ACCA P1 Exam Tips June 2017（BPP&Kaplan）

Kaplan

Each P1 paper offers 4-6 marks for displaying professional skills,which can easily be the difference between a pass and a fail.The marks are available for both format and the tone and style of your answer,where you may have to prepare a speech or write a letter on behalf of the Board addressing specific concerns.Take a look at the Article of 24 August 2009 for more guidance and some great hints on style.

P1 is a very wordy paper,and the examiner wants to ensure that you have a good grasp of the theories behind the questions,but also that you can successfully apply the theories to given scenarios.Therefore,it is very easy to get lost within a question if your layout and approach to a question is poor.

A good approach is to apply 3 rules in your answer:

Introduction–this should be very short,but can help you get over any‘writers block’。It might include a read back of the question,or a definition of the subject matter（for example,if the question asks for the roles of NED’s,start by very quickly defining what an NED is）

Theory–this section will show the examiner that you actually understand the issue being questioned,again,as with the introduction,this should really be kept short,it can be a section quote from the code,or a reference to an author（Cadbury or Greenbury et al）。

Application–This will be the main bulk of your answer and should relate directly to the scenario.This is often the most difficult section of the answer,but should be made easier by the use of the introduction and theory sections.

In addition remember the golden rules of written questions:

Plenty of white space

Headings as required

Short punchy meaningful paragraphs

Following are some of the famous topics that were tested in past

Corporate governance critique and improvements.

Effective internal control systems,reporting within differing jurisdictions.

Influence of and intervention by institutional investors.

Diversification of Board

Function and importance of internal audit.

Risk definition,analysis of risk and the role of the Board of Directors.

Risk correlation and strategies for management of such risks.

Ethical standpoints and their application to business decisions.

Corporate codes of ethics critique and improvements.

Tucker’s ethical decision making model.

Social and environmental footprint.

Sustainability accounting.

Integrated Reporting

Conflict of interest and independence

Corporate Social Responsibility（CSR）

Bpp

Section A:

One compulsory question worth 50 marks which uses a lengthy scenario,often based on real-life events,to test all three main syllabus areas.Typically,this consists of four written requirements,some of which may be broken down into smaller sub-requirements where discrete syllabus content will be tested both as knowledge and application.

Within the total of 50 marks,there will be 4 professional marks available for producing some form of written communication（such as a briefing note,press release or letter to shareholders）which tests a candidate’s ability to write logical,structured and appropriate content suitable for a particular purpose,often with the aim of presenting a certain point of view.

Section B:

A choice of two from three written questions each worth 25 marks and which typically each test up to two syllabus areas by applying the syllabus to a smaller real-world scenario.Again,candidates will be expected to apply their knowledge to the scenario in order to score well.

P1 has the following syllabus areas:

A Governance and responsibility

B Internal control and review

C Identifying and assessing risk

D Controlling risk

E Professional values,ethics and social responsibility

General advice:

ACCA students are no longer given a separate period of 15 minutes‘reading and planning’time at the start of each written exam as the exam duration is now 3 hours and 15 minutes to include reading,planning and writing.However,we would still advise you to use a period similar to this at the start of the exam to continue planning the things you need to include in your answer.It is essential that you use the information in each scenario to make your answers relevant–due to the typical size of the compulsory scenario,we would advise that you still use this notional 15 minutes to plan this question above all others.

During this time you should also think about how you will produce your answer–pay attention to the verbs used in question requirements as these indicate the number of marks available.For example,the verb“explain”requires a sentence and will score one mark if properly explained whereas the verb“list”simply requires you to present information with no further explanation:this will typically only score½mark per point listed.

Recent exams have tested content from the examiner’s technical articles（such as June 2015 on corporate social responsibility（CSR）strategy and strategic CSR）so you should ensure you are familiar with any new articles that have recently been published just in case–they can be found here:http://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/exam-supportresources/professional-exams-study-resources/p1/technical-articles.html

You can expect to see the use of stakeholder,ethical and other CSR theories applied to scenarios,as well as the use of risk,control and governance syllabus content,especially relating to board directors,remuneration and reporting–you should be aiming to attempt as many past-paper questions as possible,especially those focusing on dysfunctional behaviour in areas such as bribery and corruption,environmental risk or poor ethical stance.

Good luck!

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