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a calculation, you do not need to provide an explanation, unless this is specifically indicated in the requirement.

• Time-keeping is key to passing this question. A recent examiner report identified that students were spending too long writing detailed answers to the first parts of Q1 and then not attempting the later parts. The marker cannot award more than the allocated number of marks for each part of the question, so to maximise your marks, you must make sure you attempt each part of the question. Make sure you work out the time you have available for each question, and for each part of the question and then stick to it.

Question 2 - 20 marks, including two professional marks:

• Q2 will cover the reporting and ethical implications in a given scenario. Make sure you consider any threats to the fundamental principles of ACCA's Code of Ethics and Conduct in your answer.

• Two professional marks are available in this question and going forward the examiner has stated that the question will make it clear what these marks will be awarded for.

Section B will be two questions, worth 25 marks each: appraisal) are likely to feature NPV with inflation and tax, however it is important to also be able to answer questions that include risk, leasing, asset replacement and capital rationing. Section E (business finance) questions often either feature an evaluation of financing options (interest coverage and gearing ratios are likely to be important here) or calculation and analysis of a company's cost of capital.

Strategic Business Reporting SBR

It is important that you read the examiner's approach article on the ACCA website. ACCA has also published several exam technique and technical articles that you should read as part of your exam preparation. These are available in the exam technique section of the SBR exam support resources section of the ACCA website www.accaglobal.com

The exam section A will be 2 questions, worth 50 marks in total – both are compulsory.

Question 1 - 30 marks:

• Q1 will be based on group accounting. Be aware that this question may test any aspect of group accounting, including consolidated statements of cash flows, overseas subsidiaries and associates and JVs.

• Make sure you provide calculations if these are asked for. A recent examiner's report stated that some candidates are not attempting the required calculations and therefore struggling to gain a pass mark on this question.

• To score well, you need to do the calculations and, where asked explain the principles underlying the calculations you have performed. If a question simply asks for

• Section B can deal with any area of the syllabus and may be based on a short scenario, a case study with several parts, or an essay.

• Section B will always include a question or part-question involving the analysis or appraisal of information from the perspective of a stakeholder. Make sure you have a go at answering this question. There is no 'right' answer at this level – marks will be awarded for sensible points that have been applied to the scenario.

• There are two professional marks available for the question that covers the stakeholder's perspective. To gain these marks, you must discuss the issue from the perspective of the stakeholder – e.g. if asked for the investor's perspective, you must answer from the investor's perspective!

• Current issues are usually examined in section B as a part of a question (not a full question). However, current issues could be examined in either section A or section B of the exam. A question on current issues may require the application of existing accounting standards to a current accounting issue - for example, accounting for cryptocurrency, or accounting for the effects of a natural disaster.

General advice: Make sure you plan your time at the beginning of the exam (and stick to it) to ensure you don't over-run on a particular question – it is 1.95 minutes per mark (or 1.8 minutes per mark if you allocate 15 minutes to reading the paper).

Generally, you will be awarded 1 mark for each relevant well-explained point in the SBR exam. Make sure you make enough points for the marks available – for example, if the requirement is worth 8 marks, you should aim to

Continued on page 32 make 8 relevant, well-explained points. It will be easier for the marker to award you marks if you lay out your answers clearly, leaving space between your points. You can use the spreadsheet (and spreadsheet functionality) to do calculations. If you do use the spreadsheet, make sure you cross reference to any narrative discussion, if appropriate.

Some requirements state that you do not need to refer to an exhibit to answer that particular requirement. Where this is the case, then it is recommended that you follow that advice and stick to general discussion, rather than referring to the scenario.

Use the 'cut' and 'paste' tools wisely – e.g. do not cut and paste into your answer large sections of the exhibits as the examiner has stated in a recent examiner's report that this will be obvious to the marker, and will gain no marks. If you wish to use cut and paste, the examiner recommends just copying and pasting relevant parts of sentences and then adding your own comments.

Strategic Business Leader SBL

As with all other ACCA current exams SBL is examined as a closed book examination. Unlike the other Strategic Professional level exams which are 3 hours and 15 minutes in duration, the SBL exam ‘lasts’ 4 hours. The exam builds upon the knowledge that you gained at the ‘Applied Knowledge’ and ‘Applied Skills’ levels. However, it does also have its own distinct syllabus content. That all changes in September 2023 with the introduction of a pre-seen! For the June exams you will not be issued with any pre-seen information in advance of sitting your exam as everything you will require will be made available to you within the examination itself. The SBL exam will focus on one main organisation, and all of the question requirements will relate to this organisation. You may have to take on a variety of roles, which may require you to adopt an internal or external perspective when answering questions. You will also be required to respond to a variety of people within the organisation. All of the questions in the exam are compulsory. The SBL exam will consist of 80 technical marks and 20 Professional Skills marks.

Question requirements in the exam will assess and link several subject areas from across the syllabus, and these will test your ability to construct appropriate responses and to carry out numerical analysis.

General advice: While 4 hours (240 minutes) can sound like a lot of time in which to attempt the exam, it is crucial not to become complacent in how you use this time. ACCA recommend spending around 40 minutes reading, planning and interpreting the requirements and the information/exhibits provided. Based on this estimation when planning the amount of time you will spend on each requirement you should look to allocate 2.5 minutes per mark on offer. This time allocation is based on the fact that the exam is 240 minutes in duration, once the 40 minutes reading time is deducted this gives 200 minutes to type up your answer. There are 80 technical marks on offer so by dividing the 200 minutes by the 80 technical marks we derive 2.5 minutes per mark. You can earn the 20 Professional Skills marks by virtue of attempting the 80 technical marks on offer.

It is important to note that you can spend longer than the recommended 40 minutes reading and planning your answer. If you do choose to spend longer on this task then you will need to bear this in mind when you come to writing your answers. Alternatively, you may prefer to work on the basis of 2 minutes per mark (being 200 minutes divided by 100 marks).

Reading question requirements: The SBL exam will contain all of the information that you will require to answer the question requirements set. This information will be presented in a series of exhibits. To help you locate the exhibits most relevant to answering a specific question it is therefore important that you take the time to read the question requirements set carefully as this should help to direct you. Furthermore, reading the question requirements carefully is important as this will indicate the role and the perspective from which you are expected to answer the question. Identifying this early on is important as it will drive how you construct your answer.

Planning your answer: Clearly, if you have gone to the trouble of preparing an answer plan it is important that you use it when writing up your answer. To get the most from your answer plan it is therefore important that you include as much detail as you think will be helpful when the time comes to write up your answer. When planning your work it is important to bear in mind the ACCA’s guide of using 40 minutes for reading and planning. As mentioned earlier you need to remember that some question requirements may require you to conduct some numerical analysis. For example, you may be asked to analyse the performance of the organisation featured in the exam. It is important that you plan the numerical analysis that you intend to perform to ensure that you only focus on performing those calculations that are going to support your answer and provide you with something to talk about.

Producing lots and lots of unnecessary calculations for the sake of it will only serve to waste your time in the exam.

Using computer software: Ensure you practise timed exam questions using the ACCA CBE software. You need to be comfortable reading and highlighting the exhibits on the screen as well as taking notes in the scratch pad. It will be easier if you plan your ideas and set up your answer structure in the software, in the form of headings. The exam software comprises a word processor, a spreadsheet and some presentation software. The word processor will be used for answering the majority of the tasks. Any calculations you perform should be in an appendix in the spreadsheet software. Tasks requesting slides should be completed in the presentation software.

Understanding the syllabus and the appropriate use of theoretical models in the exam: To stand the best chance of passing the SBL exam, you will need to have a good understanding of the entire syllabus. However, it is important to remember that unlike other exams that you may have sat in the past, questions in the SBL exam will not ask you to simply regurgitate your knowledge of a particular topic or theoretical model. Requirements will test your ability to apply your understanding of the subjects covered in the SBL syllabus in the context of the question scenario. Furthermore, requirements will not specifically ask you to use a particular model in answering the question. Whether to use a theoretical model when constructing your answer will be a matter of judgement that you will need to weigh up in light of the information presented to you in the exam. Attempting plenty of questions in the lead up to your exam is the most effective way of developing your judgement in this area.

Understanding the difference between technical marks and Professional Skill marks: Technical marks relate to the knowledge (which we discussed in the previous section), there are 80 technical marks on offer in the exam. By contrast the 20 Professional Skills marks are awarded for displaying the following skills and behaviours:

• Communication.

• Commercial acumen.

• Analysis.

• Scepticism.

• Evaluation.

Every Professional Skill will be tested in every SBL exam sitting. The Professional Skill being tested will be specified under each question requirement. As you prepare to attempt the exam it is crucial that you take the time to attempt as many practice questions as you can. To increase your chances of exam success you need to ensure that you take sufficient time to develop your understanding of the Professional Skills.

Advanced Performance Management APM

Q1 section A:

Q1 of the APM exam will focus on a range of issues from syllabus section A (strategic planning and control), section B (performance measurement systems and design) and section C (strategic performance measurement).

Section A (50 marks) contains one question broken down into sub requirements. You will often be required to link a business’s mission to its performance objectives using the concept of CSFs and KPIs. You may well also have to critique and recommend improvements to performance reports and the balanced scorecard and/or information systems could well be tested in this context.

Assessing the performance of an organisation is also likely to be tested and this could easily include benchmarking as a theme. Financial performance measures (ROCE/RI/EVA etc) are also likely to be examined in this context, but don't neglect non-financial issues from syllabus section C such as quality management, value for management and reward systems.

Q2-3 section B:

ACCA have said that one of the section B questions will come from syllabus section D (performance evaluation). This means you need to have sound knowledge of the balance scorecard, building block and performance pyramid models. In addition you will also need to have a good working knowledge of activity based management (ABM) and value based management (VBM).

The other question can be sourced from a variety of syllabus areas including quality management, information reporting (e.g. big data, lean information), HR frameworks (e.g. reward & appraisal systems), transfer pricing and environmental management accounting.

General advice: APM is primarily a skillsbased exam which tests the ability to apply knowledge to practical problems. This is now even more important as 20% of the marks are awarded for professional skills. Make sure you aware what these skills are and that you are confident in your ability to integrate these into your answer to the technical requirements of a question.

However, application of knowledge is only possible if you have a good range of technical skills in place. So, even though APM is not about reciting technical knowledge, it is absolutely vital that candidates ensure that they have a good broad knowledge of core technical areas.

Advanced Taxation ATX (UK)

The exam will comprise of one compulsory 50-mark question within section A. The requirements will be detailed in the manager’s email marked ‘work to be carried out’ and there will be several exhibits containing further information. The answer will need to be prepared in a specific format as set out in the manager’s email which will include mark allocations for the sub-requirements. Due to the size of the question it is possible that the scenario could involve more than one client or a personal client in addition to a corporate client. The question will comprise of 35 technical marks, 5 ethics marks and 10 professional skills marks. Each of the four professional skills will be tested.

Section B will comprise of two compulsory 25-mark questions. These will be in a more succinct, note form style, and will comprise of 20 technical marks and 5 professional skills marks. A minimum of two of the three professional skills will be tested in these questions (not including communication).

The exam will test candidates’ ability to analyse and evaluate the tax implications of various situations, numerical calculations will only be required to assist in producing an answer and no purely numerical questions will be set.

Due to the introduction of the professional skills marks, students will now have more time to attempt each question than under previous sittings. The ACCA has stated that the additional professional skills marks should not be considered as additional requirements but that the extra time they allow should be used for planning and thus to prepare a more comprehensive answer.

Topics/scenarios we would expect to see are:

• Personal income tax scenarios which could involve: investing in a pension; investing in EIS, SEIS or VCTs, share schemes; employment income possibly with termination payments; a personal service company; property income or a takeover.

• Unincorporated business – particularly including loss reliefs, partnerships or basis period rules.

• A question focussing on overseas issuesthis could be income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax or a corporate scenario.

• Capital gains tax versus inheritance tax including availability of reliefs.

• Corporate scenarios – likely to focus in more depth on intangibles; research and development; losses; corporate groups or consortia.

• Special corporate scenarios such as liquidation; purchase of own shares; close or investment companies.

• A business transformation scenario question such as selling a sole trade business, incorporation, or, in a corporate context, the sale of shares versus the sale of trade and assets.

• Other common types of question/calculation to expect are:

• Reviewing a pre-prepared computation to spot, explain and correct errors.

• Calculations such as “tax saved through an action”, “after-tax proceeds”, “the value of a post-tax inheritance”, “net spendable income” or the “net of tax cost of something”.

Don’t forget that across the scenarios you can expect to see VAT marks available. Partial exemption, land & buildings, transfer of going concern, capital goods scheme, overseas VAT and registration/group registration/ deregistration tend to be frequently examined. There will also likely be a couple of marks for stamp duty points if you remember to think about it in your planning!

Finally, don’t forget your basic administration points are also likely to be examined – when do we need to pay tax, when do we file a return and what if either of those are late?

Advanced Audit & Assurance AAA

The most recent AAA exams have contained no real surprises, although you should be prepared for the look and feel of the embedded email and supporting exhibits and the split of both technical and professional skills marks.

Section A will comprise a case study, worth 50 marks, split into 40 technical marks and 10 professional skills marks, and will be set at the planning stage of the audit, for a single company, a group of companies or potentially several audit clients.

Candidates will be provided with detailed information, which will vary between examinations, but is likely to include extracts of financial information, strategic, operational and other relevant information for a client, as well as extracts from audit working papers, which could include the results of analytical procedures. The date will be set as 1 July 20X5.

Candidates will be required to address a range of requirements, from syllabus sections A, B, C and D, thereby tackling a real-world situation where candidates may have to address a range of issues simultaneously in relation to planning, risk assessment, evidence gathering and ethical and professional considerations.

Ten professional marks will be available in section A and will be awarded based on the demonstration of professional skill within a candidate’s answer, including communication, analysis and evaluation, professional scepticism and judgement and commercial acumen.

Section B will contain two compulsory 25-mark questions, with each being predominately based around a short scenario. The marks will be split into 20 technical marks and five professional skills marks. There are no optional questions in AAA. quality management in September 2022 and the impact of data analytics in September/ December 2020). Content on the CBE and how to improve your CBE technique can be found on the website. Note that from September 2022, as well as changes to audit quality, there has also been an increased focus on sustainability reporting. All the examining team's technical articles can be found online, including two recent articles on quality management, two articles on planning questions and risk, plus another two articles that discuss recent developments in social, environmental and sustainability reporting. Read them!

One question will always test syllabus section E, and candidates should therefore always be prepared to answer a question relating to completion, review and reporting. There are a number of formats this question could adopt, including, but not limited to, matters to be considered and evidence expected to be on file, a going concern assessment, the impact of subsequent events, evaluating identified misstatements and any corresponding effects on the auditor’s report. Candidates may also be asked to critique an auditor’s report or a report which is to be provided to management or those charged with governance.

The second section B question can be drawn from any other part of the syllabus, including sections A, B, C, D and F. Syllabus section G on current issues is unlikely to form the basis of a question on its own, but instead will be incorporated into the case study or either of the section B questions depending on question content and the topical issues affecting the profession at the time of sitting the exam.

Five professional marks will be available in each Section B question for demonstrating professional skill in analysis and evaluation plus at least one of professional scepticism and judgement and commercial acumen.

General advice: This subject often tests topical issues which have been covered by the examining team’s technical articles (e.g.

Advanced Financial Management AFM

All AFM exams will have questions which have a focus on section B of the syllabus (advanced investment appraisal) and section E (treasury and advanced risk management techniques). These syllabus areas are therefore high priority areas for your revision.

Q1 section A:

You can expect section A questions to cover at least two different syllabus areas. This emphasises the importance of having a good broad knowledge of the syllabus and not targeting your final exam revision on a small number of syllabus areas.

Section A questions are often based on core syllabus areas such as: project appraisal