FAE September 2012

7upfree

faer2203 wrote: »

BESman wrote: »

Sample Paper 2 Core is EVIL. Although when I "corrected" my attempt I did better than I expected but no way could you answer that in an exam setting. The case was over 20 pages long. To be fair, the examiner said it was on the extreme end of narrative length.

I still haven't attempted a lot of the resource pack cases. How worthwhile are they? I'm hoping to cover most of them over the next 4-5 days but if people could recommend any that are worth skipping that would be great!

Yeah I'm the same BESman, just kinda finding the indicators and then just scribbling a few words down on what ya would say

I wouldn't be one for writing out the solution, think it would take too long, but then again I could be wrong

I have found that handy aswell. Read the paper and see can you atleast pick the indicators as that's half the battle at the end of the day. Like that few points on what ya need to discuss then have a look at the answer. You can learn an awful lot from the answer.
Trying to use the time allotted can be time consuming and you can never really recreate the Exam environment.

That's my opinion on it and it seems to be working for me but someone else may have a better way of preparing.

7upfree

ferike1 wrote: »

7upfree wrote: »

Nah the institute broke me :-D

I finally realise why CA's are so hireable. Not because we are more intelligent or skilled than other people (quite the opposite, anyone with a brain would avoid this like the plague) but because we are masters of putting up with sh*t! From both our employers and the institute. Future employers will be able to throw anything at us and we will be able to deflect with ease. Its also why all ex-big 4 are the happiest people ever. Most employers even with a lot of sh*t still won't come near to that level!

If I had my time back I wouldn't go near CA I only ended up doing these because that is what my firm does. One of the guys that started at the same time as me failed a cap 2 like I did and he left and went working for a company on a lot better money and did ACCA instead. I think he had the right idea :-D

figrolls

Less than two weeks to go and I dont know where I should be focusing my cramming on

I've done all the case studies at this stage, just going back through the answers now and trying to pick out some generic answers that might be handy

anybody know what else i should be focusing on at this late stage?

I've a killer headache the last few days, dont know if it's my bodys way of saying its sick of this stuff or something else, but can barely at the moment, so just want to make sure im focusing on the right stuff when i can do some work...

any suggestions would be most welcome!

froggatt2011

Jame Gumb wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that they said that they assign points to RCs, Cs and HCs.

Say 5 for an RC and 10 for a C or a HC.

Say there are 10 indicators.

They decide that (say) 65 points is "the standard". How you get to 65 is your own business but that's the standard.

So 5 Cs, 3 RCs and 2 NAs would do it.

Or 7 Cs and 3 NAs.

Not gospel - Just my take on it.

What ever happened to marks out of a hundred?

Username2011

froggatt2011 wrote: »

Jame Gumb wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that they said that they assign points to RCs, Cs and HCs.

Say 5 for an RC and 10 for a C or a HC.

Say there are 10 indicators.

They decide that (say) 65 points is "the standard". How you get to 65 is your own business but that's the standard.

So 5 Cs, 3 RCs and 2 NAs would do it.

Or 7 Cs and 3 NAs.

Not gospel - Just my take on it.

What ever happened to marks out of a hundred?

Yes that is correct. Marks are allocated for RC, C and HC for the sufficiency test and the breadth test but marks are not awarded for RC for the depth test. So that's why getting to C is so important for BL and PM

Saint Sonner

Just to be sure. I'm using uk tax rates for tax year 2011/2012 for the ni core an tax elective. Can anyone confirm that I'm using correct rates?

ferike1

I only have a few cases left myself. Sample plus some mocks. I have been revising technical material in tax and fr.

ferike1

I only have a few cases left myself. Sample plus some mocks. I have been revising technical material in tax and fr.

Stey_9

Has anyone got the solution for Marlborough house ltd?

Accrual Intentions

Saint Sonner wrote: »

Just to be sure. I'm using uk tax rates for tax year 2011/2012 for the ni core an tax elective. Can anyone confirm that I'm using correct rates?

I'm doing NI Tax Elective too. I'm not sure about this either. But my feeling on it is we need to be prepared for everything and that you will obviously get dates in the exam ie. you'll be dealing with a company which has year end 31 March 2012 or you'll have specific dates of transactions given for CGT/IHT issues which are in the 11/12 tax year.

However I wouldn't rule out having to apply 12/13 rates to something if it is within that year? Maybe someone can correct me on this.

Accrual Intentions

This is a bit of a stupid insignificant question but one of those things that is bugging me nonetheless.

In the actual exam, what are people doing in terms of planning/rough work?

For the mocks and in general I always did my planning on my own rough pieces of paper but I've realised now that this may be stupid as you're not showing the examiner that you planned the answer and also the examiner might pick something up from your plan that you didn't put in the answer.

So I've decided, apart from rough sheets of paper I'll use during the reading time, everything else that I do will be in the answer booklet. But how should this be presented? Before each case study would you just have a page or two of your own fairly haphazard scribbles or something resembling a plan and then just write above it 'ROUGH WORK' or 'PLAN'? What way do you guys normally do that sort of thing?

Jame Gumb

Was wondering the exact same thing last night...any thoughts people?

funkymonkey9

Sorry if it's been asked already,but does anyone know how the swap on sample paper 1 core was calculated?I would def get na if something like that were to come up in the real thing :-(

supernova84

I've never used the left hand side of the answer booklet before but I assume it's ok to write there as it says rough work?

thetrainee

I think with the rough work we are going to have to do a bit of repetition and rewriting our initial scribbles in a more organised and better laid out way, which is s**t but what bout theses exams isn't s**t. I mean in the real world that is a good plan but with time ticking in an exam not so much!

Query: Has any one got a notion wtf is going on in the interest rate swap in Active Health, sample paper 1? I mean both Hortons rates are higher?? Why would we swap at all? I cant get interest rate risks!

Username2011

Am I correct in saying that a 100% and fully controlled subsidary should not be recorded at cost but should be consolidated into the accounts?

In sample paper 2 core comp, case black and white, they are recording this sub at cost

Noni Goggins

Lads, you all need to lighten up a bit in here. <Mod Snip- Unnecessary comment>

Regarding the query on the Swap in Active Health, the reason that they want to swap even though the have a comparative advantage at both fixed and floating rates is because there's no point having a comparative advantage if you can't crystallise that advantage.

Entering into the swap arrangement with Horton results in Horton subsidising some of Active Health's borrowing costs but they're more than willing to do this because they also derive a lower overall interest cost as part of the transaction.

It should be noted that the actual figures used in the sample paper solutions contain some typo errors so that could be what's causing some confusion for people also.

The error in the solution relates to Active's net borrowing cost following the swap. In the solution this works out at 6% net but should in fact be 6.05%.

Active Health can borrow floating at LIBOR + 0.5% (ie. 6.25% given that LIBOR is currently 5.75%).

They 'gain' 0.2% from the swap arrangement, with Horton getting the other .05% after the bank's commission. Therefore their net cost is LIBOR (5.75%) + 0.5% - 0.2% = 6.05%.

In summary, Active Health want to have floating interest rates but have a higher comparative advantage over Horton at fixed so they borrow at fixed and enter into the swap. This crystallises a gain of 0.5% which is reduced by 0.25% by the bank's arrangement fee so Horton and Active Health have the other 0.25% to split between themselves. Since it states in the question that Active Health must save 0.2% from any swap arrangement then they take 0.2% and Horton take 0.05%.

I've done a lot of rambling there but you should be able to make sense of some of it. There's a reason I'm an accountant and not a teacher!

Noni Goggins

Touche sir

CathyMa

does anyone have a copy of the 2010 mock paper for core, i cant open the one the institute sent!

thanks

Accrual Intentions

CathyMa wrote: »

does anyone have a copy of the 2010 mock paper for core, i cant open the one the institute sent!

thanks

Here!

dbran

No more personal posts here please.

Thank you.

CathyMa

thanks

reo49

Lets just focus on our study and the exams!

whytenc

funkymonkey9 wrote: »

Sorry if it's been asked already,but does anyone know how the swap on sample paper 1 core was calculated?I would def get na if something like that were to come up in the real thing :-(

I couldnt figure that out at all....didnt make any sense to me.....

Accrual Intentions

See ya's on 7th September. Good luck everyone*

thetrainee

Noni Goggins wrote: »

Lads, you all need to lighten up a bit in here.

Regarding the query on the Swap in Active Health, the reason that they want to swap even though the have a comparative advantage at both fixed and floating rates is because there's no point having a comparative advantage if you can't crystallise that advantage.

Entering into the swap arrangement with Horton results in Horton subsidising some of Active Health's borrowing costs but they're more than willing to do this because they also derive a lower overall interest cost as part of the transaction.

It should be noted that the actual figures used in the sample paper solutions contain some typo errors so that could be what's causing some confusion for people also.

The error in the solution relates to Active's net borrowing cost following the swap. In the solution this works out at 6% net but should in fact be 6.05%.

Active Health can borrow floating at LIBOR + 0.5% (ie. 6.25% given that LIBOR is currently 5.75%).

They 'gain' 0.2% from the swap arrangement, with Horton getting the other .05% after the bank's commission. Therefore their net cost is LIBOR (5.75%) + 0.5% - 0.2% = 6.05%.

In summary, Active Health want to have floating interest rates but have a higher comparative advantage over Horton at fixed so they borrow at fixed and enter into the swap. This crystallises a gain of 0.5% which is reduced by 0.25% by the bank's arrangement fee so Horton and Active Health have the other 0.25% to split between themselves. Since it states in the question that Active Health must save 0.2% from any swap arrangement then they take 0.2% and Horton take 0.05%.

I've done a lot of rambling there but you should be able to make sense of some of it. There's a reason I'm an accountant and not a teacher!

Thanks for your reply, and sorry 2 be going again with this lads. But while I do understand the idea behind the swap it is the actually execution of it that I can't get my head round.

Active health borrows at 6.3% and Horton borrows at . . . . ? And then the companies effectively pay each others interest except in this case Horton is agreeing to pay our interest and .2% more in order to get a cheaper interest rate themselves.

Elle2012

I can't seem to find the overcoatings case or solution anywhere!

Could someone please post the case + solution when they get a chance?

Thanks x

7upfree

Quick question. For the exam is it just our student number is our exam number or have the institute sent out a letter with an exam number on it. I know for cap 2 we had an exam number different to our student number.

I vaguely remember getting something about where the exams were going to be on but can't find the letter anywhere.

whytenc

7upfree wrote: »

Quick question. For the exam is it just our student number is our exam number or have the institute sent out a letter with an exam number on it. I know for cap 2 we had an exam number different to our student number.

I vaguely remember getting something about where the exams were going to be on but can't find the letter anywhere.

we should be getting the letter with the exam number in the next few days (usually two weeks before the exam i think). if you dont get it though its not a big deal-havent had mine the last two years and as long as you know the student number and have ID its fine

Username2011

Finance

Guys I am struggling a lot with co. valuation and investment appraisal.
It seems that every single question has a different approach to valuing it. Would you have any advice