SkipE99

Paper P5
?        Scope of strategic performance measures in the private sector. Analysis of financial and non-financial performance; this could include the use of activity-based approaches or learning curves, and strategies to improve performance.
?        Divisional performance and transfer pricing issues. ROI, RI , EVA or even ABC could feature here; transfer pricing could feature as an aspect of these questions.
?        Problems with budgeting. Budgeting has been a favourite essay question with your examiner, especially an awareness of the problems of budgeting but was largely unexamined in 2009.
?        Alternative views of performance measurement. The examiner often includes a question to evaluate an organisation against an established theoretical model. The balanced scorecard, performance pyramid and building blocks have all appeared in previous exams.
?        Performance hierarchy. Linking strategic decisions to mission statements or suggesting strategic options using models such as Ansoff’s matrix or the BCG matrix lend themselves to questions containing a mixture of financial and discursive elements that could easily include a simple NPV or profit analysis.
Paper P6
Income tax:
?        Pension contributions – tax relief
?        EIS/VCT schemes
?        Income tax losses
?        Accrued income scheme
?        Personal service companies
?        Termination payments
?        Share schemes
?        Overseas aspects for individuals
Capital gains tax:
?        Small part disposal of land
?        Takeover/reorganisations
?        EIS reinvestment relief
?        Damaged/destroyed assets
?        Leases/wasting assets
Inheritance tax:
?        Death estate, treatment of lifetime gifts
?        Quick succession relief
?        Gifts with reservation of benefit
?        Variation of will
?        Payment of IHT
?        IHT implications of transferring property into a trust
Corporation tax:
?        Research and development
?        Intangible assets
?        Liquidation/winding up
?        Consortium relief
Value added tax:
VAT groups
?        Imports/exports
?        Partial exemption
?        Treatment of VAT on disposal of buildings Ethics

Paper P7
?        A risk-based and/or planning scenario in the compulsory section
?        Questions based on articles published in Student Accountant in the past six months - such as the article on Going Concern from February 2010
?        A number of requirements asking for audit procedures and required evidence in respect of specific financial reporting issues
?        A practice-based scenario looking at professional, ethical and quality control issues
?        A reporting scenario of some sort - probably testing either emphasis of matter or other matter paragraphs
?        Legal and regulatory issues affecting assurance providers, especially in the context of firms’ professional liability and the UK Companies Act 2006
?        Specific procedures for obtaining evidence (such as analytical procedures and other ISAs that have changed following the Clarity Project) and evaluating the quality of audit work carried out, both for components and groups
?        The requirements of other forms of assurance engagement, such as Value for Money (VfM) studies or agreed upon procedures
?        The correct treatment of more complex accounting issues (such as employee benefits and adoption of IFRS) than has been seen before
?        Specific ISAs may be examined in sufficient detail to warrant learning the key elements for regurgitation in the exam, such as comparatives (ISA 710) other information (ISA 720) or opening balances (ISA 510)
?        Discrete topics that we have not yet seen such as questions using the context of internal audit or examples of other non-audit engagements
?        The need to understand current issues such as globalisation, the impact of the recession on auditors, corporate governance, risk management and auditor liability - especially relevant in the context of the going concern article from February 2010