Accounting Technician 2015/16

lorr27

Had a good day with financial accounting today, my brain is tired from it so taking the rest of the night off.
What exam are you starting with wally?
Are you planning on going on to acca, aca, cpa afterwards?

EmmaC88

Ya I had a good day, hopefully tomorrow be same! Just need to learn theory side as well for accounting. Just want to get them started! When u starting? When u finishing? U feel u studied more last year? Least ur nearly finished

wally1990

EmmaC88 wrote: »

Ya I had a good day, hopefully tomorrow be same! Just need to learn theory side as well for accounting. Just want to get them started! When u starting? When u finishing? U feel u studied more last year? Least ur nearly finished

I'm planning on doing CPA afterwards

About 85% of my class aren't going on for different reasons(family kids, too much study ,age ) etc

There is about 10-12 people left at this time of the year from a starting point of 35 roughly last year . Numbers dropped slowly through the year.

I'm starting today @ 2.30 with advanced financial accounting and tax on Thursday and management accounting accounting Monday

I had integrated accounting systems in April (which was fine)

I def didn't study more than last year

To be honest I lost a lot of motivation this year for it and I think others the same.

Working full time and study/classes is tough going to be fair and hats off to anyone that does it because it's a lot of content to consume when having normal life outside of it and I could work 50 hours a week.

Others have kids ( I don't) and who work full time too( I have no idea how they do it but fair play)

Overall 2nd is def doable it's not a massive step up but it is more detailed for sure and the same level of study work needs to be put in.

Personally I found the FA and MA books terrible to read(boring as hell) and found myself reverting to YouTube videos for chapter titles which were much better explained and easier and more enjoyable to watch

Year 2 is much more practical than theory(no business management and law)

EmmaC88

wally1990 wrote: »

I'm planning on doing CPA afterwards

About 85% of my class aren't going on for different reasons(family kids, too much study ,age ) etc

There is about 10-12 people left at this time of the year from a starting point of 35 roughly last year . Numbers dropped slowly through the year.

I'm starting today @ 2.30 with advanced financial accounting and tax on Thursday and management accounting accounting Monday

I had integrated accounting systems in April (which was fine)

I def didn't study more than last year

To be honest I lost a lot of motivation this year for it and I think others the same.

Working full time and study/classes is tough going to be fair and hats off to anyone that does it because it's a lot of content to consume when having normal life outside of it and I could work 50 hours a week.

Others have kids ( I don't) and who work full time too( I have no idea how they do it but fair play)

Overall 2nd is def doable it's not a massive step up but it is more detailed for sure and the same level of study work needs to be put in.

Personally I found the FA and MA books terrible to read(boring as hell) and found myself reverting to YouTube videos for chapter titles which were much better explained and easier and more enjoyable to watch

Year 2 is much more practical than theory(no business management and law)

Oh good luck, I'm starting tomorrow. Not finished until Wednesday week! I work full time I found it difficult balancing everything got study leave from work so that helped a bit! Just want to get financial accounting over with now! I'm scared of theory subjects too just so much to learn esp in law! How did ye do it last year? Hope today goes well for u!

wally1990

Like 80% of the class passed the theory subjects.

Remember you only need 50% and marks are easily picked up throughout .

It can be difficult to read the theory as it can be dull and boring and the wording of the books would make some people call asleep

Again, you don't need to be all waffle like the books can be . I got 76% in Business management and I stuck to the main points being asked. I can't even write in the style the book does and the solutions provided are 120% answers so don't be concerned by them .

Just have a basic understanding of of each section and the relevant definitions (not word for word) and you will be fine

With the law . Try to remember the cases of possible (easier said than done) and just keep doi exam papers and past papers

wally1990

How did everyone get on with their 1st paper? how was the paper itself?

lorr27

wally1990 wrote: »

How did everyone get on with their 1st paper? how was the paper itself?

The paper was an absolute joke, it was ridiculously difficult. I would be quite good with financial accounting and normally would finish a paper with plenty of time to spare. I was still writing down to the last second today. I spent far too much time on financial statements q1, there was so much to it. I balanced my bank rec on q2 so pleased with that at least. q3 had a suspense, which I'm normally good at, I couldn't get it to balance at all. q4 I skipped. q5 club account, it was a nice enough question but they threw everything in like working out bar wages, bar purchases, prepayments, amortisation, subs. The only saving grace was we didn't have to do accumulated fund at the end. q6, was handy enough but not my favourite type, books of original entry into t accounts for part a and part b was a receivables control account that had a few tricky parts to it. My hands were shaking trying to get everything done. I had no time to actually think or check what I was doing.
So in short, not happy at all and I need to get over 60% I think I'll be sitting again in August.

How did you get on Emma?

wally1990

It's a good sign that you were writing to the end.

The advanced financial accounting paper I did yesterday was very theory heavy(which is fine I'm quite ok with theory to an extent)

Why do you need 60%? The pass rate is 50%

Anyhow, I'd take the positives away from it. It's sounds like you did well but seems like a very tough paper. If so, then the marking is lenient.

EmmaC88

Am I dunno, dodge enough! I got nothing to balance even my bank Rec I was running out of time so did question 4 that has the irrecoverable debts (I looked over it last night) & then I realised as I was doing the question I didn't know what side of t accounts went on! I then was like should do question 6 but I didn't have time & didn't know the day books. Recheck answers there all wrong. So stressed, love if I just scraped a pass but it's doubtful! I don't know where to start with business! So much to learn

When's ur next one Wally?

wally1990

Don't worry anything balancing!!!

Marks are awarded through all the workings and placing them . Odd dropped mark for not balancing . Don't worry about that at all. Sure have a look at the marking schemes they use on the last papers .

EmmaC88

Ya I know just hope I scraped the 50.. On to business management, so much to learn!

lorr27

I need 60% for acca exemption, I thought I'd have that exam in the bag. Don't count your chickens and all that. Did a post mortem with my class mates and it seems I fell for a lot of traps, stupid mistakes. I honestly had no time to read the paper properly, it was just write, write, write and hope for the best. I'm laughing thinking back to how neat and well presented my q1 was and quickly deteriorates to a scrawl by q6. I hope the examiner has a large glass of wine in front of them when marking my paper.

lorr27

EmmaC88 wrote: »

then I realised as I was doing the question I didn't know what side of t accounts went on!

Oh no!!! It's a nightmare when your mind goes blank! I definitely feel your pain on that one.

EmmaC88

lorr27 wrote: »

Oh no!!! It's a nightmare when your mind goes blank! I definitely feel your pain on that one.

I double checked answered when I got home dunno why! What u gonna do for business management? Actually can't wait for next Wednesday

lorr27

I'm just reading through bm sample papers and past papers now, I haven't looked at planning so hopefully that doesn't come up. I'm strong enough in HR and marketing, ok in leadership and motivation. I find the last 3 chapters very difficult to digest but learned off key information that hopefully will get me through it. I think the cloud will def come up this year so I'll prepare for that. I'm going put on the town next Wednesday when we're finished! Did the invigilator take your exam paper, mine did. I wanted it to check everything when I got home. Although it's probably best to just draw a line under it.

willietherock

V hard compared to past papers I'd say. I was sure this was going to be the easy exam, if that's the case we are screwed.

Q1 super long. Disposal of assets threw in as well. Took my guts of 1 hr to finish it. Way out from balancing
Bank rec super tricky. I was way out as was everyone else I spoke to.
3 ok, probably messed up suspense. other short q should be ok.
Club ac v easy
Q 6 daybbooks/rec control easy.

willietherock

lorr27 wrote: »

I need 60% for acca exemption, I thought I'd have that exam in the bag. Don't count your chickens and all that. Did a post mortem with my class mates and it seems I fell for a lot of traps, stupid mistakes. I honestly had no time to read the paper properly, it was just write, write, write and hope for the best. I'm laughing thinking back to how neat and well presented my q1 was and quickly deteriorates to a scrawl by q6. I hope the examiner has a large glass of wine in front of them when marking my paper.

Whats the story with the 60% exemption for ACCA? Do you have to score that in all 4 or just acc/tax?

EmmaC88

Ya lorr she took mine away as well! Think it's the story with them all. Ya section c very hard. I'm still hoping postal will come up! Ahh should have read the question properly & done question 6 Era, it's done now on to business management hopefully this will be better!

lorr27

willietherock wrote: »

Whats the story with the 60% exemption for ACCA? Do you have to score that in all 4 or just acc/tax?

AFAIK merit pass for acc, tax and bm yr 1 and acc and tax yr 2. All of my classmates are disgusted with the paper, I had 15 mins to answer q3 in the end. I reckon I scored the worst here probably 8 or 9 marks out of 20. I didn't have time to close off t accounts in q6, I thought it would be better to do q3 for the sake of the few marks for closing off. I'm like a bear

lorr27

EmmaC88 wrote: »

Ya lorr she took mine away as well! Think it's the story with them all. Ya section c very hard. I'm still hoping postal will come up! Ahh should have read the question properly & done question 6 Era, it's done now on to business management hopefully this will be better!

Ha ha, we might be surprised with a nice easy paper, here's hoping!

EmmaC88

Think with business just gonna stick with the sample papers & hopefully nothing too scary comes out of it! Will def learn the cloud thou.

lorr27

Well, how is the studying going? I'm a lot more confident today, hopefully I can get everything across tomorrow. I had to learn a fair bit off by heart like the stages of moral development and shareholder v stakeholder advantages and disadvantages. I still have a fair bit to get through but chipping away at it nicely so far. I found it very difficult to drop off to sleep on Mon night, I was like a child on Christmas eve. Hopefully tonight I'll sleep better, I need a fully functioning brain for tomorrow.

EmmaC88

lorr27 wrote: »

Well, how is the studying going? I'm a lot more confident today, hopefully I can get everything across tomorrow. I had to learn a fair bit off by heart like the stages of moral development and shareholder v stakeholder advantages and disadvantages. I still have a fair bit to get through but chipping away at it nicely so far. I found it very difficult to drop off to sleep on Mon night, I was like a child on Christmas eve. Hopefully tonight I'll sleep better, I need a fully functioning brain for tomorrow.

I'm worse today so nervous that I can't study! I hope that it's marketing & iCloud as the first section so I can do them! Have u all theory's learned off? I'll be back in August I think for this!

willietherock

Just looking at past BS papers. Seems totally different syllabus although PESTEL/SWOT are covered. Sticking with the sample papers.

lorr27

I've a lot of some stuff learned so have the potential to do well if they come up, there are parts of chapters then that I neglected so if they come up I'm screwed. I think I'll be ok but after financial accounting I wouldn't bet on it just yet. I've learned off Tuckmans, Fayol, Mintzberg, Adams, Vroom, Ansoff, product life cycle, the two governance models, moral development stages, STP, CSR, I learned the Corporate Governance Chain in the sense that I can draw it but can't describe it as I don't understand it much. I think it's about the relationship between managers and directors, directors and beneficiaries and what accounts/documentation are presented to each group? I keep reading it but can't make sense of it.

EmmaC88

lorr27 wrote: »

I've a lot of some stuff learned so have the potential to do well if they come up, there are parts of chapters then that I neglected so if they come up I'm screwed. I think I'll be ok but after financial accounting I wouldn't bet on it just yet. I've learned off Tuckmans, Fayol, Mintzberg, Adams, Vroom, Ansoff, product life cycle, the two governance models, moral development stages, STP, CSR, I learned the Corporate Governance Chain in the sense that I can draw it but can't describe it as I don't understand it much. I think it's about the relationship between managers and directors, directors and beneficiaries and what accounts/documentation are presented to each group? I keep reading it but can't make sense of it.

You be grand than so! I'm screwed. Actually feel sick with the thought of it, want it over with! I just hope iCloud comes up?

lorr27

EmmaC88 wrote: »

You be grand than so! I'm screwed. Actually feel sick with the thought of it, want it over with! I just hope iCloud comes up?

Oh god I forgot to look up the cloud! Ffs!!!

EmmaC88

lorr27 wrote: »

Oh god I forgot to look up the cloud! Ffs!!!

If I knew what u knew I'd be happy would forget about cloud!

lorr27

I don't know much really, some parts I can talk about more freely than others. I'm not that confident. Corporate Governance is very hard to digest, I don't really understand what they are describing in the text book and I don't know how I'm going to relay back my understanding of it tomorrow. I'm going to look it up online there now and see if I can find a more simplified definition of it. Starting to feel a little sick now!

EmmaC88

lorr27 wrote: »

I don't know much really, some parts I can talk about more freely than others. I'm not that confident. Corporate Governance is very hard to digest, I don't really understand what they are describing in the text book and I don't know how I'm going to relay back my understanding of it tomorrow. I'm going to look it up online there now and see if I can find a more simplified definition of it. Starting to feel a little sick now!

I'm hoping marketing comes up! Marketing segements & all that jazz! Hopefully I'll sleep tonight (haven't past few nights) least we have a few days breathing space till next week! Although law won't be walk in park either! Good luck anyway. This time next week be all finished!