Please can someone break down DFS topic/exam for me so im more clear on things

lisnic

ok im getting on with DFS and have looked at what is required for exam - 2 sections 70% element 11.1 and 30% element 11.2

On going through my bpp text it indicates that only chapter 1 (intro to financial statements) and chapter 9 (interpreting financial statements) cover element 11.2 the rest will be examinable in section 1.

Please can someone go through dfs and give me some key areas that are always examinable/must knows please for each section

also i have read in a number of places that people fail on section 2 mainly? why is this surely if its only 2 chapters or is there more involved in section 2 than is made out?

also i seem to see a lot on standards being mentioned on here which is fine as i know which ones are examinable and what chapters from my text they are being covered in. what i need clarified really is are these mostly examinable in section 1 and if so in what context? practical knowledge ie applying them or written explanations etc? how much of each standard do you actually need to know name and definition or more?

im just thinking that if you know the material you will know them quite well surely? ie non current assets that im dealing with now which IAS 16 covers if you know about revaluation then you know the standard pretty much? will the exam mention the number and name and then you need to talk about/apply?

and lastly again people talk about studying standards and report writing seperate - where does report writing come into things in the exam and to what extent? anyone got any tips on this?

im really needing a guide so i can ensure im 100% ready for exam as im finding it difficult to know exactly what is what - previously i havent really looked or considered format until im finished text and doing past papers but think its what i read on here that makes me want to be a bit more prepared.

unfortunately i cant go to any revision days due to my location or i would for this unit i think

im distance learning so really have no guidance on the unit except a little half page which talks about the exam being 70% and 30% and thats about it

this would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks

Steve Collings

Have you downloaded the Unit 11 Guidance Notes. That breaks everything down for you so you know what each section requires from you.

If you log into MYAAT and then type in Unit 11 DFS Guidance in the search box it should bring up the information.

Regards

Steve

lisnic

thanks ill go have a look at this now

lisnic

ok just looked at that - so the section headed Guidance notes on assessability of IAS in unit 11 and the 7 pages of standards wth the pointers after each standard i need to know all those pointers?? (omfg if i do!)

i am happy with what sort of tasks can be asked in the 2 sections so pretty happy with that but where does all the standards stuff come in apart from applying it in section 1 and then mentioning it in section 2? how in depth do you need to describe each on as all those 7 pages seems a huge amount to remember!

Steve Collings

The paper is testing your ability to apply the standards to questions. The paper will ask you to write about one or two standards in their entirety (see past papers). For example, June 2009 asked about IAS 36 'Impairment' and IAS 1 'Presentation of Financial statements'. Other sittings have asked for the description of an intangible asset, that sort of thing so you will need to have a basic knowledge of the examinable ones. Students in June were thrown with the impairment standard because they weren't expecting it! My advice is do not get caught out.

My book summarises the IFRS/IAS (though some of them I have written about are not examinable at DFS).

Don't forget, a lot of the standards in the Guidance Notes are covered by computational exercises. For example, if you are comfortable with preparing the statement of cash flows, then you do not have to trawl through IAS 7. If you have a sound grasp of consolidated statement of financial position, then no need to trawl through IAS 27.

Just make sure you can get a good and basic knowledge of the standards and the IASB 'Framework Document' which is sometimes assessed in section 2 (e.g. define the 'elements' of financial statements).

There's no need to get bogged down in the accounting standards because you're only going to get asked about a couple of them in their entirety - there are other aspects to the paper such as ratio analysis and lots of computational work.

Kind regards
Steve

lisnic

thanks steve this is what i thought you will know quite a few of them and automatically applying them if are doing the computations. i think ill just make sure im comfortable with all the statements ratios etc and summarise each standard and get my husband to test me each night on the key points of each doing a few each night and hopefully that will cover them enough for the exam

will look at that book thanks

Ampsie

Hi Lisnic,

Don't forget to look at past papers to get a good feel of what will be expected of you in the exam.

I'm doing distance learning too, i did as many past papers as i could before i tokk DFS and it really helped.

Ampsie

jilt

Very bewildered

Steve Collings wrote: »

The paper will ask you to write about one or two standards in their entirety (see past papers).

Don't forget, a lot of the standards in the Guidance Notes are covered by computational exercises.

Just make sure you can get a good and basic knowledge of the standards and the IASB 'Framework Document' which is sometimes assessed in section 2 (e.g. define the 'elements' of financial statements).

There's no need to get bogged down in the accounting standards because you're only going to get asked about a couple of them in their entirety

I was happy with your advice about not getting bogged down with standards Steve but then I checked my notes against the AAT guidelines to make sure I wasn't trying to learn something I didn't need.

I am now horrified, there seems to be so much more to include than I had anticipated. Like you say I'm fine with things like cash flows and consolidated accounts but for example I've just been looking at what's assessable for IAS36 to IAS38 to make sure my notes include everything and they don't seem to.

Should I just carry on using you book and forget about the guidelines as its a bit late now.

I feel like a scared rabbit right now lol

A-Vic

Am with Jill a little bit it is a huge area and with everything else am running out of the will to learn from guidence notes just to much to learn

Steve Collings

Try not to panic. The Guidance notes contain every single eventuality in terms of how the examiner can test the standards. You do not have to know every single intricate detail of the standards and if you look at the model answers, even they don't go in as much detail as they potentially could do.

As I have said on the revision days I have done this year, you are not going to go into an exam with the knowledge required to rewrite the accounting standards. You need to keep plugging away at the Q practise between now and next week and attempting varying degrees of complex questions to strengthen your accounting standards knowledge. If you have a basic knowledge of the standards that will be enough to pass!

Good luck.

Regards
Steve