FAE 2017

s15r330

Thanks Atticus, much appreciated.

AtticusFinch86

jbeador wrote: »

Has anyone got access to past papers pre 2015? Most cases seem quite different than actual past papers!

Don't bother with papers pre-2015. The syllabus had a big change 2015 and it's not very time effective to look at earlier papers. A lot of the stuff is still relevant but a lot of it is not. (BL changed, Tax obviously has changed, etc.)

Look at the 2015, 2016, 2017 papers and mocks

Look at the Steps cases & Integrated Case Day cases

Also look at the "cross marking" papers and City Centre Convention cases

They'd all be a far better use of your time

CAIgirl

Humour Me wrote: »

Correct, we got an email from the institute on the 27 June to confirm they are not examinable.

How is the study going for everyone? Any study discipline I had seems to be going out the window

Same! Finding it really hard to keep motivated🙈 Struggling with the bl indicators

AtticusFinch86

Don't know if this is of any use to anyone but I've gone through all the cases we were given (steps, cross-marking, ICD, etc.) and tried to summarise the solutions. As you can see, the summarising part wasn't overly successful (the solutions are a bit wordier than I'd have liked) but what I ended up with is a relatively short, easy to read solution for each case the can be easily edited for your own purposes.

This, the other notes I posted and a few of other bits and bobs will be my only study tools when I finally get my study leave in 10 days.

Humour Me

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

This, the other notes I posted and a few of other bits and bobs will be my only study tools when I finally get my study leave in 10 days.

Fair play to you for getting so much work done before you even started study leave, that is seriously impressive.

Catherine3006

For anyone doing the Audit Elective, are you just using the Elective notes when going through the Core papers? My Elective notes are vastly better than Core (in terms of annotations from class etc.), but I'm afraid elective will be too detailed and I'll end up going off on a tangent if I use those notes in the Core papers.

Jsmac67

Catherine3006 wrote: »

For anyone doing the Audit Elective, are you just using the Elective notes when going through the Core papers? My Elective notes are vastly better than Core (in terms of annotations from class etc.), but I'm afraid elective will be too detailed and I'll end up going off on a tangent if I use those notes in the Core papers.

Im doing the same and going off elective notes,however just beware of the additional material examinable in the elective which is n/a in core.

jbeador

Humour Me wrote: »

Go to the PEC and FAE Board reports on the website, the FAE Board reports going back to 2010 contain the full exam papers and solutions.

Thanks very much.

Good luck with the study everyone.

Jsmac67

How are people approaching tax? Struggling to find myself doing much for it given there are effectively no numerical computations usually asked bar basic loss Releif stuff....

MrSzyslak

Jsmac67 wrote: »

How are people approaching tax? Struggling to find myself doing much for it given there are effectively no numerical computations usually asked bar basic loss Releif stuff....

Probably my weakest area, I went through the book after the mocks. Think I need to redo the question pack and then just concentrate on whatever comes up in case studies in the last two weeks.

MrSzyslak

Regarding FR consolidation indicators rarely seem to come up?

Not sure if I am fully prepare if a case with a lot of consolidation came up. Dont know whether to redo some of Derry Cotters case book for a refresh at this stage or not.

AtticusFinch86

MrSzyslak wrote: »

Regarding FR consolidation indicators rarely seem to come up?

Not sure if I am fully prepare if a case with a lot of consolidation came up. Dont know whether to redo some of Derry Cotters case book for a refresh at this stage or not.

Don't think they come up often no but I'd nearly be of the opinion that that makes it more likely to come up in August. If I were you I'd read the lengthy notes & examples we got on it back in November and may try a couple questiosn in the book that examine IFRS 3 & 10.

Can't imagine we;d be asked anything about full on consolidation (IFRS 10) but I reckon IFRS 3 would be likely enough (g/will, NCI, etc.) but I could be wrong.

AtticusFinch86

Has anyone else gotten an e-mail from Hugh Carroll re: the training diary? Or has anyone received it in previous years?

If so, what's typically the outcome? I got one yesterday (4 weeks before the exams are due to start) telling me I needed to get 12 months worth of work experience logged and approved by a mentor to the CA Diary before I can sit my FAEs. How strict are they on this? I know other folk who hadn't met this requirement in previous years but still sat the exam.

I'll be raging if I have to go and fill in a years worth of info. Time is a precious commodity and I don't want to be wasting it on trivial nonsense like documenting work experience. I understand it needs to be done for qualification purposes but I don't understand why it's a pre-requisite to sitting the exam and I also don't understand why I'm only finding out about it 4 weeks before the exams kick off. It was not sign-posted at all. Never heard it get mentioned once. They'll no doubt send be a link to the size 3 algeric font sub paragraph of paragraph A of section 112.4 of the CAI Trainne/Mentor CA Dairy Programme that I should have read before I enrolled in the programme.

Jsmac67

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

Has anyone else gotten an e-mail from Hugh Carroll re: the training diary? Or has anyone received it in previous years?

If so, what's typically the outcome? I got one yesterday (4 weeks before the exams are due to start) telling me I needed to get 12 months worth of work experience logged and approved by a mentor to the CA Diary before I can sit my FAEs. How strict are they on this? I know other folk who hadn't met this requirement in previous years but still sat the exam.

I'll be raging if I have to go and fill in a years worth of info. Time is a precious commodity and I don't want to be wasting it on trivial nonsense like documenting work experience. I understand it needs to be done for qualification purposes but I don't understand why it's a pre-requisite to sitting the exam and I also don't understand why I'm only finding out about it 4 weeks before the exams kick off. It was not sign-posted at all. Never heard it get mentioned once. They'll no doubt send be a link to the size 3 algeric font sub paragraph of paragraph A of section 112.4 of the CAI Trainne/Mentor CA Dairy Programme that I should have read before I enrolled in the programme.

Never in my life have I heard of that requirement and I'd be extremely reluctant in going back doing diary entries as you said above...

jus_tin4

Jsmac67 wrote: »

Never in my life have I heard of that requirement and I'd be extremely reluctant in going back doing diary entries as you said above...

Tbh I knew about it... But i only thought it was for flexible students. Im pretty sure it was actually highlighted in the booklet .

jus_tin4

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

Don't know if this is of any use to anyone but I've gone through all the cases we were given (steps, cross-marking, ICD, etc.) and tried to summarise the solutions. As you can see, the summarising part wasn't overly successful (the solutions are a bit wordier than I'd have liked) but what I ended up with is a relatively short, easy to read solution for each case the can be easily edited for your own purposes.

This, the other notes I posted and a few of other bits and bobs will be my only study tools when I finally get my study leave in 10 days.

Fair Play Atticus! These are fair superior to any notes i have!

Daisymoo91

I'm just wondering does any one have any advise re the planning of the exam? I know you have to do rough work but your not allowed write in the script until after the reading time so would you have to re write the plan onto the book then is it?

Would appreciate a few pointers!

AtticusFinch86

Daisymoo91 wrote: »

I'm just wondering does any one have any advise re the planning of the exam? I know you have to do rough work but your not allowed write in the script until after the reading time so would you have to re write the plan onto the book then is it?

Would appreciate a few pointers!

Quite a few of the lecturers drilled in the point of using the "box approach" in the planning stage. Basically you divide an A4 pageof paper into 4 quadrants, one quadrant for each indicator (you'll need A4 pages for the core).

As you read the case the first time, identify the indicator and title each quadrant. As you read the case the 2nd time, make brief summary notes of the relevant points for each indicator in the relevant quadrant.

You should also have another A4 page for background info e.g. Role, company industry, group structure, etc.

Read the case for the first 30 minutes, then use the next 40-50 minutes reading it again and planning out your solution. That should leave you about 20-25 minutes per indicator. As a rule of thumb, 1-2 pages per indicator is fine.

I've a "technique" document floating around on my hard-drive somewhere that I can share if you think it'll be useful. It's basically a mesh of some of the better advice I've been given and read and a few of my own observations. I haven't had a chance to put it into practice yet though so I've no idea if its a time effective approach. I'll only know that as I practice

Daisymoo91

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

Quite a few of the lecturers drilled in the point of using the "box approach" in the planning stage. Basically you divide an A4 pageof paper into 4 quadrants, one quadrant for each indicator (you'll need A4 pages for the core).

As you read the case the first time, identify the indicator and title each quadrant. As you read the case the 2nd time, make brief summary notes of the relevant points for each indicator in the relevant quadrant.

You should also have another A4 page for background info e.g. Role, company industry, group structure, etc.

Read the case for the first 30 minutes, then use the next 40-50 minutes reading it again and planning out your solution. That should leave you about 20-25 minutes per indicator. As a rule of thumb, 1-2 pages per indicator is fine.

I've a "technique" document floating around on my hard-drive somewhere that I can share if you think it'll be useful. It's basically a mesh of some of the better advice I've been given and read and a few of my own observations. I haven't had a chance to put it into practice yet though so I've no idea if its a time effective approach. I'll only know that as I pract



Thanks for your advice I really appreciate it! Oh that would be great if it's not too much hassle?

peanutgirl

Do you get any marks by drawing up a plan in the exam?

AtticusFinch86

Daisymoo91 wrote: »

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

Quite a few of the lecturers drilled in the point of using the "box approach" in the planning stage. Basically you divide an A4 pageof paper into 4 quadrants, one quadrant for each indicator (you'll need A4 pages for the core).

As you read the case the first time, identify the indicator and title each quadrant. As you read the case the 2nd time, make brief summary notes of the relevant points for each indicator in the relevant quadrant.

You should also have another A4 page for background info e.g. Role, company industry, group structure, etc.

Read the case for the first 30 minutes, then use the next 40-50 minutes reading it again and planning out your solution. That should leave you about 20-25 minutes per indicator. As a rule of thumb, 1-2 pages per indicator is fine.

I've a "technique" document floating around on my hard-drive somewhere that I can share if you think it'll be useful. It's basically a mesh of some of the better advice I've been given and read and a few of my own observations. I haven't had a chance to put it into practice yet though so I've no idea if its a time effective approach. I'll only know that as I pract



Thanks for your advice I really appreciate it! Oh that would be great if it's not too much hassle?

No problem. No guarantee it'll be useful as everyone will have an approach that suits them best but it might provide some pointers.

We've been advised to have a page for background info (shareholdings, industry, role, etc.) and to use either the "box technique" or "right hand corner" approach to planning our answers so I've attached a template for each. Personally I think the "box technique" is probably more useful but that's a matter of opinion.

AtticusFinch86

peanutgirl wrote: »

Do you get any marks by drawing up a plan in the exam?

You only get marked on the "exam script" as far as I know and, as you can't open it for the first 30 minutes, it's generally recommended that you do most of your planning on your own paper/notes meaning it won't be marked unless you transcribe it to the exam script which isn't very time effective.

I'm considering stapling my planning notes to the exam script but something tells me that's not allowed. I need to look it up.

Catherine3006

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

You only get marked on the "exam script" as far as I know and, as you can't open it for the first 30 minutes, it's generally recommended that you do most of your planning on your own paper/notes meaning it won't be marked unless you transcribe it to the exam script which isn't very time effective.

I'm considering stapling my planning notes to the exam script but something tells me that's not allowed. I need to look it up.

I used a plan in the mocks on rough sheets of paper and used when writing my answer, however I didn't transcribe my plan into the answer booklet as I thought that was a waste of time.

We were told in the mock review lecture session that rewriting the plan is a massive waste of time and to avoid that, however when I received my mock scripts back in 3 of the 4 papers I received a comment about the lack of a plan in the paper. I feel like we've received a lot of conflicting information from the Institute throughout the year....

Humour Me

My approach is to do my planning on my rough work sheets during reading time. I have been practising while doing cases and by the end my rough work is illegible.

I'm going to leave the first two pages of the answer book blank and fill in the plan in the last 10 mins of the exam if I have time. All I will be putting in the answer booklet are:
Indicator description
Requirement e.g. NPV, SWOT, Journal etc
Notes e.g. 6 points pros/cons, link to other indicator etc
Time

There is no need to rewrite all the rough planning that you have on your sheets.

Atticus I think there is a specific mention in the exam regs that you cannot include any loose pages in the answer booklet.

D.Spencer17

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

Has anyone else gotten an e-mail from Hugh Carroll re: the training diary? Or has anyone received it in previous years?

If so, what's typically the outcome? I got one yesterday (4 weeks before the exams are due to start) telling me I needed to get 12 months worth of work experience logged and approved by a mentor to the CA Diary before I can sit my FAEs. How strict are they on this? I know other folk who hadn't met this requirement in previous years but still sat the exam.

I'll be raging if I have to go and fill in a years worth of info. Time is a precious commodity and I don't want to be wasting it on trivial nonsense like documenting work experience. I understand it needs to be done for qualification purposes but I don't understand why it's a pre-requisite to sitting the exam and I also don't understand why I'm only finding out about it 4 weeks before the exams kick off. It was not sign-posted at all. Never heard it get mentioned once. They'll no doubt send be a link to the size 3 algeric font sub paragraph of paragraph A of section 112.4 of the CAI Trainne/Mentor CA Dairy Programme that I should have read before I enrolled in the programme.

I know someone who did not even start the CA diary until after they found out they passed the FAE. However this was a few years ago.

dyanne

D.Spencer17 wrote: »

I know someone who did not even start the CA diary until after they found out they passed the FAE. However this was a few years ago.

I haven't logged any experience and I haven't received an email!! They are so disorganised this year

heretothere

I put a small plan onto my mocks and was told I had good planning. I use the box approach too. I don't know how to attach my template but at the top of the page I have:
Me:
Report to:
- Type (i.e memo/ report)
- F.Lit (Financially Literate) 
Coy:
Date:
Then 4 boxes on each side of the sheet of paper. I filled in my boxes with detailed notes during the reading time then took about 2 mins to put the top bit and the jist of the indicators onto the 1st page of my exam booklet. I then did my executive summary again I spent about 5 mins on it saying following our discussion etc.... then please find attached my report outling the following issues:
1. 
2. 
etc
If you any queries please do not hesitate to contact me. 

I didn't even put conclusions onto my executive summary and I was told in 2 of the mocks that it was enough, no comment on the others. You get no marks for plan/ Summary but it looks good and supposedly sets the marker off on the right foot. Now I didn't pass any of the papers (so don't know how good my advise is!) but I came very close in all of them which I was happy with since I had done zero study before.

dakerrymo

Have just started study leave and literally have nothing whatsoever done- wondering does anyone have anything for Finance and Mgt AC?

I have just downloaded AtticusFinch's other notes- they are amazing- thank you soooo much!!

AtticusFinch86

dakerrymo wrote: »

Have just started study leave and literally have nothing whatsoever done- wondering does anyone have anything for Finance and Mgt AC?

I have just downloaded AtticusFinch's other notes- they are amazing- thank you soooo much!!

I should have some. See attached.

I've thrown in my APM notes too and a summary of all indicators asked in cases for both APM & FAE (except for anything post 2015)

heretothere

dakerrymo - just jump straight into case studies. try get thro the ICD's/ Steps cases/ Mocks and the papers.
Make sure you time yourself so that you can get your timing right. From going through papers I think we all definitely have the technical knowledge from CAP1/2 its just a matter of getting it out onto the paper in time.

MrSzyslak

Are mocks generally harder the main exam?

Working through mock papers this week and starting to panic, just doing 2016 mock and the sim 1 FR indicator seems very difficult.

Catherine3006

MrSzyslak wrote: »

Are mocks generally harder the main exam?

Working through mock papers this week and starting to panic, just doing 2016 mock and the sim 1 FR indicator seems very difficult.

Apparently so. One of the lecturers had said that the mocks are generally 10-15% more demanding than the real paper would be - hopefully that continues to be the case.

Jsmac67

MrSzyslak wrote: »

Are mocks generally harder the main exam?

Working through mock papers this week and starting to panic, just doing 2016 mock and the sim 1 FR indicator seems very difficult.

Construction contracts feature in that SIM, unsure whether this is the indicator you're referring to but be advised they're not examinable this year.

MrSzyslak

Jsmac67 wrote: »

Construction contracts feature in that SIM, unsure whether this is the indicator you're referring to but be advised they're not examinable this year.

Yes that's the one. Just spent last hour going through the indicator and construction contracts oh well. ha

IAS11 is included in IFRS15 now. But IFRS15 isnt examinable either. Just IAS18?

Confusing!

MrSzyslak

Catherine3006 wrote: »

Apparently so. One of the lecturers had said that the mocks are generally 10-15% more demanding than the real paper would be - hopefully that continues to be the case.

Think Ill do a few years of real papers from tomorrow I need a bit of confidence ha.

Jsmac67

MrSzyslak wrote: »

Yes that's the one. Just spent last hour going through the indicator and construction contracts oh well. ha

IAS11 is included in IFRS15 now. But IFRS15 isnt examinable either. Just IAS18?

Confusing!

Yeah just IAS18 strangely. Mocks are alot more difficult I find, and are marked alot harder too! Past three exam papers haven't been horrific! I'd recommend over any mocks

Humour Me

We were advised by one of the lecturers who did a revision session in our firm not to bother with the mocks unless you had a specific area you wanted to practice. He said it wasn't worth the stress, especially since they don't go through the same review process as the actual exam.

Paul Monaghan also said that he deliberately wrote the mocks harder than the actual exam.

MrSzyslak

Jsmac67 wrote: »

Yeah just IAS18 strangely. Mocks are alot more difficult I find, and are marked alot harder too! Past three exam papers haven't been horrific! I'd recommend over any mocks

Cheers guys its a relief the mocks are tougher all round.

So many cases to get through feeling overwhelmed ha

Had planned to do all the mocks as I thought they might be a good indication of what may come up, but I dont think I will now. I still haven't looked at any of the steps cases or cross marking cases!

Now thinking of doing the Steps cases. Then Jan 2017 and 2015 exams and revisit the plan then.

Its taking me the best part of a full day to complete one exam paper and review the solution in detail - feeling I am being inefficient.

What way are ye all working through them? How many cases in a day?

goroved

MrSzyslak wrote: »

Cheers guys its a relief the mocks are tougher all round.

So many cases to get through feeling overwhelmed ha

Had planned to do all the mocks as I thought they might be a good indication of what may come up, but I dont think I will now. I still haven't looked at any of the steps cases or cross marking cases!

Now thinking of doing the Steps cases. Then Jan 2017 and 2015 exams and revisit the plan then.

Its taking me the best part of a full day to complete one exam paper and review the solution in detail - feeling I am being inefficient.

What way are ye all working through them? How many cases in a day?

I typically would do a COMP or SIM1 & SIM2 in the morning, and then review an area I struggle with in the evening, or do a case from Derry Cotter's book. Some days I feel so tired after doing the paper, that I just don't do anything for the rest of the day. :rolleyes: Also, because there are so many cases to cover, I do a lot of them on a high-level, just bullet-points, to make sure I'm on the right track, and then maybe do 2 papers a week under exam time pressure.

General plan would be to finish off case studies from Derry's book, past papers 2017, 2016 & 2015 and go back through Steps, self-study cases, etc. Also, will make sure to have all my notes properly in order. Hopefully that will be enough, but not feeling overly confident and panic majorly settling in :eek:

What's everyone else doing for the last 2 weeks?

MrSzyslak

goroved wrote: »

I typically would do a COMP or SIM1 & SIM2 in the morning, and then review an area I struggle with in the evening, or do a case from Derry Cotter's book. Some days I feel so tired after doing the paper, that I just don't do anything for the rest of the day. :rolleyes: Also, because there are so many cases to cover, I do a lot of them on a high-level, just bullet-points, to make sure I'm on the right track, and then maybe do 2 papers a week under exam time pressure.

General plan would be to finish off case studies from Derry's book, past papers 2017, 2016 & 2015 and go back through Steps, self-study cases, etc. Also, will make sure to have all my notes properly in order. Hopefully that will be enough, but not feeling overly confident and panic majorly settling in :eek:

What's everyone else doing for the last 2 weeks?

18 days from tomorrow :eek:

MrSzyslak

15YemenRoad wrote: »

These were my main exam notes if they are any use.

They are just some of the best solutions from the case studies organised as per the comp statement. After I identified my indicators I found a roughly similar solution in the notes to base my answer off. Obviously your answer needs to be completely based on the facts from the current case, but I found that having these made it way easier and quicker to structure the answer and know how much to write for each indicator. Then if I didn't have any solutions that were in anyway similar to the indicator in the exam, I knew the indicator was probably fairly off the wall so I didn't feel too bad making up complete crap.

Thanks a lot for these :-)

I am really pushing it, but you hardly have one for tax?:D

Daisymoo91

Has anyone any advise on what order to answer the indicators in?

Humour Me

My approach would be to do the FR indicators first as they could affect profit or raise audit or tax issues. After that I approach them in the order they appeared in the paper unless there is an indicator that I know I will have issues with and wil leave till last.

Jsmac67

My approach is answer whatever indicators will tell you most about the case first.

I.e it's not much use listing due diligence procedures for a potential accquire without knowing what exactly the accquisition entails/things to look out for, which may be given by way of a npv calc or something

AtticusFinch86

The feedback I got on the last Steps case said that I should do the indicators in order that they appear in the case study unless I have a good reason not to. I took that to mean that they should be in order unless there Indicator 5 would give me a good insight into Indicator 3, in which case I'd do the 5th indicator identified before the 3rd

AtticusFinch86

I just sat down and read the 2016 mock comp White Gold. 11 pages. 8 Appendices. Complex multinational structure. Unclear indicator direction. Fu*k off.

CAIgirl

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

I just sat down and read the 2016 mock comp White Gold. 11 pages. 8 Appendices. Complex multinational structure. Unclear indicator direction. Fu*k off.

That made me lol

dakerrymo

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

I just sat down and read the 2016 mock comp White Gold. 11 pages. 8 Appendices. Complex multinational structure. Unclear indicator direction. Fu*k off.

My god thank you, I'm here pulling my hair out trying to read it whilst trying to stay away from the draw of social media!! Waste of time??? Guess it's to 'start the cases' time for me.

Can I also ask? Can anyone answer a lot of these indicators without their notes? Or is it a case of spot the indicator, refer to notes, structure answer and then write??

CAIgirl

dakerrymo wrote: »

My god thank you, I'm here pulling my hair out trying to read it whilst trying to stay away from the draw of social media!! Waste of time??? Guess it's to 'start the cases' time for me.

Can I also ask? Can anyone answer a lot of these indicators without their notes? Or is it a case of spot the indicator, refer to notes, structure answer and then write??

For me its defo trying to find out what the hell the indicator is and look at the notes🙈 if a person can do it without looking at notes they deserve a medal😂🙈

dakerrymo

CAIgirl wrote: »

For me its defo trying to find out what the hell the indicator is and look at the notes🙈 if a person can do it without looking at notes they deserve a medal😂🙈

Please tell me I'm not the only one hoping for a miracle and being able to pass these exams with two full hard weeks of work!!!! Has anyone ever heard of this miracle happening??? Please say Yes!