hours) is more than enough?
Well for F8/P7 if you think that is ok, comment here and I will arrange a class in KL or in Shah Alam.
Your views on this matter is appreciated.
I will be posting my view of the JUNE 2010 papers soon after the real exam papers have been released by ACCA
Overall comments that I can make for now
P7 - was a doable paper and designed for this level of knowledge
F8 - was a doable paper with most of the matters coming from within the syllabus (technically challenging)
T8 - was doable but I believe that paper was set a bit on the harder side
Most of the students that had a hard time are those that did not study the whole syllabus but rather spot only and had not fully grasp the paper
Mr.Jay MSc FCCA

Tips for T8 CAT June 2010

The analysis of the past papers has indicated that the following will definitely be present

Question

1. Internal controls question - could include general internal controls, limitations, ICEQ or ICQ on any system, general internal control objectives, internal control objectives for specific areas - sales, cash, nca or inventory. Consideration of weakness is most likely.

Question

2. Planning question focusing on audit risk related to specific area - AR, Inventory, Cash or general question like Finch. Audit acceptance procedures, include considerations for client risk, audit planning matters

Question

3. Audit procedures, audit assertions, audit of NCA, Bank, Bank letter, Written representation letter

Question

4. Audit report, reasonable assurance, confidentiality, materiality, ISA 540, ISA 520

The above are purely speculative and your examiner does not support topic spotting for the T8 examination, you should make sure that you have covered all the issues in the study guide. The best approach to study for T8 is to go through the slides that you got in class and review of the past year papers.