Examiners Insight to F1 for june 2009 - ACCA Global Accountancy Discussion Forums

acca · 05-13-2009, 09:37 PM

Latest developments from the F1 examiner - Bob Souster

At the ACCA teacher’s conference, Bob Souster gave a presentation which discussed students’ performance in F1, The Accountant in Business. He also provided insights into how performance in this paper can be improved.
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Common problems seen on students’ scripts included:

Students perform less well on the human resources section of the syllabus.
In terms of environmental analysis, students are less comfortable with using macroeconomic analysis or dealing with the legal environment.
Answers dealing with the role and responsibilities of auditors, and the difference between internal and external audit are weak.

There were however some strong points in students’ scripts:

Students have performed well in the first three sittings of the paper, and pass rates are consistently high.

Particular strengths are organisational structure, environmental analysis, and stakeholder issues.

The following tips were given to candidates attempting F1:
Students should practice questions from across the syllabus. Due to the nature of the paper, featuring compulsory MCQs, it is crucial to have covered the whole study guide.
The examiner specifically recommends studying corporate culture and corporate governance, where knowledge seems limited. The role and objectives of international bodies such as IFAC was also singled out as an area where understanding should be improved.
Use the examiner’s report to see how difficult questions should have been approached.
Remember that it is important to be able to apply your knowledge of management theories to brief scenarios provided in the exam.
Practice different types of questions - missing words, true/false and multiple response questions are all important.

ACCAHELP advises all F1 students to:

Read the examiner’s reports on past sittings of F1 which are available on ACCA’s website.
Practice exam questions from an approved, up to date exam kit.
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