Meta

BPP: DEC07 EXAM TIPS (F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9)

November 6, 2007 Admin

ACCA Paper F4

Corporate and Business Law

December 2007 Exam Tips and Useful Articles

This exam consists entirely of compulsory questions; this makes question spotting particularly dangerous. The purpose of this analysis is to highlight the major syllabus areas that we would expect to be regularly tested, based on the pilot paper and the sittings of the old syllabus 2.2 paper which was also examined by your examiner David Kelly

Use the following tips as important areas to cover but remember that no one knows what is in the exam, apart from the examiner. Your safest bet is to achieve good syllabus coverage in your revision, as the examiner aims to do in the exam.

English Legal System:

This will always feature as the first question in the exam; the most examinable areas being Court Structures, Legal Precedent and the Interpretation of Statute.

The Law of Obligations:

At least two questions will be drawn from this wide ranging area – so expect an application as well as a knowledge style question. The basics of contract covering offer, acceptance, consideration and intention have been a frequent source of questions as well as remedies and breach of contract.

The Law of Tort is new to ACCA law, and questions are likely to feature a small element on Accountants and Auditors – ensure you are familiar with the meaning of the Caparo and Hedley Byrne cases.

Agency and Partnerships

Most examinable in these areas are the rights and duties of agents and partners as well as the distinction between simple and limited liability partnerships.

Company Law

Given it sheer size in the syllabus at least 2 maybe 3 questions will be drawn from this area. Company formation and legal personality are core areas, along with the duties of directors and the rules governing meetings and resolutions. Questions may be of knowledge of application type.

Capital maintenance and Finance

Capital maintenance is highly unlikely to be tested frequently, however it is expected that either share or loan capital (including fixed and floating charges) will be tested at every sitting.

Employment Law

The examiner has stated that he would like to test this at every sitting; however it may occasionally be omitted due to the breadth of the syllabus. Likely areas to be examined are the distinction between employees and self-employed (including how their status is determined), and types of dismissal (wrongful, unfair and redundancy) including the remedies that may be awarded. Questions may be of knowledge of application type.

Ethics and Corporate Governance

Another new area for ACCA law the pilot paper question seems a likely template for questions in this area, focusing on the impact of Corporate Governance on listed companies in the UK and the role of Non-Executive Directors.

Insolvency

Likely to be tested every second or third sitting. The examiner has traditionally tested the distinction between compulsory and voluntary liquidation or; the differences between members’ and creditors’ voluntary liquidations.

Fraudulent Behaviour

It is likely there will always be a question in this area, and these could be of the application variety as well as knowledge questions. Alternate sittings are likely to test Money Laundering, Insider Dealing and Wrongful/Fraudulent Trading. Money Laundering seems most likely in December 2007.

Useful Articles

Examiners approach to F4

ACCA Paper F5

Following are the topics that are Expected to appear in F5 Performance Measurment for December 2007 attempt.

• Decision-making techniques linear programming, relevant costing, pricing, risk & uncertainty
• Budgeting possibly focusing on conflict between techniques such as incremental or ZBB
• Performance measurement and control: ROI/RI, transfer pricing, financial and non-financial measures
• Variance analysis
• Management accounting techniques: target/lifecycle costing

ACCA Paper F6

Taxation (FA 2006)

December 2007 Exam Tips and Useful Articles

This exam consists entirely of compulsory questions; this makes question spotting very dangerous. The purpose of this analysis is to highlight areas of the syllabus that we would expect to be regularly tested based on the pilot paper and the sittings of the old 2.3 papers which was also examined by your examiner David Harrowven. We can also predict some of the areas that questions will cover from the guidance already given by this examiner.

Use the following tips as important areas to cover but remember that no one knows what is in the exam, apart obviously from the examiner. Your safest best is to achieve good syllabus coverage in your revision, as the examiner aims to do in the exam.

Question one

This question will cover income tax. Key areas expected to be tested are profit adjustment and capital allowances for a sole trader and the benefit rules for an employee. Smaller areas like property income and investment income could be bought into the computation with a number of marks being allocated for return submission and payment of tax dates.

Question two

Question two will cover corporation tax. Profit adjustment and capital allowances for both plant and machinery and industrial buildings allowances are regularly incorporated into this question. Smaller areas like property income and capital gains involving rollover relief are also likely.

Groups or overseas aspects could appear in part b).

Question three

This question will cover capital gains tax. The question will be split into a number of different disposals, covering part disposals, shares and securities, chattels and gift relief.

Question four

Income tax losses or partnerships are likely candidates for this question