Sources[Kaplan,BPP,LSBF,Beckers Professional,First Intuition,MM University]

 

　　ACCA F9 Financial Management Paper Exam Tips for December 2015 Session are given below by famous tuition providers

 

　　Kaplan

 

　　Part A: MCQ’s will be from any syllabus area.

 

　　Part B: Some frequently tested areas in the past were

 

　　●   NPV with Inflation and Taxation

 

　　●   Cash operating cycle

 

　　●   Receivable,Payable&Inventory Management

 

　　●   Financial Gearing

 

　　●   Cost of Equity&Debt

 

　　●   WACC

 

　　●   CAPM&MM

 

　　●   Foreign Exchange Risk Management

 

　　●   Interest Rate Risk Management

 

　　●   Sources of Finance

 

　　Don’t just keep focusing on numbers.Although the numbers are important but approximately half of the marks are for the written elements.Prepare every topic thoroughly to increase chances of passing the exam.

 

　　BPP

 

　　Calculations on improvements to receivables management(eg early settlement discounts and factoring).

 

　　Weighted average cost of capital calculations(including its component parts).

 

　　Ratio analysis to support financing decisions.

 

　　NPV calculations

 

　　LSBF

 

　　Choose which question to do first in the exams.Typically there will be two relatively two straightforward questions,one slightly more problematic and other one really tough.Make sure you do the easy one first and bag as many easy marks as possible.

 

　　Please know your cost of capital.This topic comes up in each and every session typically anywhere between 6-10 marks.The critical issue being WACC(Weighted Average Cost of Capital),you should be able to get all 6 or 10 marks.

 

　　Make sure you can do all the subsidiary calculations and of course calculate WACC or alternatively if it is about project specific,make sure you could go through the five steps.

 

　　First Intuition

 

　　Discussion of the economic environment and the impact on interest and exchange rates.

 

　　Working capital management–receivables and payables plus operating cycle.

 

　　Investment appraisal and cost of capital.

 

　　Business valuations.

 

　　Risk management(currency risk calculations).

 

　　Open Tuition

 

　　Section A–Multiple Choice Questions

 

　　●   Do not waste time doing neat workings for calculation questions–your workings will not be marked.Only the answer on the answer sheet is marked.You should not attempt to justify or explain any of your answers.

 

　　●   Look first for the short questions and those on topics you feel most happy with.All the questions carry 2 marks and so don’t waste time on a question that requires a lot of reading–come back to it later when you have finished the shorter questions.

 

　　●   If you come across a question that you know little about,you might be able to eliminate one or two answers as being obviously wrong and this will improve your odds at guessing the correct answer.If you know nothing about a question,then staring at it will not make any difference–guess an answer and move on.A guess is always worthwhile.

 

　　●   Watch your time.You should spend 72 minutes on Section A and no longer.You can always go back to it later if you find you have time left after completing Section B.

 

　　●   Keep your eye on the clock and when there is 5 minutes left before the end of the exam stop what you are doing,and guess any of the Section A questions that you have not answered.To maximise you marks be sure to answer all 20 questions even if it means guessing several of them.

 

　　Section B–long form questions

 

　　●   Make sure you write something for every part of every question.You are unlikely to be able to finish every part of every question–either because you run out of time or you get stuck–but you can always write something for each part.In the calculations,each part of the workings is marked separately,whether or not you have finished.In the written parts,each comment is marked separately.

 

　　Even if you can only think of one brief comment and get just one mark,that could turn a 49%fail into a 50%pass.

 

　　●   For calculation parts of questions,show your workings neatly.It is the workings that get the marks(whether the final answer is right or wrong)but the marker can only give you the marks if they can follow what you are doing.

 

　　●   For the written parts of questions,make sure that your writing is legible.(Before the exam day,ask someone if they can read your writing easily–if they can’t then consider printing the words!)

 

　　●   For the written parts of questions,write each separate point on a new line(with a line space between points).If you write one long paragraph containing several points,then there is a danger that the marker will miss some of the points.

 

　　●   Allocate your time.You should allow 18 minutes for each 10-mark question,and 27 minutes for each 15-mark question.There are 5 questions and submitting 5 questions all part finished will get you more marks than only submitting 4 questions and missing one question completely.

 

　　●   Start each part of each question on a new page in the answer booklet(if you run out of pages they will provide an extra booklet!).

 

　　That way you can always go back to questions and be able to add more to your answer neatly,if you have time left at the end of the exam.

 

　　You do not have to attempt the questions in order or even every part within a question in order,but do make sure you make it clear at the top of the page which part of which question you are answering.