FAE 2018

ACAguy

Tax was difficult enough. 90 minutes is not enough. Spent the first 20minutes reading it. Would really like to know what other thought of tax. Also came across that there was 4 indicators/Issues

OttoPilot

McGaggs wrote: »

I was the same: go for it with the lease break option and likely pull out after 10 years. No need for the notes for any of the questions.

Did anyone bring the ethics of the casino gambling machines into it? I didn't, but I have seen newspaper articles on the ethics of them...

Yeah the UK recently introduced restrictions on how much can be spent on them per hour or something to that effect. I recommended lobbying for harsher restrictions and promoting ourselves as an ethical, light-hearted bookies. It would also have the effect of hurting competition.

I also recommended keeping the shops open even if they're making a loss, as a form of marketing/getting the brand known. I believe Paddy power runs a lot of its brick and mortar shops like this, and there are increasing restrictions on gambling advertisements.

The one time being a massive gambler pays off!

pixie11123

I don't understand how you could suggest lobbying against yourself. Why not talk about the ethics of gambling as a whole not just gaming machines.

OttoPilot

pixie11123 wrote: »

I don't understand how you could suggest lobbying against yourself. Why not talk about the ethics of gambling as a whole not just gaming machines.

The case said you didn't use gambling machines therefore you wouldn't be lobbying against yourself. Paddypower has done similar in the past.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/paddy-power-betfair-calls-for-strict-control-of-betting-machines-in-uk-1.3235625?mode=amp

pixie11123

The case said JJ underperformed competitors on betting machine reveneue per shop.

Interesting they were against FOBTs only. I believe they still offer these games online with little stake restrictions.

OttoPilot

You're right, they do seem to use them but not as successfully as competitors, and they can't use them in Ireland where most of their shops are located, so I would think lobbying against them is a good move.

Hard to know what they offer online but you could make the argument that online betting patterns by customer could be tracked and cut-off if they believe someone is a problem gambler, whereas the machines take cash which is untraceable.

ACAguy

How does everyone feel about the whole marking changes this year and also the whole professional competence side of things and is there anyway to understand how much you know about it?

ACAguy

Is anyone else having trouble watching lectures I have tried 3 laptops on the usual internet explorer and get the same error message. Wasted an entire day planned to catch up as a result

heretothere

ACAguy wrote: »

Is anyone else having trouble watching lectures I have tried 3 laptops on the usual internet explorer and get the same error message. Wasted an entire day planned to catch up as a result

Try Firefox it usually works.

ACAguy

I thought we were only able to watch them on Internet Explorer. How is your core work going?

heretothere

I'm 90% sure I watched a few on Firefox. Thank my beautiful pink calculator I am not doing core. I failed the APM elective. I never want to see that big black box of books I had for core ever again.

ACAguy

Any advice on where I should be at with it now 4 months out with 2 months of study leave?

heretothere

Just practising papers. The case study ones are a good starting place. Time yourself doing the paper and make a note of anything you struggled with. Once you have finished the paper (and taken a bit of a rest!) go back and mark it then look up any of the areas you were struggling with. Each lecturer has a diff approach on how to 'map' the indicators. I liked the one with the Coy no, my name, who I report to, date, internal/ external at the top then 4 boxes putting 1 indicators into each box then allocating my time and sticking to it.
Also make sure you have your folders really well organised. If you did CAP 2 you know how important that is.

As you probably realised from the AAFRP and the interim assessment you don't have very much time for looking stuff up.

ACAguy

Thanks for the above. My main issue is getting all of my folders organised again and what way to divide them up

joey69

Hi,
I'm tempted by these grind schools- does anyone have any experience of them? I really want to know are they worth it- not on a financial basis but on a time basis? They are two day courses and if I was going to enroll it would be on 2 modules which would be costing me 4 days study.
I live in Belfast- anyone know if theres anything similar in the north?

nhickey07

joey69 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm tempted by these grind schools- does anyone have any experience of them? I really want to know are they worth it- not on a financial basis but on a time basis? They are two day courses and if I was going to enroll it would be on 2 modules which would be costing me 4 days study.
I live in Belfast- anyone know if theres anything similar in the north?

I've gone to ACA Revisions for assessments, getting their notes was a big help but I'd like to know as well if the exam days are as beneficial?

heretothere

I've signed up for the grind school this summer for the elective. I've only ever heard great things about them so I think it will be time well spent.

ACAguy

Joey. 
Chartered Grind Schools are probably the most well know ones. Liam Doran is excellent for Financial Accounting Finance and Management Accounting. Dave O Donoghue is excellent for Audit. Sandra Gleeson is quite good for tax. I'm completely in the same boat with regards to time. To do all of them for FAE it is 13 days of study. 9 of which can be done on the weekends so wouldn't necessarily effect the Monday- Friday study.

What elective are you doing?

joey69

I am doing tax NI- which I would be relatively confident of passing so would not be going to the class even if available.
My weaker areas would be Financial and Management accounting, which I see you've noted as being excellently taught, so I will book them.
I was also thinking of doing Business Leadership- due to higher weighting.

ACAguy

I am doing Tax ROI. How do you find the elective I think NI is similar apart from rates etc. Do you work in tax?
Liam Doran is excellent so yes I would recommend that. The more classes you book they provide discounts. I am thinking of doing BL for the exact same reason as I think it hugely important. 
How is your core work going?

joey69

I work in a small practice, so would get a lot of experience with tax. I did a lot of preparation for the interim, which covers 13/23 sessions for NI (core & elective), and the core past paper questions relative to them sessions didn't appear too daunting.
For core i've did very little other than attend class and keep file up to date. I don't really intend to do any additional work until June. Have you a date when you intend to start?
How do you know about the grind school- did you go to CAP2 sessions?

ACAguy

For the core do you just have 1 folder? I am just catching up on lectures at the moment also and just trying to get folders together. I go on study leave on June 28th. How long do you get off?
I have gone to them for the last couple of years and they saved me last year for SFMA and FR

joey69

No I will have 6 folders- 1 for each pillar. How will you be preparing? I've heard ones bringing in suitcases full of text books etc.
Not off until 11th July- block days ate into study leave.
Do the grind classes provide notes for the full module or just certain areas? What format is the class- is it a question and answer session just, where students ask about areas they are struggling with?

ACAguy

I have 6 folders also. I have been told the less you bring in the better people that do that dont use half of it.
I didnt go to the lectures on block days just the case studys. 
Notes are provided for the majority of the module and they go through exam questions on everything

fishy_fishy

Anyone got an industries list for APM?

The J Stands for Jay

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Anyone got an industries list for APM?

What's an industries list?

fishy_fishy

Just like a list of different industries to make sure that your folder has key points about them in it and make sure your reading hasn't neglected it.

So like

Not for profit
Green energy
Marketing
Coffee chains
Hospitality/tourism
Automotive
Etc

tanit

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Just like a list of different industries to make sure that your folder has key points about them in it and make sure your reading hasn't neglected it.

So like

Not for profit
Green energy
Marketing
Coffee chains
Hospitality/tourism
Automotive
Etc

Actually that might be quite interesting for most of the Core subjects.
Wouldn't it be better something more generic like:

Technology companies (subcategories of maybe cloud/software and hardware driven)
Financial Services
Consumer products/Retail (maybe categorised in luxury, essential items)
Transport/Automotive
Hospitality/Tourism
Not for profit
Service companies (subcategorised as businesses and consumers)
Medical/Pharmaceutical
Entertainment/News services

ACAguy

Couple of general questions mainly as I don't really know anyone else doing the FAEs as I work in industry.
1. What date is everyone going on study leave.
2. Is everyone up to date on all lectures.
3. What are the study plans between now and study leave.
4. How are you all splitting your time between the elective and each of the super 6.
Would really appreciate if as many could answer as possible as It think this forum could be a huge help over the coming months.

AtticusFinch86

Hi All,
I sat the exam last year and passed it reasonably comfortably so I thought I might be able to pass on a few tips and tricks I picked up along the way. There are still a few months to go so hopefully they’re timely enough to be of use.
Here are my tips…..(Note: I’m mainly speaking about the CORE below, but most of the tips apply to your ELECTIVE studies too)

BUILD A GOOD SET OF COMPREHENSIVE SUMMARY NOTES

Summary notes are vital. They should be give you a high level view of each topic within each super six area. Try and develop notes that you can both use in your final exams and that allow you to quickly review each area in the run up to the exams. In the last 7-10 days before the exam, I spent my days looking only at my summary notes. I only ventured elsewhere if I was having particular trouble with an area.

PRACTICE EXAM QUESTIONS UNDER EXAM CONDITIONS

You probably need at least 3-4 CORE and 3-4 ELECTIVE attempts under exam conditions to start getting your technique and timing up to scratch. It’s also a good way for identifying how often you refer to your notes and whether you have too much/too little info in your notes.

HONE YOUR EXAM TECHNIQUE & TIMING

Technique and timing are absolutely vital in the FAEs. The exams themselves are not particularly difficult, it’s the timing that will cause issues. You need to be rigid with times, if you’re spending too long on an indictor, move on. Practising exam questions under time conditions will help with this.
I would argue that the first 60 minutes are the most vital of the exams. In this time, you should be reading the paper once and highlighting each indicator and relevant info. On the 2nd read of the case, you should be jotting down the key points you’ll be making in relation to each indicator. At the end of the first 60 minutes, you should hopefully have read the paper twice, have highlighted the indicators and key relevant points and have a number of discussion/bullet points for each indicator. For the rest of the exam you will mostly be fleshing out on these points (bar some exceptions e.g. where length calculations are required).
When I was trying to perfect my technique, I would partially attempt every paper I could get my hands on. I would spend the recommended time reading the case (say 30 min) and highlighting the indicators and other key relevant info. I would then spend the next 30 min (30 min for Comp day, 15 min for Sims) re-reading the case and jotting down the bones of my discussion points & conclusions for each indictor. After the time was up, I’d read the solution to understand how reasonable my attempt was likely to be. (I think I attempted at least 20-30 papers using this method, in addition to any past exams I attempted).


USE YOUR TIME WISELY

Use weekends and days off to tackle the chunkier items e.g. attempting and marking past papers under exam conditions.
Use afternoons after work to tackle items that don’t require the same amount of mental effort e.g. sorting notes, summarising lengthy notes, reviewing exam papers and solutions. In the 2 months before the exams, I would practice papers at the weekend under exam conditions and during the week I would just read a Sim a night and spend an hour identifying indicators and outlining the points I was likely to make

TIME TO RECHARGE

Leave yourself plenty of time to recharge. If at all possible, make sure the bulk of your work is done before the last 2 weeks of the exam. At that point, you just want to be leisurely reviewing summary notes and case solutions for 4-5 hours a day. You should also be able to take a day or two and study-free, otherwise you will be mentally fatigued going into the exam.

TEMPLATES & TECHNIQUES & LISTS

Make sure to develop lists (various KPIs, Advantages of IT, Advantages & Disadvantages of outsourcing, Features of strong CG, etc.) and templates/techniques (Box Approach, Right hand corner approach, Approach’s for ethical issues, Approach for FR issues).

Anyway, I’ll post more info if it springs to mind. If anyone has any specific questions then feel free to ask.
I’ve attached my summary notes for the 2017 FAE exam. It was my bible for a long time. I spent about 4-5 months preparing these so they’re quite comprehensive. They should cover pretty much the entire syllabus. If you know everything on the attached I can’t imagine you could possibly fail (assuming there have been no major changes in the syllabus between 2017 & 2018). The attached is only a high level view of all Super Six and APM areas so they don’t get overly technical (but then again, unlike the CAP 2 exams, the FAEs are not very technical in nature at all).
The attached should also contain all the lists and templates I brought into the exams and an outline of the exam approach I used to tackle each case.
Hopefully it’s of some use. Good luck with your exams

NOTE: Apologies, the files are too big to attach so I've posted the dropbox link to all 3 of them below. Hopefully you should be able to access them, if not, let me know

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yvowe10d69oqp1r/EXAM%20PAPERS%20%26%20QUESTIONS%20UP%20TO%202017.zip?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vef8by6l6v9erje/SUMMARY%20ELECTIVE%20NOTES.zip?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/whyw579vkd8qx6x/SUMMARY%20FAE%20CORE%20NOTES.zip?dl=0

AtticusFinch86

I've updated the links now so they should work. Apologies to the person that PM'd me, I can't seem to send you a private mail. If they don;t work, PM me your email address and I'll send the documents via that.

Brownbread88

Fair play AtticusFinch for taking the time to post here.

Quick question on the case studies, is there any of them particularly more difficult than the others did you find? (Eg. are the ICD’s harder than the step cases?)

Finding myself extremely rusty on a lot of the material, would like the idea of starting off on easier cases and working towards more difficult ones if possible. Thanks a million

AtticusFinch86

ICD cases were by far the most difficult, and deliberately so. I'd say the order of difficulty was

ICD > Study pack cases > Mock papers > Steps + Finals. Obviously there's a bit of leeway there e.g. some ICD cases may have been less difficult than mocks, but those were exceptions

Eveamae

I am looking at Pursuit steps. The first 2 pages, I couldn’t pick anything up, am I only here having difficult? I’m not at accounting firm or knowing anyone doing FAE

ACASlayer

Eveamae wrote: »

I am looking at Pursuit steps. The first 2 pages, I couldn’t pick anything up, am I only here having difficult? I’m not at accounting firm or knowing anyone doing FAE

The first four indicators are at the first half of page 3, keep reading. There’s a lot of really crucial information on the first two pages that you need to get a good score in the indicators though.

ACAguy

One point on the marking scheme changes in relation to Mgc Acc Finance Audit and Tax for the core. In past years there was two indicators for each that would have to come up across two different cases. From my understanding there could now be as much as 3 indicators of one of them and it's possible they could all come up in the same case. This would seem to mean that there may be 1/2 of them left out of one of the SIMS cases essentially.

Monet321

ACAguy wrote: »

Couple of general questions mainly as I don't really know anyone else doing the FAEs as I work in industry.
1. What date is everyone going on study leave.
2. Is everyone up to date on all lectures.
3. What are the study plans between now and study leave.
4. How are you all splitting your time between the elective and each of the super 6.
Would really appreciate if as many could answer as possible as It think this forum could be a huge help over the coming months.

1. Going on study leave in a week and a half.
2. I'm only concerned with the Elective online lectures. Not going to watch the Core ones as it will just eat into valuable study time and they seem kind of useless tbh.
3. Only going to start study when I'm on study leave. I plan to study Monday to Friday (9am to 5pm) and take weekends off until end of July and August where I might do a bit on Sat and Sun. Going to dive straight into ICD Papers, Mock papers before moving onto past exam papers (these are easier apparently so if you can do the ICD and Mock papers then you should be strong on the past exam papers). My approach is to do a SIM every morning under exam conditions and then in the afternoon just cover one of the super 6 areas by revising notes or doing some CAP2 papers on that area to cover technical questions.
General consensus from talking with people who have done FAE's before is doing more than one paper a day is not very productive because you won't have the same focus levels in the afternoon after doing a paper in the morning.
4. Monday to Thursday is CORE work and then the Elective on Friday.

If anyone has any tips or amendments on my approach above I'd be more than happy to hear it. It's only what I plan to do but it will more than likely change as I get further into study leave.

ACAguy

Do people plan to get much study done this weekend?
Does anyone has a timetable set out for their study for the core?
I’m finding most of the lectures useless apart from BL as he’s gives good advice also.

Would love to hear people’s thoughts

ACASlayer

ACAguy wrote: »

Do people plan to get much study done this weekend?
Does anyone has a timetable set out for their study for the core?
I’m finding most of the lectures useless apart from BL as he’s gives good advice also.

Would love to hear people’s thoughts

Can I ask a serious question - why do you care so much what everyone has done? I genuinely want to know. Especially asking if anyone is going to study one random weekend three months before the exams. It’s mad, you must be trying to place man, good luck.

ACAguy

Just curious is anyone working in Peer Group or have a plan to do something similar?

ACASlayer

ACAguy wrote: »

Just curious is anyone working in Peer Group or have a plan to do something similar?

You've not answered my above question, do you mind?

OttoPilot

ACAguy wrote: »

Just curious is anyone working in Peer Group or have a plan to do something similar?

Probably going to arrange one once I finish work on Tuesday

DP79511

Hi,

I am repeating FAE Core and APM after a poor attempt last August(spend loads of time 'studying' but performed very poorly. A lot to do with my own confidence and approach to study and exam technique. I haven't done a business degree (as I am on the elevation programme so came through cap 1 cap 2 -eventually!) I don't work in an accountancy firm and don't know of anyone doing the exams this year. I am really struggling with all the material and my approach to case studies and feel I am no better off than this time last year again. Is there anyone with any advice/study groups/grinds even! that would be of any help what so ever I would be very grateful. I feel I am way off where I should be with technical knowledge never mind the standard for answering the case studies. Any help or a push in the direction of something would be greatly appreciated.

fishy_fishy

DP79511 wrote: »

Hi,

I am repeating FAE Core and APM after a poor attempt last August(spend loads of time 'studying' but performed very poorly. A lot to do with my own confidence and approach to study and exam technique. I haven't done a business degree (as I am on the elevation programme so came through cap 1 cap 2 -eventually!) I don't work in an accountancy firm and don't know of anyone doing the exams this year. I am really struggling with all the material and my approach to case studies and feel I am no better off than this time last year again. Is there anyone with any advice/study groups/grinds even! that would be of any help what so ever I would be very grateful. I feel I am way off where I should be with technical knowledge never mind the standard for answering the case studies. Any help or a push in the direction of something would be greatly appreciated.

Just on the point I've bolded there, the technical standard at FAE is lower than CAP2.

Have you been going to lectures? What about the case days? The case days are pretty clear about what's required tbh.

It sounds like you're doing an absolute sh!t-tonne of technical work to prep yourself but from anyone I've talked to it's the completely incorrect approach. Just keep doing cases seems to be the trick.

What stage are you at with cases?
- Can you identify all the indicators?
- Can you identify connections between indicators?
- Can you do a rough draft of how to approach each indicator?

DP79511

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Just on the point I've bolded there, the technical standard at FAE is lower than CAP2.

Have you been going to lectures? What about the case days? The case days are pretty clear about what's required tbh.

It sounds like you're doing an absolute sh!t-tonne of technical work to prep yourself but from anyone I've talked to it's the completely incorrect approach. Just keep doing cases seems to be the trick.

What stage are you at with cases?
- Can you identify all the indicators?
- Can you identify connections between indicators?
- Can you do a rough draft of how to approach each indicator?

I am a repeat student so I dont get to attend the lectures or case days this year. I would have attended them all last year. I am considering attending the chartered grinds school for some subjects in the hope it might boost my confidence with the subjects themselves.

As regards the case study s . I can identify the indicators and starting to see the linkage between them too. I havent really got to the stage of doing a rough draft but where i have it has been somewhat away from what the solution is or it may be 'wrong' when it comes to financial reporting etc thats when I start to feel like iam in way over my head!!! It takes me a long time to even do this much as well. I think i realise I need to sit cases study s cold ain exam conditions its just difficult to do so when I feel i dont know the material in the first place!! I het very little study leave as well so time is the big enemy too and only adds to my panic!! Thanks for ur reply !

heretothere

DP79511 wrote: »

I am a repeat student so I dont get to attend the lectures or case days this year. I would have attended them all last year. I am considering attending the chartered grinds school for some subjects in the hope it might boost my confidence with the subjects themselves.

As regards the case study s . I can identify the indicators and starting to see the linkage between them too. I havent really got to the stage of doing a rough draft but where i have it has been somewhat away from what the solution is or it may be 'wrong' when it comes to financial reporting etc thats when I start to feel like iam in way over my head!!! It takes me a long time to even do this much as well. I think i realise I need to sit cases study s cold ain exam conditions its just difficult to do so when I feel i dont know the material in the first place!! I het very little study leave as well so time is the big enemy too and only adds to my panic!! Thanks for ur reply !

Well try not to panic! That will get you no where. If you feel overwhelmed just get up, and go to the bathroom for 5 minutes. Don't look at your phone or anything because you cannot do that in the exam.

The only thing you can do is keep on practising. Sit down, read the paper thoroughly, map out your indicators, I personally like the 'box' approach you know divide the page into 4 and have an indicator in each square. Then when you have identified all of your indicators allocate how much time they will take to complete. A corp gov question isn't going to take as long as most other questions. Most importantly stick to your time.

Stop doubting yourself, I cant remember what it was in the mocks last year but half way thro my answer I was like this is the wrong model but ploughed on with the model I had been using the comment said they were looking for porters 5 forces I think but that I presented enough using the other model for a C. If I had kept doubting or even gone back and changed the answer I'd have been lucky to get a BC. So decide your course of action and stick to it. And if one thing I learnt from my last attempt DO NOT CHANGE YOUR FIGURES!! Once you've done an answer just run with it, put in a disclaimer if you have to.

It must be hard repeating core, I'm just repeating APM but thankfully got core. Just keep the chin up and keep trying questions and most importantly timing. Chartered Grind school is meant to be very good.

DP79511

Hi,

Thanks for your message! I am repeating core and apm so its great craic! every now and again I hit a wall and its all negative thoughts from there! But hearing what others have to say is a help! I am going to be disciplined and keep trying cases, steps, past papers etc from here on in and under exam conditions. Hopefully chartered grinds school will help with the technical part of the subjects too. I don't work in an accountancy firm and get very little study time so this doesn't help me think positive at times among other reasons but thanks for your input it really does help!

DP79511

Hi,

Would it be possible to get the notes in the links in printable form? I understand its better to do your own notes but they look like they might provide a guide to what my own should look like?!

fishy_fishy

Hey DP, I sent you a PM with a few hints that have been going around the office.

Mostly though I think you need to just keep cool. You've 3 months to the exams. Focus on past papers and planning comps rather than drilling way down into detail in the subject matter. A working knowledge of the areas and the ability to pull it all together is what you need, not minute detail of everything.

It'll be okay!

shanmo

Hi all,

Was wondering if anybody here had insight into deferring the exams? I'd appreciate any and all information.

Thanks