FAE September 2014

qwabercd

Is it just me or are the launch cases, cross marking and integrated case day cases more difficult than the questions that have actually come up in previous exams? Some of them are very tough whereas when I did some of the past exams papers I haven't found them quite as bad in general.

qwabercd

PhilipLuke wrote: »

Does anyone know where the direct cost of manufacture figures come from in the Primus Pet Foods solution

Thought this was a v.tough case, got feck all of it right!

BigMawn12

I'd say repeating is harder. Most people don't get to do the course again and certainly don't get the same study leave. Preparing myself to ask to boss today can I take August off.... don't know if it'll go down too well.

thumbelinda

Hi all, I am trying to study management accounting, apart from the case study book is anyone using anything else? Finding the case study book a bit all over the place!! I have gone over my cap 2 notes and the launch lectures notes and now I am kind of stuck as to what to do next? Any suggestions?

Accountant81

thumbelinda wrote: »

Hi all, I am trying to study management accounting, apart from the case study book is anyone using anything else? Finding the case study book a bit all over the place!! I have gone over my cap 2 notes and the launch lectures notes and now I am kind of stuck as to what to do next? Any suggestions?

Have you got the CAP2 SFMA toolkit? I find that good.

myshirt

This exam is so unpredictable.

Friend of mine failed on IMP in 2012, of all things, but got the tax elective. In 2013 he failed on Tax.
And he works in tax!

Serious amount of people taking the exams this year also... over 1,300 I think.

thumbelinda

Accountant81 wrote: »

Have you got the CAP2 SFMA toolkit? I find that good.

Oh that is a very good idea! Hadn't even thought of it! Will have to dig it out of the attic!

heathcliff101

For anyone that has attempted Primus Pet Foods, how have you calculated the venture capitalists' valuation of the company? My estimate seems very low in comparison to break up value/ net assets (€52,754):

-VC will pay 10m for 20% for the post investment total issued equity
- Total value of company post share issuance per VC:10m * 5 = 50m.
- Implied company valuation before share issuance: 50m - 10m = 40m.

Alternatively, another method:

- VC will get 20% of shares after capital issuance.
- Shareholdings currently making up 100% of capital will be worth only 80% of company after share issuance, so there is a dilution of 1.25 (to convert post issue shareholding to original holding divide by 80%, multiply by 100%).
- So 20% VC holding valued at 10m would have constituted a 25% holding before (20% * 1.25).
- 10m = 25%, full value of company is 40m.

Did anyone do anything different?

heathcliff101

PhilipLuke wrote: »

Does anyone know where the direct cost of manufacture figures come from in the Primus Pet Foods solution

From the income statement given in the question, for each category find the % of direct cost of manufacture vs sales. Then apply that percentage to the 'Current trade sale price ex PPF' given in the table with the supermarket offer data.

Hope that helps!

Dellboy2007

myshirt wrote: »

This exam is so unpredictable.

Friend of mine failed on IMP in 2012, of all things, but got the tax elective. In 2013 he failed on Tax.
And he works in tax!

Serious amount of people taking the exams this year also... over 1,300 I think.

There was over 1300 sitting the core last year also. Roughly 300 make up repeaters.

Dellboy2007

I think some people are worrying too much about calculations on some of the cases. Where did this come from, how did they get this, etc? Have you ever seen any of these calculations calculated the same way in any case? To get competent, you need to make a REASONABLE attempt at calculations and then provide an explanation for it as well as your recommendation.

Or don't, spend your day concentrating on this one tiny minuscule part of the calculation of the case study that you will never see again. Up to you!

myshirt

Not looking good in terms of stats for repeaters... 33% pass rate (145 people) for those taking core and elective, and like 50:50 on those just taking the one..

Jesus.... better get working even harder..

kenner24

Devere........iv been doing this case for about 10 hours now.......

Accountant81

myshirt wrote: »

Not looking good in terms of stats for repeaters... 33% pass rate (145 people) for those taking core and elective, and like 50:50 on those just taking the one..

Jesus.... better get working even harder..

That's strange. Would've thought you repeaters were in a better position than first timers given you've (assuming) covered the course more. Don't mind what the stats say. Still 6 weeks to go. Some people not even on study leave yet you've loads of time. I just keep telling myself it's 6 weeks of hell and then it'll be worth it. Fingers crossed!! Full throttle til sept 4 and you'll be grand.

Accountant81

kenner24 wrote: »

Devere........iv been doing this case for about 10 hours now.......

I gave up on it! I hate it. Any thoughts on the tax indicator?

kenner24

Accountant81 wrote: »

I gave up on it! I hate it. Any thoughts on the tax indicator?

I think its a close company consideration. They only give details on 7 shareholders, 4 of which are confirmed directors. I find im assuming alot in my answer...but if julie and julien sell their shareholding to the remaining 12 and those remaining 12 are all directors it is a close company. Or alternatively, once they sell the shares over 50percent of the distributions will go to peter, herbert, maisie, rosie and the guy holding 15percent originally (who i will assume is a director) which means it can be classed as a close company.

Also i mentioned briefly that if julie and julien become directors to get a "real" pension they could possibly have 14 directors and again be a close company. Then also if julie and julien work full time for 5yrs or part time for 10 years, in 10 years time they will be mid 50s (as they are mid 40s now) so could possibly be 55...at which point they will have worked fulltime for 5yrs or part time for 10 in a family company (75percent owned by family and over 10 percent still owned by them if they dont sell shares -as it is still just a proposal).

I didnt go into calculations though because he said it would be premature to consider merits, price or value of the offer.

Overall its unlikely to happen as the family dont want to see the properties and also devere 'can do without the space' so will not want to rent it back from them.

My answer is very backwards and forwards and is basically just a collection of assumptions based around these points!

Accountant81

My answer is very backwards and forwards and is basically just a collection of assumptions based around these points![/quote]

Good work, thanks!

Cagney87

just starting into cases this week, have been putting it off for long enough! are people printing off solutions of each case and making a file of them or just taking notes of each case re the parts you got wrong? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

PhilipLuke

qwabercd wrote: »

Is it just me or are the launch cases, cross marking and integrated case day cases more difficult than the questions that have actually come up in previous exams? Some of them are very tough whereas when I did some of the past exams papers I haven't found them quite as bad in general.

I agree they are more technical

PhilipLuke

heathcliff101 wrote: »

From the income statement given in the question, for each category find the % of direct cost of manufacture vs sales. Then apply that percentage to the 'Current trade sale price ex PPF' given in the table with the supermarket offer data.

Hope that helps!

Cheers, don't know how I didnt figure that out

kenner24

Hey in the resource pack in section 1 what does all this relate to? Is it just corporate governance or is it auditing too??

littlemiss123

kenner24 wrote: »

Hey in the resource pack in section 1 what does all this relate to? Is it just corporate governance or is it auditing too??

I was wondering this too but was afraid to ask encase everyone knew what they were for and I didn't!! There are articles on whistleblowing, fraud etc. I tried to tie them to the competency statement but couldn't see them explicitly mentioned. I have 'assumed' that they all relate to governance and ethics as all the other BL sections are neatly divided, but I could be wrong.

kookies

Im off on study leave from friday (only starting god help me) any advice etc, five weeks left, where should i begin?
Panicking!!!

Dellboy2007

kookies wrote: »

Im off on study leave from friday (only starting god help me) any advice etc, five weeks left, where should i begin?
Panicking!!!

Read back over the thread you'll see this has been answered a few times

galway321

Question in relation to the Core Comp Mock 2014 solution indicator #1

Doc Holidays investment of €1m for 10% equity is recorded in the solution as follows;

___________________________DR____CR
Cash................................ 1,000
Non-controlling interest....................(100)
Equity - Other Reserve................. ...(900)

Can someone explain how the 100 and 900 values above were reached?

I think I have been looking at it for too long and just cant figure it out.

myshirt

The 900 is the 'excess' over the value of the NCI reduction.

Transfer between owners that do not result in a loss of control are equity transactions. In other words, there is no profit on the sale. This 'profit' goes to equity instead. It is a pure balance sheet transaction.

galway321

Thanks - but I'm still struggling with this!

If Woodburn bought €16,000 worth of net assets for €16,000 and then sold 10% to Doc Holiday for €1,000 is the NCI portion not 10% of €16,000?

Maybe I'm just looking at this all wrong

myshirt

galway321 wrote: »

Thanks - but I'm still struggling with this!

If Woodburn bought €16,000 worth of net assets for €16,000 and then sold 10% to Doc Holiday for €1,000 is the NCI portion not 10% of €16,000?

Maybe I'm just looking at this all wrong

No - the net assets at acquisition were 1,000,000 I thought?
Net Assets at reporting date less profit post acquisition = net assets at acquisition date.

I'll look at it again as I am operating from memory.

That paper was incredibly hard to deal with in 4 hours, incredibly hard. It was technically difficult, and I think Paul left a lot in his head rather than on the paper when drafting it. It made sense to him, but the coherency of thought, layout, phrasing, etc was all off for me. But then again, I would say that wouldn't I, so that's my comments in the bin.

myshirt

If they acquired the trade and assets through a shelf company, why is he apportioning the revenues in the solution? The trading results we were given were for the NEWCO, which was 9 months old. Any trade that the receiver may have done, if at all, shouldn't be in NEWCO's accounts.

You would say something if Woodburn took over the LocalTherms Entity, but they didn't.

It was very unclear at the start of the case study if they were just acquiring a group of assets that were not a business, or a group of assets that were a business. It was only later in the case study that it became clear.
These inconsistencies really put you off.

Has anyone done Gamma Importers? There is a load of tax stuff in there, but no tax indicator. Obviously at some stage they were half thinking about a tax indicator, changed their mind, removed half the detail, maybe went for a coffee and forgot to remove the rest. They then issued it to me, and I was scratching my stones for a good half hour as to why the hell the info was in there.

PeteF

kookies wrote: »

Im off on study leave from friday (only starting god help me) any advice etc, five weeks left, where should i begin?
Panicking!!!

Get stuck into cases and start summarising your notes as quickly as you can. Don't waste any time about it.

IR1SH RANG3R

Anyone got any good templates for intro paragraphs to memos/reports/briefing papers etc? Want to have a couple handy while doing cases

swoggle

kookies wrote: »

Im off on study leave from friday (only starting god help me) any advice etc, five weeks left, where should i begin?
Panicking!!!

My advice would be get notes/books sorted asap.. only spend a day. Just tab tab tab. Don't bother reading them. Then start on self study cases asap and do the technical that way. Self study cases are way easier than Steps cases so build up confidence with them. Cover steps, past exams and mocks too tho. If it helps, I feel I've only started this week. Do financial reporting cases from Derry Cotter book. Good luck!

20 Times 20 Times

After the intergrated pack what are people doing??

kookies

swoggle wrote: »

My advice would be get notes/books sorted asap.. only spend a day. Just tab tab tab. Don't bother reading them. Then start on self study cases asap and do the technical that way. Self study cases are way easier than Steps cases so build up confidence with them. Cover steps, past exams and mocks too tho. If it helps, I feel I've only started this week. Do financial reporting cases from Derry Cotter book. Good luck!

As regards the external sources of information ie the financial times, from a quick review over solutions there is very little mention of stats and trends in industries, would anyone consider this an important thing to cover?

myshirt

kookies wrote: »

As regards the external sources of information ie the financial times, from a quick review over solutions there is very little mention of stats and trends in industries, would anyone consider this an important thing to cover?

Yes.

I think the liklihood is that the marking methodology for Competent will now be something like:
Student presents 8 relevant key developed points, including x, y and z, and refers to external information, makes a recommendation, and links to another part of the solution

swoggle

myshirt wrote: »

Yes.

I think the liklihood is that the marking methodology for Competent will now be something like:
Student presents 8 relevant key developed points, including x, y and z, and refers to external information, makes a recommendation, and links to another part of the solution

Are you serious? I don't think that'll be the case. If anything, it's the icing on the cake and people would get highly competent.

Kookies- it's more important to focus on technical through cases.. I wouldn't get bogged down on industry trends unless you were sorted for technical and practiced the cases. Paul Monahan ran through industry trends in the mock review.

myshirt

We were told this on the Revision course, and to expect it in the Mocks marking methodology. Particularly on finance and strategy as they are happy that cohorts of students are consistently good on these so they want to crank it up a slight notch.

This is the only year that the FAE board specifically asked that students read the FT and the lex column in the FT. All other years they just said students are encouraged to read business news.

I don't think anyone will be nailed if they haven't. These model solutions are just an opportunity for dick measuring between the institutes. The reality is I gave appalling answers last year and still got 5 of the super 6.

House of Wolves

Hey, just wondering does anyone know where the old FAE papers and solutions are on the site?
Cannot find them! Want to look at the solution to the 2000 Redbrick MABF question!

myshirt

House of Wolves wrote: »

Hey, just wondering does anyone know where the old FAE papers and solutions are on the site?
Cannot find them! Want to look at the solution to the 2000 Redbrick MABF question!

I'll put it up later for you when I'm at home.

IR1SH RANG3R

Does anyone know any good places to get a summary of tax reliefs? Really struggling with tax and could use all the help I can get

LOccitane

Little Pea wrote: »

After the intergrated pack what are people doing??

Just going to do the past Papers (Finals not the Mocks) for 2010-2013 under full exam conditions. I'm hoping to get back to Technical material in PM and BL again towards the last 1/3 of August.

Anyone else notice that some issues appear not to be addressed in the Self Study Pack cases? For example in one of them, Research expenditure capitalised by a German based subsidiary that was acquired and which would be disallowed on first time adoption restatement of Assets/Liabilities in accordance with IFRS..

LOccitane

swoggle

LOccitane wrote: »

Just going to do the past Papers (Finals not the Mocks) for 2010-2013 under full exam conditions. I'm hoping to get back to Technical material in PM and BL again towards the last 1/3 of August.

Anyone else notice that some issues appear not to be addressed in the Self Study Pack cases? For example in one of them, Research expenditure capitalised by a German based subsidiary that was acquired and which would be disallowed on first time adoption restatement of Assets/Liabilities in accordance with IFRS..

LOccitane

Why are you avoiding the Mocks?

Is that that Global Tech one? I think it's because they hadn't actually acquired the company, they were just valuing it but I dunno.. I mentioned it.

Which are better, self study or the case study day cases?

ASOT2012

Did anyone do Thorpe clinic yet? I cannot figure out where he is getting those Contribution Margin Ratio figures in indicator 1. Anyone look at it??

frazman007

ASOT2012 wrote: »

Did anyone do Thorpe clinic yet? I cannot figure out where he is getting those Contribution Margin Ratio figures in indicator 1. Anyone look at it??

Yes...I was banging my head against the wall earlier with this one...it's very confusingly done. ...basically the numbers all come from the income statement...that's where the various inputs come from for the calculation of the 40.8%

ASOT2012

frazman007 wrote: »

Yes...I was banging my head against the wall earlier with this one...it's very confusingly done. ...basically the numbers all come from the income statement...that's where the various inputs come from for the calculation of the 40.8%

Thanks very much..I kept looking at the projections! The solutions could be laid out a bit better alright!

autumnbelle

The tax cgs notes for elective

autumnbelle

Does anyone have any tax summary notes

2014fae

How are people sorting out their audit file?

myshirt

2014fae wrote: »

How are people sorting out their audit file?

Chronological order, from obtaining engagement right through to subsequent events review and audit report sign off.

FAE Timing - How are people splitting their reading time, planning time, writing time etc.

Anyone any thoughts?

2014fae

Liam doran at case day said the institute are recommending two hours planning your answer and two hours writing. I didn't hear that before though