Here are the exam tips from Kaplan Financial's contents experts
F4
English legal system - court structure, court vs tribunal.
Contract law - exclusion clauses, intention to create legal relations.
Tort of negligence - general negligence, professional misstatement.
Employment law - common law duties, dismissal.
Agency/partnership - how agency relationship arises, termination of partnership.
Company law - separate personality/lifting the veil, company registration, class rights.
Fraudulent behaviour - insider dealing, bribery.

F5
• Throughput accounting and TOC.
• Learning curves.
• Variances - Sales Variances, market size and market share.
• Decision Trees.

F6
Income tax
– joint investment income
– adjustment of profits
– national insurance
Corporation tax
– chargeable gains to calculate, with rollover relief
– group loss relief – with some tax planning
– interest on late payment of corporation tax
VAT
– VAT registration – futures test
– cash accounting scheme
– default surcharges
Capital gains tax
– Transfer between spouses
– Incorporation relief
– PPR, gift and entrepreneurs’ relief

F7
Q1: Consolidated statement of comprehensive income and consolidated statement of financial position with adjustments to include: PURP, share exchange, current accounts, impairment, revaluation, fv adj.
Q2: Published accounts to include: statement of comprehensive income, statement of financial position and SOCIE from TB. Possible adjustments to include: revenue recognition, depreciation, revaluation, tax & deferred tax.
Q3: Ratios with interpretation.
Q4/Q5: Qualitative characteristics, finance leases, tangible & intangible assets, government grants.

F8
• Audit risk including analytical procedures.
• Systems: purchasing/sales (including tests of control).
• Evidence: purchases/payables; share capital/directors transactions.
• Specific standards/topics:
− communicating with those charged with governance (ISA 260/265).
− materiality (ISA 320).
− external confirmations (ISA 505).
• Completion (ISA 580 – written representations)
• Auditor’s reports

F9
Investment appraisal: this is a key topic which is highly likely to be examined every time. The most common technique assessed is NPV with inflation and taxation although be prepared for a twist.
Working Capital Management: exams to date have covered much of this topic but it’s been a while since we’ve seen the more numerical aspects surrounding inventory or payables management.
Valuations: cash flow based values have yet to be examined
Business Finance: make sure you’re able to discuss the impact that different policies may have on company by being able to both calculate and interpret financial ratios.
Cost of Capital: it’s been a while since we’ve seen any of the more technical CAPM based calculations regarding de-gearing and re-gearing betas.

P1
• Corporate governance: stock exchanges.
• Ethical theories – Absolutism.
• Internal control failures.
• Transaction cost theory.
• Sustainability – Social and environmental footprints.

P2
Question 1: Group statement of cash flows plus ethics, possibly including inappropriate application of IFRS 10 and/or accounting errors.
Other questions: Content of Questions 2, 3 and 4 can come from any part of the syllabus.
Possible topics which may be examined include:
• Reconstructions.
• Employee benefits and share option schemes.
• Financial instruments.
• Foreign currency.
• Fair value measurement.

P3
• Decision trees.
• Strategic change.
• Strategy evaluation.
• Benefits realisation.

P4
Section A
Business Valuation
Investment appraisal
Corporate reconstruction
Section B
BSOP model
Interest rate hedging
The Eurozone debt crisis

P5
• Building block model linked to CSFs.
• Importance of political factors in performance management.
• Evaluation of a performance management system.
• Corporate failure.
• Divisional performance appraisal and transfer pricing.

P6
Corporation tax
- Capital gains groups: NGNL and rollover relief.
- Degrouping charges.
- Overseas aspects: branch vs sub/CFCs/transfer pricing.
Capital gains
- Reliefs: Rollover, holdover, gift, PPR and letting.
Inheritance tax
- Lifetime gifts.
- Valuation of shares.
- Death estate computation.
Income tax
- Sole traders opening year rules, trading losses.
- Self assessment admin: payment by instalment, new penalty regime.
- Income tax comps at marginal rates, possible overseas income.
VAT
- Partial exemption.
- Land and buildings.
- Registration.

P7
Core areas likely to be examined in every paper:
• Engagement planning and risk assessment.
• Engagement procedures.
• Ethics and professional issues.
• Completion (matters to consider/evidence on file) and engagement reporting.
Plus:
• Planning.
• Subsequent Events (ISA 560).
• Review engagements.
• Obtaining work.
• Competition in the statutory audit market.
• Improving the audit report.
Please note: these are for the INT variant. The UK variant is likely to additionally include an aspect of Insolvency.

LCA tutors provide their tips for this winter's diet
F1, F2, F3
Since these exams are multiple choice it is not possible to give specific tips as the papers effectively cover the breadth of the syllabus - no topics can be ruled out. The key to success on all three papers is to practice as many mock exams as possible. When you attempt a mock exam do not guess any of the questions. Instead, make a note of it and move on to the next question. Mark the exam when you are finished and any questions that were left unanswered or you got wrong find the answer in your text book, read the whole chapter and make notes.

F4
Courts and sources of law.
Contract- consideration, exclusion clauses.
Torts/ partnership.
Articles of Association.
Capital (including debentures).
Directors.
Employment law.
Criminal law e.g. Insider dealing , money laundering etc.

F5
Costing systems - ABC, throughput accounting and the theory of constraints.
Short term decision making: CVP analysis, limiting factors.
Budgeting and variance analysis (calculations).
Budgetary systems ( ABB, ZBB etc) and behavioural aspects of budgeting.
Performance measurement - divisional performance, ROCE vs RI.
Transfer Pricing.

F6
Corporation tax: Basic computation with capital allowances and profit adjustments; due dates for submission of tax returns and penalties for late submission. Possible group relief/transfer of group gains or losses.
Calculating the VAT due for a quarter, default surcharges for overdue returns.
Individual tax: Employee benefits and pension contributions. Calculation of an income tax liability.
Capital gains tax: A mixed bag of topics; shares, gift relief, transfers between husband and wife, compensation receipts with some gains qualifying for entrepreneur relief.
Other questions
A mixed question involving the trader; short computations on assessments, partnerships and change of accounting date.
Overseas aspects of a company; double tax relief, branches and subsidiaries, transfer pricing and VAT on imports and exports.
A general inheritance tax question.
Badges of trade problem question with a calculation of the results either as a trading or capital gain.

F7
Q1 Consolidated SPL and OCI and Statement of Financial Position (with acquisition during the year).
Q2 Published financial statement (possibly adjusted rather than from a trial balance).
Q3 Cash flows and interpretation (including some ratios).
Qs 4 and 5 aspects of the conceptual framework and greater focus on the following standards:
- IAS 12 (deferred tax).
- IAS 17 (leases).
- IAS 18 (revenue) linked with IAS11 (construction contracts).
- IAS 38 (intangible assets).
- IFRS 5 (non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations).

F8
The exam will cover a wide range of areas from the syllabus and so students should have a good overall knowledge. No-one knows what will come up – but particular areas to pay attention to are:
Internal controls and substantive procedures - usually come up (perhaps Bank & Cash / Liabilities).
Audit risk.
Materiality.
Written representations & audit reports.
Relevant & reliable evidence.
CAATs.
Other areas - ISA 402/ISA 720/going concern (recent technical article).

F9
Investment Appraisal: NPV including identification of relevant cash flows, tax saved on capital allowances, inflation and nominal cost of capital.
Calculation of a project specific cost of capital and discussion.
Special investment decisions: lease or buy.
Working Capital Management: Working Capital characteristics of different businesses and the working capital cycle.
Overcapitalisation vs overtrading.
All aspects of receivables management including credit control, discounts and factoring.
Sources of finance and cost of capital.
Theories of Capital structure (Modigliani and Miller).
Company valuation.
Dividend growth model vs market value discussion.
Foreign exchange risk management.

P1
Peterkeeling.com

P2
Q1 Complex group OR group cash flows plus manipulation of financial
information and related ethical issues.
Q2 Case study on investments: IFRS10/11, IAS28(2011) & IFRS9/13 if Q1 is cash flows OR case study on deferred tax (IAS12).
Q3 Mixed scenario on accounting standards: IAS19/21/24 & IFRS5.
Q4 Essay on application of Framework's "faithful representation".

P3
Section A (compulsory case study)
PEST and Five Forces analysis.
Success criteria...suitability, acceptability, feasaibility...to be applied.
Some financial calculations and their implications.
Section B
Project management.
Marketing.
Matrix structure.
Outsourcing.
Porter’s competitive advantage - generic strategies and the diamond.

P4
Foreign direct investment (NPV, MIRR, project duration).
Project specific cost of capital.
Transfer pricing.
Adjusted present value.
Black Scholes option pricing.
Financial and corporate reconstruction.
Currency futures and options.
Stakeholders.

P5
Benchmarking.
Impact of external factors on strategy and performance.
The role of performance management systems in business integration - value chain and McKinsey’s 7S’s.
Transfer pricing.
ROI, RI and EVA.
Not for profit organisations - value for money.

P6
A company with UK and foreign subsidiaries; double tax and group relief; controlled foreign companies and branches. VAT on imports and exports.
An individual trader starting to trade after acquiring a business; loss reliefs, reliefs for capital expenditure including VAT; sales of assets to provide funds for business development. Cash and annual accounting.
Gifts of shares and share buybacks.
Employment tax issues including share schemes.
Gifts, inheritance tax and overseas issues.
IR35.

P7
Going Concern.
Planning & Groups.
Ethics with quality control & assurance reporting.
Audit reports - other information.
Profit forecast.

Becker Professional Education's lecturers give their guiddance for the sitting ahead
F4
Nature of law
- comparison of the roles of parliament and of the courts in making the law and in resolving legal disputes.
- the relationship between courts and tribunals.
Contract law
- aspects of the creation of contracts – invitation, offer and acceptance, and consideration.
- unilateral offers and communication of acceptance.
- adequacy and sufficiency of consideration.
- nature and remedies for breach, conditions, warranties and the measure of damages.
- exclusion clause.
Torts of negligence and passing off
-duty of care and the role of professionals.
Business organisations
- partnership law.
- partnership organisation.
- liability of business partners for debts and obligations.
- setting up a company.
-rules of corporate articles of association.
Corporate finance
- mechanics of issuing, allotting and accounting for new share issues.
Corporate management and governance
- capacity and duties of directors.
- directors’ remuneration.
Insovency proceedings and the rights of creditors
- administration and liquidation processes
Bribery Act 20010

F5
ABC.
Cost volume profit analysis involving PV charts in multi product situations.
Planning variances involving costs.
Performance measurement in non profit organisations.
Budgeting.
Environmental management accounting.

F7
Leases.
Revenue recognition.
Substance v form.
Convertible instruments (IAS32/IFRS 9)
Accounting for taxation.
Accounting for assets, particularly IAS 16.
Accounting for taxation.
Lease accounting.
Events after the reporting period.

F9
Interest rate risk.
ARR and (discounted) payback.
Leases versus buy decisions.
Bond valuation.

P1
Corporate governance concepts – the underlying fundamentals.
CG in other organisations – NGOs, public sector.
CG types and forms – rules v principles, insider/outsider, UK codes, SoX.
Agency theory - stakeholders, Mendelow.
Board structure.
Internal control and business risk – Tunrbull
Ethical theories and business codes.
Professionals and public interest.
Corporate citizen, footprints and sustainability.
Social and environmental auditing.

P3
Environmental analysis - PESTEL/Porter’s 5 forces and impact on stakeholders.
Harnessing IT in the value chain – apply to VC.
Outsourcing and how it helps business strategy.
Using Johnson, Whittington and Scholes model to evaluate strategic options under the heading suitability, acceptability and feasibility.
Process redesign and change management strategy.
Project management, focusing on cost/benefit analysis of business case for a project.

P4
Role and responsibility towards stakeholders.
Domestic and international investment decisions.
Mergers and acquisition strategies.
Advanced treasury and risk management techniques.
Impact of macro economics and international financial institutions.
Emerging issues in finance and financial management.

P5
External environmental analysis, Porter’s 5 forces.
Activity based management.
Value chain analysis.
Balanced scorecard or Fitzgerald and Moon building blocks model.
Critical success factors.
Beyond budgeting/behavioural aspects of budgeting.

P7
New audits, tendering.
Planning, materiality, sampling, analytical review.
Audit, business or financial statement risk.
Group audits, joint ventures, goodwill, joint audit.
Assurance services.
Ethics, practice management.
IFRS 1-13! And IAS 1 to 40.
Close down procedures, opening balances, comparatives.
Outsourcing, service providers, use of an expert.
CG, internal audit (ethics/outsourcing), audit committees.

Top tutors at BPP provide you with their exam tips for the December sitting
ACCA F4 (UK)
Expect the first 7 questions to be knowledge based, covering the English Legal system, Contract Formation, Tort, Company Formation, Company Financing and Employment Law. Within the last 3 ‘problem’ questions there should be a question on contract breach and remedies.
The Bribery Act 2010 entered the syllabus in 2012 and was not tested in June, so either a knowledge or problem question is likely in December.

ACCA F5
The F5 examination will comprise five compulsory 20 mark questions, usually featuring a scenario and multiple requirements.
It is expected that one of the questions will be entirely written, generally speaking there will be one question from each of the five syllabus areas. Approximately 50% of the marks will be awarded for calculations and 50% for discussion it is therefore imperative that you devote time to practising both skills.
Ann Irons has repeatedly stated in her examiner’s report that students should NOT try to question spot or focus on some areas of the syllabus at the detriment of others. Advice would therefore be to study ALL areas in preparation for the exam.

ACCA F6 (UK)
The exam will comprise five compulsory questions. Question 1 will focus on income tax with Question 2 focusing on corporation tax. These two questions will make up 55% of the marks.
Question 3 to 5 will total 15 marks each. Question 3 will examine capital gains tax with the other two questions covering other areas of the syllabus.
VAT will be examined for at least 5 marks in either Question 1 or 2 but could form a separate question. Inheritance tax will also always be examined for at least 5 marks within Question 3 or 4 or 5.

ACCA F7 (International stream)
There will be 5 questions in the exam, all compulsory. The first 25 mark question will cover a consolidated statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income and/or consolidated statement of financial position, and may include a written part. Questions 2 and 3 will also be 25 marks, Question 2 covering preparation of single entity financial statements, likely from a trial balance. Question 3 is usually set in the context of interpretation and often includes a statement of cash flows. The conceptual framework is often part of Questions 4 or 5 so it is an area you need to ensure you are familiar with. Inflation, government grants, discontinued operations, deferred tax, leases, intangible assets or financial instruments are possible topics for questions 4 and 5 this sitting.

ACCA F8
The F8 exam consists of 5 compulsory questions. Question 1 is a 30 mark scenario based question which will test a wide range of topics such as internal controls and audit evidence and procedures.
The second question focuses on testing knowledge and is worth 10 marks. This question is often broken down in to 3 or 4 separate requirements and can require you to define some of the key terms within audit and assurance.
Questions 3, 4 and 5 are worth 20 marks each and the requirements will largely be based upon the given scenario. Typical areas which are tested in these questions are corporate governance, planning, audit risk, internal controls, audit procedures and audit reports.
Audit procedures, internal controls, audit risk and audit reports are almost always examined so make sure that you can generate both tests of control and substantive procedures for key cycles and balances as well as being able to identify internal control deficiencies. You should also ensure that you can draw out audit risks from a scenario as well as determining the effect audit issues may have on the audit report.

ACCA F9
The Examination contains four compulsory 25 mark questions, usually each question features a scenario and multiple requirements. Approximately 50% of the marks will be awarded for calculations and 50% for discussion. It is important that you practise both skills.
Anthony Head (F9 Examiner) has repeatedly stated that he will test across the whole syllabus. In many post exam commentaries he has stated that candidates who were well prepared and who had studied all parts of the syllabus did well on this paper. Candidates who were not successful may have focused on a small number of topic areas.
Investment Appraisal, WACC and Working Capital have featured in most exams, but just focusing on these topics alone will not be enough to generate a pass. It’s possible to get a whole question on each of these topics but they may just form part of a single question.
To maximise your chances of passing you will need to ensure you have a wide understanding of the whole syllabus.

ACCA P1
The format of this paper is quite straightforward – one compulsory 50 mark question and a choice of two from three 25 mark questions. Often, the compulsory question is set within a scenario based on real-life events allowing all three parts of the syllabus to be tested: you should therefore consider organisations with governance issues and how they control their exposure to risk and any resultant ethical dilemmas.
Optional questions tend to focus on governance, risk and ethics more discretely, but we could still see some cross-over, for example, internal audit is the subject of an article recently published by the ACCA and could quite easily fall into a governance-related question or one more specifically testing internal controls and risks.
Candidates should ensure they are familiar with all the various theories introduced within the learning materials as they are frequently examined – good exposure to past papers will illustrate the kind of test most likely to be faced in December.

ACCA P2 (International stream)
There will be 4 questions. The compulsory question for 50 marks will cover consolidated financial statements with adjustments on other syllabus areas, plus written parts, often in the context of accounting adjustments and ethics. You need to do two of the three 25 mark questions in section B of the exam, one of which is normally set in the context of a 'specialised industry' and one being a discussion question on current developments. Discontinued activities, acquisitions and disposals (SPLOCI and/or SOFP) or a statement of cash flows are possibilities for the consolidation part of the compulsory question this sitting, while application of the definition of control, management commentary, disclosures, fair values, improvements in performance measurement, conceptual framework or leasing are possibilities for the discussion question.

ACCA P4
Section A (50-70 marks in total) will contain two compulsory questions; each question will be allocated between 25 and 40 marks. Section A questions will integrate a number of different syllabus areas and often include a substantial discounted cash flow question, and business valuation techniques.
In section B (30-50 marks in total) you will need to choose two questions from a choice of three. Each question will be worth between 15 and 25 marks, and question 5 will be a discursive written question. Commonly tested areas include risk management, and currency risk management is due to be tested. The European debt crisis could feature as an aspect to the discussion question.

ACCA P5
Section A (50-70 marks in total) will contain two compulsory questions; each question will be allocated between 25 and 40 marks. The style of recent exam papers has been that question 1 in the exam has required a high level of data analysis using numerical techniques e.g. ROCE, RI and EVA. Question 2, in recent sittings, has often asked for the application of a performance management framework such as the balanced scorecard, the building blocks model, the performance pyramid and the performance prism. The balanced scorecard and the buildings blocks model are due to be tested.
In section B (30-50 marks in total) you will need to choose two questions from a choice of three. Each question will be worth between 15 and 25 marks. Commonly tested areas include quality management, benchmarking (in both a private & a public sector context), the application of strategic models (such as PEST, Porter’s 5 forces and the BCG matrix), corporate failure models and transfer pricing.

ACCA P6 (UK)
The exam will comprise two compulsory questions within Section A which will both be of a case study style and will cover between 50 %-70% of the marks. One of these questions will focus on personal tax issues and the other will focus on corporate tax issues. Both will require a professional document to be constructed for which professional skills marks will be awarded.
Section B will comprise three questions of which only two are to be answered. These will be in a more succinct style and will examine any areas of the syllabus.
The unincorporated business is always a popular topic at P6.

ACCA P7
We expect that the P7 exam in December will mirror previous sittings, with two compulsory questions making up the majority of the marks on offer and a choice of two from three optional questions.
For this sitting, you can expect a planning scenario in the compulsory section which should draw on article content recently published by the P7 examiner, while we expect that optional questions will again test audit reports, ethical issues and practice-related matters. Candidates should also take heed of the examiner’s recent advice on exam technique for P7 when preparing for this exam.

First Intuition provide their exam tips for this winter's diet
F5
Activity based costing.
Environmental accounting.
Limiting factors.
Cost volume profit analysis.
Budgeting and learning curves.
Variances (including sales mix and quantity + planning and operational).
Financial and non-financial performance assessment.

F6
Employment/self-employment.
PAYE.
Opening years and change of year-end for sole traders.
Capital allowances.
Corporation tax losses.
VAT default surcharge and VAT invoice content and annual accounting.
CGT: Principal Private residence and entrepreneur’s relief, chattels.
IHT lifetime and death transfers.

F7
Q1 Consolidated SFP, with associate, deferred consideration, pups and fair value adjustment downwards.
Q2 Single company accounts question, including taxation, lease, and intangible assets.
Q3 Statement of cash flow and comments thereon with no ratios.
Q4 The framework with computation for non current asset.
Q5 Construction contract.

F8
Substantive audit procedures and tests of control on a key area of the Statement of Financial Position e.g. inventories or non-current assets.
Audit risks in a particular scenario.
Identifying and explaining the threats to auditor independence and ways of managing them.
Mgt letter: identifying the weaknesses, consequences and recommendations in a particular company.
Subsequent events.

F9
Discussion of the economic environment and the impact on interest and exchange rates.
Working capital management.
Investment appraisal & cost of capital.
Business valuations.

P2
Q1 Group question on disposals, piecemeal acquisitions or cashflow.
Ethics.
IFRS 13 Fair values – current issue.
Deferred Tax.
Share based payments.

P3
Section A
• Environmental analysis, people with financial analysis.
Section B
• Project management.
• Strategic Action.
• Information Technology – pricing strategy.

P4
International investment appraisal techniques focusing on risk management tools such as value at risk.
Impact on WACC following hedging of interest rate risk.
Company valuation based scenario, possible MBO finance to structure.
Adjusted present value with link to real options and Black Scholes option pricing model.

P5
Critique an existing performance management system.
Transfer pricing.
ROI, RI and EVA.
Activity based principles.
Corporate failure prediction.
Performance management models.
Assess performance against financial and non-financial (incl environmental) targets.

P6
Business property relief.
Use of second spouse nil rate band.
Related property.
Groups of companies, trading and capital losses.
Double tax relief for companies.
De-grouping charges.
Incorporation relief.
Furnished holiday lets.
VAT partial exemption.
Appeals and the four track tribunal system.
Benefits in kind or extra salary, income tax and national insurance implications.

P7
Business risks in a scenario.
Identifying ethical and other professional issues in a scenario.
Audit reports.
Group audits.
Money laundering.
Forensic audits.