FAE September 2012

notanocelot

faer2203 wrote: »

Any recommendations on what to include in summary folder, I'd have a tendancy to put everything in, in case something came up and it would be in another folder somewhere, and it would take me more time to find it then?

High-level stuff in the summary folder.

Example: I was doing a case study where there was a bit about secondment to an audit client and a guy in the audit committee was worried.
So I went to my one-page summary about the Ethical Standards where there's a column for Situation, a column for Threats and a column for Safeguards. There was enough from there to scribble a summary about how the secondment was OK, but afterwards I also went to ES2 itself (not in the summary folder) just to check on a detail.

Another example: I have one page which is calculating WACC, cost of equity, and all the different ways in which you can value a company. But if there's a really complicated Finance question on M&A I have a bigger folder as well just in case.

MBMD

So the final full week, do you increase your study or cut back. think il do 5 long days, a little over the weekend, and take monday off. any thoughts?

Jame Gumb

I'm the same. Gonna play tennis the evening before the exams, have one beer afterwards and then hit the hay.

aca101

Gonna try and do a few big days this week and then take it handy on Sunday and Monday....freshness will be vital in these exams I'd say.

Would anyone have any kind of summary of the Audit ISA's....really struggling with Auditing atm...I'm not too bad on risks and controls but I have very little knowledge of what's in the ISAs...afraid it could let me down..would really appreciate anything...thanks!

ferike1

For the ISA's I find you don't really need an in depth knowledge. Have the table of contents and then just state the ISA. So like ISA 550 for related parties and then rattle off some procedures to cover off related party things.

mrduffy

will they send out the letter or do we have to print it off ?

okdune

mrduffy wrote: »

will they send out the letter or do we have to print it off ?

I received mine via email.

mrduffy

okdune wrote: »

I received mine via email.

yes but we need to bring it in to exam hall dont we ?

Jame Gumb

I'd say that we're not gonna get a hard copy in the post...so you should print it

okdune

Jame Gumb wrote: »

I'd say that we're not gonna get a hard copy in the post...so you should print it

Yep a bit like Ryanair I guess not sure - print off your boarding pass before the exam!

7upfree

Bee Brilliant WTF because every trainee accountant has a "hobby" that generates a turnover of €113,348. I really wonder do the institute live in the real world

I'm screwed for these exams can't wait for them to be over.

ferike1

Rofl.

If my hobby made over 100k I wouldn't be an accountant.
Trainee accountant - between 20 - 40k and a life of misery.

Hobby (which you enjoy) - 100k

Tough choice.

froggatt2011

C'mon everyone. Hang in there. Not long to go now and the nightmare will be over. We've made it this far. Don't want to be back here in a year's time, so let's work our little behinds off this week and kick some Institute ass next week

7upfree

ferike1 wrote: »

Rofl.

If my hobby made over 100k I wouldn't be an accountant.
Trainee accountant - between 20 - 40k and a life of misery.

Hobby (which you enjoy) - 100k

Tough choice.

I wish my salary was between 20-40k

Ya gotta love the recession get screwed in every way oh well gonna try my best to pass these stupid exams.

costacurta

figrolls wrote: »

Im trying to think of different scenarios that may come up and think of the different areas that may be relevant

eg buying a business - co valuations etc

But for a company in difficulty - what would the tax implications be?

The only real scenarios I can think of so far are

-buying a business
-IPO
selling a business/ investor divesting
- business in difficulty

surely theres plenty more, anybody got any ideas?

Does anyone have any notes on valuing a business? I have absolutely no idea except for an assets based valuation, I'm freaking out now and can't even find anything in any of the books, thank god we only have a week left!

Any help with company valuations and project valuations techniques, now that I think of it, would be a great help.

Thanks guys

okdune

costacurta wrote: »

Does anyone have any notes on valuing a business? I have absolutely no idea except for an assets based valuation, I'm freaking out now and can't even find anything in any of the books, thank god we only have a week left!

Any help with company valuations and project valuations techniques, now that I think of it, would be a great help.

Thanks guys

1. Price earnings based valuation method (valuation multiple and normalised EBITDA) - using PE ratio often
2. Discounted cashflow method (discounting future earnings if you have projections)
3. Net asset method
4. Dividend growth method

They are the four key methods.....not difficult to master

Siobhang4

costacurta wrote: »

Does anyone have any notes on valuing a business? I have absolutely no idea except for an assets based valuation, I'm freaking out now and can't even find anything in any of the books, thank god we only have a week left!

Any help with company valuations and project valuations techniques, now that I think of it, would be a great help.

Thanks guys

Use solutions to study it. its in organic beef company 2010 paper.

comes up in other case study aswell. Check the finance notes attached to this forum.

costacurta

Siobhang4 wrote: »

costacurta wrote: »

Does anyone have any notes on valuing a business? I have absolutely no idea except for an assets based valuation, I'm freaking out now and can't even find anything in any of the books, thank god we only have a week left!

Any help with company valuations and project valuations techniques, now that I think of it, would be a great help.

Thanks guys

Use solutions to study it. its in organic beef company 2010 paper.

comes up in other case study aswell. Check the finance notes attached to this forum.

okdune wrote: »

costacurta wrote: »

Does anyone have any notes on valuing a business? I have absolutely no idea except for an assets based valuation, I'm freaking out now and can't even find anything in any of the books, thank god we only have a week left!

Any help with company valuations and project valuations techniques, now that I think of it, would be a great help.

Thanks guys

1. Price earnings based valuation method (valuation multiple and normalised EBITDA) - using PE ratio often
2. Discounted cashflow method (discounting future earnings if you have projections)
3. Net asset method
4. Dividend growth method

They are the four key methods.....not difficult to master

Thanks for the replies, it's greatly appreciated

figrolls

For anybody needing a little pick me up...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/13-simple-steps-to-get-you-through-a-rough-day

ferike1

Is IAS whatever Hyperinflationary reporting is examinable?

reo49

ferike1 wrote: »

Is IAS whatever Hyperinflationary reporting is examinable?

Nope. How's the illness pal?

ferike1

Ah cheers man. Much better. Antibiotics cleared it up.

Just doing final revisions.

Oh something else to link to:
When purchasing a company you can link IAS 38 to purchased intangible assets potentially.

ferike1

It really astounds me how much better the ACCA books are compared to the institutes'. I am going through the IFRS one and it is so exam friendly. Explains everything with step by step examples in a clear fashion.

You know its almost as if they actually WANTED their students to pass.

funkymonkey9

For anyone looking to do a quick tax revision, I recommend looking at the tutorial q's from the lectures and the challenging questions in the book!

I just read them this morning (didn't attempt) and it gives a good refresher of all the areas!

Very worried about management accounting, BL and Finance We're nearly there thankfully

ferike1

If you are auditing a company and a separate division is offering consultancy advice, in no way can they actually recommend anything substantial (change working capital, dividend policy, acquisitions) because that would constitute a management threat right?

chursy

ferike1 wrote: »

If you are auditing a company and a separate division is offering consultancy advice, in no way can they actually recommend anything substantial (change working capital, dividend policy, acquisitions) because that would constitute a management threat right?

mainly depends on whether its listed or unlisted. with unlisted you can pretty much do everything, provided you are working with informed management as many services are prohibited otherwise.

So provided you put in the appropriate safeguards i think most things are doable.

ferike1

Definitely bringing in the acca books as a backup for a tricky question, either in variances, ifrs or finance! The summary I have for most will do.

Everyday I imagine my name on the pass list. Positive mental attitude.

NoNamer

ferike1 wrote: »

Definitely bringing in the acca books as a backup for a tricky question, either in variances, ifrs or finance! The summary I have for most will do.

where did you source the ACCA books? are they considerably better than the ones we have?

whytenc

Just re-did the 2012 mock there-in the audit indicator they reference the CAI code of ethics for members, rather than ES5 which i referred to.....anyone know when you should be referencing the CAI code as it actually never even occured to me for that indicator?

R0N BURGUNDY

There was an online lecture on variances last year that was an absolute peach. Put any other efforts to shame that I ever seen of teaching variance analysis. Now it's gone unfortunately. Think the guy was from Cork or somewhere and ranted through it 100mph so it just went in, no messing. Wish that was there for a wee recap

Anyway -= had a look through CAP2 EPS & employee benefits notes = thank god I made these. Couldn't have gone through it all again from scratch. Although- can't see there being anything detailed. Just thinking to myself to make sure to refer to EPS should there be a financing possibility and a rights issue is a possibility.