Monday, December 06, 2010

What do you think is going to come out? your guess is as good as mine.

Another issue - behave yourself - you are a professional - never ever tarnish the image of the professional body ACCA by your statements - no matter who and where you are coming from. Once you had signed up to become a student of ACCA you are bound by the codes of ethics - confidentiality, professional behaviour, integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care.

When you open your mouth or even make a statement in the blog/facebook, remember that you are a professional first. Its like being a samurai in feudal Japan - they had a way of behaving that lead to the respect, it was not the qualification.

I always hate those students that belief that people owe them something. Were you objective? Tips may come out and may not come out, are you willing to bet everything on this tips?

There is a reason why I delay the tips, it should be areas that you focus but you should have covered all the past year papers - especially those from 2007/2008 papers.

Overall the key chapters that should be examined this time
1. Motivation
2. Appraisal
3. Health
4. Internal controls / MIS
5. Policies/procedures/stakeholders

Question 1

a) Describe 4 elements that will be included in the informal organisation

10 marks

b) Describe 4 sources of regulation on financial statements of an entity

10 marks

Question 2

a) Describe the main features of internal audit

4 marks

b) Ideally the internal auditor should be responsible to the highest executive level in the organisation. Give three reasons for this requirement

6 marks

c) Describe one positive and one negative implication of an integrated system on internal controls.

4 marks

d) Describe 3 main steps in applying controls over cash payments

6 marks

Question 3

a) Identify 6 situation that would result in a disciplinary action

3 marks

b) Describe the approach that should be taken to when there is a disciplinary situation according to Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) UK

5 marks

c) Identify and explain the difference between a leader and a manager

12 marks

Question 4

a) Identify and describe the factors that impact the work methods, practises and procedures in the organisation

8 marks

b) Describe the 2 main type of feedback that are given to enhance the individual working in the organisation

4 marks

c) Identify and describe the benefits of providing feedback in the context of performance appraisal

8 marks

Question 5

a) Identify the main causes of fire in the workplace

5 marks

b) Describe the requirements of Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulation 1997 on the employers

5 marks

c) Explain the importance of security to the organisation

4 marks

Mock exam paper 5

Question 1

a) Briefly describe 4 ways technological changes effects an organization

4 marks

b) State 2 advantage and disadvantage of geographic organization structure

4 marks

c) Briefly describe the structure of the finance department in a large organization

12 marks

Question 2

a) Describe 4 aims of internal checks 4 marks

b) Identify the main indicators of fraud at a personnel level

6 marks

c) Describe the 4 areas that require control in the wages system and give 2 controls for each area 10 marks

Question 3

a) Identify 2 the potential drawback of using teamwork 2 marks

b) Identify 2 characteristic that a team must have for team rewards to be effective

4 marks

c) Explain Herzberg Hygiene factor and Motivator factors 4 marks

d) Describe the limitations of Herzberg’s model 4 mark

e) Describe with examples the meaning of “job enrichment’’, ‘’job enlargement’’ and ‘’job rotation’’. 6 marks

Question 4

a) Describe the resources that are typically used by a staff and their responsibility towards them 6 marks

b) Describe how a manager can use non-verbal behavior in oral communication

8 marks

c) Differentiate between passive and aggressive behavior in communications

6 marks

Question 5

a) Describe the factors that contribute towards work place stress 5 marks

b) Describe the areas in which Data Protection Act 1998 is trying to protect 4 marks

c) Describe those responsible for security in the organization and their specific areas of responsibility 6 marks

d) Describe why security is important in an organization 5 marks

Managing People and Systems

Question 1

a. Describe systems and procedures to discover and prevent fraud in the organization 10 marks

b. Describe the main controls that can be used by an organization to control cash receipts from the accounts receivable in the mail. 5 marks

c. Explain the qualities of good management information 5 marks

Question 2

All managers and supervisors need to understand the concept of motivation in the workplace. There are two basic theories of motivation: content theory and process theory.

a. Describe the main ways of rewarding the team 5 marks

b. Explain what is the “content-theory” of motivation 8 marks

c. Explain what is the “process-theory” of motivation 7 marks

Question 3

Training programmes play an important part in improving employee skills and organization performance.

a. Explain the importance of staff appraisal

6 marks

b. Explain the methods that can be used to assess the value of appraisal for the organisation

c. Briefly explain the main barriers in an effective staff appraisal 10 marks

Question 4

a. Identify the means of physical intrusion that creates a security breach and outline measures for preventing this security breach 10 marks

b. Identify the potential fire hazards in the organization and appropriate preventative as well as protective measures that can be adopted by the management 10 marks

Question 5

a. Outline the role of corporate governance with respect to accountability of the management to shareholders 5 marks

b. Describe the role of external auditors in an organization 5 marks


c. Identify the financial information that business needs to provide government agencies and state the purpose


d. Outline the role of the accounting standards setting board


e. Training methods - on the job and off the job - advantages and disadvantages


g. Explain the indicators that can be used to assess the effectiveness of the clerical systems in the company




Names that are possible this time

1. Handy for motivation / culture / management styles

2. Trompenaars for culture defined

3. Kanter

4. JS Adams



I had already stated what could come out - did you cover the following areas.

BASED ON THE ABOVE IT WOULD APPEAR THAT


ALMOST ALL THE AREAS HAVE BEEN ASKED - SOME WERE REPEAT QUESTIONS LIKE Q4 AND Q3, THOUGH BOTH QUESTIONS ARE USING NAMES (UNUSUAL)
BELBIN + HONEY AND MUMFORD

WHICH BRINGS US TO OTHER NAMES
MOTIVATION CHAPTER HAS A LOT OF NAMES STILL NOT EXAMINED
MANAGEMENT CHAPTER HAS SOME NAMES STILL RUNNING AROUND
LEADERSHIP - YES THERE IS STILL SOME NAMES LEFT OVER

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL LOOKS LIKE A TARGET THIS TIME, BUT THERE IS LOT TO COVER IN THAT CHAPTER

COMMUNICATION IS ALSO LIKELY BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO PERFORM THE FILTERING PROCESS AS INDICATED ABOVE

ORGANISATION STRUCTURE - MAYBE ADV/DISADV OF CERTAIN STRUCTURE
PROCEDURES, POLICIES AND SYSTEMS - IT IS A LIKELY AREA FOR A QUESTION.
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM HAS NOT BEEN ASKED FOR QUITE A LONG TIME

THE FINAL CHAPTER - HEALTH RISK / SAFETY RISK EVALUATION AND POSSIBLE SAFEGUARDS TO RISK
EVACUATION PLAN AND ITS IMPORTANCE
FIRE EMERGENCY AND RELATED ISSUES WITH FIRE RISK