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Technology has a wicked way of doing things that differ greatly from the predictions of the great and the good. When commercial computers first appeared it was said that the [...]

Question 6 of May 2010's P2 paper required candidates to 'prepare a graph showing the optimum production plan' for a particular manufacturer. In his post-exam guide, the examiner identified several [...]

In May, when CIMA's new syllabus is examined for the first time, strategic level paper P6, Management Accounting--Business Strategy, will be replaced by paper E3, Enterprise Strategy. This change has [...]

Students tend to find the P1 exam difficult because the information given in the scenarios and the requirements vary considerably from question to question. Rote learning for this paper, therefore, [...]

Statements of cash flows were examined as section-C questions in the November 2010, May 2011 and August 2011 F1 papers, so they are clearly here to stay. Finding a logical [...]

Every time I mark the Performance Management paper, I constantly find the same errors on certain topics in each sitting, so see many students failing to achieve the mark that [...]

Consolidated accounts were introduced to the Fl syllabus early last year. So far they have been examined as a 25-mark question in section C of the May 2010 paper; two [...]

As you enter your workplace or college, it may not be instantly obvious, but with a little thought you will realise that overhead expenditure is all around you. The building [...]

As significant number of candidates approach E2's project management questions by providing a knowledge dump--i.e. writing down everything they know about the subject in their answers--rather than focusing on the [...]

Since the introduction of the current syllabus in May 2010, step acquisitions--also called piecemeal acquisitions or, more formally, 'business combinations achieved in stages'--have been examined four times. It's clear that [...]

Well over a third (38 per cent) of small firms in the UK suffered cash flow problems between 2008 and 2010, according to a recent survey by commercial lender Independent [...]

Most past F3 questions requiring candidates to take the adjusted present value (APV) approach to investment appraisal have indicated when it is called for and I would expect this trend [...]

Projects usually follow a life cycle comprising separate stages that occur in sequence. There are numerous models that detail these (see diagram, below), but, whichever model you follow, it's important [...]

Lean thinking has spread from the factory floor to the office in recent years - especially with regard to financial processes. But, wherever lean management methods are applied, the human [...]

Hedging involves reducing or eliminating financial risk by passing that risk on to someone else. It can provide certainty of cash flows, which helps with budgeting, encourages management to undertake [...]

As I explained in my April article, target costing is designed to reduce the life-cycle costs of a new product - while also ensuring that it satisfies quality, reliability and [...]

The calculation of sales mix contribution and sales quantity contribution variances was examined in the May 2011 PI and P2 papers. Both examiners commented in their post-exam guides that the [...]

The most common complaint from examiners you'll see in the post-exam guides is that 'students simply don't answer the question', but there's a whole range of ways of not answering [...]

You may recall that by the end of the first article in this series on project management, published in September's FM app, you had formed a strong plan to help [...]

Ken Livingstone, recently ousted from City Hall, made a candid admission during his ill-fated campaign for re-election as London's mayor. Confessing that he had no interest in the Olympics as [...]

The ASAP approach (analyse requirements, source syllabus knowledge, analyse scenario, plan answer) to tackling exam questions is a systematic method that helps to ensure that candidates use the scenario information [...]

Recognising the important part that information systems (IS) play in modern life, the institute has made the subject a significant aspect of the Enterprise Strategy (E3), Performance Strategy (P3) and [...]

Not so long ago, the pop group Oasis explored the story of their Morning Glory. Much earlier, the Kinks enjoyed lazing on a Sunny Afternoon, while the Beatles endured A [...]

The arrival of the 2010 CIMA syllabus resulted in significant changes to the content of the syllabus for paper P1. The section of the previous (2005) P1 syllabus covering the [...]

The principle underlying learning curves is generally well understood: if we perform tasks of a repetitive nature, the time we take to complete subsequent tasks reduces until it can reduce [...]

One of the key features of the new CIMA qualification is that papers P7, Financial Accounting and Tax Principles, and P8, Financial Analysis, are based exclusively on international accounting standards. [...]

The International Federation of Accountants is seeking comments on a discussion paper about defining and achieving professional accountancy competency. The paper can be downloaded from www.ifac.org. Comments are requested by [...]

Historical cost is one of the most fundamental concepts followed in accounting. It simply means that assets are recorded by the amount of cash paid for them, or the fair [...]

Over the many years I have delivered CIMA courses, I've noticed that few candidates seem to examine the syllabus in detail. Students might be aware of the broad headings but [...]

In the previous issue, Ian Blackmore showed how the ASAP approach (analyse the requirements, source syllabus knowledge, analyse the scenario, plan your answer) could be applied in answering a scenario-based [...]

Environmental analysis is the detailed evaluation of external forces and conditions that affect an organisation now or may do so in the future. It is an extremely important topic, not [...]

The statement of cash flows is the third primary financial statement and is required by IAS7, as revised in 2008. It reports on a company's generation and use of cash, [...]

Most of the articles that have been written about the T4B Case Study tell you, sometimes at great length, what you should do. This one is different--it's a summary of [...]

A brand can be a name, sign, symbol, design, unique packaging or any combination of these. According to Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong in Principles of Marketing (Prentice Hall, 2009), [...]

September's article on transfer pricing discussed the advantages and disadvantages of various cost-based methods. Let's now consider systems based on market price, dual pricing and the two-part tariff DuPont, one [...]

Before the early 20th century most businesses tended to have narrow product ranges, so their management accounting techniques were concerned mainly with efficiency. When companies such as DuPont started to [...]

Contract costing can prove as complex as some of the situations it records, but this complexity becomes far more manageable once you have grasped the main principles Contract costing is [...]

All that a cash flow question actually asks you to do is to take the statement of comprehensive income and the statement of financial position (the balance sheet to you [...]

The so-called global financial crisis has brought to the fore questions about why corporate governance processes, enterprise risk management (ERM) and internal control systems failed to protect financial institutions and [...]

You and your fellow CIMA students have been working so hard that you have decided to arrange a trip to the seaside to enjoy some welt-deserved rest and relaxation. The [...]

Decision-makers typically have to choose a course of action from a number of alternatives. The information they consider may be purely financial or it may involve a mix of quantitative [...]

The governing council of the International Federation of Accountants has approved a discussion paper urging accountancy bodies worldwide to unite with other professions, the business community, governments, regulators and others [...]

The introduction of CIMA's new syllabus has brought some important changes to the way the Financial Strategy paper is examined. F3 differs from the old P9 exam in key aspects [...]

The term "substance over form" is fundamental to our understanding of how financial statements are produced. It's essential for students studying for the papers testing financial reporting principles to understand [...]

Businesses could be asked to provide two weeks' paid paternity leave, six months' paid maternity leave and to extend unpaid maternity leave so that new mothers could stay at home [...]

The first thing that students sitting any managerial or strategic level paper will encounter is the 20-minute period of reading time. The clear objective for the reading time is that [...]

To help all CIMA students, here's a summary of BPP's key skills that often turn a marginal fail into a comfortable pass, along with practical tips on how to practise [...]

Questions about single-company financial statements have been a standard feature of Fl papers since they were introduced in May 2010. They also appeared regularly in the P7 exam under the [...]

Those students preparing to sit the F2 paper will know that question 7 has always been a 25-mark analysis and interpretation question. The examiner expects candidates to include some ratio [...]

When I ask the question 'are you an asset to your employer?' in class, my students are often disappointed to learn that the answer is 'no'. In fact, students, like [...]