ACCA December 2009 Exam Tips from Kaplan

ACCA F4
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

English Legal System
Interpretation of statute
Delegated Legislation
Types of courts
Contract Law
Intention to create legal relations
Exclusion clauses
Offer and acceptance
Liquidated damages & penalty clauses
The Law of Tort
Elements of the tort of negligence
Duty of care
Employment Law
Wrongful dismissal
Unfair dismissal
Remedies
Common law duties
Company Law
Company formation
Private v public company
Charges
Types of meetings
Powers of directors
Directors’ duties
Types of business
Fraudulent and/or wrongful trading
Liquidation

ACCA F5
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Specialist cost and management accounting technique
• ABC – this is arguably the most important costing technique and has only been
examined once
• or back- flush accounting has not been examined as yet. This probably won’t be a
whole question but could be combined with, say, target costing
Decision making techniques
• Linear programming
• or relevant costing
Budgeting
• Written question on budgeting, e.g. approaches to budgeting
• Forecasting, including linear regression
Standard costing and variance analysis
• Standard variances and planning and operational variances; calculation and
discussion
• Maybe a short requirement on standard costing, factors to consider when
investigating a variance or variance analysis in modern manufacturing
Performance measurement
• Transfer pricing
• or ROI/RI
• or a more general question on performance measurement (perhaps with a ‘not for
profit’ organisation)

ACCA F6
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Income tax
– Husband and wife
– Joint investment income
– Some exempt income
– Gift Aid donations extending basic rate band
– Age allowance
– Furnished holiday lettings (treat as trading income)
– Adjustment of profits
– Capital allowances
– National insurance
Corporation tax
– Period straddling 31 March 2008
– Possibly a short period of account
– Capital allowances
– Rental profits with lease premiums
– Quarterly accounting for large companies
– Overseas aspect – DTR
VAT
– Separate part of question 1 or 2 or whole question 4 (as in June 2009)
– VAT return
– Compulsory registration – future test
– Control visit / misdeclaration

Capital gains tax
– Individual making disposals
– Disposal of a business with Entrepreneur’s relief
– Disposal of chattels
– Principal private residence relief
– Part disposal
– Rollover and gift relief
Sundry topics for questions 4 and 5
– Company losses
– Sole trader losses
– Badges of trade


Kaplan Financial December 2009
ACCA F7 INT
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Question 1
Consolidated I/S and SFP for either 2 or 3 company group
Potential complications to include deferred consideration, share exchange and net asset fair
value adjustments, uniform accounting policy alignment, inter-co loan and PURP.
Question 2
Redraft statement of comprehensive income and statement of financial position - possible
transactions to include depreciation, revaluation, investment property, revenue
recognition/substance, IFRS 5 – discontinued operation OR asset held for sale, inventory
adjustment, convertible loan, income tax.
Question 3
Possible mixed interpretation question to include a calculation of an element of a statement
of cash flow and a report to include calculation of ratios and interpretation of the accounts
using the statement of cash flow and ratio results.
Question 4 and 5
IASB Framework (elements or qualitative characteristics), EPS, Impairment, Intangible assets
or changes in accounting policies, estimates and errors.


ACCA F8 INT
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Question 1
Systems and audit procedures: inventory, purchases, payroll
Question 2
Facts/standards: ISA’s 200, 210, 260, 320, 560
Question 3
Risk & audit approach: ethics/acceptance and internal control weaknesses
Question 4
Specialist audit areas: not for profit organisations
Question 5
Collection of evidence and auditor’s report: ISA 570 going concern
Subjects of recent articles:
• Auditing in a Computer Based Environment
• The Clarity Project
The examiner will set 5 questions, which will all have multiple elements, so it is likely that
other topics than the ones noted above will be examined in the December 2009 exam.


ACCA F9
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Investment appraisal
This is a key topic which seems highly likely to be examined every time.
Expect a more complex NPVor IRR with tax and possibly inflation and working capital.
Replacement analysis, capital rationing and lease v buy are areas which thus far he has
avoided.
Working Capital Management
Another key topic which is likely to examined every time. Exams to date have covered much
of this topic.
Receivables are traditionally the most popular topic, although inventory management may be
due a turn.
Valuations
This has been examined in every F9 exam to date so is clearly a favourite of the examiner.
Asset and cash flow based values have yet to be examined.
Business Finance
This topic has been heavily examined in each of the last three exams.
Financing ratios are an area the examiner likes.
Gearing/capital structure calculations and commentary are a favourite and so always worth
being on top of.
Cost of Capital
Following the string of articles on CAPM theory, each of the last three exams have featured
questions in this area. Although the examiner might choose to leave this topic alone this
time, you should still ensure you have a good understanding of this area.
Risk Management
Hedging foreign exchange risk seems popular with the examiner and didn’t feature
significantly within the last exam.
Interest rates and risk management were touched upon in 2008. Despite their recent
appearance, don’t rule out them coming up again.
The Financial Management Function and the impact of the economic environment
upon it
These topics have largely been ignored thus far although a discussion of agency theory was
called for in the December 08 exam. Despite the examiner’s assertion in his first article about
F9 that all topics carry equal weight, we can probably expect these topics to continue to take
a back seat. Having said that, the most examinable area here is probably that of objectives in
both the corporate and NFP sectors.

ACCA P1
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Corporate governance: internal actors (trade unions, company secretary), external
actors (stock exchanges, auditors)
• Board structure: family / insider or unitary / two tier
• Normative / instrumental stakeholder views
• Management information in audit & internal control
• Environmental / risk auditing
• Social & environmental accounting and environmental footprint
• AAA model


ACCA P2 INT
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Section A
Group accounts - probably income statement with IFRS 3 revised aspects, such as mid year
disposal to an associate
Other reporting standards such as:
Financial assets
Retirement benefits
Impairments
Section B
Current issue - perhaps convergence of IFRS and US GAAP, or IFRS for SME
Multi-topic questions - perhaps incorporating aspects associated with the credit crunch:
Impairments
Provisions
Financial instruments
Revenue recognition
Held for sale
Discontinued activities

ACCA P3
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Students should be aware that both sections of this exam will combine all elements of the
syllabus:
Strategic analysis
Choice
Implementation
Topics could include:
• Business analysis in a not-for-profit organisation
• Marketing
• Managing change
• Stakeholder analysis
• E-business
• Organisational structure


ACCA P4
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Section A
30 marks each
• Business Valuation
• Corporate Failure
Section B
20 marks each
• Black Scholes
• WACC/financing
• ‘wordy’ question, incorporating an ethical dimension

ACCA P5
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

• Forecasting & performance appraisal
• Transfer pricing
• Comparison of ROI, RI and/or EVA; or decentralised businesses with RI
• Beyond budgeting
• Learning curves
• Corporate failure
• Strategic aspects
• A topic from chapter 11, e.g. performance pyramid


Kaplan Financial December 2009
ACCA P6
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Corporation tax
Group relief – tax planning; consortium relief, company losses
Capital allowances with AIA
CFCs
Research and development
Takeovers: pre acquisition trading and capital losses
Close companies
Admin
Capital gains
Reliefs: rollover relief, PPR and letting relief
Capital gains groups with degrouping charges
Share takeovers or reorganisations
Inheritance tax
Estate computations, possibly with income tax in year of death
Business property relief
Deed of variation
Gift with reservation
Income tax
Overseas aspects for employees: calculation of tax on overseas income using marginal rates;
arising vs. remittance basis
Sole trader/partnerships commencement of trade, possibly with losses
Benefits: car, loan, accommodation, share schemes

Personal financial planning
EIS
ISAs
VAT
Land and buildings, option to tax, capital goods scheme
Partial exemption
Scenarios
Lease vs. buy assets: net cost
Badges of trade: IT vs. CGT
Employee vs. partner
Sole trader vs. company
Ethics

ACCA P7 INT
Key Examinable Areas
for December 2009

Core areas likely to be examined in every paper:
• Engagement planning and risk assessment
• Engagement procedures (i.e. evidence)
• Ethics and professional issues
• Engagement reporting (ISA 700 audit reports in particular)
Subjects of recent articles:
• Auditing in a Computer Based Environment
• The Clarity Project
• Audit of employee benefits and discontinued operations
• ISA 560 Subsequent Events
• ISA 540 Audit of Accounting Estimates
Note: The latter three points were mentioned in an article by Lisa Weaver published in
November 2008. However they remain unexamined and are likely to appear in this or the
June 2010 sitting.
Peripheral areas yet to be examined:
• Regulatory framework
• Corporate governance
• Money Laundering
The examiner will set 5 questions, which will all have multiple elements, so it is likely that
other topics than the ones noted above will be examined in the December 2009 exam.