QUOTE(francisbacon7 @ Sep 21 2010, 08:58 AM)
hi,anyone pass ur P4?mind to share what is the way to study this subject? I have failed the paper for 2times
For P4, it's important to have a big picture view of the entire subject, and your general knowledge need to be strong.
Finance is extremely logic-driven, so you should have a good idea of how the flow of things, and the concepts behind everything. Ultimately everything must be connected to some other thing, and ultimately it should lead to some form of assistance in making a decision. So with that in mind, every calculation should help in making a decision. (aka by arriving at a valuation, or a comparison against an alternative)
And get your basics and theoretical understanding strong (i definitely suggest just revisiting F5, F9 and CAT just for the theoretical idea and get the mindset right).. This isn't accounts or some other where every financial statement line items are governed by one or two standards only.
Just like how accounts are ultimately debit and credits, for finance, the underlying concept is OPPORTUNITY COST and RISK. Everything else is just a buildup from opportunity cost concept and risk-return tradeoff.
Now, so once you have the mindset, next is to build in the key steps and concepts.
So first of all, try to understand all the concepts and you should aim to identify all the factors. Finance is designed to be practical, so you should be too, so let's say the P4 question is about methods of financing on acquisition, and whether you should proceed with the acquisition (aka a combined question involving valuation of a foreign entity, and probably a 2nd half on financing), you should aim to be able to segregate what's relevant to the valuation, what's relevant on the financing, and what's important to both.
So you should aim to know WHY things are the way they are. Ultimately if you don't understand the logic behind it, P4 will just be another paper that you'll forget some time later.
As for how you study, erm.. for me.. i had a knack for understanding the logic and rationale, so I didn't study too much, but i generally tutor ppl by asking them to do a question, and revisit them, and make them explain why they did what they did, and highlight out flaws in their thought process.