ACCA exam feedback The

ACCA December sitting

How were the December 2022 exams? See if you can you pick up some tips for the next sitting

PM A hard one, according to 35% of respondents to the Open Tuition instant poll. However, 45% found it OK.

So opinion was split, with one sitter admitting “I found it tough”, yet another said “exam was not bad at all”.

There were questions on the learning curve, the pricing demand equation, and operational and planning variances.

TX It was all quiet on the TX front. The Open Tuition instant poll shows the December test was OK for 65% of sitters, and just 8% said it was a disaster.

FR This was a hard test for some 38% of sitters, with a lot of questions on consolidation, according to the Open Tuition instant poll.

As one PQ said, it was a strange collection of questions that included consolidated financial statements, events after the reporting date, and earnings per share. But they were concerned that a lot of the important areas were not covered – where was tangible noncurrent assets, revenue, leases, and financial instruments?

We also heard of more technical issues from students who have rebooked their exams. One said: “ACCA really need to improve this online platform as there are too many issues leading to students like me getting very frustrated!”

FM Some sitters admitted to finding section C of the December exam ‘super easy’. However, sections A and B were deemed difficult, tricky and too theoretical.

Section C was a WACC calculation, NPV and some capital rationing and theory about capital structure and WACC relationship.

Resitters said December’s test was much easier than the September sitting.

AA The Open Tuition instant poll says this December’s exam was OK for 64% of sitters. That left 19% saying it was hard and 10.5% who found it a disaster.

One of the 30-markers asked about the role of an auditor in detecting fraud and audit risks, with substantive testing and threats to objectivity. There were also questions on definitions of flow charts and questionnaires, deficiencies in a system Q, NEDs, audit report and a receivables balance becoming unpayable, and depreciation

SBR For well over two-thirds of sitters (70%) this December’s exam was either hard or a disaster. That’s according to well over 600 sitters who voted in the Open Tuition instant poll.

It was called a ‘disaster’ by some and ‘refreshing’ by others! There was too much on intangibles for many, which meant it wasn’t a balanced paper.

That said, one PQ said they found the emission grant question ‘very interesting’! Check out Tom Clendon’s hot review about this time-pressured exam at https://tinyurl.com/4ed7t983

SBL Some 66% of SBL sitters found this either hard or a disaster, according to the Open Tuition instant poll.

One SBL sitter felt the scenario was so short it was hard to extract answers. Another sitter said the paper was just ‘weird’: “Managed to

complete all the tasks but not happy with the quality of my answer.”

With many grasping at straws the markers can expect a lot of superficial answers.

Yet another sitter summed it up: “It sure wasn’t a friendly exam.” And what concerned many is that it didn’t look or feel like other past papers: “Very poorly made, very niche questions, barely anything on strategy and the key syllabus areas.”

APM “Overall, quite a good exam and not heavily model reliant exam,” said one sitter. Another sitter admitted they got stuck in the time trap of Q1. “I should have moved on,” they said. Yet another said: “I ran out of time too, it was so time pressured that I don’t have time to process what they are actually looking for.” A fellow suffer admitted they ran out of time and missed task 3. “I felt exhausted after 2 hours and my brain couldn’t focus on any points to actually formulate.”

There were 50 marks on budgets, a discussion on ABB, preparation of a rolling budget, 25 marks on results and determinants and appropriate reward systems, and 25 marks on Porter’s 5 forces and appropriate KPIs. Other questions had 50 marks for EVA, the building blocks model, and benchmarking and BPR.

ATX ATX sitters did not like this one! The Open Tuition instant poll reveals the exam was a disaster for 19%, with another 38% finding it a hard one this time around.

As one sitter explained: “Time management was a must for today’s exam.” A fellow sitter agreed: “The time management was so hard and the questions very tricky, with small bits everywhere to confuse us.”

Another sitter found it tough and was thrown by the losses question. They also found the overseas question difficult – it asked you to decide between a subsidiary or PE. However, they thought the capital allowance question over rentals was ‘OK’.

AFM The Open Tuition instant poll came back that 38% of sitters found this AFM exam hard, while another 37% said it was a disaster.

As one PQ said: “It was ridiculously hard, so far away from any the practice questions/mock exams… also how you can finish that exam in the time provided I do not know.” A fellow student agreed: “Nothing like anything in study books or mocks – and the volume of information to take note of on small screens is so far removed from real life – bizarre, disheartening and frustration all rolled into one.”

A tough test all-around. Another worry is because of the time pressure students are under they don’t have a chance to go back and review what they did and they feel they have to make quick decisions, which are often wrong.

Check out Sunil Bhandari’s video on his YouTube channel that summaries what his cohort of students told him about the AFM exam – go to https://tinyurl.com/3pv3rnyw.

AAA “Bro to be very honest that was the easiest paper in P7 history and I hope who has received this variant may passed.” Well, that’s one experience anyway!

For many Q1 was on a pet store – so you had business risk, ROOM, outsourcing and audit planning, and audit procedures on holiday pay. Q2 was prospective financial information (PFI), and Q3 audit completion leasing and inventory. Now, some did say that the paper was easy and they completed the exam in full.

There were some IT problems with those sitting the AAA exams remotely. Quite a few sitters received this from the head of exam delivery: “We are aware of an issue that may have impacted your remotely invigilated exam today. Please accept our apologies for this and we are currently investigating next steps. We will issue further instructions via email by 1pm on Wednesday 7th December 2022. Please check your emails regularly for updates.”

The Open Tuition instant poll said the exam was a disaster for 13% and hard for another 31%. It was OK for 51% and easy for 5%.

Check out Ben Wilson’s feedback of the December AAA exam at https://tinyurl.com/ fswxjpnc