9 FEBRUARY 2011

TECHNICAL ARTICLES
PAPERS F6 (UK),
P3, P4, P5 AND P6 (UK)

CAREER CLINIC
SOLVING YOUR
WORK PROBLEMS

JOB HUNTING

BUILD A
PERFECT CV
LCA_Advert_Artwork_Single_Page_Feb11.qxd 1/2/11 11:43 Page 1
EDITOR’S
CHOICE
With exam results due out imminently you
may be thinking about your options for the future
both in your studies and in your career.
We know that lots of you want help and advice on how to develop your
career, find a good first accountancy job, or develop your skills in the
workplace to help you on your path towards ACCA membership. So, this
issue of Student Accountant contains several useful articles to help you do
just that.
In January we asked you to send in details about your career dilemmas
– many of you came back to us saying you wanted help with writing a CV,
cover letter and how to get an interview. This issue features advice and tips
on writing a perfect CV on page 20. We would be very interested to see if
the advice works for you – email us at studentaccountant@accaglobal.com
to let us know.
We’ll be including articles on writing a compelling cover letter and getting
that vital interview opportunity in future issues of Student Accountant.
This issue also includes the first in a new series of career coaching articles
by Chris Argent. This month, Chris helps an ACCA student overcome a fear of
speaking in meetings. Read his advice on page 16.
This issue includes a number of important technical articles to help you
get prepared for the June 2011 exams. We’ve got news about updates to
the Paper P4 and P5 syllabuses, an examiner approach article for Paper F6
(UK), the fourth in the series of update articles for Paper P6 (UK) students on
trusts and tax, and an interesting article about pricing and strategy relevant
to Paper P3 students. Access the technical content on page 25.
Read key information about how to get your exam results as soon as they’re
available by registering to receive them online, and also how to enter for
exams in June 2011 in our regular Noticeboard section on page 29.
I hope you enjoy this issue. If you have any feedback about the magazine
please email me at studentaccountant@accaglobal.com

Victoria Morgan
Editor, Student Accountant magazine
4 CONTENTS
DISPATCH
06 GRAPHIC NEWS Demands for accountancy staff are
up, CFOs are prepared to fly high on risk, and IPOs move
on in leaps and bounds according to a survey by PwC
08 NEWS ROUNDUP Global finance and accounting news

FEATURE
20 CONSTRUCTING THE PERFECT CV
As the New Year bursts into life, you may be
considering a switch of jobs – but does
your CV do you proud and will it stand
out from the crowd? Alex Miller reports

LEARNING CENTRE
12 STUDENT PROFILE Anisha Gorji, UK 16 CAREER COACH Chris Argent from Ambitious
14 PRIZEWINNERS All the winners from the June 2010 People solves your work‑related problems
exam session 18 STRIKING A BALANCE Richard Mludi, Malawi

BALANCING ACT DOWNLOAD ARTICLE PDFS

How do you manage the work-study balance? Let us Wherever you see the download icon , click on it
know your top tips and you could be in a forthcoming SA to download a PDF file of the article which can be
feature. Email us at studentaccountant@accaglobal.com read offline and printed off to help you with your studies
 Welcome to ISSUE 03/2011 of STUDENT ACCOUNTANT
Please email studentaccountant@accaglobal.com with your feedback on this issue
TECHNICAL
25 TECHNICAL ARTICLES
EXAMINER’S
APPROACH TO PAPER
F6, TAXATION (UK)
Relevant to ACCA
Qualification Paper F6 (UK)
BUSINESS STRATEGY
AND PRICING
Relevant to ACCA
Qualification Paper P3
EXAMINER’S APPROACH
TO PAPER P4
Relevant to ACCA
Qualification Paper P4
PAPER P5 SYLLABUS
CHANGES FOR 2011
Relevant to ACCA
Qualification Paper P5
TRUSTS AND TAX
Relevant to ACCA
Qualification Paper
P6 (UK)
An online archive of
Student Accountant
technical articles
is available at: www.
accaglobal.com/
students/student_
accountant/archive/
Online resources:
www.accaglobal.com/
students/cat
www.accaglobal.com/
students/acca
RESOURCES
29 NOTICEBOARD
ESSENTIAL
INFORMATION
ABOUT ACCA AND
YOUR STUDIES
ACCA Connect
contact details, annual
subscription and
exam fees, June 2011
exam timetable, exam
WHAT’S YOUR STORY? entry, exam FAQs and
Why did you want to become an accountant, and admin reviews
what do you hope to be in the future? Email your
story to us at studentaccountant@accaglobal.com
Mark Gold
President
Dean Westcott
Deputy President
Barry Cooper
Vice President
Helen Brand
Chief Executive
EDITORIAL TEAM
Victoria Morgan
Editor
Jamie Ambler
Editorial Consultant
Jackie Dollar
Art Editor
Richard Gooding
Designer
WWW.ACCAGLOBAL.COM
Glen Patterson
Online Editor
29 Lincoln’s Inn Fields London
WC2A 3EE
United Kingdom
tel: +44 (0)20 7059 5700
email: info@accaglobal.com
www.accaglobal.com
PUBLISHING AND ADVERTISING
Adam Williams
Head of Publishing and Commercial
Anthony Kay
Production Manager
For all advertising-related matters please
contact Lisa Peake:
tel: +44 (0)20 7902 1224
email: lisa@educate-direct.com
Published by the Certified Accountants
Educational Trust in cooperation
with ACCA.
The Council of ACCA and the publishers
do not guarantee the accuracy of
statements made by contributors or
advertisers, or accept any responsibility
for any statement which they may make in
this publication.
No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying
or otherwise, without prior written
permission of the publishers. © CAET 2011
ISSN 1473‑0979
 6 DISPATCH
ACCOUNTANTS IN DEMAND
1 00 119 106 107 112
Demand for new accountancy staff is up 12% for fully
qualified accountants compared to December 2009,
nearly treble the rise experienced by the economy as a
whole, says the Reed Accountancy Job Index. DEC ‘09 MAR ‘10 JUN ‘10 SEP ‘10 DEC ‘10
GRAPHIC NEWS
CFOs PREPARED TO FLY HIGH ON RISK
40% CFOs’ appetite for risk has recovered even more strongly than optimism about
the financial prospects of their own businesses, according to the Deloitte CFO Survey
2010. In the fourth quarter of 2010, 32% of CFOs said they believed this was a good
35% time to take risk onto their balance sheet. This is the highest reading since the
survey started in Q3 2007.
30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 2010 2010
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

IPOs MOVE ON IN LEAPS AND BOUNDS

PwC’s IPO Watch Europe has revealed that initial public offering activity rose sharply in the
fourth quarter of 2010, ending the year on an upward trend.
140 12,000
120 10,000

Value of IPOs (€m)

Number of IPOs

100
8,000
80
6,000
60
4,000
40
20 2,000

Q4 2009 Q1 2010 Q2 2010 Q3 2010 Q4 2010

IPOs Value (€m)

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 8 DISPATCH
01 DELOITTE’S NEW CEO
David Sproul has been appointed
Deloitte’s new chief executive
and senior partner. He will
succeed John Connolly in June.
NEWS ROUNDUP
Sproul is head of tax at Deloitte,
having been managing partner
for talent and for consulting and
advisory services. Andrew Hodge
becomes managing partner
at Deloitte’s tax practice. He
is head of Deloitte’s UK and
EMEA global employer services
businesses and sits on the global
management group for global
employer services.
02 NEW CPD
STANDARD PLANNED
The International Accounting
Education Standards Board
(IAESB) has proposed changes
to the standards for accountants’
continuing professional
development. The IAESB plans to
stress pre-qualification education
for accounting professionals and
the competencies of an auditor
by revising additional standards.
‘We would like to encourage
a more innovative approach to
meeting CPD needs,’ said IAESB
chairman Mark Allison.
of its trading arrangements. He
accused the two men of keeping
two sets of  accounts.
04 INDIA
CORPORATES PROTEST
A business group representing
some of India’s largest
companies has demanded the
deferral of the implementation of
International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS), which is
planned to be effective from this
year in India. The Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry argues that the April
deadline is ‘highly unworkable
and unfair’, especially given
the number of IFRS revisions
being developed. Government
officials insisted that IFRS would
be adopted as per schedule.
05 IRISH POLITICIANS
FACE AUDITS
A qualified accountant will be
engaged by Ireland’s parliament
– the Oireachtas – to audit the
expenses claims of its members,
both TDs (members of its
parliament, the Dáil) and senators
(members of the upper house).
The person previously charged
with auditing expenses claims
– Tom O’Higgins, chairman of
the Oireachtas audit committee –
resigned when plans to reform the
system were rejected.
06 VICTIMS RECOVER
US$7.2BN
The estate of an investor in the
Madoff ‘Ponzi’ fund has agreed to
pay US$7.2bn in compensation
to victims of the fraud. The

03 KHODORKOVSKY
CONVICTED
Russian former oligarch Mikhail
Khodorkovsky has been sentenced
to an additional six years in jail
for embezzlement and money
laundering. He was convicted
alongside business partner Platon
Lebedev. Khodorkovsky was
already serving eight years for
a 2003 conviction for fraud and
tax evasion. The charges relate
to allegations that the two men
stole US$27bn of oil from their
former company, Yukos. In finding
them guilty, the judge, Viktor
Danilkin, suggested that Yukos’s
practice of reporting its accounts
in English was an indication that it
was trying to avoid full disclosure
KPMG RESIGNS FROM TUI FOLLOWING
RESTATEMENT SAGA
KPMG has stood down as auditor to German-based TUI Travel.
The decision relates to the restatement of its results for the
year ending September 2009 because of a failure to properly
reconcile transactions on different IT systems. TUI’s directors
are recommending that PwC is appointed instead. The company
said that it ‘has had a good working relationship’ with KPMG
since the formation of TUI in 2007. In its Section 519 letter of
resignation, KPMG said: ‘We have had extensive discussions
with the directors of the company over the background to these
restatements. Our relationship with certain directors became
increasingly strained… Accordingly we have decided not to
seek reappointment.’
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 10 DISPATCH
settlement brings the total
compensation available to victims
to nearly US$10bn – about half
of investors’ total losses. The
trustee for the victims hopes to
NEWS ROUNDUP
obtain additional compensation
from other investors
who benefited from
the fund. The US$7.2bn
payment was authorised by
Barbara Picower, from the estate
of her late husband Jeffry M
Picower. Picower said that her
husband had benefited from
the Madoff investments without
realising the returns had been
achieved fraudulently. The
payment represents the value
of Picower’s profits from the
Madoff  investments.
07 GRANT THORNTON
ELEVATED
Grant Thornton China is one of 12
Chinese accounting firms to be
accredited with the new H-share
licence, allowing the mainland
firm to sign off audits of
Chinese‑incorporated companies
that are also listed on the Hong
Kong Stock Exchange. In the past,
two separate sets of accounts and
two separate auditors have been
required, one for each jurisdiction.
Xu Hua, CEO of Grant Thornton
China, said Chinese companies
seeking a listing will benefit from
a wider choice of auditor.
08 CHINESE BRANDS IN
GLOBAL 500
Seventeen Chinese brands are
named in a world listing of the
500 most influential brands.
Among them – and placed in the
top 100 – are state broadcaster
China Central Television (CCTV),
China Mobile, Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China
(ICBC) and State Grid. The list
was compiled by US brand
consultant the World Brand
Lab, based on its evaluation of
brand influence, market share
FOOD INFLATION
THREATENS ASIA
Record-high food prices
are moving to the top
of the agenda for many
Asian policymakers as the
prospect of higher inflation in
2011 poses a major threat
to the region’s strong revival
from the global financial
crisis. The UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organization
said that food prices hit a
record high last December,
moving beyond the levels
that prompted riots in 2008.
Food inflation in many Asian
countries, including China
and India, is already in
double digits, raising fears
that the price pressures
could spread more broadly
to other sectors and
threaten both economic and
social stability.
and brand loyalty as well as
global leadership.
09 PROBE INTO
BRIBE ALLEGATIONS
Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Axiata
Group have jointly appointed
KPMG Corporate Services as
forensic accountants to help in
an internal probe into bribes
allegedly paid to their employees
by Alcatel‑Lucent. Both listed
companies also jointly announced
the appointment of Shearn
Delamore & Co as legal adviser
to assist investigations into
two Malaysian officials, who
allegedly received US$700,000
for ‘non-public information’ that
helped the telecommunications
equipment maker win a US$85m
(RM263.5m) contract. The
information is said to be related
to competitors’ pricing and
bids, believed to be for TM’s
then subsidiary Celcom Malaysia’s
new 3G mobile services, launched
in 2005.
10 TOMMASO
PADOA‑SCHIOPPA’S
CONTRIBUTION RECOGNISED
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa,
chair of the Trustees of the IFRS
Foundation, the oversight body
of the International Accounting
Standards Board (IASB), has
died suddenly. As well as helping
to direct the work of the IASB,
Padoa-Schioppa is credited
as being the main architect of
the euro currency. Sir David
Tweedie, chairman of the IASB,
said: ‘Tommaso possessed a
rare combination of intellect
and vision, delivered with a wry
smile.’ Tsuguoki Fujinuma and
Robert Glauber, vice chairs of the
Trustees, added: ‘Tommaso was
one of the most influential and
regarded figures in international
finance of his generation and
made an enormous contribution
to the IFRS Foundation.’