CAP 2 Examination

on the brink

Hello - I was just googling ''exam cramming for cap2'' and stumpled across this so due to personal circumstances I have been unable to do any form of study until now

As a result I would be grateful if someone could let me know from their experience which of the 4 exams is the easiest to pass? Second easiest and so forth...

At this stage and due to what happened all I want to do is do my best right now so the way I see it is 1 pass is better than 4 fails

I hope someone can give me a little guidance

Thanks and good luck with all the exams

Hanley

1) Tax is very passable imo.

2) Financial reporting is probably next if you've any expereince of it from college.

3) Audit if you work in it.

4) SFMA's just a b!tch whatever way you slice it, tho a lot of it's theory so you stand a chance of picking up marks if you can interpret the theory in the context of the exam.

That's my list from easiest to hardest anyway...

on the brink

Okay thank you for the reply Hanley

Due to time constraints and all that I will probably focus on tax first (like you said) and then try and cram financial since it seems rather similar to college

Good luck in yours anyway

Cookie89

1) Tax as it can be broken down into 4 seperate sections

2) SFMA-Mgt acc should be able to pick up a few marks as with NPV & assessment

3) Auditing-Waffle Waffle

4) Financial Reporting- in the mocks this was the paper most failed a lot tricky then it seems in my opinion very difficult.

Likewise i'm thinking 2 passes better than 4 fails!!
Best of luck with the study

on the brink

Okay thanks guys (or girls)

So im defo going to start with tax since both of ye recommended it as easiest and i guess i will then decide afterwards what to do next since i will probably have to take the amount of material to be covered into consideration

e.g. fin acc may be more difficult but sfma could have twice as much to learn? if you get me or equally vice versa

Pisco Sour

Cookie89 wrote: »

1) Tax as it can be broken down into 4 seperate sections

2) SFMA-Mgt acc should be able to pick up a few marks as with NPV & assessment

3) Auditing-Waffle Waffle

4) Financial Reporting- in the mocks this was the paper most failed a lot tricky then it seems in my opinion very difficult.

Likewise i'm thinking 2 passes better than 4 fails!!
Best of luck with the study

I wouldnt underestimate Auditing. Supposedly about 80-90% of all people fall between 45%-55% in the old prof 3's. If its so easy and just "cop on" as some people say then you wouldnt see such poor results.

I presonally find the subject very difficult to study and really dont know how to go about doing it. Its all so subjective. Am definetely worried about it.

Ideo

Yeah I agree, I wouldn't be too quick to say auditing is waffle waffle, what did the lecturer say, 1 in 2 failed the P3 paper last year (requiring compensation to pass!)!

Def give tax a good stab with 1 1/2 wks work. Maybe spend a few days on one of the others so, depending on how well you got on with the assessments? If you don't need the full 50 from SFMA or Audit then concentrate on that subject?

Hanley

04072511 wrote: »

I wouldnt underestimate Auditing. Supposedly about 80-90% of all people fall between 45%-55% in the old prof 3's. If its so easy and just "cop on" as some people say then you wouldnt see such poor results.

I presonally find the subject very difficult to study and really dont know how to go about doing it. Its all so subjective. Am definetely worried about it.

Audit is an absolute b!tch. Unless you work in it, you'll struggle.

If you can get your hands on the audit programmes doc which was posted in the notes section it'll be a big help, basically gives a large amount of the tests than can be done for each section.

The case study is probably going to contain a systems notes style subsection ala the mocks, and if you're not used to them they're an absolute nightmare to attempt. The basic approach is "problem - implication - solution". And always, ALWAYS look for segregation of duties.

Pointing out the obvious is seriously important too. Sh1t like checking the tots ("verifying mathematical accuracy"), agreeing/vouching figures to the TB, nominal ledger etc etc....

I'm concentrating on the main p&l and balance sheet areas, ethical issues and safeguards that can be enacted, and finally audit reports - the issues, reasons and types of qualified reports.

on the brink

I wasnt expecting all these replies

Well I am doing tax right now it seems fairly straightforward (words of the unwise?)

Well see the deal with the assessments is strange since i got 12 in sfma BUT there seems to be a lot of stuff to cover in sfma and then i only got 7 in audit since i dont work in it and dont really ''get it''

But hanley thinks financial accounting would be a safer bet so right now torn between sfma and fin acc

Hanley

on the brink wrote: »

I wasnt expecting all these replies

Well I am doing tax right now it seems fairly straightforward (words of the unwise?)

Well see the deal with the assessments is strange since i got 12 in sfma BUT there seems to be a lot of stuff to cover in sfma and then i only got 7 in audit since i dont work in it and dont really ''get it''

But hanley thinks financial accounting would be a safer bet so right now torn between sfma and fin acc

If you've done well in SFMA already then you'd be mad not to give it a shot!! It's all about playing up to your relative strengths. I'm weakest in SFMA so that plays into my advice obviously.

12/15 means you need like 45% in the actual paper to pass?? Totally do-able I say!! Company Valuations, variance analysis, currency and interest rates exposure and hedging and performance appraisal are what the bulk of my study is going to be on. A slight nod to transfer pricing, treasury function, divisional performance and a few other random things too.

Depending on what ya did for fin acc. in college, there might be a lot of crossover with the CAP 2 syllabus, I know there was for me!

I work in audit tho and enjoy it, got 12 in the CA and 50 in the mocks, but only 10 in the SFMA CA.

on the brink

Yeah i guess so but still sfma i would have to start it off if you get me where as with fin acc i probably know a good bit of it or at least understand the theory behind whats happening if you get me?

As a matter of interest how many hours of study are people doing per day? Like i read earlier some guy doing 12 hours a day for 4 weeks and still needing compensation to pass (obv p3)

Pisco Sour

Hanley wrote: »

If you've done well in SFMA already then you'd be mad not to give it a shot!! It's all about playing up to your relative strengths. I'm weakest in SFMA so that plays into my advice obviously.

12/15 means you need like 45% in the actual paper to pass?? Totally do-able I say!! Company Valuations, variance analysis, currency and interest rates exposure and hedging and performance appraisal are what the bulk of my study is going to be on. A slight nod to transfer pricing, treasury function, divisional performance and a few other random things too.

Depending on what ya did for fin acc. in college, there might be a lot of crossover with the CAP 2 syllabus, I know there was for me!

I work in audit tho and enjoy it, got 12 in the CA and 50 in the mocks, but only 10 in the SFMA CA.

:eek: First time I've ever heard somebody say that!!

Seriously though I work in audit and I'm still finding this subject extremely difficult to study for.

I've worked in audit for a year and a half but I'm just not that good at it, it doesnt click with me one bit. I did my mock based on no study just knowledge from work and attempted a good 70% of the paper and got 21!!!! When i heard that my colleagues got around 60 with the same approach I started to freak out!

I've read the yellow book in its entirety and understood it, but from looking at the sample papers it all seems just so random. I get the feeling the paper tests your ability to audit "off the cuff" which frankly I'm not good at! Some of the solutions the ICAI give in their solutions I would never have thought of in a million years.

Also in my mocks I made some valid points which got no marks at all simply because it wasnt on the ICAI solutions. The whole subject seems so subjective. My result depends on how the examiner interprets the case study!

There seems to be no method to the subject. With the other 3 subjects once you know how to calculate something etc you can apply it to a given question. Auditing though is just pure random.

I got 9 in the CA but have no idea if that was above or below average.

Absolutely hate it with a passion!

Hackysack

I'd agree with Tax as well being the one to go for. The theory (imo) is relatively straightforward and the taxes/processes themselves will stick with you after trying them a couple of times. I'm not too hot on Stamp Duty myself, but it's treated as a low enough priority according to the competency statement (but appeared in a big enough form on the mocks I felt).

As for what else to work on, it depends on whether or not you find Auditing easy to understand (and to think of potential solutions off the mark). As the others said, don't underestimate it.

The ethical standards are straightforward and once you're briefly familiar with them spotting the ethical flaws is easy. So you can try and work that approach.

Audit Programmes are a big enough area as well, so try and familiarise yourself with them as well, but as the Student Number guy/gal said, you can write a fair bit and find yourself completely missing what they're looking for.


For the last few days (and until the end of the exams) i'm trying to get at least 8 hours a day. (with a couple of breathers here and there). I've no problem going above this, but for now, especially since I'm feeling the pressure kick in and I'm really worried that I won't have enough material well covered.

Working through the sample papers in detail is a must as well and try to have as much material properly referenced and easily accessable to you when you need them in the exam.

Prezatch

The fact that the ICAI gave continuous assessment exams for SFMA and Audit to 'ease the pressure' would suggest that they will be the hardest exams.

Ideo

JoeyD wrote: »

The fact that the ICAI gave continuous assessment exams for SFMA and Audit to 'ease the pressure' would suggest that they will be the hardest exams.

I kinda thought it was because these two papers had the highest fail rates in previous years (because they are the hardest i guess ) and it's the first year of the new course so they don't want to look bad having everybody fail the things!? I'd think FR and Audot are harder, personally! Though I'm up ****'s creek with SFMA too!

Either way, I can't wait for them to be over!