CIMA KAPLAN EXAM TIP NOV 2011

TIPS FROM KAPLAN FINANCIAL

F1
*Single company income statement
*Statement of financial position and statement of changes in equity
 

*Consolidated income statement and statement of financial position incorporating:
-Inter-company balances/sales
-PUP
-Fair value adjustment

-Depreciation adjustment
-Inter-company Loans/Dividend
 

*Business tax:
-Calculation of profits for tax purposes
-Overseas tax

-VAT calculation
 

*Ethical threats
*Objective of an audit and audit reports
*Share issue (bonus or rights)

*Statement of cash flows (extracts in question 2 - maybe two parts?)

*Construction contract
*Non-current asset note
*Depreciation

*Disposal of an asset

*Revaluation of an asset and disposal

*Intangibles Asset - research and devolopment

*Taxation: current and deferred tax 

F2 *General interpretation plus limitations of analysis *Groups - complex group; statement of cash flows *EPS *Financial Instruments *Share based Payments *Pension schemes *Substance over form *Developments in external reporting - IFRS v US GAAP; or Operating & Financial Review (OFR)

F3 Section A * This generally focuses on topics from syllabus section C: ‘Investment Decisions and Project Control’ (this accounts for 45% of the syllabus) *Investment Appraisal or Business Valuation could be the main topic. Although the examiner has said that Section A will not always focus on this area, the last time Business Valuation appeared in detail in Section A was four sittings ago, so its a key topic this time. Section B This will contain three questions. Key topic areas which may be tested this sitting are: *Working capital management / ratio analysis *Cost of capital *the role of treasury *The link between financing, dividends and investment policies

E1 Section A Expect the questions to cover the full range of the syllabus. Sections B and C The global business environment: *Corporate political activity *Risk *Corporate governance and stakeholders *Ethics/corporate social responsibility *Culture Information systems: *Databases *Decision support systems, e.g. EIS *User resistance and change management *Systems implementation Operations management: *Value chain *Inventory management *Supply chain management *Benchmarking *Quality Marketing: *Marketing in not-for-profit organizations *Marketing orientation and plan Managing human capital: *Motivation *Flexible working *HR planning including selection, induction and training/development

E2
Strategic analysis:

*Strategic analysis. This is a key topic and students should be familiar with the models used for internal and external analysis (PEST, Porter’s 5 forces, Porter’s value chain and resources audit). Students should also be able to pull the external and internal analysis together in a corporate appraisal (SWOT analysis).
*Approaches to strategy. Students should have a detailed knowledge of the rational approach to strategy formulation, and should be able to discuss its drawbacks and suggest alternative approaches, such as emergent, incremental and adaptive. 
* Levels of strategy. Students must be able to discuss the different levels of strategy which occur throughout an organisation.

*Transaction cost view. Students should be able to discuss the complex forms of organisation which have arisen largely due to globalisation. Network organisations and the transaction cost view have not been examined for several sittings.

Project management :

*Risk management. Risk is part of the initiation phase of project management. Students should ensure they can discuss the risk management process and be able to identify risks from a scenario and discuss ways of managing them.
* Project feasibility. This is part of the initiation phase of project management. Students should ensure they can discuss the 3 types of feasibility and evaluate the feasibility of a project from a scenario.
* Post completion audit – the final stage of a project is an important stage and often overlooked by students. It is important to discuss why post completion audits should take place, what they entail and what benefits can be gained from them.
* Project management tools. This is always a popular topic in the E2 exam. Students must be aware of the tools used throughout the management of a project, in particular critical path analysis, project management software and scenario planning.

Management of relationships :

* Culture/International culture. Culture is a popular exam topic which has not been examined for a few sittings. In particular, international culture (Hofstede) has not been examined for several years, so it is a model that is worth ensuring that students are familiar with and could discuss.
* Management control – this area covers the control systems within an organisation, including legal issues. Topics such as health and safety, discrimination and disciplinary procedures have not been examined under the E2 syllabus, so this is an area that could potentially come up.
* Corporate Governance – This featured in the specimen paper and is an area that students should be familiar with. Students should ensure that they are aware of the main areas of corporate governance and they should be able to apply the rules to a scenario.

* Groups and teams. Team building, leading and motivating teams and how to run successful teams is an area worth looking at. There are a few key models in this area such as Tuckman and Belbin.

* Managing the finance function. This area has never been examined in E2, so it is one which students should ensure they are comfortable with. It covers the importance of the finance function and the positioning of the finance function within the business

E3
*Ethics/CSR

*Change Management
*Divisional performance
*Strategy evaluation
*Objectives/CSFs, possibly including balanced scorecard

*Organisational Structure
*Value chain

P1
*NPV
*ABC
*Variance analysis
*Environmental costing
*Decision trees

P2
*Learning curves and planning op variances
*Transfer pricing
*Kaizen and standard costing
*DPP

P3
*Foreign currency
*Identification of risk and recommending controls
*Small requirement on fraud or ethics
*Corporate governance (new UK Corporate Governance Code)

*IT

*Audit
*Management accounting control systems