PQ magazine
uk
Meet our guest editor
Craig Coda blitzed ACCA in
just two years. He passes
on his secrets INSIDE!
DO ACCOUNTANTS
HAVE A FUTURE?
The robots are coming, but
the big question is, will they
be taking your accountancy
job?
That was the question PQ
magazine recently tried to get the
experts to answer at ‘The Future of
Accountancy: Success in a
changing world’ conference, held
jointly with London South Bank
University.
The answer that came back from
a whole plethora of speakers was
‘your jobs are safe’ – for now!
There were, however, some
caveats. Delegates were told that
tomorrow’s accountants would need
to have stronger ‘softer skills’. And
the profession itself will also need to
raise its game, and may even have
to work more closely to see off the
threat.
Alan Hatfield, ACCA executive
director, strategy and development,
opened the conference. For him,
there is little doubt that artificial
intelligence will take over more and
more of the mundane accountancy
tasks. But he felt AI also provides a
unique opportunity for the
profession to re-imagine and
improve both business and
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investment decisions.
Hatfield stressed that an
accountant’s technical and ethical
skills remain, and will continue to
remain, at the heart of what makes
accountants so employable.
But change, particularly in the
digital world, is happening fast, and
he expects it to go faster still.
PQs need to have the mindset to
cope with this, and Hatfield said
ACCA research has found its PQs
are ready for this ever-changing
environment and even energised by
www.pqmagazine.com / www.pqjobs.co.
it. “To them the future looks rightly
exciting,” he said.
However, the successful
accountant will need soft skills to
get to the top. Hatfield said that
sometimes these soft skills “are
really the hard skills”. He felt
perhaps it was time to really talk
about them as ‘professional skills’.
The ACCA has said that to
succeed future accountants will
have to demonstrate seven qualities
(they call them quotients). Among
these are emotional intelligence,
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creativity and vision.
Hatfield pointed us to what HP
inc’s Mark Anderson, regional head
of finance, Asia Pacific and Japan,
said tomorrow’s accountant need to
look like: “I’m looking for the
finance professional who can
predict the future, not describe
history. Those who can consult with
business as opposed to just provide
data to the business. I’m looking for
finance professionals who are
people leaders, not followers, and
who will be strategists, not technical
tacticians.”
CIMA’s executive vice president
academics, Noel Tagoe, said the
future of finance is already here,
just unevenly distributed.
For him, successful accountants
of tomorrow will need to have an
end-to-end view of their company.
This is what will make them
indispensible to the CEO.
He felt the profession needed to
work together to maintain its
relevance. But for Tagoe there is no
doubt that there will be a future for
accountants. “Most people in the
know see it that way,” he said.
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 “I’d recommend Kaplan to
anyone. The product is really
simple to use and the tutors
are very supportive.”

Craig Coda,
Kaplan ACCA student

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CONTENTS
News
06CIMA changes New syllabus
set to be launched by summer
08Regions rise Big 4 firms say
that young accountants are
moving away from London
10ACCA exams What was good,
what was bad and what was
ugly in the December exams
Features, etc
05Mind your Ps&Qs Why the
profession needs to be more
inclusive; and a plea for more
AAT synoptic tests
13Annual Bumper Quiz Are you
up to the challenge? Then you
could win a fab Google Mini!
14Cats corner Purr-fect pets that
are helping you study
15The Future of Accountancy
Some of the highlights from the
joint PQ/LSBU conference
16ACCA ethics How the new
Ethics and Professional Skills
Module will affect you
18PQ Awards 2018 It really is
your last chance to enter this
year’s awards – so get to it!
20ACCA F8 Top advice on getting
through this difficult paper
21ICAEW spotlight Why your
online training file really matters
22ACCA P2 Getting through the
tough Corporate Reporting paper
24Our guest editor writes Top
advice from our man Craig Coda
Prepare for your
next CIMA course
CIMA courses start in January 2018
Study with Kaplan to access:
ss::
More course start dates to suit
uit you
Extended tutor support hours
Four mock exams and hundreds
of practice questions
Find out more about our CIMA courses
0333 009 5195
January 2018
26CIMA focus Management
accountants have a big role to
play in the field of cyber security
28ACCA update All you need to
know about the incoming
Professional level exams
32Tax Making Tax Digital and VAT:
how it will all work
33Careers Life at MEND; plus our
social media round-up
34Fun stuff – and our giveaways
The columnists
Robert Bruce Flexibility is key as
the nature of work changes
Prem Sikka Paradise Papers
shatter Big 4’s ethical claims
Zoe Robinson Will you take back
control of your studies in 2018? 10
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ABC July 2016 – June 2017
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kaplanfinancial.co.uk/cima
comment PQ
Our guest editor writes…
What better way to end 2017 than with the January issue of
PQ? So get cosy, pour yourself a glass of your favourite tipple
(we don’t discriminate here at PQ magazine) and read all about how
you can best prepare for 2018.
I’m not an academic myself – having neither A-levels nor a degree to
my name – but I passed the ACCA exams not so long ago, and within
two years. In this issue I have outlined what I believe led to my success
in the exam hall, from how I turned my notetaking technique around to
the resources that I utilised to achieve an understanding of the subjects
I was required to learn.
This advice is not limited to those studying ACCA, and I hope is a
worthwhile read for any aspiring student who wishes to maximise their
6 success, even if I do say so myself. I have also provided a snippet of
my ACCA journey and explain why I believe that if I can do it, so can
8
you (see pages 24-25).
For all those participating in the ACCA exams, be sure to read the
article on pages 28 and 29, which provides more information about the
changes ACCA will be making to the professional level exams from
September 2018. These are designed to further align the qualification
with the needs of today’s employers through case studies. The two new
exams will replace P1, P2 and P3, so it is essential that you pass these
exams by September if you do not wish to take the new exams.
In the month that Barclays axed free use of its security software,
Kasperspy, as a precaution following a warning about Russian security
software and the risk it poses to cyber security, Ken Witt provides
guidance on how you can mitigate these risks, and recommends a
cyber security tool that you can use to help your organisation minimise
exposure to future threats.
Finally, myself and PQ magazine would like to thank you all for your
continued support and wish you every success in the year ahead in
whatever your endeavours may be.
Craig Coda, PQ magazine guest editor
“I loved my course with Kaplan. I was
taught by excellent tutors and felt
I was offered a really personalised
learning experience.”
Debbi Wallis
Kaplan CIMA student
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Whither diversity?
The accountancy profession
certainly needs to do more to
show they are truly champions of
diversity. I for one was not
surprised to read your headline
‘One out of 20 not a great stat’
(PQ, December 2017). I even
looked up Rakesh Shaunak, the
only chief executive with a BAME
background working for a top 20
accountancy firm. My worry is that
when he retires it will go down to
zero and it could be some time
before there’s anyone leading a
top firm who reflects who I am.
If I remember rightly, just 28%
of the ICAEW membership are
Our star letter writer wins a fantastic PQ memory stick!
More tests please!
I have to agree with Mary Ofili of
the Training Place, who is asking
for more AAT synoptic tests (PQ,
December 2017). I am waiting to
take the advanced test and now
can’t do it until next February. With
the holiday season around the
corner I would have a bit of extra
time for revision, and can still fit in
the family stuff. But February!
Please, AAT, look at the timetables
and slot in an extra test. I’m not
sure it needs to be on-demand –
although that would be perfect – as
I know that’s a big investment
resource-wise.
Name and address supplied
Costs are too high
I have been registered with the
ACCA since 1998 and I have
always struggled to pass my exams.
The reason is that I have been
doing mostly temping and contract
work. What used to happen is that
month end reporting fell on the
exam dates every six months (in
December and June), and my
employers expected me to work the
day before the exam (otherwise I
would not get paid the hourly rate).
As a result, I used to fail my exams
due to lack of preparation.
I am still contracting and I am
determined to complete my
PQ Magazine Unit 3a, Kingfisher Heights, 2 Bramwell Way, Royal Docks, London E16 2GQ | Phone: 020 7216 6444 | Email: graham@pqaccountant.com
Website: www.pqmagazine.co.uk | Editor/publisher: Graham Hambly graham@pqaccountant.com | Advertising manager: Polly Thrasivoulou polly@pqaccountant.com
Associate editor: Adam Riches | Art editor: Tim Parker | Subscriptions: dom@pqaccountant.com | Contributors: Robert Bruce, Prem Sikka, Zoe Robinson,
Tony Kelly, Phil Gammon | Origination and print services by Classified Central Media
If you have any problems with delivery, or if you want to change your delivery address, please email dom@pqaccountant.com
female, too. With so few female
members it is going to take a long
time to break the male stranglehold
on top jobs in the big firms.
I need
pqjobs.co.uk
studies. However, I feel ACCA do
not seem to care, and are not
doing anything to make courses
any cheaper. I believe they should
work with the various course
providers to bring their costs down.
A typical course (including revision)
for one subject now costs around
Published by PQ Publishing © PQ Publishing 2017
email graham@pqaccountant.com
The problems appear to
be happening at the
recruitment stage. Why
women aren’t staying in
accountancy is the question
all the firms must answer.
When I joined my firm it was
about 40% women and
60% men on the graduate
scheme.
Just a few years in, many
of the talented women I
work with are already
looking to get out! The long
hours and mind-numbing
work is not what they signed
up to. It also seems a very male-
dominated culture, especially at
management level.
Name and address supplied
£1,000 from a decent provider.
I also own a property and pay a
monthly mortgage, which is just
about the same price as studying
one subject, so I also have to
prioritise what is important.
Although I’m always looking for a
permanent role I am now in that
have your say PQ
‘catch-22’ situation whereby
employers seem to think that I will
leave a job quickly, when this is not
the case. So getting an employer to
pay for study leave is impossible for
people like me.
I have contacted ACCA about
this and it seems that they do not
want to listen to my concerns about
making course providers provide
courses cheaper. As a professional
body, surely they can at least do
something about this? Isn’t there an
ombudsman who can assist
students and monitor course
prices? I would have thought that
with online courses and teaching
prices would have fallen, but this
hasn’t been the case.
Name and address supplied
Platinum complaint
I would like complain about the
ALP platinum approved rating
system. I paid £2,000 from my own
pocket to attend the tuition,
revision and question-based day for
the December 2017 sittings.
The tuition lasted three days, the
revision three and question based
section was one whole day. I feel
that for what I paid I got very little
tuition – three days is not enough
to cover the entire syllabus and I
felt the experience was rushed.
I think the ACCA needs to re-
evaluate how it awards the
platinum designation as I don’t feel
it’s a platinum service I am being
offered. For this money I would
expect stringent and continual
testing to assess my performance
and ensure I am up to exam
standard before attending the next
class. Instead, I had a tutor who
read off Powerpoint, so previous
learning was unconsolidated.
I would also like to complain
about the ACCA exams. I feel that
the content to be learnt in the
theory-heavy papers of P1 and P3
is too much. How much of that is
actually used? Expecting us to write
essays on these topics is not
helpful and takes away the flair of
what accountancy should be.
ACCA should follow the example
of CIMA and make the exams
computer based.
Name and address supplied
PQ news
ROBERT
BRUCE
Flexibility
and the
changing
nature of
work
Breakfast meetings on the day after
the Budget are predictable. Experts
will talk through obscure tax changes
and their unexpected consequences,
while the assembled clients munch on
croissants and bacon sandwiches. But
this year was different. RSM had
asked Matthew Taylor to talk about
‘The 21st Century Workforce’ and his
review for the Government about
change ahead in the nature of the
workforce and the gig economy.
This is not normal fare. Taylor is a
refreshingly straightforward chap.
And, from his report, he clearly thinks
he is on to something. If large
tranches of the workforce genuinely
want to be part of a gig economy then
we should rethink the structures, and
the tax consequences, so that they
can easily do so. And he’s clearly
making a difference. Following his
review, published last July, there was
an announcement in the Budget that a
review looking at employment status
and taxation is to follow.
Taylor is not one for hammering on
doors. He takes the view that gaining
public acceptance and support for
what ought to happen should come
about first. Then you don’t have to
shout at politicians to achieve
change. “Win the argument on
principle and change will follow”, he
said. He has the younger end of the
workforce on his side. Who would
have thought, as he explained, that
Tesco would introduce an app to
enable people to work the hours that
they want and at any store they want?
Flexibility, as he said, is a good thing.
Robert Bruce is an
award-winning writer on
accountancy for The Times
In brief
Awards deadline extended
We have extended the
deadline for nominations for the
2018 PQ Awards to Friday 12
January 2018 – so come on, get
them in! They will again be held in
February in the glamorous
surroundings of Café de Paris. To
download an application form go to
www.pqmagazine.com and click on
the ‘pqawards’ button on the home
page. See page 15 for more.
Cheating graduates
The value of the aptitude tests
6 PQ Magazine January 2018
New CIMA syllabus for summer
CIMA looks set to unveil its new-
look qualification to coincide with
the 2018 Football World Cup!
In an exclusive interview with PQ
magazine, CIMA’s Noel Tagoe
(pictured) told us he will be taking
his vision for the preliminary draft
syllabus out to tutors this month.
Tagoe was quick to stress that
the key to any changes will be
‘employability’ and the long-term
career success of CIMA’s PQs. He
also said he was very aware that
CIMA needs to deal with the issue
of technology and where it fits into
the syllabus, and how it will affect
finance. Then there’s the thorny
tpics of intangible assets and real-
world costing.
Tagoe confirmed the plan is to
‘soft launch’ the new-look syllabus
next summer. That means students
Living in a code-free world
Building on the success of its first
machine learning project, Xero has
unveiled the next step in its journey
towards code-free accounting – the
automation of account codes and
bills for small businesses and their
partners.
With more than 500,0000 bills
entered into Xero every day, and
each line of the bill edited
individually, the automation of
billing account codes is set to
transform accounting practices,
ensuring greater accuracy and
reducing the time businesses
used by large recruiters has been
questioned after research has
found that 20% of graduates
admitted they have cheated on
them, or at least thought about it!
Most of the cheating graduates
simply got brighter friends to take
the test for them. Meanwhile 60%
of graduates felt that the tests
aren’t a good way to find the best
candidates, and are just a way for
large employers to filter applicants.
Eyesight risk
Taking multiple exams over a
will be sitting a new syllabus in
2019.
Tagoe pointed out that all
stakeholders have been part of the
process from the start, something
that might not have been true of
the 2015 ‘big bang’ changes! He
spend creating bills. Xero said that
bills is the second-most commonly
used feature, but it has the second-
highest rate of defaults, as many
small business use very different
systems. It discovered 50% of
businesses use 10 or more expense
codes, with many creating their
own codes, which often means that
information is entered incorrectly.
Xero’s new AI system considers
each individual business’s
characteristics, then recommends
account codes based on what it
has learnt.
long period could raise the risk of
vision defects and even blindness,
says a worrying new study. It
appears that prolonged stress
raises pressure inside the eyeball,
a key risk factor for glaucoma.
Using university students in the
run-up to exams, scientists
discovered significant increases in
ocular pressure. Tiny increases
raise the risk of glaucoma by 10%.
Register of interest
Accountancy regulator, the
FRC, recently updated its
said CIMA will in future be moving
away from these big four-year
changes, and continuous review
will be the name of the game.
Interestingly, Tagoe said that the
plan is to be much clearer to
students about what they need to
be studying. “There will be no
second-guessing anymore,” he
emphasised. That said, he pointed
out that this will not make exams
more predictable. He explained:
“We will make the areas being
examined predictable, like say the
need to construct a budget.”
Tagoe went on to say that he
wants to hear everyone’s voice in
the discussion, and he particularly
wants to hear from PQs.
• PQ will be working closely with
CIMA to ensure PQs get their
voices heard, so stay tuned.
KEEPING
TAX REAL
The AAT has confirmed that it is
not going to change its tax
assessments and introduce
generic tax exams. We reported
in our November issue that
tutors raised concerns about
meetings they had had with AAT
officials about a possible move
towards generic tax assessments.
A spokesman told PQ that
after review the AAT has decided
it won’t be making any changes
for the foreseeable future.
“Hopefully, that should put some
of the worries to rest,” he said.
Tutors were concerned about
the idea of a ‘made up tax
regime’. They stressed that AAT
needed to remain a coalface
qualification where students
learn real legislation.
Governance Bible and Code of
Conduct, and published its
Register of Interests. The register
got all the news coverage! It
reveals, perhaps not surprisingly,
that many directors and senior
officials are members of the
pension schemes of the Big 4
firms. CEO Stephen Haddrill even
discloses that his wife is a deputy
director in the BEIS, responsible for
the department’s relationship
management with its partner
organisations, (since 2017 this
included the FRC).

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Graduates from our MBA programmes
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Business world.
PQ news

PREM
SIKKA
Paradise
Papers
shatter Big
4’s ethical
claims
The Paradise Papers leak focused
attention once again on organised tax
avoidance. The 13.5 million
documents provide a glimpse of how
corporations and wealthy elites
structure their affairs to avoid taxes.
They used intragroup loans, royalties,
management fees, trusts and other
mechanisms, betraying the handiwork
of the Big 4.
The revelations cannot be
reconciled with the Big 4 firms’ claims
of ethical conduct. PwC says that
“high standards of ethical behaviour
are fundamental to everything we do”.
Deloitte claims “integrity and ethical
behaviour are central to maintaining
our reputation”. EY states that “we
reject unethical or illegal business
practices... we are alert for personal
and professional conflicts of interest”.
KPMG boasts “high ethical principles”.
The firms have failed to align their
internal practices with the external
claims. Departments and individuals
are set profit/revenue targets. Those
meeting the targets are rewarded and
others are disciplined. Over a period of
time, certain habits and practices
become normalised and profits from
tax avoidance become just another
part of daily organisational life. As the
internal and external responses remain
decoupled, any claims of ethical
conduct come across as hypocrisy.
The bad publicity should encourage
firms to align organisational culture,
practices and mindsets of staff with
social expectations, but they have
shown little inclination to do so.
Tougher regulation and loss of
professional esteem will follow.
Prem Sikka is Emeritus
Professor of Accounting at
the University of Essex
The rise of the regions
More and more graduates are who want to work
looking to start their careers outside outside London.
London, according to the latest EY confirmed
stats. that the proportion
For many debt-ridden graduates of London
the lure of the regions is growing placements is
because of the perceived better going in a
life-style opportunities outside the downward
capital. direction. In 2016,
PwC’s chairman, Kevin Ellis, the number of
recently admitted there was a trend graduates joining
of the regional offices being able to London offices was
compete for the brightest 92%. In 2017, that number demand for London jobs remains
graduates. He ventured that dropped to 52%. The big story will high, and they are often filled first.
location is becoming increasingly be if that figures drops below 50% PwC’s Ellis felt that graduates
‘agnostic’. in 2018. seemed more aware of the
Deloitte’s Georgia Greer said the Meanwhile, KPMG bucked the opportunities outside the capital
Big 4 company is seeing an trend. Its head of graduate and it was important that top roles
increasing number of graduates recruitment, Linda Emery, said existed around the country.
Passing with Osborne It’s time for
more women
In an attempt to make revision should be
easier for ACCA PQs, Osborne manageable for
Books has released a new even the ultra-
AAT is pushing for the government
‘Revise!’ series for the F1 to F9 busy student!
to introduce specific female and
exams. Osborne says the new PQ really
series is perfect for students liked the use of disability targets in its existing three
million apprenticeship target.
returning to ACCA study after a colour and the
period away and for those who learning summaries, key points This was just one of the many
want to renew their knowledge of and clear definitions. The exam- suggestions AAT submitted to the
key areas. style questions will also go down recent All Party Parliamentary
The texts also provide extra well with students. The manuals Group on Women and Working.
support for students who have not come in at just £20 too and just As part of a two-page response,
covered certain areas due to their feel less daunting. AAT said it did not support the idea
of legislation to address the way in
exemptions. Typically, the books • Check out our great Osborne
which women may be treated by
are between 100-200 pages, so giveaway on page 34.
the explosion of the ‘gig economy’.
So are you having a ‘quarter life’ crisis? AAT said: “Concerns about gender
issues in particular sectors of the
Having doubts about your career drive? Well, you may not be alone. New economy should be addressed with
research has revealed that seven in 10 young professionals (72%) believe all in mind, not simply by imposing
they are encountering a ‘quarter-life crisis’, which is making them reassess restrictions on those working in the
their career path and life choices. The study, by LinkedIn, discovered that gig economy.”
finding a career you are passionate about is causing many (57%) of young It also said the government
professional to experience feelings of crisis. should require schools and colleges
Researchers have even put an age on when this crisis will hit – 26 years to make female students aware of
and nine months old! A total of 31% of those surveyed felt they have the opportunities in accountancy,
wasted years in the wrong job, while 35% have changed careers entirely, finance and STEM (science,
and 22% have handed in their notice without having a job to go to. technology, engineering and maths).

‘Poor’ audits could
lead to £10m fines
New £10m fines for seriously
poor audit work could
become the norm, following
an independent review into
the FRC’s enforcement sanctions. The report,
chaired by former Court of Appeal judge, Sir
Christopher Clarke, recommended the removal
of any requirement for tribunals to consider
themselves bound by previous cases when
determining the appropriate sanction to
impose. While Sir Christopher’s team said that
it is not appropriate to set a tariff or range for
financial sanctions, it suggested a fine of £10m
or more could be “deemed appropriate for
cases involving seriously poor audit work
carried out by a Big 4 firm”. This would
effectively see a doubling of the current fines
imposed. One of the biggest fines to date was
the £5.1m levied by the FRC on PwC in the
summer, for its audit of fellow accountancy
firm RSM Tenon in 2011.
The independent review also proposed at
the same time an adjustment of settlement
discount provisions to encourage timely
settlements.
Italian fines ‘for conspiracy’
Anti-trust authorities in Italy have fined the Big
4 accountancy firms a total of £20m for
allegedly conspiring to divvy up large public
consultancy contracts. It has been claimed
that Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PwC all colluded
to win contracts worth over £50m. In effect,
this nullified the bidding process and
prevented competition from outside ‘the cartel’,
said Italian authorities in a statement.
EY growing the fastest
EY has reported UK fee income growth of
9.2% to £2.35bn, making it the fastest-growing
of the Big 4 firms. Profits rose 2.7% to £464m
and the average distributable profit per partner
increased to £677,000 (it was £662,000 in
2016). The firm recruited nearly 4,000 people
across the UK, including 1,500 student places
and 130 apprenticeships. EY’s chairman Steve
Varley said: “We have invested in new
technologies and our people, as clients turn to
us for more innovative products and services.”

8 PQ Magazine January 2018

A new way to qualify as a
professional accountant
The Level 7 Accountancy/Taxation Professional Apprenticeship
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PQ news

ZOE
ACCA December
make it more interesting please!
There also seemed to be confusion
ROBINSON about what the examiner meant by

Will you take
back control
in 2018?
Another year is about to slip by and as
a result you may find yourself
reflecting on 2017 and planning for
2018. You might even have started
thinking about some New Year
resolutions, yet how many resolutions
are made on 1 January, only to be
cast to one side before the month is
out?
There are a number of reasons for
this. “It’s not my fault, I just don’t have
any will power” is a common phrase.
Or what about “Look, I was committed
but I simply didn’t have the time”. And
the classic procrastination comment:
“I think it best I start next month”.
I am sure there are many more
excuses, but what the above have in
common is a desire to avoid both pain
and responsibility which, when you
think about it, is very sensible. Take
will power for example; by thinking of
it as something you either have or
don’t, it can’t be your fault if you don’t
have any if it’s outside your control.
And in that is the irony – how can
you ever achieve something that is
not within your control? So, make
2018 the year in which you take back
control. After all, isn’t that what many
people voted for?
exam feedback
Early feedback from the December
ACCA exams shows that P7 was
top of students’ ‘hate list’.
Candidates described the exam
as ‘horrible’, ‘vexing’ and ‘brutal’.
You can then throw in time
pressure to create a very
intimidating test, said one PQ.
Students struggled with the sheer
number of risks they had to sort in
Q1. “There definitely seemed more
than the marks allocated,” said a
sitter. The worry for many was they
felt they were just repeating
themselves. Q2 seemed to be the
problem question this time around.
“I have never seen a question like
it,” a student told us. Another just
Gold-winning team: Avado’s ACCA courses won the Best Online
Distance Learning programme at the Learning Technologies awards
said: “What the f**k was that!” The
question on quality control review
was just not like anything in the
study texts, said a disappointed PQ.
P1 was also hugely time
pressured, and one PQ admitted to
being ‘knackered’ after it finished.
Interestingly, a student said they
found the exam ‘super dry and
boring’, with the exception of Q2.
So, come on Mr Examiner, try to
‘briefing’.
By contrast it was pretty quite on
the F8 front. The general consensus
is that the exam seemed ‘OK’, and
much better than some recent
sittings. A question that did cause a
few raised eyebrows was the one
about substantive procedures.
P2 also got a mixed response,
but for many it was ‘not bad at all’.
The consolidation question was
easier than most (if not all) of the
past papers I have sat, explained
one sitter. Another said: “P2 was
less scary than I was expecting, still
time pressured though.”
We will now have to wait until the
results are posted on 15 January to
see if pass rates reflect students’
feelings.
• Go to www.pqmagazine.com to
see our feedback for each paper.
FRC: we should
have done more
The FRC has admitted it should
have adopted a more proactive
approach to its early enquiries into
HBOS. In a letter to the chair of the
Treasury Select Committee, Nicky
Morgan, FRC’s Stephen Haddrill
said it should have stepped forward,
rather than relying on other
regulators to do the job first.
The FRC has come under
pressure after it found no fault with

Exam ready? You need PQ-Go! KPMG’s audit of HBOS just before
the bank went bust.
PQ-Go just got bigger! Together with the help of top tutors we have devised Haddrill has also taken on board
a series of free online tests to see if you are ‘exam ready’. We now have the criticism that the FRC has “too
nine AAT practice papers and one ACCA many people with a background in
paper on www.pq-go.com. So check out our the major accounting firms we
Level 3 Advanced Bookkeeping, regulate”. We are talking the Big 4
Professional Ethics and Accounts here. He stressed that the FRC is
Preparation tests. Then for Level 4 we have now conducting a further review of
added Cash & Treasury Management, this aspect of its governance.
Zoe Robinson is Learning and Accounting Systems & Control, and The letter promises that the FRC
Programmes Director at
Financial Statements of Limited Companies. will be more open about its work in
Kaplan Financial
It really is easy to take a look and is free. the future.

In brief
Overcharging to stop
Graduates will no longer be
overcharged when they repay their
student loans now that the tax
authorities have agreed to share
their data with the company that
oversees the loans. Accounting firm
RSM has been calling for a change
for several years, highlighting the
unfairness in the system, which
results in tens of thousands of
graduates having to continue
repayments on student loans that
have already been cleared. RSM
recently revealed that 86,000
graduates overpaid by an average
of £592 each in 2015-16.
More money mules
The number of young people
acting as ‘money mules’ has risen
by 75% in one year, says the UK’s
fraud prevention service, Cifas.
Between January and September
2017 there were 8,652 cases
involving 18 to 24 year olds. Young
people, especially students, are
often targeted because they are
perceived as being more vulnerable
and short of money.
Taxing the tech companies
Italy looks set to be the first
European country to introduce a
6% tax on online sales by the big
tech companies such as Amazon
and Apple. There is also a plan for
buyers of ‘intangible digital
products’ (such as advertising) on
Google and Facebook to pay the
Italian treasury the 6% tax too. PQ
magazine understands that the UK
treasury is also looking at the idea
of taxing the tech companies based
on the number of users they have
in Britain.
AAT on the panel
AAT CEO Mark
Farrar (pictured) and
head of qualifications
and product development, Rachel
Kellett, have both been appointed
to the panels of industry experts
helping to develop the legal,
financial and accounting T level
qualifications. Farrar said: “High-
quality technical qualifications are
an excellent method of improving
social mobility, opening up paths
that young people can access as a
route into their chosen career.”

10 PQ Magazine January 2018

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• Courses starting January for June 2018 exams
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Are you prepared

for session CBEs?
From March 2018, F5-F9 exams will only be available
as computer-based exams (CBEs) – you’ll no longer be
able to sit paper exams. There are lots of resources
available to support you to get ready for the change.

Session CBEs will give you the opportunity to:

• take exams that reflect the working environment to prepare
you as a modern financial professional
• enhance your digital skills
• edit your answers easily and quickly
• manage your time effectively with easy navigation

For more information visit: accaglobal.com/session-cbes


ANNUAL BUMPER QUIZ SO WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
Back by popular demand, here is
our much-loved Annual Bumper
Quiz. Thanks to sponsors AAT,
ACCA, CIMA and ICAEW we are
giving five readers the chance to
SPORT
win a fabulous Google Mini!
1 They last played in the top
division in 1972, but which
football club was promoted to the
top flight of English football in May?
2 In which country did Lewis
Hamilton clinch the Formula 1
World Drivers Championship?
3 At the Rugby League World
Cup, who caused a shock by
beating France 29-18 in October?
4 Who scored the most runs in
the England v South Africa Test
series, with 461 runs at 57.62?
5
Who’s back means Northern
Ireland will be left at home
when the Football World Cup takes
place in 2018?
6 joined Fleetwood Mac and
The British & Irish Lions
toured New Zealand in 2017.
Who won the three-match series?
7
Who lost his job as boss of the
England Ladies football team in
September after allegations of
improper behaviour?
8
In the US, who won the Major
League Baseball World Series?
9 19
Just once in Premiership
football history has goal
difference decided the title, but
who won it and when?
10 The IAAF World
Championship took place in
London during the summer. Mo
Farah won gold and silver – but
who won GB’s other gold medal?
IN THE NEWS
11 In August who said: “There’s
no collusion. You know why?
Thanks to our fabulous sponsors…
PQ Magazine January 2018
Because I don’t speak to
Russians.”
12 Who replaced Sir Michael
Fallon as Defence Secretary
in November?
13 What was the name of the
hurricane that struck the US
in August causing huge damage to
the Houston metropolitan area?
14 Which national TV treasure,
born 2/2/1928, celebrity
died on 18 August aged 89?
15
The US ‘national anthem’
sports protest continued in
2017, but who is ‘credited’ with
starting the protest?
16
Collins Dictionary unveiled
its word of the year for
2017. What beat off the challenge
of ‘unicorn’ and ‘Corbynmania’?
17
Which former PwC trainee
now runs Formula 1?
18
The former Catalan leader,
Carles Puigdemont, turned
himself into which national police
force after an EU-wide arrest
warrant was issued in November?
Which Irish popstar, who
apparently owns a shopping
mall in Lithuania, was recently
‘outed’ by the Paradise Papers?
20
What was the name of the
spacecraft that ended its
13-year mission in September by
plunging into Saturn, becoming the
first spaceship to enter the planet’s
atmosphere?
ENTERTAINMENT
21 Sophie Faldo won The
Great British Bake Off. In
which branch of the armed forces
did she formerly serve?
22 Which movie won Best Film
at the 2017 Oscars?
23 Who said at the GQ Men of
the Year Awards: “DJs like
[Calvin] Harris are not stars but
accountants”?
24 Name the Amazon Prime
TV series featuring an
accountancy ‘superhero’. He also
appeared on the cover of PQ
magazine in November?
25
Strictly Come Dancing fans
were shocked when the
bookies’ favourite to win the show
was eliminated on 5 November.
Who was he and what was his
partner’s name?
26 Which famous film star
and wife welcomed twins
Ella and Alexandra into the world in
June?
27
Game of Thrones star Kit
Harington recently starred
in the BBC’s Gunpowder. Which
famous conspirator did he portray?
28
Which band this year
The Eagles for having five members
with individual top 40 hits on the
Music Hot 100 list?
29
Who has taken over as the
13th Time Lord?
30
Kem Cetinay and Amber
Davies won this year’s
Love Island. But who was Kem’s
bromance with?
31
Liverpool FC’s signature
song ‘You’ll Never Walk
Alone’ comes from which musical?
GENERAL
32 Which paper size measures
297x420mm?
33
Which famous maritime
phrase reportedly stems
from the sinking of HMS
Birkenhead in 1852?
34 What is the highest number
on a roulette wheel?
annual quiz PQ
35 Who is the patron saint of
accountants?
36 PQ won a Luca from the
ICB, named after Luca
Paciloli, ‘The Father of Accounting
and Bookkeeping’. What nationality
was Paciloli?
37
When did the first Apple
38
iPhone become available?
Which science fiction
writer wrote the three laws
of robotics?
39
Which phobia is a fear of
dogs?
40
There is a village in France
near the Somme that has
a one-letter name. Which letter is it?
41
Name the official record for
the daily proceedings in the
British Parliament?
42
What is the first element in
the periodic table?
SCIENCE & NATURE
43
What is the largest
landlocked country in the
world?
44
On what island was a new
species of orangutan
recently discovered?
45
Who invented the jet
engine?
46
Which part of the earth lies
between the outer core
and the crust?
47
What is the longest river on
earth?
48
What do 1,000 gigabytes
make?
49
Where was a speed record
50
of 11.2mph set in 1972?
Lemurs are native to just
one country. Name it?
51
What planet in our solar
system is closest to the size
of earth?
52 Nails are made of which
substance?
Send your answers to:
The Editor, PQ magazine,
Unit 3a, Kingfisher Heights,
Bramwell Way, Royal Docks,
London E16 2GQ. Or email them
– putting ‘Quiz’in the header –
to graham@pqaccountant.com.
The closing date is Monday 15
January 2018.
13
PQ purr-fect pets

Paws for
thought
Only in accountancy could there have
been a CAT qualification! Back in the
day, the ACCA had a qualification called
the Certified Accounting Technician
(now part of the Foundations In
Accountancy suite of qualifications).
Thanks for all the pictures. Cat Hill
(her real name) even suggested that
cat’s don’t just study accountancy they
help write the courses, too! That’s her
Merlin in the top right picture.
Please share any pictures you might
have of pets studying accountancy.
Send to graham@pqaccountant.com

Start 2018 strong

Plan ahead and
book your exams.

Standard entry for March exams

closes on 29 January 2018.

Find out more:

accaglobal.com/bookexams

14 PQ Magazine January 2018


Here’s to a successful 2018
The London South Bank University/PQ magazine ‘Future of Accountancy’ conference was a roaring success.
Here keynote speaker Alan Hatfield, ACCA’s education chief, offers some personal thoughts on the event
I
was delighted to be the opening speaker at
PQ magazine/London South Bank
University’s recent conference ‘The Future
of Accountancy: Success in a changing world’.
It gave me a fantastic opportunity to set the
scene by sharing with delegates ACCA’s recent
research about where the profession is headed,
and the skills needed for the future.
The event’s strong theme about success was
a hot topic across many of the lively panel
discussions.
There was a really good head-hunting session
with Menzies, where the firm’s Peter Noyce
spoke about the practicalities of job hunting,
referencing our own seven quotients for success
and how to bring them alive. Tom Eagle from
Pro-Recruitment offered five steps for interview
success, from basics like making a good first
impression, to researching the employer and
building rapport at the interview.
I know success is what ACCA students and
PQs aim for. When I meet ACCA students
around the world, success is often a word they
use about their futures.
Finding a new job
I’m sure PQ readers will be wondering what
successes 2018 will hold for them, and I
suspect a few of you will be scribbling down
New Year resolutions about how to pass your
exams, finding a new job, securing a promotion
or making a change to how you work.
Applying for a job can be a challenge. And
that’s why we introduced the ACCA Careers job
board in 2015. Since April 2017 to the end of
October, we had well over one million jobs on
the site – that's one job posted every 16
seconds. The site also includes some great
tips – as does PQ magazine – with regular
insights about career planning.
After the LSBU event I was thinking about
how we can find career success in a very
competitive world.
Delegates feedback
for the Future of
Accountancy
conference was
overwhelmingly
positive
PQ Magazine January 2018
It’s always been the case that a CV needs to
really sparkle. This came up in the head-hunting
session, where the experts said a successful CV
needs targeting to the employer. One CV does
not fit all. Read your CV and your covering letter
out loud to a family member or friend – get their
feedback. Recruiters often get more than 500
CVs just for one job, so a few days after you’ve
sent it follow up with a call or email.
Success is also about the networks we build
and the support we ask for. ACCA Careers is an
online network, and has discussions with
students, members, affiliates and other
stakeholders. And, of course, PQ always has a
wealth of advice from lecturers and examiners.
Perhaps another resolution is to find a mentor.
This is a great way of getting a fresh perspective
and building contacts.
I also spoke at the conference about what
professional accountants of tomorrow think
about the future. You may have already read our
research, called Generation Next, which asked
those 36 and under about their career hopes
the future of accountancy PQ
Looking ahead:
Alan Hatfield
addresses
delegates in the
conference’s
opening session
and aspirations. We polled almost 19,000 ACCA
students and members for this research, and it
paints an optimistic picture about the future,
and where accountancy as a career fits in.
The good news is that finance is seen to be a
strong platform on which to build careers.
Young professionals appear to be attracted to
the profession for the long-term career prospects
it offers, with 85% agreeing that finance career
experience was valuable to be future leaders in
organisations – and for their long-term career
prospects, whether they set up in business by
themselves or move into another sector.
Development opportunities
Our data also shows that young professionals
don’t see themselves staying in one job, or even
sector or industry, for the majority of their
careers. We also found that ‘Gen Next’ wants to
take responsibility for their careers and seek out
practical development opportunities that will
help them advance.
Success is essentially about good planning –
from choosing carefully when you want to take
your exams to getting a career plan written
down.
And for those still pondering their New Year
resolutions, our ‘Gen Next’ report also includes
practical advice and guidance for future
success, listed below to get you thinking:
1. Own your career.
2. Future proof your skills.
3. Create a personal brand.
4. Never dismiss a lateral move.
5. Create change where you work now – suggest
change to your employer.
6. Become ‘intrapreneurial’ inside your
organisation.
7. Think about a global role.
8. Look for mentors and sponsors.
9. Lead the way with technology.
10. And always, always build your network.
All at ACCA wish PQ readers the very best for
a successful future. PQ
15
PQ ACCA ethics module

A new ethical dawn

Stephanie Keenan explains how
the new Ethics and Professional
Skills Module will work

Y
ou will hopefully be aware that ACCA are
introducing changes to the Strategic
Professional level of the qualification.
From the September 2018 sitting, a new case
study paper, Strategic Business Leader (SBL),
will be introduced replacing the current P1
(Governance, Risk & Ethics) and the P3
(Business Strategy) papers and P2 (Corporate
Reporting) will be replaced with Strategic
Business Reporting.
Ahead of this, the new Ethics and Professional
Skills module was launched on 31 October 2017,
replacing the previous Ethics module. The new
module has been designed to make you more
competent in dealing with real-life business and
ethical situations and dilemmas. If you
completed the old Ethics module prior to 31
October there is no requirement for you to
complete the new module. However, you will be
given access to it and may wish to complete it to
ensure you have an understanding of all the
ethical and professional behaviours ACCA expect
of their students and members.
The new Ethics and Professional Skills module
is an online interactive requirement that you
must complete as one of the three requirements
in order to gain full membership to the ACCA –
your exams, the practical experience
requirement (PER) and the Ethics and
Professional Skills module.
Over recent years many businesses have
received public condemnation for their
behaviour towards society as a whole. As a
result, accountants have come under increased
pressure to guide those who manage businesses
to behave in a way that is in the best interests of
all stakeholders, and not just attempting to
maximise shareholder wealth. It is with this in
mind that ACCA have created the Ethics and
Professional Skills module.
Not only will it will aid your technical
knowledge by developing the ethical and
professional behaviours you’ll need to
successfully complete your Strategic Professional
exams, in particular providing you with some of
the skills needed to gain the professional skills
marks in the SBL exam, but it also provides
reassurance to your employer/future employers
that you understand and can apply ethical
behaviours in real-world work situations.
This new module – the first of its kind – is
split into six separate interactive units:
• Ethics and professionalism.
• Personal effectiveness.
• Innovation and scepticism.
• Commercial awareness, analysis, evaluation
and problem solving.
• Leadership and team work.
• Communication and interpersonal skills.
Each unit is broken down into sub-sections
and looks at a particular behaviour/skill. The unit
covers both the knowledge needed to
understand the behaviour and also an insight
into how it could be applicable in real-world
work situations. You will be presented with short
scenarios where you get a chance to
demonstrate how you would deal with that
situation in the work place. They can then be
saved into your ‘My portfolio’ sections of the
module and to demonstrate achievement
towards your performance objectives.
The final element of the module is an online
assessment. If you demonstrate the required
skills and behaviours you will receive a
certificate as proof of completion.
The entire module is expected to take around
20 hours to complete and costs £60, payable
directly to ACCA. This is a one-off payment,
which means if you are not successful in
meeting the requirements of the module first
time you can retry the assessment as many
times as needed until you demonstrate the
necessary behaviours. The module will be
available to you in MyACCA post completion for
you to use as reference if you need any
guidance with a real-world work situation.
In terms of when to take the module, currently
I would recommend you attempt it just before or
alongside P1 (or as close as possible after sitting
the P1 examination) as there are several
crossovers between the Ethics and Professional
Skills module and the existing P1 paper.
From September, when the new Strategic
Professional exams become examinable I would
strongly recommend that you attempt the
module prior to the commencement of your
studies at the Strategic Professional level and
definitely before you sit Strategic Business
Leader. You will need a solid understanding of
the skills and behaviours the Ethics and
Professional Skills module develop to be
successful at the case study. . PQ
• Stephanie Keenan is a tutor at Kaplan
Financial

16 PQ Magazine January 2018

AAT fast track
The ideal route to Chartered Public Finance Accountant status

The CIPFA Professional Accountancy Qualification is your fast track to professional

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Here’s what we have to offer if you’re AAT Level 4 qualified:

Four free exemptions – only eight modules to complete*
Reduced Practical Experience Portfolio (PEP) – 200 days compared to 400
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Find out more about our AAT fast track

route and free exemptions:
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* Subject to AAT modules completed.

PQ Awards 2018

LASTORDERS
Right, we have given you
more time, but it really is time AWARDS
to get your nominations in.
Main man: Tim
Mpofu, our current CATEGORIES

S
o you know, we have extended
the deadline for entries to the
PQ magazine Awards until 5pm
on Friday 12 January 2018. But
that doesn’t mean you should relax, we
really need your nominations today! And
that really is the final cut-off point.
Our judges are all signed up and
sharpening their ‘opinions’. It will be their
jobs to shortlist and then pick the
winners. That’s how independent our
awards are – editor Graham Hambly
doesn’t even get a vote!
The venue for the awards ceremony
will again be the wonderful Café de Paris,
just off Leicester Square, and you need to
put Tuesday 20 February in your diary.
But before that there is the little matter
of 250 words on why you think you/your
nominee should win one of our coveted
prizes.
All those shortlisted will be invited
along to the awards night and it could
mean you end up a cover
star of the magazine. CIPFA
PQ Tim Mpofu is our current
PQ of the Year. He said: “It’s
great to be recognised for
your work and contributions,
but it’s equally humbling to
see how many people are
rooting for your success.” He
still hasn’t got over the
“amazing feeling” when his
name was called out on the night. Let’s
just say the champagne flowed!
Each year we have some great
individual stories, but don’t forget we are
also looking for Accountancy Team of the
Year and Student Body of the Year. In all,
there are 18 ‘PQs’ up for grabs. Surely
you know someone who deserves to be a
winner in 2018? PQ
PQ of the Year
• PQ OF THE YEAR
• NQ OF THE YEAR
• STUDENT BODY OF THE YEAR
• ACCOUNTANCY BODY
• ACCOUNTANCY COLLEGE –
PUBLIC SECTOR
• ACCOUNTANCY COLLEGE –
PRIVATE SECTOR
• ONLINE COLLEGE
• LECTURER – PUBLIC SECTOR
• LECTURER – PRIVATE SECTOR
• STUDY RESOURCE
• INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTANCY
• BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
• TRAINING MANAGER/MENTOR
• ACCOUNTANCY TEAM
• ACCOUNTANCY PERSONALITY
• EDITOR’S SPECIAL AWARD
• APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR
• DISTANCE LEARNING STUDENT
OF THE YEAR
REMEMBER: You can either download an
application form directly from our website
– www.pqmagazine.com – and email your
entry to awards@pqmagazine.com.
Alternatively, write to The Editor,
PQ magazine, Unit 3a, Kingfisher Heights,
2 Bramwell Way, Royal Docks, London
E16 2GQ. The deadline for all nominations
is Friday 12 January 2018.

OUR SPONSORS
No awards ceremony is possible
without the sponsors. And we
have only the best...

18 PQ Magazine January 2018

 You ask. We listen.
P
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PQ ACCA F8 exam
It’s not rocket science
Paul Kirkwood offers some top
advice on passing the Audit &
Assurance paper – and practice,
like it or not, is a big part of it
I
can still remember my Audit & Assurance
tutor saying this over and over when I was
studying for this paper, and looking back I
agree to some extent. So why does F8 frequently
have the lowest pass rate of the ACCA skills
level, with just 38% passing the September
2017 exam? More importantly, how can you give
yourself the best opportunity to pass this paper?
Well let’s start by thinking about three
problems that are faced by F8 students.
Problem 1: F8 is a fully narrative paper
F8 is a fully narrative-based paper (with few, if
any, calculations), and this may be a daunting
challenge for students who are much more
comfortable when they are using their calculator.
Problem 2: F8 is a practical subject
F8 is a very practical subject. Every question is
linked to a scenario and while there are some
knowledge-based marks, the vast majority of
questions require you to apply your knowledge.
Few students will actually be working as auditors
and so it can be difficult to understand how the
subject you learn from a textbook is put into
practice.
Problem 3: Debriefing questions is a challenge
The constructed response questions (requiring
full written answers) account for 70% of
the marks and it can be difficult for a
student to compare a model answer to
their own attempt as rarely, if ever, will a
model answer match that of a student.
These issues have faced F8 students for
many years. Fortunately, there are simple
steps that you can take to get yourself exam
ready and give yourself the best opportunity to
pass. And now let’s consider solutions to the
problems.
Solution 1
Let’s start with the underlying fact that F8 is a
fully narrative paper. While that may be a
challenge to those who prefer doing calculations,
it’s a skill that you will need to develop if you
wish to succeed in the ACCA qualification as a
whole. F8 introduces you to the narrative based
exam skills that you need to develop.
The F8 exam uses simple, clear requirements
that are repeated again and again, sitting after
sitting. Look at these requirements from recent
exam papers, for example:
• March/June ‘17: Identify and explain EIGHT
deficiencies in Equestrian Co’s internal controls
and provide a recommendation to address each
of these deficiencies.
• December ‘16: Identify and explain SIX
deficiencies in Caterpillar Co's cash receipts
20
system and provide a recommendation to
address each of these deficiencies.
Obviously, the scenario and area of focus will
change, but the basic requirements can be
‘practised, practised and practised’. However,
you must make sure that you debrief the model
answers thoroughly as it’s of little benefit to
simply practise writing questions. Ideally, you
should review your answer, think about what you
wrote and compare with a similar point in the
model answer. Ask yourself – would your answer
score the marks available?
These regular requirements cover several key
syllabus areas including professional ethics,
audit risk, internal controls and substantive
procedures. A word of caution: take care to read
the requirements at least twice before starting
your answer to make sure you’re answering the
specific question that has been set, rather than
the one you’d like to have been set.
Solution 2
What about the problem of F8 being a practical
paper, even though few students actually work
as auditors? Well, the answer is deceptively
simple – to get a practical understanding of the
types of scenario the examiner may set, you
must ‘practise, practise and practise’ exam
standard questions. This will build your ability to
apply core knowledge to scenarios. Don’t just
take my word for it – this is from the examiner:
“Candidates who do not spend sufficient time
practising questions are unlikely to be
successful as the written questions in particular
aim to test candidate’s application skills” (ACCA
F8 Examiner’s Report – September 17).
I’m not suggesting in any way that the paper
is easy – you first must build your knowledge
and then ‘practise, practise and practise’ exam
standard questions.
Solution 3
Hopefully, we’ve established that practising
exam standard questions really is the best
AUDIT RISK
Hurling Co upgraded its website during the year at a
cost of $1·1m. The costs incurred should be correctly
allocated between revenue and capital expenditure.
Hurling Co has entered into a transaction to purchase
a new warehouse for $3·2m and it is anticipated that
the legal process will be completed by the year end.
A customer of Hurling Co has been encountering
difficulties paying their outstanding balance of $1·2m
and Hurling Co has agreed to a revised credit period.
Hurling Co has halted further sales of its new product
Luge and a product recall has been initiated for any
goods sold in the past four months.
preparation for the F8 exam, but here’s the
critical point – it’s no good just ‘doing’ questions,
you must learn from the experience to allow you
to improve when you see a similar question in
the real exam.
You can learn how to structure your answer
and how to use columns effectively (see table,
below). This is such an important point, as your
examiner explains: “Good exam technique is
vital for success in F8. It was especially pleasing
to see so many candidates structure
their answer in columns, especially for
audit risk and internal control questions.
Not only does this make it easier to
mark, it makes it easier for a candidate
to review their answer and ensure they
have covered all of the relevant areas,
for example it is easier to see at a glance if a test
of control has been omitted” (ACCA F8
Examiner’s Report – September 17).
You can learn whether your answers are good
enough to earn the available marks. I
understand that marking your own answers can
be difficult as your answers will be different to
the model answers. So why not share your
answers with a friend who is also studying for
the F8 paper and mark each other’s? Or ask
someone who has already passed the F8 paper
to mark your questions.
In summary
So where have we got to? Well, we know that the
F8 paper is not easy – the pass rate proves this.
But we also know the right way to
prepare for it – ‘practise, practise,
practise’. I know that it’s not easy and,
let’s be honest, it’s not a particularly
pleasant experience to sit down and
attack a 30-mark question.
However, to give ourselves the best
opportunity of success, the best path is rarely
easy – but it’s not rocket science, either! PQ
• Paul Kirkwood is AVADO’s ACCA Lead Tutor
AUDITOR’S RESPONSE
Review a breakdown of the costs and agree to
invoices to assess the nature of the expenditure and,
if capital, agree to inclusion within the asset register
or agree to the statement of profit or loss.
Discuss with management as to whether the
warehouse purchase was completed by the year end.
If so, inspect legal documents of ownership, such as
title deeds ensuring these are dated prior to 1 April
20X7 and are in the company name.
Review the revised credit terms and identify if any
after date cash receipts for this customer have been
made.
Discuss with the finance director whether any write
downs will be made to this product and what, if any,
modifications may be required with regards the
quality.
PQ Magazine January 2018

For ACAs, keeping their
online training file up-to-date
is essential, and easier than
they may think. Nicola White
talks us through the process
F
rom the day you register as an
ACA student, you will be able to
log in and access your training
file. Providing a record of your training,
you will log practical work experience, as
well as recording professional
development and ethics progress
discussed in your six monthly reviews. It
is solely your responsibility to keep your
file current until it is signed off at the end
of your training agreement.
Track your progress
Your training file is easy to navigate.
Ensure you don’t miss a step by watching
the guidance video, it provides everything
you need to know. Watch it on demand
at icaew.com/how-to. Once you have
watched the video, start recording your
progress as soon as your training starts
and continue throughout your training
agreement period.
Professional development
Provide an example from your day-to-day
work experience to show how you meet
each professional development skill.
You’ll need to evidence all 52 skills
before the end of your training
agreement. Record how you demonstrate
each skill within your training file and
include feedback from your QPRT,
counsellor or principal. Access webinars
and past Vital articles on each
professional development skill to ensure
you continue to gain those all-important
skills at icaew.com/listenagain
Ethics and professional scepticism
You’ll develop your ethics know-how
throughout your ACA training and it’s vital
that ethics is discussed at every six-
monthly review. Failure to complete this
section in your journey will jeopardise
your journey into membership.
Steadily progress through the ethics
learning programme during your training
and after completing each module watch
the corresponding Practising Ethics
webinar. Make notes on the ethical
scenarios during the webinar, as well as
Are you ready to go?
Are you exam-ready?
You need PQ-go.com
PQ Magazine January 2018
Charting your
path to a pass
ethical examples that you read in the
news or see in the workplace, as you will
discuss these at your next review.
Practical work experience
Keep a record of the number of hours
you complete per day using a timesheet
or noting the hours in a diary. One
working day is seven hours so if you work
longer than this, you may be able to
record more time. Add your number of
days in six-month blocks in your training
file and make sure that the days you
enter are for the full period of your
training agreement – don’t leave any
gaps. You can’t count study leave,
courses, sickness days, holidays or office
ICAEW spotlight PQ
administration towards your work
experience. If your employer’s internal
professional development and/or ethical
programmes have been accredited by
ICAEW, you will only see the sections of
the training file relevant to you.
Audit qualification
Audit experience gained during your ACA
training may help you to gain the Audit
Qualification (AQ), if you’re working for a
firm of registered auditors in the UK who
is an ICAEW authorised training
employer. You will need the AQ to
become a Responsible Individual to sign
audit reports in the future.
Ensure you record your audit
experience throughout your training
agreement, not just after an audit. If you
don’t record your audit experience, you
will lose it.
At the end of your training agreement,
you will have six months to finalise your
audit experience and submit to ICAEW.
Exams
Book a Professional or Advanced Level
exam via your training file and log-in on
results day to view your marks. You can
download and email your exam results to
anyone when you’re logged into your file.
Remember, you won’t be able to
qualify if your training file is incomplete.
By keeping your file current it will be
much easier when your file is ready to be
signed off and it will also help ICAEW to
verify your records before you’re invited
to become a member.
For more help and guidance on your
online training file or six-monthly reviews,
visit icaew.com/how-to, or speak to your
QPRT, counsellor, or principal. PQ
• Nicola White, Training and CPD
manager at ICAEW
Reproduced with the permission of ICAEW, this
article was first published in Vital (October 2017)
PQ-Go
21
PQ ACCA P2 exam
T How to get the
he ACCA P2 Corporate Reporting
exam is a hard one – but roughly
half the students who take it do
get through. And there is no reason that
you should not be among them.
One of the key techniques is making
sure you score highly in the few
components that are relatively easy. One
of those components is the ethics
requirement in question 1. This question
is based around a monster scenario and
requires a monster group financial
statement in part 1a for 35 marks.
This component has a horrible
reputation for dragging students in and
swallowing up half the exam. There is no
doubt that question 1a is important, but
after the hour mark your returns go right
down and you could score as little as one
mark for every 10 minutes spent. After
the hour mark it is time to move on to the
narrative. And possibly the most
rewarding narrative component in the
whole exam is the ethics in question 1c.
PICCO
A useful model to analyse the ethics in
question 1c is PICCO (see below). Most
ethics questions involve spotting the
scumbag is a scumbag or the idiot is an
idiot. But clearly language like this is not
professional! So instead we question
‘integrity’ or ‘competence’, or sometimes
both.
Take a look at the adjusted ethics
component from a recent past case
study, called ‘Marchant’. Question 1a was
particularly challenging. But see below
and you will realise that question 1c was
there for the taking. One word of warning
though. Even though you can think the
answer to 1c in moments; it still takes
around 10 minutes to actually write out
the answer.
Marchant
1c. Marchant plans to update its
production process and the directors feel
that technology-led production is the only
feasible way in which the company can
remain competitive.
Marchant operates from a leased
property and the leasing arrangement
was established in order to maximise
taxation benefits. However, the financial
statements have not shown a lease asset
or liability to date.
A new financial controller joined
Marchant just after the financial year end
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22
measure of P2
Martin Jones and is presently reviewing the financial
statements to prepare for the upcoming
explains how audit and to begin making a loan
application to finance the new
with a smart
technology.
approach you The financial controller feels that the
lease relating to both the land and
can pass this buildings should result in the recognition
tricksy paper of a right of use asset and a
corresponding liability to recognise the
obligation to pay the rent, but the finance
director disagrees. The finance director
does not wish to recognise the lease
liability in the statement of financial
position and therefore wishes to simply
continue to charge the rent to the profit
or loss as it is paid. The finance director
feels that the lease does not meet the
criteria for a lease. It was made clear by
the finance director that showing the
lease liability could jeopardise the loan
application.
Required
Discuss the ethical and professional
issues in the above situation (7 marks).
(1)(c) Marking guide: The usual one
mark for each relevant point.
Ethics
A useful model for the analysis of ethics
is the ACCA ethical principles:
P – Professionalism (avoiding disrepute).
I – Integrity (honesty).
C – Confidentiality (keeping secrets).
C – Competence (knowing what you are
doing).
O – Objectivity (independence).
Leases: A contract is a lease if it conveys
the right to control the use of an
identified asset for a period of time in
exchange for consideration [IFRS 16:9].
Land and buildings: The land and
buildings contract appears to be in clear
fulfilment of the above. The contract is a
lease. A lease asset and liability must be
recognised.
Competence: Frankly, this is fairly basic
financial reporting. If the FD does not
know this then this leads to questions
about the FD’s competence.
Integrity: However, the FD may know
this and be swayed by the loan
application. The FD may understand the
definition of a lease clearly but be intent
on manipulating the FS anyway. This
leads to questions about integrity.
Objectivity: The judgement of the FD is
also questionable because of a lack of
objectivity. The FD is more concerned
with a loan application than he is with
the true and fair view of the FS.
Gearing: The issue is likely to be gearing.
Gearing goes up if you recognise a lease
liability. It is likely the potential lenders
have a maximum gearing that they will
lend into and it seems that Marchant is
already close to this threshold even
before the lease is considered. PQ
• Martin Jones lectures at the London
School of Business and Finance
PQ Magazine January 2018
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PQ our guest editor
So you think you know
PQ has a guest editor this month – Craig Coda. Here he offers some top tips on how to pass ACCA – and he
should know the score, as he did it in two years! And in the article below he outlines his own study ‘journey’
O
ne of the first steps I would suggest to
any ACCA student is to take the time
to study ‘How to learn’, which is a
subject that I revisited many times.
We are all different, yet in my opinion we live
in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ world. So working out what
actually works best for you is important,
especially if you are about to make a handsome
investment in your future.
I found that studying via textbook was OK for
me for most of my papers; despite reading being
my least favoured learning technique, it was
literally all I could afford when considering that I
would be taking eight papers a year.
I did manage to successfully make this work
for me though, discovering a number of
notetaking techniques and online resources
(listed below) to overcome my weaknesses.
Toward the end of my exams I bit the bullet and
opted for online/classroom courses, but again I
invested time into how to make the most of each
of these study platforms prior to undertaking
each one.
Learn how to take notes
Have you ever been in the final weeks leading
up to an exam, flicked through your notebook/s
and been left dazzled by page upon page of
useless notes? I certainly found this in my first
papers, despite making the effort not to! The
good news is that it does not have to be like this
and that it does not take a lot of time or effort to
have notes that work for you, although it may
take some trial and error.
All the sacrifice is worth it in the end
I
have no A-Levels to my name, nor do I
have a degree, but I am a recently qualified
ACCA student, having completed the
qualification in two years, mostly by self-study.
Clearly I was a late bloomer when it came to
education and I have never really considered
myself academic, but I am proud to be living
proof that the ACCA qualification is achievable,
because if I can do it so can you.
It really just comes down to three things:
having the drive to see the qualification through;
understanding how you learn; and – as much as
I hate to remind you – making the sacrifices to
allow you to focus on your studies. If you are not
prize-winner material and you are not willing to
make the sacrifices, I am sorry, but your
chances of success are slim.
It is a sad truth that very few of us can pick
up a subject, sometimes four, three or even two
weeks prior to an exam and then win a prize for
having the top marks on that paper.
I had to complete the Foundations in
Accountancy prior to the ACCA papers, and I
24
It is not that I underestimated the value of
note taking, but I did underestimate how simple
it was to make effective notes. By utilising
several known techniques and resources I found
that my notes became a go-to that I could revisit
weekly/bi-weekly to test myself.
Highlighters are great where you are surveying
a chapter, finding a topic in the textbook that is
important or something that you are struggling to
understand. I would assign colours to them as
follows:
• Yellow – important definitions, key areas,
equations.
• Green – areas that did not appear to be ‘key’
ones, but that were important.
• Pink – areas I couldn’t wrap my head around.
I should stress here that if your page looks like
an illuminous zebra you are overdoing it! It is
important that you are highlighting a third of
each page, maximum.
Once done this will assist you greatly when
you come back around to reading the chapter
with the intention of writing notes and when you
reach a ‘pink’ area, as you will either have
benefited from reading ahead and
comprehending the subject, or you will need to
find another resource to gain an understanding.
When taking notes I found that assigning
colours to them was invaluable later on; it not
only made each page of my notes more
aesthetically pleasing, it made them easy to use.
I assigned my colours as follows:
• Blue – key concepts and introductions to
subjects.
took most of my papers via
self-study. While being
fortunate enough to have
succeeded first time around
more times than I had
envisaged, I still had to deal
with my fair share of
‘undeserved’ results despite
my very best efforts.
So you should realise that
despite your best efforts you
will likely meet an
unsuccessful attempt
somewhere along the line
and, more likely than not,
more than once. But when
you do, remember this – only 30% to 50% of
students pass each exam sitting, despite there
being 14 exams! So, statistically, you should be
unsuccessful in your exam attempts at least 14
times, taking each exam twice. So it is far from
just you, it is at least half the people in that
exam hall that you sat in for three-and-a-quarter
• Green – definitions and equations.
• Black – more detailed information.
• Red – reference to a page number, with a title
for an area I am not yet familiar enough with to
write a summarised note on.
Just using this method made me so much
more confident with my subjects, as I had a
summarised version of each chapter that was
easy to review and hence retain.
This method can also be used when you are
undertaking exam-based questions as you can
highlight the sections that you have achieved low
marks on. I personally kept a table in the back
of my notebook with a tally of how many times I
had undertaken a specific area and the
percentage I had achieved, which helped me to
identify subjects I was performing poorly in so I
could prioritise these in the final weeks prior to
an exam. Making peace with the fact that I was
never going to know everything, it also helped
me prioritise my questions in the exam, leaving
the worst until last.
Other note-taking techniques
There are a number of different note-taking
techniques, each being more suited to some
papers than others. The ones that I would
suggest are worth looking at are:
• The Cornell method works wonders with
concepts, definitions and equations. The idea is
that your page is split into three sections. This
works by dividing your paper into two columns,
drawing a line vertically down the page five
centimetres from the left side, drawing another
gruelling hours of your life who received that
very same email or text.
I really am no genius, but I truly believe that
the changes in my approach to studying later in
life made a huge difference to my chances of
success, which I hope they do yours. PQ
• Craig Coda, PQ Guest Editor
PQ Magazine January 2018

w how to learn?
line horizontally five centimetres from the
bottom. The left side is a key word/question
column and the right side a notetaking/answer
column. The bottom box can then be used to
extend your understanding later on by writing
greater detail within it.
I found that by covering the right side of the
page and working my way down I could test my
understanding of definitions, concepts and
equations regularly.
• Mind maps – I am sure that many of us are
aware of this concept. It may not be so useful
PQ Magazine January 2018
for learning detail, but don’t dismiss it when you
need to understand how a subject pieces
together. I found this really helped me separate
the taxes incurred by individuals and companies
in my mind by having a mind map for each and
a brief summary/example of how they incurred
the tax.
There are many more techniques available, so
please take the time to search them.
Resources and how to use them
When it came to study materials, as I said
our guest editor PQ
before, I was limited to what I could afford.
However, this did not hold me back when I was
left bewildered by a topic that I could not make
sense of.
Platinum accredited study resources
If you want to feel confident about the
information you are studying you need a
platinum provider’s study material. In order for a
tuition provider to be recognised by ACCA as a
platinum provider they must meet a range of
challenging performance targets, ACCA’s best
practice statements and specific pass rate
targets.
For each exam I would have the Kaplan study
book and exam kit as a minimum. However, for
a little bit extra cash you could have access to a
personal tutor by telephone and video content,
and for a bit more money again marked mock
exams, revision videos and extra question
practice. For me, the premier package made all
the difference, particularly by having a third
party mark my papers. I felt this made a huge
difference, as it is difficult to award yourself
marks without bias on a subject you don’t know
you understand.
ACCA
ACCA has some fantastic resources available on
every subject. Briefly, these are:
• Examining team guidance.
• Self-study guides.
• Practice papers/past exam papers.
• Technical articles.
• And much more!
Other resources
Opentutition.com has a huge amount of video
resources, with examples on many of the ACCA
papers, broken down by subect. They are a
great secondary source of information and
without them I would not have got my head
around consolidated accounts, at least, from a
text book, anyway!
• Although I did not use Acowtancy.com, I
understand that they are similar to Open Tuition,
but you are limited by what is free.
• YouTube – I would stress that you need to be
careful when trying to understand ACCA
subjects through YouTube, as the videos here
were not made specifically for ACCA exams.
Always check the year they were made, the
regulations they are intended for and that the
source is reputable.
Once you have understood something over
this medium, make sure to revisit it in the book
to make the knowledge acquired relevant! PQ
• Craig Coda is a Compliance Officer with the
Clark Group
25
PQ CIMA spotlight
You’ve been hacked!
Ken Witt explains the growing role of the management
accountant when it comes to protecting against cyber attacks
T
he recent global WannaCry and
Petya cyber attacks were a
wake-up call for many
organisations. The extent of Petya is not
known yet, but according to reports there
were around 2,000 attacks on a single
day, crippling businesses and
government agencies around the world.
WannaCry is estimated to have affected
more than 200,000 computers and, with
the NHS being one of the victims in the
UK, it meant that even operations had to
be cancelled.
Cyber threats can have severe
consequences: lost business, fines,
lawsuit costs and settlements, and
reputational damage, among other
things. There are predictions that the
financial loss from WannaCry could be
hundreds of millions of pounds.
Who’s in control?
According to a 2017 Deloitte report, only
5% of FTSE 100 boards appear to have a
director with specific cybersecurity
expertise – a clear cybersecurity weak
spot. Management accountants and
finance professionals can play a big role
in helping organisations identify and
mitigate cyber security risks. Chief
financial officers work at the heart of an
organisation, and usually have ownership
of risk management, asset protection and
control, and business continuity. All of
this is affected by cybersecurity, so it’s
only logical that finance professionals
take care of this area as well. Risk
management is also a core competency
of management accountants, making
them the ideal partner to help
organisations develop their cybersecurity
strategies.
You cannot protect your company
without knowing what the threats are. To
help management accountants
understand security risks, approaches
and responses to cyber threats, the
AICPA has introduced the CGMA
cybersecurity tool. This new resource
provides a practical guide to combatting
cybersecurity intrusions to help ensure
the success of organisations.
Understanding cybersecurity
To win the war you need to know who
your enemy is – and what weapons they
use. While you’ve got your ‘basic’ cyber
criminals, cyber attacks can also be
carried out by business competitors,
insiders such as former employees or
even other countries. Cyber criminals
often use malicious software – malware –
26
to steal data and money or cause denial
of service. The most common malware
types are:
• Ransomware used for denial-of-access
attacks, which lock computer systems
until a ransom is paid.
• Botnets, a network of infected
computers controlled by the attacker.
• Malvertising, where online
advertisements are used to spread
malwarePhishing, usually in the form of
an e-mail made to look like it comes from
a trustworthy or legitimate source. By
clicking on a link in the mail or by
opening an attachment, the user installs
malware on their computer.
Another threat is application attacks
via phone apps or home devices
connected to the internet.
What makes your systems vulnerable?
Weaknesses can be traced back to
technical, procedural or human flaws.
Among technical problems are software
defects or not using adequate security • Protecting sensitive data such as credit
protections. Procedural vulnerabilities card information, for example, through
can be caused by system configuration encryption.
mistakes or if staff ignore software
security updates. Nevertheless, many Responding to cyber breaches
problems and vulnerabilities are caused Centralisation is an important element of
by users themselves, for example, by cybersecurity, especially for big firms with
using weak passwords or clicking on large numbers of computers, laptops and
links or attachments from unknown mobile devices. The ability to manage
parties. software updates or security protocols
through a centralised management
Cybersecurity objectives ensures better control. Centralised
Organisations should define their key management is also an option for mobile
cybersecurity objectives. Key objectives devices as third-party mobile device
include: management (MDM) products are now
• Enabling continuous access to and use available. For laptops, whole disk
of information and systems. encryption is vital as it prevents
• Protecting information from unauthorised access in case laptops are
unauthorised access and disclosure. stolen or lost.
• Guiding against data modification or Further security features are network
destruction. configuration and firewalls; application
• Guarding against the improper use, firewalls; and antivirus and endpoint
modification or destruction of systems. products.
To achieve these objectives,
businesses need to implement security What can you do?
mechanisms to protect information Finance professionals have a
assets, detect malicious activity and be responsibility to understand and mitigate
able to respond effectively when these the business risks associated with a
attacks happen. These measures could • Ken Witt, cybersecurity attack. Our CGMA
include: Technical cybersecurity tool will help you guide your
• Requiring identification, such as Manager – organisation to develop an organisation-
usernames, to make sure that there is Management wide approach to protecting against cyber
accountability. Accounting, attacks, ensuring the continued success
• Authenticating this identification via Association of of organisations.
passwords, fingerprints, etc. International The CGMA cybersecurity tool can be
• Only allowing particular types of access Certified downloaded – go to www.cgma.org/
or transaction for users with verified level Professional resources/tools/cgma-cybersecurity-
of authority. Accountants tool.html PQ
PQ Magazine January 2018
 EM POWERING
business minds
We support students and members at all stages of
their career and want to recognise their achievements
throughout their journey. That’s why we developed the
Business and Finance Professional (BFP) designation,
the perfect way for anyone to demonstrate their
professionalism and to keep growing in their career.
Whether you’re only just starting out or already
have experience working in a business, finance or
management role, you can benefit from becoming a
BFP. With access to a global network of professionals
like yourself, a vast range of technical information to
build on your expertise and exciting resources from
ICAEW and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI),
there’s plenty of reasons to invest in your development.
Becoming a BFP isn’t just about gaining essential
business knowledge. It is also about the ethics, skills
and experience that make a great professional and
demonstrating your commitment to always aspiring to
these values.
Whether you have already started your journey with us
or another professional body, you can find out how to
make the most of your achievements at:
icaew.com/becomeabfp
PQ ACCA exams

Everything you
Welcome to PQ’s one-stop
briefing for the new ACCA
Professional Level exams,
which come into play from

need to know..
September 2018 – courtesy
of BPP’s Tony Sharples

F
rom September 2018, ACCA are
launching new Professional Level
exams, Strategic Business Leader
(SBL) and Strategic Business Reporting
(SBR), which are intended to increase
the transparency of professional skills
within the ACCA qualification and further
align it to the needs of today’s employers.

About Strategic Business Leader

SBL is ACCA’s new four-hour case study,
which combines essential components of
both P1 and P3 in a single exam and so
the change is significant. Students will be
required to complete several tasks
around a single company scenario within
which additional material, in the form of
exhibits, may be introduced.
The new exam aims to assess the
technical capabilities that potential
leaders need to be able to demonstrate
within organisations, but it will also be
focused on professional skills and
behaviours that employers have said they
require in today’s workplace.
Developing an ability to demonstrate
the five new ACCA Professional Skills of
analysis, evaluation, scepticism,
commercial acumen and communication
will be a new essential study component,
as students will be expected to
demonstrate the right blend of technical
knowledge, ethics and ACCA professional
skills in their answers. SBL will have no
pre-seen information, which means
students will need to be adept at quickly
assimilating new information. All
questions are compulsory and each
examination will contain a total of 80
technical marks and 20 ACCA
professional skills marks.
It is worth noting that much of the SBL
syllabus has its roots in P3 Business
Analysis and P1, Governance Risk and
Ethics. New to SBL is a focus on
demonstrating leadership and innovation
to strategically lead organisations to a
more profitable and sustainable future,
which builds on existing or recommended
areas of competitive advantage.
I would advise all SBL students to think
about the following main syllabus
requirements, so the challenges are fully
understood at the very beginning.
1. Apply excellent leadership and ethical
skills to set the ‘tone from the top’.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of the
governance and agency system of an
organisation including the organisation’s
social responsibilities and the reporting
implications.
3. Evaluate the strategic position of the
organisation to identify feasible strategic
options.
4. Analyse the risk profile of the
organisation and of any strategic options
identified.
5. Select and apply appropriate
information technologies and data
analytics, to identify strategic
opportunities and implement strategic
options.
6. Evaluate management reporting and
internal control and audit systems to
assist the achievement of an
organisation’s objectives.
7. Apply high level financial techniques
from ACCA skills exams in the evaluation
of strategic options and actions.
8. Enable success through innovative
thinking and in the management of
change.
9. Apply a range of ACCA Professional
Skills in addressing exam requirements
to support current and future work
experience.
It is essential that students appreciate
that SBL has areas of technical
knowledge which are similar to P1 and
P3, the way in which this knowledge is
examined will be different. Unlike P1 and
P3, SBL will not test individual theories or
models in isolation and it will not require
these theories or models to be quoted in
answers to exam questions. Instead,
understanding the technical theories,
models and knowledge will be essential
for answer planning as these provide
students will a ‘toolbox’ to help them
approach the practical tasks that they will
need to complete.
Therefore, the use of models in the
exam will be a judgement made by
students and is part of the ACCA
Professional Skills for analysis and
evaluation. My approach will be to focus
students on learning through activities
and question practice, so it becomes
quite natural to determine which theory
or model will add value to answer
planning and widen the breadth and
depth of ideas discussed in a fully written
up answer.
About Strategic Business Reporting
SBR represents the evolution of P2,
Corporate Reporting, which will have a
greater emphasis on resolving ethical
issues and communicating financial
analysis to company directors and other
stakeholders. The length of the exam
remains at three hours 15 minutes;
however, section A will now compromise
of two question scenarios in place of P2’s
single 50 mark scenario. This provides
the ACCA SBR Examining Team with the
opportunity to assess a wider topic range
in a single sitting and to examine extracts
of primary group financial statements
and associated notes, rather than set a
full consolidation. I am expecting this
new approach will alleviate some of the
time pressure which P2 students have
traditionally experienced.
Students will need to think about the
following main syllabus requirements
prior to starting their SBR studies:
1. Discuss, apply and evaluate the
concepts, principles and practices that
underpin the preparation and
interpretation of corporate reports.
2. Examine corporate reporting from a

28 PQ Magazine January 2018


number of stakeholder perspectives and
assess and evaluate the reporting
decisions made by management and
their implications.
3. Use an understanding of the IASB’s
Conceptual Framework as a basis for
judgement in applying International
Financial Reporting Standards in
corporate reports.
4. Reflect on the usefulness of corporate
reports to discuss the nature of the
information that would help stakeholders
assess the future prospects of the entity.
This involves the analysis and
interpretation of corporate reports and the
provision of advice on the reporting
implications of transactions.
A new approach for new exams
Learning materials have evolved and we
are introducing a new Workbook format
specifically for SBL and SBR which
integrate the development of knowledge
and professional skills in two ways.
1. All Workbook syllabus chapters include
new Activities which use scenarios and
requirements similar to questions seen in
SBL and SBR to improve application and
understanding. Each activity provides
tutorial advice for students on how to
improve their technical and professional
skills marks.
2. Each Workbook includes a series of
five new Skills Checkpoints (see table,
right).
Happy Christmas from all of us at
HTFT Partnership
Thank you for all your support during
ϮϬϭϳ ĂŶĚŚĞƌĞ ƐƚŽĂŶĂŵĂnjŝŶŐϮϬϭဒ
PQ Magazine January 2018
Each Skills Checkpoint provides a step-
by-step approach to developing each
Professional Skill by using an integrated
case study scenario, and providing
tutorial guidance on how to achieve the
ACCA Professional Skills marks available
in SBL, and to improve the five essential
financial reporting skills I believe are
required to be successful in SBR
Tuition courses for SBL and SBR
should integrate the development of
knowledge, professional skills and exam
technique.
Planning for September 2018
There are two exam sittings remaining
before the September 2018 Professional
Level changes come into force. The key
transition rules are that any student who
has passed both P1 and P3 by June
2018 will not be required to sit the new 4
hour SBL paper. Students passing only
one of P1 or P3 will not be rewarded with
an SBL exemption. Any student who has
Workbook SBR SBR
Skills Checkpoint 1 Analysis Discussion of ethical issues
Skills Checkpoint 2 Evaluation Approach to financial
reporting issues
Skills Checkpoint 3 Scepticism Consolidation techniques
Skills Checkpoint 4 Commercial acumen Performing financial
analysis
Skills Checkpoint 5 Communication Discussion of current
developments
ACCA exams PQ
passed P2 will be exempt from the new
SBR paper.
March 2018 sitting
This is the sitting where your priority
should be to focus on clearing both or
any remaining P1 and P3 papers if you
are eligible to do so. Sitting these papers
in March will allow you a resit option in
June if things don’t go to plan.
June 2018 sitting
Any student with either P1 or P3
outstanding should sit the remaining
paper in June in order not to waste their
existing P1 or P3 pass. Remember if you
only pass one paper this will mean that
you still have to sit the new SBL paper.
Students who have passed both P1
and P3 may still choose to sit P2 in this
sitting. There is a lot of crossover
between P2 and SBR so a student should
not let the changes delay any attempt of
P2. If you would prefer to wait for SBR to
be introduced you could always sit an
option paper and leave SBR until
September 2018.
Keep going
The key point to bear in mind is to keep
progressing with your studies. Do not be
tempted to miss an exam sitting as it will
be harder to pick up your studies after a
break! PQ
• Tony Sharples, BPP
info@htftpartnership.co.uk
0121 745 8842
29
Accounting & Tax
We go together like...

Complement your accountancy qualification with a tax qualification. Exam qualified accountants are eligible
to register as a CTA student. The CTA is the highest level professional tax qualification in the UK and is a mark of
technical excellence and professional integrity.
Find out more about the benefits of the CTA and to register as a CTA student visit:
www.tax.org.uk/students-and-qualifications

PQ recently dropped in to
Kaplan to see what all the
fuss is surrounding its
on demand product
K
aplan first developed its on
demand product in the CIMA
market before launching into
the AAT market earlier this year.
The AAT on demand course follows
Kaplan’s three phase approach:
knowledge, application and exam
preparation.
Each student gets a personalised
home page and a nice welcome video.
Papers start with a subject overview and
you get advice from a ‘real’ tutor.
We like the way the subjects are put
into easy to digest chunks, and there are
lots of visual indicators on how you are
doing.
Kaplan uses case studies too, which
really help put the subject into context.
And don’t worry, there are lots and lots of
tests and mocks. You also get a textbook
and integrated workbook, too.
Still room for improvement
in corporate reporting – FRC
Regulator expects more detail and less ambiguity, according to report
C
orporate reports still need to have more
detailed explanations and have better
clarity, says the Financial Reporting
Council. While the quality of narrative reporting
has improved among the large listed companies,
the FRC still found too many cases where there
isn’t sufficient balance and where descriptions
are too vague.
In its Annual Review of Corporate Reporting, it
said boiler-plate text still lingers, doing little to
explain why certain assets were subject to
significant risk of material change.
Another gripe was a lack of explanation when
there are changes to performance measures,
such as when KPIs are changed but not the
PQ Magazine January 2018
AAT on demand
A big bonus is the access to a team of
dedicated lecturers, who are on hand to
answer questions from 8am to 9pm,
including weekends. Kaplan sees that as
a fundamental element of its online
programme, saying: “It has got to be as
easy as asking a question in the
classroom.” And if the question is a bit
reasons for the changes or their impact.
The FRC said beyond basic compliance with
the law and accounting standards there are nine
characteristics of corporate reporting which it
believes make a good annual report:
1. A single story: The narrative in the front end
is consistent with the back end accounting
information; significant points in the financial
statements are explained in the narrative reports
so that there are no surprises hidden in the
accounts.
2. How the money is made: The strategic report
gives a clear and balanced account, which
includes an explanation of the company’s
business model and the salient features of the
AAT spotlight PQ
more complicated and can’t be answered
on the spot then you can request a call
back.
Another big plus is the Learning Coach
Team. Now these aren’t trained
accountants, but they understand the
qualification and structure, and resources
that are available. What they do know is
how to keep you motivate. They monitor
students’ progress and help get them to
the end game.
Kaplan knows a helping hand isn’t for
everyone, so students can opt in to this
‘service’. It isn’t the coach’s job to be a
pest either, and they only intervene when
they feel it will help.
What has made this product such a
success is the fact that Kaplan has used
its own students to refine and evolve its
offering. PQs know how they want to
study and what works for them, and
Kaplan is giving them what they want.
Simple, really. PQ
financial reporting PQ
company’s performance and position, good and
bad.
3. What worries the board: The risks and
uncertainties described in the strategic report
are genuinely the principal risks and
uncertainties that concern the Board. The
descriptions are sufficiently specific that the
reader can understand why they are important
to the company. The report also describes the
mitigating actions taken by the Board to manage
the impact of its principal risks and
uncertainties. The links to accounting estimates
and judgements are clear.
4. Consistency: Highlighted or adjusted figures,
key performance indicators (KPIs) and non-
GAAP measures referred to in the strategic
report are clearly reconciled to the relevant
amounts in the accounts and any adjustments
are clearly explained, together with the reasons
why they are being made.
5. Cut the clutter: Important messages, polices
and transactions are highlighted and supported
with relevant context and are not obscured by
immaterial detail. Cross-referencing and
signposting is used effectively; repetition is
avoided.
6. Clarity: The language used is precise and
explains complex accounting and reporting
issues clearly, jargon and boiler-plate text are
avoided.
7. Summarise: Items are reported at an
appropriate level of aggregation and tables of
reconciliation are supported by, and consistent
with, the accompanying narrative.
8. Explain change: Significant changes from the
prior period, whether matters of policy or
presentation, are properly explained.
9. True and fair: The spirit as well as the letter
of accounting standards is followed. A true and
fair view is a requirement of both UK and EU
law and applies equally to accounts prepared in
accordance with UK GAAP and IFRS. PQ
31
PQ tax

Making Tax Digital: VAT

Despite delays to various staging post dates, the government’s digital agenda juggernaut is rolling on…

M tax briefs
aking Tax Digital for VAT will
come into effect from April
2019. From that date,
businesses with a turnover above the VAT
threshold (currently £85,000) will have
to:
• Keep their records digitally (for VAT
purposes only).
• Provide their VAT return information to
HMRC through Making Tax Digital (MTD)
functional compatible software.
The Finance Bill 2017, published in
September, included legislation allowing
the introduction of MTD for VAT.
Clause 62 updates the powers
contained in Schedule 11, VAT Act 1994
(administration, collection and
enforcement). This clause covers how
records are kept and preserved, the
keeping of accounts, and making of
returns. But it introduces new powers to
make regulations about the submission
of information from VAT registered
businesses. It also allows commissioners
of HMRC to make regulations that
require a business to keep and preserve
certain records digitally.
Accountants will need to use
commercial software that can connect to
HMRC systems via an Application
Programming Interface (API). The
functions of the compatible software
must include:
• Keeping records in a digital form as
required by the regulations.
• Preserving digital records in a digital
form as required by the regulations.
• Creating a VAT return from the digital
EXPENSES CLAIMS
The ATT has welcomed the Budget
announcement that HMRC plans to
work with ‘interested parties’ to
improve guidance on employee
expenses, and the process for claiming
tax relief on non-reimbursed
employment expenses. The ATT has
been campaigning to make it easier for
employees to claim relief due to them
on unreimbursed expenses. ATT’s
Yvette Nunn said she wants to see the
introduction of ‘clear and appropriate’
official guidance, but more importantly
an easy to use claim process.
records held in functional compatible ROAD TAX EVASION DOUBLES
software and providing HMRC with this Almost 106,000 vehicles were either
information digitally. immobilised or impounded for non-
• Providing HMRC with VAT data on a payment of road tax last year. The
voluntary basis. DVLA has now launched a campaign
• Receiving information from HMRC via warning that untaxed cars will be
the API platform in relation to a relevant towed away. From 2014, it was no
entity’s compliance with obligations longer possible to transfer car tax to
under the regulations. new owners, even if the vehicle had
Businesses will need to preserve digital many months of tax pre-paid. The
records in functional compatible software DVLA believes the withdrawal of the
for up to six years. paper tax disc also means many
The government has promised to believe they can simply avoid paying.
publish and consult on draft VAT However, the latest figures show
regulations by no later than April 2018, 105,878 vehicles were clamped last
giving businesses and software year, that’s up on the 85,355 in 2015.
developers at least 12 months to prepare Revenue collected from vehicle excise
before the requirements fully come into duty has fallen by £147m over the past
force. PQ two years to just under £5.9bn.

PQ enterprise

How to get your small business off the ground

Darren Nicholls explains the ins
and outs of the (very important)
self-assessment tax return
I am a new small business owner who has
never previously had to complete a self-
assessment form. What do I need to do?
The deadline for submitting your online return
for the 2016-17 tax year is 31 January 2018.
Failure to comply will lead to an automatic £100
penalty which, after three months, rises by £10
a day, with further potential penalties to follow.
Hopefully, you’ll have already taken the simple
step of registering for self-assessment, which
was required by October 5.
If so, or if you have previously registered at
any point in the past you will have a Unique Tax
Reference (UTR) number from HMRC, with
which you can complete your return.
You’ll also need information from several
sources to hand – a P60, P11D, P45, P2,
national insurance number, employer’s
reference, trading income, taxable benefits,
income, investments, interest, foreign income
and capital gains from the sales of assets may
all be required.
You will also need to consider any tax reliefs
you have used – so have ready records of
monies you have paid into pension or
investment schemes, or gift aid donations to
charity.
The tax you will end up paying will depend on
your profits, and will be made in two estimated
instalments – by 31 July 2018 and a balancing
payment on 31 January 2019. These will be
based on your return, and set at half of your
liability. Bear in mind that HMRC don’t send out
payment reminders, so you need to make sure
these dates are in your diary.
Remember, you need to complete a return
even if there is no tax due. According to HMRC,
840,000 people – around 7% of those required
to file tax returns – failed to do so in 2017,
netting the government an immediate £84
million in fines. PQ
• Darren Nicholls is Product Manager for
Informi, powered by AAT. Visit
informi.co.uk/PQ to find more practical advice
and support for new businesses

32 PQ Magazine January 2018


social media
ROUND-UP
Early in the month we tweeted: “Some
50% of accountants are unhappy with
their current role. Nearly three
quarters of those surveyed also said
they have had a job that made them
miserable at some point in their
career.” Matt Bishop wondered: “Does
the accounting profession have to
include unhappiness and misery? Or
does accountancy just attract the
unhappy and miserable”, he
wondered. Ian McCargo asked:
“Ready for your future, accountants?”
Roman Zolanski had another
viewpoint: “I think God is testing me
now so that I can bear this job.”
People also liked our tweet: “VAT
QUIRK: A ginger bread man with
chocolate eyes is zero-rated, but if it
has chocolate trousers it would be
standard rated.” Caron Betts jokingly
said: “Let’s hope that doesn’t come up
in the #ACCAF6 exam!” Meanwhile,
Rachel Dines felt you “just got to love
the chocolate/biscuits VAT quirks!!!”
Finally Ginny B stressed: “And that’s
why we love VAT! x”
On LinkedIn it was great to see
Dianne Ramdeen helping out her
students with an old
article from PQ
magazine. She said:
“Exam fever is in the air!
Following several emails
from both ACCA and CFA
students seeking last
minute study advice, I
decided to revive the article that I
wrote a few years ago which was
published by PQ magazine. ‘Do not
simply learn questions, rather, learn
how to answer questions’ – the most
important take away.”
Finally, how do you spend your
Saturday mornings? Nicola Donnely
knows how: “Nice bit of morning
reading and CPD top up. Who’s
studying today? @Your AAT
@PQMagazine.”
PQ Magazine January 2018
Life at MEND Accounting
Nicola Donnelly, 36, is an Accountant/Director based in Croxteth. She has been in her
role for two years. Nicola is also studying for an Accountancy degree. Her claim to fame
is taking part in #AATStories, and she was a runner-up at the AAT Awards
What time does your alarm
go off on a working day? 6am.
What’s the first thing you do
when you get to your desk?
Organise my diary and list – I love
lists!
What’s on your desk? Laptop,
study books, post, stationery, and
whatever I’m working on.
What’s the best thing about
where you work? I’m at home,
with my lovely dogs.
Where’s your favourite place
to go for lunch? Costa. I can
work, network and meet clients for
lunch, too.
What (or who) can you see
when you sit at your desk? Do
my dogs count? No one, unless I
work from Costa, then I see lots of
people coming and going.
Which websites are your
favorites and why? Facebook,
Twitter and Zara. I use Facebook
and Twitter for my business.
Which websites do you use
In brief
Civil Serbots
Robots will be running huge
swathes of government as
artificial intelligence is deployed
to ensure the state does more
with less, said Chancellor Philip
Hammond (pictured). He told a
House of Lords committee that
the government was expecting a
quick take-up of AI
across departments.
What he didn’t
venture is what affect
this would have on
jobs. The think-tank
Reform estimates that
250,000 of the UK’s five million
public sector workers were
The PQ Book Club: books you should read
The Ladybird Book of the
Meeting; How it works: the
Student, by JA Hazeley and JP
Morris (Penguin, £6.99)
Here at PQ Towers we expect
most readers are too young to
remember the original Ladybird
books for kids. Well,
the authors have
revisited these books,
using the original
artwork while adding a
twist for grown-ups.
The results are
for work? HMRC, Companies
House, NEST, Tax filer, Sage,
Xero, Quickfile, Quickbooks – I
use these for filing, software for
client’s work, and pension
submissions. PQ, AAT Online, AAT
Comment, AccountingWeb, CIMA
Global, ACCA, CCH (Wolters
Kluwer) are sites I use for
CPD, to keep up-to-date
with tax and legislation.
How many hours a
week do you spend
in meetings? Two. I try
to meet clients every quarter,
so my meeting time has
dramatically reduced from when I
worked full time.
What time do you leave the
office? I try to finish at 5pm,
although I can work later. The
most liberating thing about
working for myself is I can pick
and choose my own hours.
How do you relax? Movie night
with my children.
vulnerable to AI taking their jobs
over the next 15 years.
Suffering in silence
One in six FDs/CFOs admit
that they have been signed off
work because of work-related
stress, according to the latest
study by CareersinAudit.com.
Despite the fact that more than a
third of accountancy
professionals ‘experience’
stress on a weekly basis, most
admit they suffer in silence.
This is because many are
worried that if they raise the issue
it will have a detrimental impact
on how their co-workers and
consistently funny parodies of
modern life. For example, in
The Meeting a picture of five
white, middle-aged men sitting
around a table sits alongside
the text: “These important
people are discussing workplace
diversity”. Each page contains a
comic nugget or two;
we liked “Mr Beverley
is reading out a 60-
page document entitled
‘The Paperless Office’
and “At a meeting,
everyone has a chance
careers PQ
What’s your favourite tipple?
Rosé, although I don’t drink often.
What is your favourite TV
show? Game of Thrones.
Summer or winter? Summer – I
hate the cold.
Pub or club? Neither, if I had to
choose it would be pub, but
only for lunch.
Who is your hero? The
doctors, nurses, police,
ambulance and armed
forces who work ridiculous
hours to look after us. They
are all heroes.
If you had a time machine,
where would you go? The
future – I’d love to see if we could
cure cancer, hunger and find
world peace.
If you hadn’t chosen
accountancy, where might
you be right now? I had worked
as a hairdresser, and in call
centres, so I’d probably still be
doing that. So glad I’m not.
bosses regard them. Or as a third
of respondents said: “Nothing
happened, as they didn’t want to
know about it.”
Vacancies up by 15%
A new jobs index shows the
volume of vacancies for
accounting professionals has
risen by 15% across the UK in
the third quarter of 2017,
compared with the same period
last year. Despite ongoing Brexit
uncertainty employers have
continued to recruit, and many
businesses are actively increasing
headcount. In particular demand
are regulatory specialists.
to have their say.
Most of the
people at this
meeting have
nothing to say,
but they say
something
anyway”.
These books are great fun.
Every office should have a copy,
to be passed around when
things get that bit too stressful.
PQ rating 5/5 A joy! There’s
loads of fab titles in this series
if you’re stuck for gift ideas.
33
PQ got a story, funny or serious, you want to share? Email graham@pqaccountant.com

CHRISTMAS
CRACKER JOKES
How does Father Christmas reduce his tax bill? He claims Ho-Ho-Holdover relief
What is Father Christmas’s biggest accounts overhead? Private Elf insurance
What gaming console do auditors want for Christmas? A SARBox One S
How does Santa’s accountant value his sleigh? Net Present Value
What is the tax status of Santa’s helpers? Elf-employed
Why does Father Christmas love visiting the UK? Because he can claim gift relief

PRIVATE EYE CARTOON

We couldn’t resist sharing this Private Eye cartoon with you…
THE NISSAN CIMA
If your accountancy body was a car, what sort of car would it
be? Well, CIMA need not worry – Nissan has made a CIMA car!
The Nissan Cima is a luxury sedan, and a quick look on
Wikipedia explains that the car’s name is derived from the
Spanish for ‘summit’. The marque is an image of an acanthus

AM I STILL
leaf. Many of you will know that this leaf was commonly used by
classical Greeks to make a wreath for use as a crown.

A CIMA? FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO FLIRTED

The CCAB recently put
on an impressive event,
the ‘Perspectives on
WITH ACCOUNTANCY
CPA Canada recently spotlighted a whole
Fighting Economic group of people who have had a close
Crime and Anti-Money brush with accountancy. A few will surprise
Laundering’. All the top you – did you know Peter Falk (yes,
accountancy bodies are Columbo!) was a qualified certified public
members on the group, accountant and worked as an efficiency
with the exception of SMARTPHONE USE FALLS AMONG YOUNG expert for the Budget Bureau of
CIMA, who left a Over the past year the average 16-24 year old spent 3.8 Connecticut before hitting the small
number of years ago. hours a day on their smartphones and tablets. That’s a fall screen? Other stars ‘outed’ were tough-guy
Among the speakers on from 3.9 hours the year before! The decline might be actor Lee Van Cleef, who worked as an
the day was Duncan small, but a third of this age group said they used their accountant, and saxophone superstar
Hames, director of phones too much and wanted to cut Kenny G, who has a degree in accounting
policy at Transparency down (if time spent on computers is from the University of Washington.
International (pictured included in the total then 16-24 year
above). He was a little olds spent 6.7 hours a day staring at THIS IS YOUR GRECIAN DIVORCE
embarrassed to admit a screen). Every age group, apart Divorce rates in Greece have surge by 20% in recent years and
he was a CIMA member, from this one, increased their accountants there are putting it down to a rise in ‘dummy’ or
because with all the smartphone usage in a new study. ‘tax’ divorces. Accountant Dimitris Bokaris said increasing
recent changes he And the biggest increase? It was numbers of Greek couples are filing for ‘fake’ divorces to evade
wasn’t sure what among pensioners, who increased the taxman and bank foreclosures. Under Greek law divorces,
acronym he should be the amount spent on mobiles from or mere separation requests, can allow couples to reclaim those
using! 36 to 54 minutes a day. benefits while paying up to 50% less in taxes.

’
WEV E GOT THE L OT
It’s simple – just Revise! Bletchley Park puzzles
Osborne Books has launched ACCA Revise Notes for
papers F1 to F9. These colourful texts typically run
to 100-150 pages, so should be manageable for all
students. They are also ideal for any PQ who wants
to refresh their knowledge, or have not covered
certain areas due to exemptions. We have five to
giveaway this month.
To enter this great giveaway send your name and
address to graham@pqaccountant.com. Head up
your email ‘Osborne Revise!’
We have three sets of the Bletchley Park series of
puzzle books to give away this month. This is
your chance to follow in the footsteps of the
codebreakers and see if you have their skills! Our
four books include ‘IQpuzzels’, ‘Cryptic
Crosswords’, ‘Codebreaking Puzzles’ and
‘Number & Mathematical Puzzles’.
To be in with a chance of winning this giveway
send your email headed up ‘Bletchley Park’ to
graham@pqaccountant.com. And don’t forget to tell us where you live!

Terms and conditions: One entry per giveaway please. You must send your name and address to be entered for the draw. All giveaway entries must be
received by Friday 9 February. The main draw will take place on Monday 12 February 2018.

TO ENTER THESE GIVEAWAYS EMAIL GRAHAM@PQACCOUNTANT.COM

34 PQ Magazine January 2018
 AVAILABLE NOW!

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