ACCA P4 Advanced financial management - Interest rate swaps

I have been working as a financier for 20+ years, but I have never used swaps in my practice. It is a very interesting way to fix financial costs, but Ukrainian banks do not provide such services. I read about the swaps in P4 exam textbook. It seems that P4 examiner also likes the swaps and puts it into exam questions.

The first interest rate swap occurred between IBM and the World Bank in 1981.

Career development: seven steps to your success

Every student focuses on her or his studying and exams. After sleepless nights and stressful examinations, a newly qualified professional starts to seek how to progress professionally.
We are on 28000 days on the planet on average and work for 10000 of these days. Thus, it is the crucial thing to decide where you want to be?

Step #1 Establish the reasons for your move

ACCA P3 Business Analysis - the most popular models

I'm preparing for ACCA P3 exam. It seems Business Analysis is the best and most interesting subject in the ACCA qualification!!! The only problem is that there are a lot of models we need to remember)) I try to find the most popular models and focus on them while I'm studying P3.

Model # 1   PESTEL    Macro environment, strategic position analysis (evaluation)

Political  -  tax policy, labour law, environmental law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability
Economic -  economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates and the inflation rate
Social -  health, population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes and emphasis on safety
Technological -  R&D activity, automation, technology incentives and the rate of technological change
Environmental - weather, climate, and climate change
Legal -  discrimination law, consumer law, antitrust law, employment law, and health and safety law

Professional marks in ACCA P level exams

One of the features of the Professional level exam papers is the awarding of ‘professional marks’. These are marks allocated not for the content of an answer, but for the degree of professionalism with which certain parts of the answer are presented.

They will usually be awarded in Section A (the compulsory part of the exam paper) and will total between four and six marks.
 
 It may be, for example, that one requirement asks you to present your answer in the form of, say, a letter, a presentation, a memo, a report, briefing notes, or similar.

Some marks may be awarded for the form of the answer in addition to the content of the answer. This might be for the structure, content, style and layout, or the logical flow of arguments in your answer.

You should assume that if the question asks for a specific format of answer that some marks may be awarded for an effective presentation of that format.

My ACCA friends sometimes ask me about the specific formats of question answer. I would like to share these formats here.

When you failed your ACCA exam with 47-49 marks, then ask yourself whether or not you try to gain any professional marks. Maybe you can improve your performance next time)

REPORT

ACCA P3 Business Analysis - examiner's reports

There is no any individual feedback for ACCA students from an examiner about their exam work sheets. The ACCA offers to find an examiner's report about all students exam performance.

We can find these reports on www.accaglobal.com.
To download them click the link P3 examiners reports

I'm preparing for P3 in December 2013. Thus, I try to analyse the recent report of performance in June 2013.

The pass rate of P3 is about 50%. Therefore, this exam is slightly easier than F8. How to join to the group of successful candidates? I'm looking for the clues in the examiner's recommendations.

Question 1
Section A MidShire Health - 50 marks

Part a) i) 18 marks +2 prof.marks - Project management concerns
Performed well

ACCA F6 Taxation in the UK revision stage

Hello my ACCA friends,

our exams will start in one month and this is a time for revision for most of us)))
The key factor of exam success is practicing past exam papers. When I read the suggestions from other students, 90% of them believe that past papers help to pass an exam well.

I used the Malaysian teacher Low Chin Ann's video lectures about F8 Audit and assurance and passed it well. Today I watched his video lectures about ACCA F6 Taxation (UK) past papers. I think they can help you to prepare well for F6.

ACCA F6 Qs2 KimSee 2008

ACCA P2 Dec 2007 Q 4 International conceptual framework

The question 4 in ACCA P2 exam tends to be easier than 2 and 3 in section B. It is usually a current issues question. To be highly scored on this question, you need to plan your answer, use the headings and short paragraphs for every sensible point.

Question 4 December 2007

International conceptual framework

25 marks * 1,8 minutes = 45 minutes.
15 minutes to read&understand question requirements and plan the answer
25 minutes for write 25 reasonable points
5 minutes to revise the completness of your answer under plan

You can download the past exam papers www.accaglobal.com

Q4 The IASB has begun a joint project to revisit its conceptual framework for financial accounting and reporting. The goals of the existing frameworks and converge them into a common framework.

Required:
a) Discuss why there is a need to develop an agreed international conceptual framework and the extent to which an agreed international conceptual framework can be used to resolve practical accounting issues. (13 marks)

b) Discuss the key issues which will need to be addressed determining the basic components of an agreed international conceptual framework. (10 marks)

Appropriateness and quality of dicussion (2 marks)

Q4 (a) 13 marks

(1) Convergence