Thursday, June 30, 2011
See you in July 2011!
Hope to see you guys again starting July 2011, please register as early as possible to avoid penalty. You should first go to ACCA department to get the registration form and then go to level 2 of main campus to generate invoice and pay. All of these should be done by 8th of July, after that RM300 would be charged for penalty. Take care and enjoy the last few moment of holidays! :)
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Answering theory questions
What to write? How much to write? How to earn full marks? Theory questions are seen by many as one of the problems to pass the exam. The further you go, the more important are the theories.
The keys to getting good marks in theory are:
1. Focus on answering the question - the verbs are important to note.
2. Use simple and clear English.
3. Good presentation - Use headings to ease marking.
4. Take into account the reader.
For point 4, you should ask yourself, is your answer useful for the reader? For example, if you are asked to advise the financial controller about whether to authorise the proposed project, then your answer should be the one that the financial controller may want to know, ie. net present value (NPV), cost of capital, constraints, non-financial factors etc.
Another example, when you are required to write a report about the performance of the company to directors, you have to write a report, this can give you format mark of about 1 mark and is very important in P level paper to earn professional marks. Again to earn good marks, your answer must satisfy the directors, show your ratios and other calculations in the appendix (professional marks may be gained from good presentation), then make financial and non-financial analysis, identifying possible causes of the ratios and linking them to the non-financial calculations (if possible), a conclusion should be given at the end. Answers like "the revenue has increased by 20% from last year, this is good" will never be adequate for the directors.
It is likely that theory questions are easy to gain marks as we will make mistake in calculations, not theory. You just have to make attempt to the questions even if you can't sure. Theory questions, in many cases, essential to pass the exam.
The keys to getting good marks in theory are:
1. Focus on answering the question - the verbs are important to note.
2. Use simple and clear English.
3. Good presentation - Use headings to ease marking.
4. Take into account the reader.
For point 4, you should ask yourself, is your answer useful for the reader? For example, if you are asked to advise the financial controller about whether to authorise the proposed project, then your answer should be the one that the financial controller may want to know, ie. net present value (NPV), cost of capital, constraints, non-financial factors etc.
Another example, when you are required to write a report about the performance of the company to directors, you have to write a report, this can give you format mark of about 1 mark and is very important in P level paper to earn professional marks. Again to earn good marks, your answer must satisfy the directors, show your ratios and other calculations in the appendix (professional marks may be gained from good presentation), then make financial and non-financial analysis, identifying possible causes of the ratios and linking them to the non-financial calculations (if possible), a conclusion should be given at the end. Answers like "the revenue has increased by 20% from last year, this is good" will never be adequate for the directors.
It is likely that theory questions are easy to gain marks as we will make mistake in calculations, not theory. You just have to make attempt to the questions even if you can't sure. Theory questions, in many cases, essential to pass the exam.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Foundation in professionalism
As ACCA has introduced foundation in accountancy (FIA), students have an opportunity to obtain diploma in accounting and business after completed 3 papers only, namely FAB, FFA and FMA. These 3 papers have similar syllabus as F1, F3 and F2 respectively but with increased size of syllabus. However FIA students cannot be awarded the diploma until they have completed foundation in professionalism (FIP). FIP is an online module allowing you to explore and learn the key concepts of ethics and professionalism in the workplace. FIP can be done by anyone registered under ACCA, but it is a must to be completed in order to get diploma in accounting and business.
It is important for FIA students to note about this. :)
It is important for FIA students to note about this. :)
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Throughput accounting tricks
Sometime throughput accounting can be a difficult topic due to the difficulties of finding correct information to calculate throughput per bottleneck hour or conversion cost per bottleneck hour for throughput accounting ratio (TPAR). TPAR = throughput per bottleneck hour/conversion cost per bottleneck hour.
You must make sure you divide the correct figure to arrive at the correct numbers. The key is to be careful. If you have calculated throughput per unit, then make sure you calculate a bottleneck hour per unit (sometime given), throughput per unit/bottleneck hour per unit = throughput per bottleneck hour. If you have calculated conversion cost per annum then make sure you calculate bottleneck hour per annum as conversion cost per annum/bottleneck hour per annum = conversion cost per bottleneck hour.
Another difficulty could be the identification of bottleneck hour (sometime bottleneck resource or bottleneck process). Bottleneck is always the one that is slowest, causing problems, least capability and least capacity.
In ranking the product for optimum product mix decision, we look throughput per bottleneck hour, the highest throughput per bottleneck hour product will be ranked first. This is similar in limiting factor analysis where we rank product starting from the highest contribution per limiting factor to the least.
Finally to improve the TPAR, there are four common ways:
1. Increase selling price
2. Reduce material cost
3. Reduce conversion cost
4. Speed up bottleneck process/increase bottleneck hour/increase bottleneck resource
You must make sure you divide the correct figure to arrive at the correct numbers. The key is to be careful. If you have calculated throughput per unit, then make sure you calculate a bottleneck hour per unit (sometime given), throughput per unit/bottleneck hour per unit = throughput per bottleneck hour. If you have calculated conversion cost per annum then make sure you calculate bottleneck hour per annum as conversion cost per annum/bottleneck hour per annum = conversion cost per bottleneck hour.
Another difficulty could be the identification of bottleneck hour (sometime bottleneck resource or bottleneck process). Bottleneck is always the one that is slowest, causing problems, least capability and least capacity.
In ranking the product for optimum product mix decision, we look throughput per bottleneck hour, the highest throughput per bottleneck hour product will be ranked first. This is similar in limiting factor analysis where we rank product starting from the highest contribution per limiting factor to the least.
Finally to improve the TPAR, there are four common ways:
1. Increase selling price
2. Reduce material cost
3. Reduce conversion cost
4. Speed up bottleneck process/increase bottleneck hour/increase bottleneck resource
Exam's over!
Well you see how fast the time flies and now the exam is over, may god bless us all in our result which will be out on 22nd of August. For now just forget about the exam, it is party time and enjoy yourself well because next semester you will have to tackle the more challenging papers. ENJOY!!! :D
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