总体评价：作为一名F5考试的新主考官，这是我的第一篇报告。这次考试的教学大纲和之前的差不多，试卷的结构也没有变化，同样还是5题，每题20分，不同的是，本次考试有一道20分的讨论题。这样做的目的是为了平衡整份试卷：因为问题二有大量信息需要吸收，问题三里也有相当多的计算，尽管这些计算都非常基础。 General Comments
This was my first paper as the new examiner for F5 but the syllabus remained exactly the same as in previous sittings.The structure of the paper also remained the same–five questions worth 20 marks each–although,in this paper,there was a twenty mark discussion question.The purpose of this was to balance the paper;there was quite a lot of information to absorb in question 2 and there were quite a few calculations to perform in question 3,albeit basic ones.
By the time candidates got to question five,it was felt that they would benefit from a chance to display their understanding of budgeting without having to absorb much information.As accountants,we often have to write reports that include little or no numerical analysis.This need for clarity of expression is explicitly required at the professional level papers,so it seems a good idea to start preparing candidates more for this now.
The pass rate on this paper saw a drop from previous recent sessions.I believe that the reason for this is primarily that candidates tried to question spot.So,for example,because linear programming came up in June 2010,the belief was that it would not come up again in December 2010.The lesson to be learnt is that you can’t question spot in these exams.You have to make sure that you are comfortable with every area of the syllabus;otherwise you may be caught out.Anyone who watched the ‘Examiners’ Special’ online in September would have got this message.
The paper was 54% computational and 46% narrative,since within question two there were a certain number of marks available for the calculations.On the whole,question four was the best answered,although there were still a surprising number of candidates uncomfortable with the area of activity based costing.In every question,the candidate had the opportunity to earn some easy marks quickly,and well prepared candidates attempted these parts first.
具体评价：问题一涉及到方差分析的基础领域。问题二是一个典型的绩效评估问题中 华 考 试 网
Specific Comments
Question One
This question covered the fundamental area of variance analysis.Part (a) started off with some basic calculations for sales variances and materials variances,followed by some more tricky calculations on labour variances.There were plenty of easy marks in this question,but if anyone didn’t understand variances properly,they would have struggled with the labour variances,which required a little bit of thought.The sales and materials variance calculations were thankfully well performed by candidates,but the attempts at the labour variances were poor.
The question clearly stated that the labour variance related solely to the temporary workers.This meant that it was necessary to work out exactly how many hours the temporary workers had worked for.The calculation was not particularly difficult,but it did require an understanding of the scenario.Since permanent workers only had the capacity to work 2,200 hours and a total of 2,475 hours was needed for production,the initial calculation required was that there was a shortfall of 275 hours.However,the question stated that temporary workers took twice as long as permanent workers and therefore the temporary workers would be needed for 550 hours.Approximately one fifth of candidates worked this out and went on to calculate the variances correctly.
Part (b) was the written part of the question,asking for an explanation of the reasons why Carad Co would be interested in the material price planning and the material price operational variance.The most common error was that candidates didn’t read the requirement properly.They expected it to be asking them how the manager had performed and this was what they wrote about.Every exam sitting,this proves a problem–candidates pre-empting the question and not reading it properly.It should not be assumed that every single variance question will give you some variances,maybe ask you to calculate some more,and then ask for a discussion of management’s performance. |
发表于 2012-2-23 17:09:42
