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TOP FIVE EXAM tips:

1 Believe in yourself
2 Learn the concepts
3 Use mind maps
4 You are not a genius so revise
5 If you have done everything that you can, be
confident and have faith in your knowledge

<< BACK TO MAIN ARTICLE

PO 5:

Communicate effectively
Its virtually impossible to carry
out a modern-day role as a finance
professional without being an effective
communicator. Whether youre chasing
payment from customers, patiently
explaining the need for purchase
orders to reluctant line managers
or negotiating credit terms with
suppliers, a whole host of factors
around how you speak, write, and even
listen can determine how successfully
you subsequently perform in your
job as well as how youre perceived
by people you liaise with (internally
and externally), and those who can
influence your career progression.
Not everyone is a natural
communicator but heres the
good news: verbal and written
communication skills can be learned.
After all, its something you can practise
in every facet of your life.

Generate opportunities to stand

up and talk to groups such as

explaining a new procedure to a
departmental team or conducting
a Q&A session on a specific area of
your expertise with colleagues. Doing
this as a pair to start with (perhaps
with your workplace mentor) will
help build your confidence in front of
an audience.

Audit your emails tighten the

waffle, clear up all that ambiguity

and listen to your tone: if
youre after something from your
correspondent, are you asking in
a way thats likely to achieve the
desired result? Could you sound
more assertively persuasive, or less
severely demanding? (Reading aloud
first is a constructively revealing
strategy).

Dont sit in silence during meetings

voicing your opinion or asking good

questions not only forces you to
make yourself understood by people
at different levels and of various
backgrounds, youll also cultivate
an image of self-assurance (and the
meetings will seem much faster too).

But what can you do to improve the

wayyou communicate? Here are a few
useful pointers:

Watch and learn from colleagues (or

even public figures) who never leave

anyone in any doubt as to what they
mean. How might you modify your
tone, volume, or vocabulary while
retaining your own personal style to
ensure youre understood perfectly?

Identify and attend career and

networking events, especially those
that involve participation, such as

role playing to improve interviewing

or negotiating skills.

Be proactive and volunteer for

committees or projects. Why not

see how you can contribute your
skills and experience to your local
ACCA network? Youll never be short
of opportunities to stretch those
communication skills.

Learn to actively listen show

youre paying attention to the

speaker and respond with honest
feedback, or by repeating back the
essence of what you understand
youve been told.

Practise purposeful writing think

about the outcome you want from

any written exercise. What will the
reader have to do with this report?
How should people make best use
of this procedure manual? What
decision do you want from this
proposal? If you read this document,
would you know what action to take?

Take meaningful telephone messages

if you dont understand them, the
chances are your colleagues wont.

Always prepare properly for effective

face-to-face communication if
youre on time, well presented and,
most importantly, know your stuff
(or at least know what you want to
find out), your confidence will shine

<< BACK TO MAIN ARTICLE

through, and youll be far more

readily listened to and understood.
Other examples are listed online but
why not try (at least once each day)
to consciously consider how youre
planning to communicate something,
and do one thing thats different in
order to improve your effectiveness?
The next step is to answer the three
unique challenge questions:

Describe situations where you have

effectively demonstrated each of the

forms of communication mentioned.
(Think about what was required, in
what format and with what purpose.)

What did you do to help you

communicate effectively? (Consider

the method of communication used
and why you decided to convey the
information thatway.)

How have your communication

skills helped you to improve your

performance elsewhere? (What
tangible results or qualitative
outcomes have been achieved, and
how might these have been lessened
had you not stepped up your effort to
communicate effectively?)

This performance objective is linked to

all ACCA Qualification papers.

PO 6:

Using information and communications technology

Technology plays a central role in
virtually every finance team. Todays
professional accountants must be
web savvy, spreadsheet literate
and comfortable adapting to new
or bespoke software especially
those who aspire to wider business
management and leadership roles. And
mastering technology wont just make
you super-efficient in the workplace;
youll be streets ahead of technophobic
colleagues who shun any chance to
turn computers to their advantage.
Whether youre gathering or analysing
data, preparing presentations or
reports, building financial models,
stress-testing budgets or implementing
new systems, theres no escaping
technology for handling information
and communicating your messages. But
that means there are plenty of ways in
which you can build and demonstrate
your competency:

Take advantage of relevant free

downloads to expand your software

knowledge youll develop a
mindset thats totally adaptable to
technology, making it easier for you
to pick up any new software.

Make the most of any tutorials that

accompany your company software,

or find them online.

Join website forums where you

can swap ideas and ask questions

on various applications often,
the best hints and tips come
from experienced users, not the
manufacturers or vendors.

Get into the habit of using the

help facility on your PC to resolve

any problems, or find out how to
do something yourself, instead of
always being first on the phone to
your employers IT support helpdesk.

If you use spreadsheets, try to

master at least one useful new piece

of functionality each week. Find the
fastest shortcuts and demonstrate
your prowess in the files that you use
in the office.

Learn to conduct advanced internet

searches watch your search times
decrease and your results become
more highly targeted.

Teach yourself how to build and

manage a database, from creating

a basic structure through entering
datato writing sophisticated reports
and queries.

Improve your organisational

capability (and impress your

boss) by tracking any projects
with spreadsheet-based Gantt
charts or by using specific project
management software.

Boost your presentation skills by

getting to grips with PowerPoint or

other slideshow applications, making
you less reliant on colleagues in
marketing or design.

Make the most of your phone

learn how to use mobile technology

to keep up to date with business
and financial news, or sign up with
a recruitment agency for SMS job
alerts.

If your tuition provider offers online

facilities such as podcasts, video
lectures or chat rooms take
fulladvantage.

Manage your schedule more

effectively by integrating all your

<< BACK TO MAIN ARTICLE

emails, diary appointments and todo lists.

The next step is to answer the three
unique challenge questions:

Describe your experience of using

information technology. (Think about

the reasons youve used IT and
what challenges you may have to
overcome.)

How have you applied your IT

skills to improve your personal

performance? (List the ways in which
you do certain parts of your job
better, faster, or more accurately.)

How have your IT skills and

associated improved performance

benefited the wider organisation?
(Consider how you might have
contributed to streamlining
procedures, helping the team,
saving money or time, impressing
customers or suppliers, or coaching
others to use IT moreeffectively.)

This performance objective is linked to

all ACCA Qualification papers.

PO 7:

Manage ongoing activities in your area of responsibility

Whatever your level of seniority, its
your responsibility to ensure that you
effectively manage your day-to-day
activities. Your career will progress
faster and more in line with your longterm objectives if you can demonstrate
an ability to plan ahead without
needing your hand held at every step
of the way.

There are a number of ways in which

you can show how well you manage
activities in your areas of responsibility:

Most good employers will, of course,

provide relevant training and coaching
but its how you stand on your own
two feet that will mark you out from
your peers. That includes identifying
and mitigating risk, working with (or
delegating to) others, and setting and
meeting the expectations of everyone
you deal with, from colleagues to
customers, from senior management to
suppliers. Youll also need to encourage
innovation in yourself and in others
as well as being on top of relevant
business processes for your teams
function.

Think outside the box set time

Identify relevant people within your

team to whom you can delegate

work, explaining your requirements
patiently and clearly, reviewing
progress on a timely basis and
providing meaningful feedback.
aside to consider potential innovative
solutions or improvements, such
as ending existing duplications
in business processes, creating
or updating system or process
manuals, or sharing tips or specialist
know-how with colleagues.

Monitor feedback of those with

whom you liaise demonstrating

listening skills, considering both
negative and positive responses and
taking appropriate next steps.

Remember that effective management

of your own ongoing responsibilities
requires a firm grip on the bigger
picture. That means understanding
how your role and that of your team
fit within not just an organisational
context but in wider political, economic,
social, and technological realms. A
professional accountant must also
be able to apply their intelligence to
support other functions within the
business.
The next step is to answer the three
unique challenge questions:

Describe how you have managed the

ongoing (business as usual) activities

in your role. (A good way to look
at this is to imagine interviewing
someone for your own job how
would you explain the responsibilities
from the perspective of doing it in
the very best way possible?)

<< BACK TO MAIN ARTICLE

Explain where you have

recommended your own approach to

managing ongoing activities to others
and why. (This might be as informal
as impulsively and successfully
coaching a more junior colleague, or
in a more official capacity as part of
a supervisory role.)

How does your approach to

managing your activities contribute

to organisation performance?
(Consider the tasks you perform
in the widest possible context,
including where they sit between
colleagues who might deal with
documents or process components
before or after you, and how your
work might impact on outcomes
such as efficiency, profitability,
transparency or social sustainability.)

This performance objective is linked to

all ACCA Qualification papers.

IMPORTANT
The purpose of a technical article is to
do one of the following:
Elaborate on a technical area in which
students perform badly in the exam
Give extra information about areas
that are newer to the syllabus, which
may therefore have less coverage than
more traditional areas
Give an examiners specific focus on a
given topic

Students should give equal attention to

all articles on the website in preparation
for a specific exam. Articles are not
simply written to target one exam.

The articles are not intended for one

sitting only, with the possible exception
of taxation. Tax articles tend to be
updated annually to comply with legal
changes. Otherwise, we aim for a suite
of articles relating to a paper.

All technical articles whether written

by examiners or other writers are
equally important as no article is
published if it does not assist students
in some way.

Since changing to the new syllabus, any

articles deemed equally relevant to a
new paper were carried forward. These
have as much value as more recent
articles.

<< BACK TO MAIN ARTICLE

ACCA STUDENTS GO ONLINE

ACCA rolls out web-based system for exam results and other
student services
To increase processing speed and
reliability, ACCA is launching a fully
online service for registration, exam
entry, exam dockets, exam results and
certificates.
From 1 August 2012, these services will
be available exclusively online and will
no longer be issued as paper documents
in China, South Africa, Russia, Romania,
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Malta,
Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Most students are currently interacting
with ACCA online and this initiative
reflects student demand for, and positive
feedback on, our online services.

The June 2012 exam results will be

madeavailable for students to view
online and sent by email or SMS
from 8August 2012. ACCA has also
introduced a service that lets students
print out their results via the ACCA
student portal, myACCA.
Students in all countries can print an
official notification of their results via
myACCA. Paper copies of exam results
will not be issued to students in the
above listed locations.

<< BACK TO MAIN ARTICLE

THE MARKING PROCESS

ACCA undertakes many checks and
controls during the marking process
to ensure that all exam results
are accurate. Before the marking
starts, markers attend a meeting
with the examiner to discuss the
exam paper and agree a detailed
marking scheme. The examiner
moderates the marking process
closely and there are various steps
in place during the marking process
to enable the examiner to review
marked scripts to ensure that the
marking scheme is being applied
consistently by all markers. In
addition the examiner pays special
attention to scripts where marginal
marks have been awarded. Checks
are also built in to the marking
software used by markers to ensure
that each question on your script
has been marked, the marks have
been recorded against the correct
question and that the total for the
final mark is correct.
Altogether, there are nine
independent checks during the
marking process to verify that data
returned to ACCA by markers is
correct. Any discrepancies that

are found during this process are

investigated and resolved before
results are finalised. Once your
results have been added to your
student record, and your entry
options have been created for the
next exam session, ACCA then
conducts further checks to ensure
that the results are accurate before
they are released.
The quality controls applied at
each stage of the marking process
ensure the integrity of ACCAs
results data. However, ACCA
recognises that students may
sometimes feel that their results
do not reflect their perceived
performance in the exam. In
response to this, you can request an
administrative review of your results
if you:
receive an absent mark but you
were present at the exam and
submitted an exam paper
were not present at an exam but
received a mark for your paper
feel that ACCAs quality controls
have not been applied properly in
arriving at your mark.

At the December 2011 session

891 administrative reviews were
carried out. One error material to
the overall result was confirmed
and, as a consequence, the result
originally awarded to the candidate
was changed.
You can request an administrative
review for any paper-based exam
attempted. The administrative
reviews allow ACCA to ensure
transparency and fairness. As an
additional benefit to this service,
along with the outcome of your
review, you will receive a breakdown
of passes and fails for each
question attempted.
The deadline for requesting an
administrative review of your
June 2012 results is 3 September
2012. You will receive written
confirmation of the outcome of the
review in theweek commencing
10September 2012.

Please note that your mark may be

lowered if an administrative error
had inflated your original mark. If
your mark is amended as a result
of the administrative review, you
will receive a refund of your review
fee and a revised Examination Entry
Form, if applicable.
If, on receipt of the outcome of
your administrative review, you
believe that ACCA has not applied
its procedures properly, you may
appeal to the Exam Appeals
Committee.
To do this, you should submit
your appeal in writing to the head
of examinations within eight
working days of the issue of your
administrative review. Your appeal
will then be forwarded to the
committee for consideration.

To request an administrative
review, complete the form available
at www.accaglobal.com/en/
student/Exams/Exam-results/
Should an error be found in the
review, you will receive the corrected Administrative-reviews.html
mark before the exam entry closing
date for the next session. Your
markwill be adjusted to reflect your
<< BACK TO MAIN ARTICLE
true result.