Review of F8 June 2010 - Pam Bahl examiner

Reading the previous paper for F8 seems to indicate that the paper was set at a more doable basis compared to the Dec 2009 paper. The examiner has also included in the examiner answer, reference to IAS, which was not something unexpected.

The new style of examining of audit, which includes an emphasis on the accounting standard is consistent with P7 paper, where Lisa Weaver/Kim Smith has already examined the P2 standards in the P7 paper.

The transition from Alan to Pam, should be one that moves the paper to be more dreaded paper, to one which is of similar standards to F7 and F9 paper. This I believe is in the best interest of the students, since it would allow for a more balance approach when studying for ACCA examinations.

That said and done, Malaysian students will always find written papers harder compared to computation papers.

I did enjoy reading the previous paper for F8, it seems more direct compared to previous testing - where the knowledge required is clearly stated. There was a sufficient balance of procedure based questions that required understanding as well as knowledge based questions.

The questions that was asked in the previous F8 paper are summarised below:
Planning 4
Risk 10
Substantive procedures 6
Controls 10
Regulatory 5
Materiality 5
Procedures 14
Controls 6
Acceptance procedures 5
Ethics 15
Going concern 10
Procedures 6
Reporting 4

The paper had a total of 31 marks allocated for procedures based questions
The balance was well spread to cover the overall syllabus, with sufficient coverage of controls and ethical matters.

Overall a reasonable paper

Good luck on the results

P7 Training Schedule for AUGUST - NOVEMBER 2010

TRAINING FOR P7 2010 IS SCHEDULED AS BELOW:

August 28 8.30 am to 5.30 pm Ethical & Regulatory framework
September 10,11 and 12 8.30 to 5.30 Risk, Groups & Other Assignments
September 18 8.30 to 5.30 Reporting
September 26 6.00 to 9.00 Current issues
October 2,3,9,10,16,17,25,31 6.30 to 9.30 Case studies

Please note that training is limited to 15 participants only, so sms to my number to confirm your seats. Training timetable can still be modified a bit but tentatively this is the dates, block out the calender for those days.

CURRENTLY BOOKINGS 4, BALANCE AVAILABLE 11

PRICE PER PARTICIPANT: RM 1,000

Welcome to new students

Students studying for F8 in Sunway College JB and KDU College, the links in the side are important for you to connect. The most important link is the download for the International Auditing Standards that is located in the side (ISA logo)

Studying for auditing requires some discipline as well as focus, my suggestion is to ensure that you are focused in the class - ask the questions that puzzle you and make notes beyond the notes from the class. I have already illustrated the use of number based mind-mapping, which is a technique useful for most theory based issues.

The initial chapters for the paper tends the be more memory orientated rather than application orientated, so you will require the discipline to review frequently to ensure that you have sufficient recall.

Mad Hatter to Alice just before she slays the Jabberwocky : Nothing is impossible unless you believe it is impossible

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.