FAE 2016

Kristina F · 18-08-2016 10:48PM

What's the chances of them failing ppl on business leadership? I answered all the Qs but I don't think I put what they wanted into them. I didn't mention the whistleblowing thing under corporate governance as I thought she was just asking about the board composition and I didn't put the general pros&cons for outsourcing..it's driving me mad thinking I couldav failed just because of them kinda wishy washy questions

Legwinski · 18-08-2016 11:05PM

Kristina F wrote: »

What's the chances of them failing ppl on business leadership? I answered all the Qs but I don't think I put what they wanted into them. I didn't mention the whistleblowing thing under corporate governance as I thought she was just asking about the board composition and I didn't put the general pros&cons for outsourcing..it's driving me mad thinking I couldav failed just because of them kinda wishy washy questions

98% of people "passed" BL in 2014 apparently so in general it appears to be marked generously.
I thought I failed BL last year but actually got a Green!

15YemenRoad · 18-08-2016 11:10PM

Yeah would be disgusted if I went down on BL.
I'd say they'll have to be generous marking the SWOT anyway as they gave very little to actually write about. I'd say outsourcing should be ok if you just had a few points and decided one way or the other, I said they shouldn't do it.

daisy chain · 18-08-2016 11:27PM

I thought that as we were a secondee from their audit firm that we couldn't provide management advice, we could only merely state the facts and it was up to the company to decide?

15YemenRoad · 18-08-2016 11:47PM

daisy chain wrote: »

I thought that as we were a secondee from their audit firm that we couldn't provide management advice, we could only merely state the facts and it was up to the company to decide?

Ugh... yep you're right, it does say that in ES2.
Probably another C gone there. Just annoying as all the lecturers kept warning about sitting on the fence in your answer so I just went straight ahead with the recommendation.
Right no more boards for me, good luck to everyone for the elective.

Kristina F · 18-08-2016 11:49PM

15YemenRoad wrote: »

Ugh... yep you're right, it does say that in ES2.
Probably another C gone there. Just annoying as all the lecturers kept warning about sitting on the fence in your answer so I just went straight ahead with the recommendation.
Right no more boards for me, good luck to everyone for the elective.

We were from an accountancy firm not an audit firm so you don't need to mention ES2

superb choice of username · 19-08-2016 05:57AM

Kristina F wrote: »

What's the chances of them failing ppl on business leadership? I answered all the Qs but I don't think I put what they wanted into them.

I feel the same! Gave them all a good go but now having doubts about what I wrote.

Out of interest, for the one where we had to do the strengths and opportunities, how many said along the lines of "as this is for a business plan for the bank, we need to include risks, aka weaknesses and threats to, and these are.....

I feel that I messed up as some of the threats I put weren't really appropriate to write to a bank

Then separately, how did you's approach the board composition question? It was a bit confusing the current board make up (I.e there was a nomination committee now but no indication of who was on it?) So we just had to give generic answer? I.e there should be ined/there should be diversity etc???

And finally the whistleblowing mechanism was a bit ****? What did you's do for that? The only thing I could come up with was basically email address to someone with authority and independence, I.e a ined, which should be chairman?? Couldn't find anything in the notes to help!

Stupid business leadership, it feels too touch and go

valowilliams · 19-08-2016 07:35AM

superb choice of username wrote: »

I feel the same! Gave them all a good go but now having doubts about what I wrote.

Out of interest, for the one where we had to do the strengths and opportunities, how many said along the lines of "as this is for a business plan for the bank, we need to include risks, aka weaknesses and threats to, and these are.....

I feel that I messed up as some of the threats I put weren't really appropriate to write to a bank

Then separately, how did you's approach the board composition question? It was a bit confusing the current board make up (I.e there was a nomination committee now but no indication of who was on it?) So we just had to give generic answer? I.e there should be ined/there should be diversity etc???

And finally the whistleblowing mechanism was a bit ****? What did you's do for that? The only thing I could come up with was basically email address to someone with authority and independence, I.e a ined, which should be chairman?? Couldn't find anything in the notes to help!

Stupid business leadership, it feels too touch and go

I recommended putting in weaknesses & threats too as said it needed to be balanced but didn't give any!
With the whistle blowing basically said there needed to be a charter in place, a route to bypass certain management & also said about false allegations that there should be consequences for that. BL it's so hard to know what to put down, I felt the lectures were a load of waffle with very little cases covered but that's just my opinion

TG860 · 19-08-2016 03:07PM

Have to say I found the Audit elective pretty frustrating.
It seemed like some of the indicators were very similar, especially the first case.

Obrieski · 19-08-2016 03:17PM

TG860 wrote: »

Have to say I found the Audit elective pretty frustrating.
It seemed like some of the indicators were very similar, especially the first case.

Audit elective was very strange and annoying paper. Was repeating myself a lot alright in sim 1. No AUP or non audit engagements, no ethics really.

Risks and procedures again, after it being in interim. Frustrated leaving the exam but sure look, it's all over!!
And I see a nice email from CASSI about a survey to fill in!!

ACA2015 · 19-08-2016 03:50PM

Audit Exam was a very very tough paper, the mock was more manageable I thought.

Let's just hope they go easy on the marking (they never do on audit though, it's the sacrificial lamb to bring down the pass rate :rolleyes:). If I sneak a C in one indicator I might get over the line.

Squareball2010 · 19-08-2016 04:23PM

Audit was a very unusual paper alright it must be said. Sim 1 was very controls heavy and there was definitely elements of repetition in relation to the controls weaknesses & audit risks PI and the info re implications/recommendations for use in management letter.

Sim 2 - very vague in respect of what they wanted. How much focus on group audit for eg. Also how did people treat the line relating to the report to the central bank? Hardly enough in itself to warrant a full indicator on other engagements as it was literally a throw away remark...?

Lack of an ethics/client acceptance/other eng indicator was very surprising....

Anyway least it's done I guess! ðŸ™„

Guin92 · 19-08-2016 04:52PM

My take on the audit elective.
Sim 1
1. Controls issues
2. Risks
3. Responses to those risks
4. Fraud

Sim 2
1. Addional procedures/ journals
2. Audit report
3. Planning on the parent
4. Work of auditors expert. Struggled to get 4, so guessed that this was an indicator

donnem33 · 19-08-2016 04:57PM

Squareball2010 wrote: »

Audit was a very unusual paper alright it must be said. Sim 1 was very controls heavy and there was definitely elements of repetition in relation to the controls weaknesses & audit risks PI and the info re implications/recommendations for use in management letter.

Sim 2 - very vague in respect of what they wanted. How much focus on group audit for eg. Also how did people treat the line relating to the report to the central bank? Hardly enough in itself to warrant a full indicator on other engagements as it was literally a throw away remark...?

Lack of an ethics/client acceptance/other eng indicator was very surprising....

Anyway least it's done I guess! ðŸ™„

I said it was one of the audit risks - comply with laws/regulations

FAE2015.2 · 19-08-2016 07:52PM

What was the general opinion on the tax elective paper (ROI)....?

moleary20 · 19-08-2016 09:31PM

FAE2015.2 wrote: »

What was the general opinion on the tax elective paper (ROI)....?

Awful, most others said the same :-(

FAE1 · 19-08-2016 09:42PM

FAE2015.2 wrote: »

What was the general opinion on the tax elective paper (ROI)....?

Very hard. Do you know if that was the overall opinion? It is hard to know if what I wrote is even remotely correct and even at that the my standard compared to other years solutions was no way near for me.

moleary20 · 19-08-2016 09:48PM

FAE1 wrote: »

Very hard. Do you know if that was the overall opinion? It is hard to know if what I wrote is even remotely correct and even at that the my standard compared to other years solutions was no way near for me.

Everyone around me in my centre felt the same anyway. Nothing like previous papers and answers were very much chancing my arm rather than anything solid!

FAE2015.2 · 19-08-2016 10:14PM

moleary20 wrote: »

Everyone around me in my centre felt the same anyway. Nothing like previous papers and answers were very much chancing my arm rather than anything solid!

This is making me feel much better - I'm repeating, missed it by one grade last year & Sim 2 this year was so bad I think I may have failed again! So so hard, nothing like what is seen before / what I had in my material!

FAE2015.2 · 19-08-2016 10:16PM

moleary20 wrote: »

Awful, most others said the same :-(

Small mercies but that's a relief.. Thought it was just me! Nothing like I'd seen before - Sim 2 was a killer..

moleary20 · 19-08-2016 10:22PM

FAE2015.2 wrote: »

This is making me feel much better - I'm repeating, missed it by one grade last year & Sim 2 this year was so bad I think I may have failed again! So so hard, nothing like what is seen before / what I had in my material!

Probably what they wanted - for people to be less able to rely on material. They definitely made up for only having 2 Sims by raising the complexity of the indicators. We haven't been examined once on CAT all year and 3 times on cash extraction between interim, core and today.

moleary20 · 19-08-2016 10:23PM

FAE2015.2 wrote: »

Small mercies but that's a relief.. Thought it was just me! Nothing like I'd seen before - Sim 2 was a killer..

I found them both brutal to be honest. Not a good day out.

XxrachcbXx · 19-08-2016 10:49PM

That exam was the worst ever. Not a nice way to end the week!!!!!!

Jolie2016 · 20-08-2016 01:17AM

I think the paper was really doable. I do not work in tax and never did, only had small exposure to very few things from overall syllabus. Time pressure was there and had no chance to list all conditions or consider alternative options, so mostly just went with an option that made any sense.

The paper was easy to read and indicators clear to find. Though really much planning was needed! I did miss to mention a lot of additional taxes from the hitlist to be considered and in few cases did not provide the best solution to save as much tax as possible, though made recommendations in my own way. Not sure how this will be marked???

Jolie2016 · 20-08-2016 01:22AM

Jolie2016 wrote: »

I think the paper was really doable. I do not work in tax and never did, only had small exposure to very few things from overall syllabus. Time pressure was there and had no chance to list all conditions or consider alternative options, so mostly just went with an option that made any sense.

The paper was easy to read and indicators clear to find. Though really much planning was needed! I did miss to mention a lot of additional taxes from the hitlist to be considered and in few cases did not provide the best solution to save as much tax as possible, though made recommendations in my own way. Not sure how this will be marked???

And I finished the week with a positive feeling and a hope to pass TAX! still cannot recover from the core

15YemenRoad · 20-08-2016 08:17AM

Loved that exam so much that I think I'm gonna do it again in January...

Had good notes on engagement acceptance, surprised it didn't come up.

Not a religious person but praying I got through that.

the bird flew · 20-08-2016 10:19AM

Found tax sim 2 horrible. Time constraints too.

Anyone any idea on the building disposal in Kerry? Totally threw me!

Felt very hard to cover all tax heads in a lot of questions. I didn't think CAT featured too much.

Best bet is if everyone thought it was an awful case is to do that CASSI survey and hope they consider our worry when grading!

Enjoy the no study weekend guys!

FAE1 · 20-08-2016 10:52AM

the bird flew wrote: »

Found tax sim 2 horrible. Time constraints too.

Anyone any idea on the building disposal in Kerry? Totally threw me!

Felt very hard to cover all tax heads in a lot of questions. I didn't think CAT featured too much.

Best bet is if everyone thought it was an awful case is to do that CASSI survey and hope they consider our worry when grading!

Enjoy the no study weekend guys!

I set up a new company and did a share for share with the owner for shares in the two existing companies (reconstruction relief - so no SD or CGT). I then had a CGT Group so transferred the property across to the loss maker and they were able to shelter the gain on sale with current losses.

It was one of the hardest exams I have ever done.

FAE2015.2 · 20-08-2016 10:59AM

FAE1 wrote: »

I set up a new company and did a share for share with the owner for shares in the two existing companies (reconstruction relief - so no SD or CGT). I then had a CGT Group so transferred the property across to the loss maker and they were able to shelter the gain on sale with current losses.

It was one of the hardest exams I have ever done.

I tried to do the same - realised when I came out l forgot to explain I wanted to do the share for share first.. Raging just panicked in sim 2! Fingers crossed they'll mark it kindly!

FAE1 · 20-08-2016 11:02AM

FAE2015.2 wrote: »

I tried to do the same - realised when I came out l forgot to explain I wanted to do the share for share first.. Raging just panicked in sim 2! Fingers crossed they'll mark it kindly!

Yah - it was such small technical issues in nearly every indicator and if it didn't click you would be completely wrong so will be interesting to see how they are marked! fingers crossed anyway

FAE 2016

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