Prof 3 June 2007

Newaglish

So the Prof 3 exams are starting on Tuesday! Who's sitting them, who's sitting what papers, what are you msot worried about?

I'm doing all 4 and crapping myself for Advanced Financial Accounts - there's alot of things that could come up on the exam that I wouldn't have a clue what to do with; foreign subsidiaries anyone?

chump

Foreign subsids to name but one - shure I haven't actually even looked at that. That's the functional currency fx one, as opposed to the presentation (associate) type isn't it? I couldn't bring myself to look at it tbh.

Do you know what the situation with repeats is - I've heard some mixed things -obviously if you fail 1 you can repeat it, if you fail 2 have you to repeat all 4?

dread
^
| Fin acc
| Tax
| Audit/Mabf

Fin/acc even if a nice paper came up I could easily fall on my face.
Tax I'm not sure how bad I am fkked in this.
Mabf/audit will be annoyed if fail.

I feel like a bit of a chump as had so long to study and literally took the piss for 6-7weeks.

Do you have any suspicions of what might come up for any of the exams?
I've a feeling fin/acc will have discontinued ops and construction in it this year.

MartMax

Good luck lads!

Newaglish

I actually think FA might be OK - I think Q1 will either be straight consolidation:subsidiary/associate or discontinued operations. I also suspect we may get a cashflow statement. I really have to look over discontinued ops, but i'm told its none too complicated.

The way the marking works is:

One subject pass = 50 marks

To pass all four subjects you need:
At least 40 marks per subject and 200 overall (average of 50 marks)

If you get below 40 in one, or don't get over 200 marks, then you repeat everything that was below 50.

It's kinda difficult to explain but not actually that complicated!

applehunter

Really worried.

Im terrible at studying. Had 6 weeks but never really got into a good routine and yet again I find myself cramming.

Hopefully Auditing and Mgt will be ok.

Tax and FA are going to be tricky.

Think Cash flow will come up.

chump

Ok so it will be cashflow and disOps crammage night before in FA.

Thanks for advice on marks Newaglish - I wasn't aware of that. Should have nerded the hell out of one 'easy' subject and then would have just needed 40odd in the others.

I was looking at man/acc papers there - much more difficult than anticipated and it should be my 'handy' subject - could realistically fail it. Some things on papers didnt even know were on course!


applehunter I hope you get on alright - I feel your pain. Any more tips/expectations throw them up.
thanks

Newaglish

All the subjects have their good and bad points, but the things i'm dreading are:

Auditing
Quality Control
History of Auditing
Other weird irrelevant crap

Management Accounting
Linear Programming, Simplex
Compulsory theory question

Financial Accounting
Foreign Subsidiary
Deferred Tax
Financial Instruments

Taxation
SSIAs, other special saving accounts
Stamp Duty


Ergh, if most of those things came up, it's hello autumn repeats for me!

chump

Newaglish wrote:

All the subjects have their good and bad points, but the things i'm dreading are:

Auditing
Quality Control
History of Auditing
Other weird irrelevant crap

Management Accounting
Linear Programming, Simplex
Compulsory theory question

Financial Accounting
Foreign Subsidiary
Deferred Tax
Financial Instruments

Taxation
SSIAs, other special saving accounts
Stamp Duty


Ergh, if most of those things came up, it's hello autumn repeats for me!

If most/any of those things came up I think the entire year would be repeating. Know your basics and you'll pass - I'm still working on the basics

applehunter

Thought auditing was an ok paper today.

Didnt answer the audit report question great but got every question done so Im in with a shot.

Time was a big problem for me in Prof 2.

Hopefully Mgt. will be straight forward. Remember to read the "Beyond Budgeting" Article!!!!

chump

applehunter wrote:

Thought auditing was an ok paper today.

Didnt answer the audit report question great but got every question done so Im in with a shot.

Time was a big problem for me in Prof 2.

Hopefully Mgt. will be straight forward. Remember to read the "Beyond Budgeting" Article!!!!

I thought it was 'grand' too. Should have passed. Didn't do well mind but attempted 5questions and threw down something for everything. I'd be afraid to dissect the paper for fear of finding how wrong a lot of what I wrote was...
Hopefully today be OK - could be a tough one if they throw some awful theory our way

Newaglish

Thought auditing was a bit strange yesterday but I put down answers for everything so I should make up marks somewhere.

Was pretty happy with MABF today, though I was very lucky to have done Linear Programming last night, was a very strange question to put up. Thought the variance & NPV questions were pretty simplistic, though the optional business finance questions were kinda tricky.

They made such a big deal about that budgeting article - what the hell?

djdeclan

yeah what was the beef with the budgeting article? read it last night too, never studied linear programming so had no option but to do Q3..Id say i did well in 1 3 and 5 although i took too long at 1 and 3 and was tight for time at the end.
Overall id say both audit and mabf were grand and im hopeful for big marks in each but AFA and tax is gonna be a different story altogether!!
the easier half is over..now for some serious hard work!!

chump

Bit crap for me.
Had to skip 2 as have never seen linear programming.
I made a meal of 1, and it cost me time from the get-go.
The question 3 took me ages, few rookie mistakes, and cost me even more time.
Then theory in 4 - knew a bit for the 1st - but of course in hindsight I didn't answer the question, I just wrote a spiel. Second part of it was me bull****ting.
Then came question 5, tricky, but doable. Rookie mistakes galore, forgot working capital in first bit, had to go back put it in. Then used 10% npv instead of 6% so didnt have time to fix - did point it out though. Then I realised after I forgot the whole tax thing in proposal 2 as was rushing so much.

Then I began into question 6 - but untimately couldnt work it out, so scribbled out half a page of scrawl and into question 7. First part pure bull****, other parts alright.

Definitely no compensation marks in the bag unfortunately and next two exams are twice as difficult. feck

chump

multiple choice selections for today - that i choose, were;

1c
2b
3b
4b
5d
6b
7b
8b
9a
10b

mostly b's ... anyone else?

djdeclan

i went with
1b
2b
3c
4b
5d (complete guess)
6b
7b
8b
9a
10a

did well (i think) in qs 1 5 & 6, short questions are always hard to judge...definately wont be getting many marks for question 2!! pure waffle and not even a lot of waffle for them to find something to give me marks on! laid the memo out properly so ill get the presentation marks at least!!

All in all i reckon that could have been much worse, i thought id be scrambling for marks but in the end i reckon i passed comfortably..maybe the examiner will tell me different!!

Newaglish

chump wrote:

multiple choice selections for today - that i choose, were;

Ic
2b
3b
4b
5d
6b
7b
8b
9a
10b

mostly b's ... anyone else?

djdeclan wrote:

i went with
1b
2b
3c
4b
5d (complete guess)
6b
7b
8b
9a
10a

I went with:

1c
2b
3b
4b
5d
6b
7b
8b
9a
10b

Looks like mine are the same as yours chumpy!

chump

Good job with the mcq.

I thought I did OK.
But then on reflection - made loads of mad mistakes.
q1 - ran out of time, made a stab a all ajustments didnt get the p/l and b/s laid out fully
q2 - forgot it was a memo! ie. zero presentation marks plus alot of guff, should have done more ratios etc. (cant believe forgot was a memo)
q3 - mcq, did decent it seems
q4 - part 1, guesswork really, and then didnt do the impairment on carrying value properly, took away goodwill 1st but then took rest from capitalised devel expend., as apposed to apportionment
q4 - part 2, finance cost i put pref div, issue cost(yr1), and then tried to work out interest each year for premium - i tried using 10%, no joy, so then i fricken used sum-of-digits method - makes NO sense in hindsight
q5 - threw down all adjustments again didnt have time to do out entire p/l and b/s, think i did reserves and m.i. but very bull****ty

more I look at paper worse i feel about it

oh reflection should have done q6 instead of q4 - would have gotten much more attempt marks for it...

Newcarneeded

What did people pick for the warranty provision? In IAS18 para 19 or similar it mentions recognizing an expense at the same time as you recognize the revenue, so that's what i did.

I said charge the €60 per unit to Cost of sales when they sell the unit, being the retailer using the €60 to buy the insurance policy. Presumably this then shows as a credit in the balance sheet as a provision, although stupidly I didn't write this down.

What about the forward contract? I revalued the fixed asset saying that is should have been booked at the forward rate and then the payable revalued with an FX/Gain or loss at year end.

I provided for the refrigerator legal case and released the refurbishment provision.

After that my short answer questions were the same as mentioned before.

I answered five which i think i did well in, but after making a meal of 1, i ran out of time for Q6 so only got the Goodwill calculated, then drafted up the outline of the Bs/IS hoping to catch the presentation marks.

Hoping i did enough to pass.

Happier with that than MABF, which i actually think was a fair paper, just that under time pressure i made a total balls of it and could be struggling to pass.

applehunter

Is it true that if you get under 35% in one that you have to sit all 4 again regardless of how the other went?

Made a hash of today.

Ran out of time and too many blanks.

chump

Newcarneeded wrote:

What did people pick for the warranty provision? In IAS18 para 19 or similar it mentions recognizing an expense at the same time as you recognize the revenue, so that's what i did.

I said charge the €60 per unit to Cost of sales when they sell the unit, being the retailer using the €60 to buy the insurance policy. Presumably this then shows as a credit in the balance sheet as a provision, although stupidly I didn't write this down.

I provided for 60euro per unit, by expensing p&l and crediting warranty provision. Also rev. was reg. for the sale obviously.

Newcarneeded wrote:

What about the forward contract? I revalued the fixed asset saying that is should have been booked at the forward rate and then the payable revalued with an FX/Gain or loss at year end.

They had revalued and had an FX gain on the p&l (which debited creditors). Reversed that. Then put down fx gain per forward contract. Then asset was revalued downwards so had been overdepreciated - so reversed that. [didn't do this right]

Newcarneeded wrote:

I provided for the refrigerator legal case and released the refurbishment provision.

I provided in the p/l, and then reversed refurb provision by dumping it into R.E.

Newcarneeded wrote:

After that my short answer questions were the same as mentioned before.

I answered five which i think i did well in, but after making a meal of 1, i ran out of time for Q6 so only got the Goodwill calculated, then drafted up the outline of the Bs/IS hoping to catch the presentation marks.

Hoping i did enough to pass.

Happier with that than MABF, which i actually think was a fair paper, just that under time pressure i made a total balls of it and could be struggling to pass.

Best of luck anyway - hope I did enough, dreading tomorrow

Newaglish

Tax wasn't do bad! Was finished with ages to go, really feel like I missed something. It was one of my most feared exams but it turned out alright.

Finished now! Party on!

@Applehunter: If you're deemed not to have made a reasonable attempt at all papers, I think you have to repeat them all. I think you have to do really badly for that though (ie. 20% or so). I can't actually remember exactly though so I dunno is that right. The rules are in the back of the syllabus!

chump

Newaglish wrote:

Tax wasn't do bad! Was finished with ages to go, really feel like I missed something. It was one of my most feared exams but it turned out alright.

Finished now! Party on!

@Applehunter: If you're deemed not to have made a reasonable attempt at all papers, I think you have to repeat them all. I think you have to do really badly for that though (ie. 20% or so). I can't actually remember exactly though so I dunno is that right. The rules are in the back of the syllabus!

done, bed then pub
was dreading hugely today - was very doable paper - touch and go whether passed though, mainly because question 1 - hadn't a notion
Other 5questions made good go at them - would up half marks or so from them.
hope yas passed, til the repeats, or even better next yr