Exam Tips June 2011 Session

The exam tips set out below are not intended as a guaranteed or definitive list
of
the topics that will be contained in the forthcoming examination paper and shoul
d
not be construed as such. What follows is presented as an additional resource fo
r
students preparation, based on knowledge and past experience of ACCA
examinations. ATC International accepts no liability where final examination pap
ers
differ from these suggestions.
Paper (F7)
By Phil Bradbury
The examiner is Steve Scott, he has written an article in July 2010 Student
Accountant relating to IFRS 3 group accounts. This is no major indicator as we
know that Q1 will be a consolidation issue, however, please ensure that you have
read this article.
The June 2010 pass rate from this paper was very poor, at 28%, and ACCA have
now enhanced the F7 guidance for students in their website. Please ensure that y
ou
do visit the F7 specific area of the website and read the various articles inclu
ded. It
should be noted that these articles have not been written by the examiner but th
ey
should all be helpful in increasing your knowledge base.
Q1 will be a consolidation question.
Q2 will be a final accounts question.
Q3 will be a ratio analysis or cash flow question or a mixture of the two.
One of the main reasons students fail the exam is their inability to write and
discuss accounting issues, many students focus on the numerical parts of the
exam, which may only account for 65% of the marks. You must ensure that you
are able to write and discuss about financial reporting issues.
Exam Tips
Common areas that feature on a regular basis in the exam are as follows
Leases
Revenue recognition
Substance vs form
Convertible instruments (IAS 39)
Accounting for taxation
Accounting for assets, particularly IAS 16
Exam Tips June 2011 Session
Important areas that have not been examined under the new syllabus and
therefore may feature in the near future are
Construction contracts
Impairment of assets
Exam Technique
Don t forget the following advice while in the exam:
Answer all questions, including the written elements of questions. It is very di
fficult
to pass the exam by learning the numbers.
Cross reference your workings, they are an integral part of your answer.
Make sure you get the sign the right way round with any cash flows, the examiner
sometimes only awards the marks if the sign is correct.
Answer the question set, not the one you wished had been set, focus on the
requirements especially relating to the written part of the answers.
Look at the marks available for each part of the question, do not write pages of
answers for a 3 mark part similarly if the question has allocated 6 marks then m
ake
sure you adequately answer that part, a line is not enough to get you 6 marks.
For a 25 mark question you should be spending no more than 45 minutes on it.
Good Luck!
In addition to noting the guidance set out above, students should make use of
ACCA past examination papers, pay close attention to articles published in Stude
nt
Accountant and should read the Examiner s review of the last examination session
at www.accaglobal.com/students.
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