CIMA November 2014 Exam Tips, Key Examinable areas and Guide from Kaplan Experts

E1 - Enterprise Operation

Section A:
Expect the questions to cover the full range of the syllabus.

Sections B and C:
• The global business environment
- Emerging economies with possible link to outsourcing/ offshoring
- Culture
- Corporate political activity
• Information systems
- System testing and/ or maintenance
- Resistance to change
• Operations management
- Capacity planning/ inventory management
- Cousins or Reck and Long
• Marketing
- Market planning process and the 4Ps
- B2B and B2C marketing
• Managing human capital
- HR theories (e.g. McGregor)
- HR planning including learning, training and development


E2 - Enterprise Management

Strategic management 
• Corporate appraisal and its components, especially PEST and Porter’s five forces.
• Corporate social responsibility
• Stakeholder analysis

Relationship management
• Corporate Governance and ethics
• Mentoring
• Communication

Project management
• Benefits/drawbacks of a single m methodology such as PRINCE 2
• Project management tools, such as CPA or WBS
• Managing project teams


E3 - Enterprise Strategy

• Strategic analysis and evaluation
• Mission and objectives
• Corporate social responsibility and ethics


F1 - Financial Operation

• Company income statement, statement of financial position, statement of changes in equity examined as a Section C question.
• Consolidated income statement and statement of financial position incorporating adjustments for inter company selling/balances, unrealised profit, impairment, fair value and depreciation. Likely to be a Section C question.
• Statement of cash flows using the direct method (likely to be the section B question)
• Finance lease – payment in advance
• IAS 11 Construction contracts – possibly a loss making scenario
• IAS 37 – Provisions and contingencies
• PPE note – including depreciation, disposal, revaluation and possibly asset held for sale – could be a Section B question or part of a note in Section C for a single entity question.
• Business tax:
- VAT calculation and impact on profit
- Avoidance V evasion explanation 
- Calculation of deferred and current tax as part of a Section C question 


F2 - Financial Management

• General interpretation plus limitations of analysis / further information 
• Earnings per share
• Financial instruments 
• Share based payment
• Developments in external reporting – voluntary reporting


F3 - Financial Strategy 

Section A 
In the past, Section A has generally focused on topics from syllabus section C: ‘Investment Decisions and Project Control’ (this accounts for 45% of the syllabus), so Investment Appraisal and Business Valuation have been the main topics.
Although the examiner has said that Section A will not always focus on these areas, the last six papers have all covered one or other of them, emphasising how important it is to be ready for a question on either of these core topics.

Section B
This will contain three questions. Key topic areas which may be tested this sitting are: 
• rights issues (theoretical ex-rights prices)
• lease v buy decision
• the role of treasury


P1 - Performance Operation

• NPV
• Planning and operating variances
• Decision trees and expected values
• Working capital management


P2 - Performance Management

• Breakeven analysis
• Relevant costing and decision making
• Participation in Budgeting
• Transfer Pricing
• Responsibility Accounting
• Divisional Performance evaluation


P3 - Performance Strategy

Management control systems
• Employee or management risks and controls

Risk and internal control
• Ethics – a small requirement (around 5 marks) usually features somewhere on the paper
• Corporate governance – different types of committees used to control companies

Review and audit of control systems
• Internal audit

Management of financial risk
• Interest rate risk and swaps (Foreign exchange risk management came up in Sept 14)
Risk and control in information systems
• IT strategy
• IT risks and controls

Courtesy - http://www.pqaccountant.com/