FAE 2011 Where to begin

Choc Chip

acahopeful wrote: »

Hi, does anyone know where I can get the rules for political donations? ie what is the max donation before it has to be disclosed etc? Thanks in advance

think ur talking about s26 of the electoral act 1997. You have to disclose anything over £4k or €5,079

Kate2261

zamaramo99 wrote: »

Hi Kate I have attached copies of the 4 solutions u were looking for!!

Thanks

okdune

Hi everyone,

There hasn't been much noise out of anyone doing the APM elective, suspiciouly quiet!

There appear to be very limited case studies for this elective - I wonder has anyone come across the following and if so could you post them please?!

Plushtherma
Cappagh Chickens

Many thanks!

okdune

okdune wrote: »

Hi everyone,

There hasn't been much noise out of anyone doing the APM elective, suspiciouly quiet!

There appear to be very limited case studies for this elective - I wonder has anyone come across the following and if so could you post them please?!

Plushtherma
Cappagh Chickens

Many thanks!

FOUND THEM!

Jamesw2

randomobserver wrote: »

just very quickly made a list of potential areas that have a high probabilty of coming up based on what i'm covering in the case studies.

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: ---Impossible to guess, could ask anything

BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: ---Corporate Governance
---General Ethical Issue
---General Strategy Question

IMP: ---New System Needed

AUDIT: ---Risk Identification
---Assessment of Controls

FINANCE: ---Sources of Finance
---Financial Analysis of Performance (Ratios)

TAX PLANNING: ---Trade/Asset Sale

I understand the above is very general! but potentially could be worth 7/8 indicators. has anyone else got thoughts on what they think are very likely to be indicators in the exam and areas they might give a tiny bit of extra focus.

My tuppence worth is Working Capital Management with concentration on Cash.. Cash is King in recesssion... Calculation of cheapest form of finance..and in audit ES5 Non audit services provided. Again, my tuppence worth.

ahtfulal

I'm not the best at predicting things as the things I predict rarely appear so I'll pass it over to the experts in the house!

Maps2011

Could someone please send me the Galway lecture timetable 2010/2011?

Coldplayer

okdune wrote: »

FOUND THEM!

Hey any chance you could post them? thanks

Innervision

Coldplayer wrote: »

Can anyone please tell me why in the MechElec case study when working out the cashflows for the Discounted Cashflow valuation, the solution starts with EBITDA and yet it still adds back Interest expense?

Doesn't make sense!

Haven't got the case in front of me but did it a while ago and seem to remember it being interest income rather than an expense which is why they add it on

Coldplayer

cheers for that,

Luckily i'd spotted it shortly after!!

lucky01

Innervision wrote: »

Haven't got the case in front of me but did it a while ago and seem to remember it being interest income rather than an expense which is why they add it on

This bit is still confusing me! I know they added the interest back because it was income but are they supposed to include interest in the calculation of free cash flow?

Page 699 of finance text book says interest and dividends are not deducted? Am I missing something?

Vaioer

Has anyone done Sample Paper 2 2010 Core Comprehensive?

Two Issues

1) How are they getting a consignment inventory adjustment of €25,462. The consignment stock is being transferred at sales price which is wrong, so I was writing it down to cost by calculating the gross margin and deducting this from the inventory to give the at cost price? However I am coming out with a 40% margin, whereas they are getting around 20%

2) How are they accounting for the lease? If you are setting it as a finance lease then you capitalise the asset at the PV of the value(€1.029m) and have a corresponding liability. I was then setting up a lease table and calculating the interest and the subsequent capital balance. I can understand the €50k for the depreciation, but where is the random €60k for interest coming from? Are they taking 6 months at €132k to give €60k, surely this can't be right? Surely the €132k was paid in the year and therefore the costs to the SOCI should be €182k and therefore a fall in net assets?

3) Is it allowable for make a general provision for doubtful debts? Some cases suggest it is, and others don't.

This is a stinker of a case, loads of calculations and it doesn't read easily at all, you have to go flicking all over the place to get the data.

Kingdomkerry

So far have gone over red, green and blue case studies, the resource pack case studies and the exam papers. Trying to sort out my notes now and revise auditing, tax and FR. For IMP, Finance and BL I am just going to go by what I learned from doing th case studies. I know this is risky for BL but its very vague and you could waste alot of time studying for it. Basically hoping Strategy, Corporate Governance and ethics come up. What else are other people focusing on for BL. Then Im going to look at the other case studies (swettr gym, midwest oil etc)

As regards indicators. How many will be asked in total. How many in comprehensive, and sims. how many are likely to be asked per subject?

CPJM

Kingdomkerry wrote: »

As regards indicators. How many will be asked in total. How many in comprehensive, and sims. how many are likely to be asked per subject?

If I knew the answer to that I could take it easier the next week..

I think the examiner might want to avoid following the same trend as last year to avoid it being interpreted as a precedence.

Take one or two either way, but I think we are looking at circa 18 in total, with at least 2 or maybe three in Tax, Finance, Audit and IMP. The balance then covering PM and BL. From doing all the questions finance appears a lot, particularly M&A/funding, although I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a sim looking at an individual setting up the business or a question around the progression to incorporation for a sole trader.

Out of the BL I think the examiner will have to go into corp gov, ethics and strategy after that it is open guess between HR, marketing and change..TBH my preference would be marketing, the other two are bit dodge. The HR book the institute produced is an embarrassment. The leaving cert business book has better content on HR!!

Clanno

anyone using the student handbook....

Vaioer

Yeah


As a book end.

As someone else stated earlier in the thread I'll be going with the minimalist approach to material. I had loads of it at CAP2 and I had neither the time nor the indexes to find what I needed.

I'm tempted to not even bring in the IFRS book

Hackysack

I've got stuffed tabbed in there specifically for the Elective, but I can't see myself overly relying on it in the exam.

LightningBolt

I've all the case studies tabbed up so plan to rely on them for stuff like due diligence, IMP and a couple of other things.

I've one folder packed to the brim with stuff for each subject with all the main stuff (in my mind) likely to come up in each section.

I'll bring the IFRS part A in along with the student technical handbook. Only bringing the handbook in as I'd highlighted and tabbed it and then only realised the APB book has all the relevant bulletins, can't be arsed to redo that!

Really lacking technical knowledge though so desperately hoping there's a balanced scorecard thrown in with divisional performance or something like that. The less IFRS in it the better!

daveyk11

Hi, does anybody have a copy of the Advance Audit Elective Mock 2011 Solution?

Thanks!

Coldplayer

why are people summarizing and tabbing up case studies? in the board report this stood out as a big no no given the half arsed attempts last year, i appreciate there is only so may things that can be asked in a given area but i really don't think relying on prepared solutions is the way to go??

pepp

I think your right you need to be careful about how you use the solutions but i think they are useful for reference too.

ahtfulal

Coldplayer wrote: »

why are people summarizing and tabbing up case studies? in the board report this stood out as a big no no given the half arsed attempts last year, i appreciate there is only so may things that can be asked in a given area but i really don't think relying on prepared solutions is the way to go??

I've taken apart all the case study solutions I've found relevant and divided them into one folder with my own notes and seperated folder with each area of super 6.

It's impossible to study for these exams by going through books (I tried this method last year), and I know lots of people who passed last year by concentrating on case studies alone so this will do for me.

Obviously most case study solutions will only be a guideline and will have to be tailored to the indicator we get on the day but they do cover most areas of the syllabus and give a good insight into what to expect and how to answer indicator.

What I'll probably bring into exam:
One folder containing case study notes
Tax planning book
Financial reporting folder with summary of all standards
Derry cotter case and solution books with index well referenced
Cap 2 blue sfma toolkit
Audit standards book

Last year I had a heap of folders and books tabbed and they were more of a distraction than anything. Not going to make same mistake this year, even if I fail again at least I'll go into exam with relevant material well referenced so can concentrate more on understanding case than thinking about what book I should get answer in.

Fiona44

How useful does everyone think the MABF case study book is? Is it more useful to just review the CAP 2 toolkit for management accounting?

Coldplayer

Fiona44 wrote: »

How useful does everyone think the MABF case study book is? Is it more useful to just review the CAP 2 toolkit for management accounting?

Didn't go near that book, absolute nightmare, using my cap 2 notes and that toolkit, toolkit is really good

LightningBolt

Coldplayer wrote: »

why are people summarizing and tabbing up case studies? in the board report this stood out as a big no no given the half arsed attempts last year, i appreciate there is only so may things that can be asked in a given area but i really don't think relying on prepared solutions is the way to go??

Because if I'm unsure of a certain area I can look up a case study answer and use it as a guide. Obviously I won't be copying it word for word but it will help point me in the right direction.

For each indicator 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 etc. I've indexed what case studies have each of those indicators. Definitely helpful for some of the answers where the person you address say they don't understand stuff like due dilligence, the different ways to value a company etc.

As I've said before, different approaches work for different people. Doing my case studies at the moment I'm only using the one feck off folder really and have used the case study reference stuff very sparingly.

I've also stuck a copy of the FAE Board report from last year that deals with the competency guide at the front of my main folder for a quick read before exam starts!

Colts

Hey guys.

Just wondering if anyone has notes on company valuations. It's been a while since I've done finance and can't find the relevant material on earnings based valuations and discounted cash flow methods.

Any help would be much appreciated!

okdune

Colts wrote: »

Hey guys.

Just wondering if anyone has notes on company valuations. It's been a while since I've done finance and can't find the relevant material on earnings based valuations and discounted cash flow methods.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Better to just look at Plastic Products case study and maybe, Greenhomes, MechElec or Global tech.

okdune

Coldplayer wrote: »

Hey any chance you could post them? thanks

Coldplayer - there are actually Pharma and Cappagh Diary and they're in the 2010 Mock paper - let me know if you don't have it - don't have it saved, I think it is on the webstie in APM section.

Thrilled to say that they are not hard TG.

Hackysack

Guys what's everyone doing for IMP?

I've been seriously neglecting it and I can't bring myself to go through that overly technical book. I'm planning on finishign up the resource cases and tabbing the book (and reading / highlighting the IMP areas that come up) as well as doing a few of the Multi-D cases from before.

Is there much else i should try and cover for the subject?

Stabshauptmann

In the solution to the 2010 FAE paper, the valuation of option 1 in the Appendix 1 of the solution has me baffled.

I understand where the Profit Increase in year one came from (154,932*1.40), but where did the 79,234 for year 2 come from? Why is it not Year 1 * 108%?

Any help much appreciated