December 2013 ACCA Exam Tips

ACCA PAPER P2
CORPORATE REPORTING
(INTERNATIONAL STREAM)

TIPS
Section A

This will be a 50 mark compulsory case study including preparation of a

group statement of profit of loss and other comprehensive income and/or
statement of financial position which may include discontinued activities,
disposals, acquisitions or a statement of cash flows. This will include other
accounting complications such as financial instruments, pensions, sharebased payment and impairments.

There will also be discursive requirements on a linked accounting

adjustment and social/ethical/moral aspects of corporate reporting.

Section B
Section B normally includes:

Q2 & Q3: 2 case study questions: one a multi-part question covering a

range of topics or a theme such as deferred tax, foreign currency
transactions, financial instruments, pensions, share-based payment, noncurrent assets (recognition and/or impairment of tangible and intangible
assets), borrowing costs, the effect of accounting treatments on earnings
per share or ratios; the other an industry-based question (NB: no specific
knowledge of the particular industry is required) testing a range of standards
such as accounting policies and the framework, leases, grants, IFRS for
SMEs, reorganisations, provisions, events after the reporting period and
related parties.

Q4: a discussion question looking at current developments in corporate

reporting and problems with existing standards, such as debt vs equity (see
ACCA article 'When does debt seem to be equity?'), implementation
problems with IFRSs, management commentary, application of the
definition of control, improvements in performance measurement,
conceptual framework, impairment in the current economic climate. Will
also normally include a related computational part based on figures from a
case study

One of these questions can also include elements of group accounting,

especially if question 1 is a statement of cash flows question