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ACCA PER Sample Answers
ACCA PER Sample Answers
to be attended to. You give the job you are working on your full undivided
attention and that results in a better quality of work.
When in communication, be it with my manger, other team members or clients. I
would integrate feedback and review of what I am working on as part of the
communication. You can only make the best decisions or actions when you have
as much information as possible. Through regular communications with clients you
build a stronger relationship, which leads to the ready flow of information. Giving
feedback at the same time, again works in favour of strengthening the
relationship. Reviewing your progress when working on a query for a client for
example, allow you to gauge how well you are doing in resolving the issue. The
process of talking to the client involved the smallest part of query resolution, but
only through understanding the issues at hand could you resolve queries
effectively.
How has this helped improve work outputs or business results in your area?
When the quality of my work is up to standard as part of a team effort, you
increase the quality of the team as a whole.
By completing work on time due to effective time management. Other parts of the
accounting department workings that depend on my work being finished can
proceed without delay. In accounts payable for example if transaction queries are
looked into and resolved on time. The relevant invoices can be put on the payment
run and another team member will not have to be taken away from other duties to
handle queries from the client who hasnt received payment had there been a
delay .
Feedback and reviewing is a way I can contribute to produce a more accurate body
of work .By reviewing my work as I go along and being sure what are the expected
in my outputs. I am aware of errors as they arise since I have a feedback on my
progress. Again when my work is accurate it plays a part in the overall better
performance of team I am a member of.
Part 5
Describe situations where you have effectively demonstrated each of the forms of
communication mentioned
Working in Credit control and Accounts payable are in constant communication
with suppliers or the accounts teams of outside business .Almost all the
correspondence would evolve the sending of e-mails to the other party. Although
initial contact may be through the phone, the necessity for back up documentation
always required e-mails to deliver the documents required for approval of
payments .Supporting documents were almost always scanned and e-mailed
across as faxing became a less desirable in the paperless work environment .
Within credit control a monthly report of debtors was required by management.
We were required to prepare a spreadsheet detailing each account and their
outstanding balance .The accepted format required accounts to be separated
according to agreed headings e.g debtor days. A written narrative was required to
be entered alongside all the numerical data. This would include any recent
communications as well as a brief on payment allocations or any other relevant
information .The file would then be passed on to the collections manager who
would review and asked to be briefed in detail on the contents of the report .
Working as part of accounts payable in my last role, I was assigned to compile a
file of creditors with confirmed nil balances. As part of the termination of business
activities, we had to compile all relevant documentation to certify that all balances
had been paid before the accounts could be closed. As part of my activities I had
to present my progress to my managers on a weekly basis. This required
presentation of the work done through IT and answering of questions as they
arose.
What did you do to help communicate effectively?
My starting point would always be to understand exactly what the requirements of
the end user were .Knowing what was required allowed me to gauge what my
inputs would be in the process .Also having the end user as the focus insures that
the quality of data produced is fit for purpose. For example the business closing
project as part of accounts payable, I sat down with my manager and determining
who required access to the data. I was aware that it had to be accessible to
finance and non finance people. So the language used within the project had to be
universal to all who would have access.
The next important stage would be preparation. Before each meeting with
management in the accounts payable project above, I would insure that the data
was updated .Supporting documentation was to hand, and that I was prepared for
questions that would arise during the meeting. The bulk of my preparation was
actually achieved by consistently reviewing my work on a daily. Being familiar with
the details meant that i was confident of my understanding on the project.
Lastly feedback was an essential part of my work. Be it was on day to day dealings
with clients, meetings or presentations with management. Feedback always
insured that I had a starting point for my next set of tasks. This again went along
with my method of understanding the end user requirement in a body of work.
How have your communication skills helped you to improve your performance
elsewhere?
Review and feedback helps establish relationships with people you work with or
clients. Everyone is more responsive if they feel they have been heard .When you
address what has been vocalised in an interaction people will be more willing to
deal with you in other occasions as they feel you appreciate their side of the
situation. This can be an invaluable way to practice quickly evaluating information
and decision making. Most importantly developing people skills necessary to be
successful in business.
The more information you can obtain, will result in a higher quality of decision
making. The better quality of decision making leads to greater confidence on work
you do. The more confidence you have the more you will want to learn new things
and increase your efficiency.
Quality, accurate and timely information in efficient manner had all information
in one place able to manipulate the info held to get what you need
Being proficient in using the various forms of information technology to
communicate, report, input, extract and verify data .The quality of my work rose
accordingly .Being able to get data from various sources and filter through it to
leave only the relevant pieces. I could be confident that he end product of my
activities was the desired outcome.
One of the biggest advantages of I.T is that it is a reliable storage medium for
data. Good It skills insured that my work was accurate. I could easily verify data
from the vast amount of information accessible. Or with the simple use of checking
software e.g. unit values on transaction ranges on the accounts payable system
you could insure that data entered was correct. Even simple tools such as spell
check insured communications were accurate and professional.
IT also enabled me to become more efficient in my activities. Being able to use
software packages for data presentation produced a more stream lined product.
For example by creating excel templates, i could then add pieces of information as
i went along on a daily basis. With v-look ups and pivot points i could track my
work efficiently. By the time reports were due to management I already had a
presentable piece of work that my managers could share and go through.
Filter info into form that i could you to make my own comments or
notes(connecting points or factors )effectively a map to follow , easier to priorities
or share with others to draw attention to .e.g exel getting data from kestrel to exel
, v- look up , pivot points . so i could get what i need quickly in one place .
Easy to update and corrections easly done .security to perform part of help
sheet.
How has your IT skills and associated improved performance benefited the wider
organisation?
Management action , other tasks reliant on my quality of work ,
Easy for mangers to read reports , highlighting areas of concern , i did my bit so
the next person could do theirs . Increased communication more efficiency .benifit
was in me being efficient and producing the reqired quality of work .big complex
organisation sum of its parts .
Describe how you have managed the ongoing (business as usual) activities in your
role
Time mangment ....3rd
Dividing tasks according to priority (Inusre given appropriate )plan whats to be
done -----start .
, time to complete ,
time of day (certain ppl only available at certain times ).
Any other input needed (do yourself delegation /follow up )level of
involvement ......2nd
Giving feedback , updates , review ...4th
Explain where you have recommended your own approach to managing ongoing
activities to others and why
Understanding how the system is supposed to work correctly , regular contact and
feeback across companies .
Working in the accounts receivable /credit control function we had a long term
client with regular batches of large invoices we would send them every month
.Requisitions were done within that company but all payment function had been
outsourced to a company abroad . The payment centre could only offer
information on what invoices were paid and the ones rejected .Anything outside of
that had to be dealt with by the company requisition departments spread out
across the whole country.
As the collector for this account I had to find a way to catch any transactions that
would fail to make payment and deal with the aged debt already present. I worked
with the people in charge of the requisitions within the buyer company to prioritise
transactions by value, whether it was a multiple order or a single with multiple
lines and create separate groups that we could look through to confirm correct
purchase orders and values were assigned by my companies sales branches . We
also agreed on times when we could go over the results and give feedback and
input .Time allocation of activities made things more organised and efficient and
insured enough attention was given to the verification process.
Decrease in aged debt stuck in the 90+ range , also saw significatnt to 60 ad
onwrdto 300 day range as time went on .
In situations where long running situation , understanding the need of parties and
how each expect it to work ./
Run through woking examples . draw out in efficiencies without re enveting the
wheel . and ruffling too many feathers , compromise as you get everyones goals to
sinc to get results .
Issues with queries not ap fault but we bore the brunt of the dissatisfaction .
reluctance to offer assistantce beyond normal channels . lead to longer than
needed delays .
Being new didnt carry bias , eager to be of use
How did you apply learning from your day-to-day role in this assignment?
Time mangment /planning (priorities) review
Communication , mangers needs , meetings - documentation , it media ,- files
applicatiomns data manipulation , accesable and secure .
Being clearon what the expectations required motivation to complete ./what info
was needed for .
What did you learn from the assignment that will help you in your day-to-day role?
Presentation preparation , speaking , collecting data , meeting
Responsibility keeping it together how it affects you planning focus Self motivation time management
Confidence o do the big things have your name on it !