Dfs - 3rd time lucky

numberz

Hi everyone

Really embarrased to admit that i've failed dfs for the second time. Failed section 2 June 2009 and failed section 1 june 2010

I concentrated so much on section 2 that i assumed i'd be ok on section 1 again but got to exam and forgot the tables especially cashflow, mind went blank.

But i've got over being sad yesterday and feel ready to start straight away for december exam which isnt far away..

Please could anyone advise if there will be changes to DFS or i can carry on revising as normal...

Would appreciate any help

Congrats to everyone that passed their exams and good luck to anyone who will be doing resits in december

Luci xx

Steve Collings

Hi Luci,

A few people have contacted me on email about DFS and they have also failed on section 1, which surprises me somewhat because traditionally if you were going to fail DFS, the failure rate would largely be confined to section 2 as students tend to get bogged down in consolidations and accounting standards.

Don't be embarrassed about failing DFS - you're not alone, and you will have a head start for the December sitting. I think the areas to watch in section 1 are definitely the consolidation Q (consolidated retained earnings always tends to throw some students) and reading the chief assessor's report this time, the statement of cash flows has come in for a bit of criticism with some students including interest paid and tax paid in the statement of cash flow itself rather than in the reconciliation of operating profit to net cash flow from op activities. The assessor is quite correct on when IAS 7 will only permit interest and tax to be included within the statement of cash flows. Seemingly students also struggled with FRA knowledge (accruals and prepayments). Can I also flag up that the chief assessor refers to the 'consolidated balance sheet' in his report -but you must refer to the (consolidated) statement of financial position in your answers (IAS 1 (revised)).

This thread might help you on your way to December studies.

Regards
Steve

AK002

I noticed that in the Chief Assesors Report that he was still calling it a balance sheet!

Siobhan Carmel

Carmel

Failed part 1 of DFS, and it was the last exam I needed to get!

Has anyone ever paid the £23 to get a paper reviewed - and is the £23 for only one part of the paper, or for the whole paper?

Any ideas on whether it's worth it - the thought of revising it all again is making me despondent. I really thought that I'd done well!

Keep on truckin!

Carmel

numberz

Thanks Steve for your kind words...... i've read all info you directed me too and i'm ready to start study again when kids go back to school.....

I paid the money when i failed DFS first time around and i found it was worth the 40ish pounds i paid to find out where i went wrong which was explaining my ratio's correctly and put me in the right direction to pass section 2 this time around.

I won't pay this time as i know it was my table i went wrong on.

Luci x

Steve Collings

No problem Luci.

The problem with a paper such as DFS is that there are so many areas where you can go wrong because it's a very "technical" paper. The areas to be aware of in section 1 is primarily ignoring the knowledge you gained in FRA (double entry knowledge is required when preparing the single entity financial statements). Seemingly this was the case in J10. Also forgetting the dividends when calculating reserves! Usually students tend to forget these because they are the last transactions that are dealt with and by that time they want to move on!

The consolidated question is always a problem child with some students -particularly the retained earnings figure! I think you mentioned a 'table' which I suspect is the goodwill/group retained earnings and NCI??? If it is you probably tripped up on pre- and post-acq reserves (pre-acq reserves go in the goodwill calc, post acq go to parent/NCI in accordance with their holding). Goodwill impairment is also a problematic area because students tend to forget that even though they are only doing one primary statement, double-entry knowledge is still required (CR goodwill, DR retained earnings).

I think you'll be relatively OK to just skim through your notes to refresh your knowledge and start question practise quite sooner than students coming through to DFS/FNST. The important bit is starting ASAP!!

Best of luck.

Steve

numberz

Morning Steve

goodwill/group retained earnings is the tableS i forgot, see i couldn't even remember the name.....ha ha ..... and cashflow is the one which ruined it completely for me as i seem to never remember once in exam. I've learnt so much by failing these exams that i feel confident that like you said if i start revising now i should be ready by december.

I'm going to print off exam papers today and start sooner than i was going too... (wonder if the kids want me to read my standards book instead for bed times hee hee only playing kids)

PLEASE COULD YOU ADVISE WHICH DATES YOU SUGGEST I SHOULD GO BACK AS FAR AS?????

Kind Regards

Luci

sunshine2010

hey

You will probs have seen this jsut incase you didnt - When you log in to myaat there is a new tab called exam feedback this shows if you exceeded the minimun requirements of each section. met the requirements or did not meet.

This is very useful to see exactly where you need to improve.

Hope this helps

x

jenny3549

sunshine2010 wrote: »

hey

You will probs have seen this jsut incase you didnt - When you log in to myaat there is a new tab called exam feedback this shows if you exceeded the minimun requirements of each section. met the requirements or did not meet.

This is very useful to see exactly where you need to improve.

Hope this helps

x

That's really useful - thanks for pointing it out. Is this new? If so, it's a really good idea!

:thumbup:

tigger37

sunshine2010 wrote: »

hey

You will probs have seen this jsut incase you didnt - When you log in to myaat there is a new tab called exam feedback this shows if you exceeded the minimun requirements of each section. met the requirements or did not meet.

This is very useful to see exactly where you need to improve.

Hope this helps

x

I would love to see my exam feedback, but I can no longer see it as myAAT page changed when they made me a member this week.

numberz

sunshine2010 wrote: »

hey

You will probs have seen this jsut incase you didnt - When you log in to myaat there is a new tab called exam feedback this shows if you exceeded the minimun requirements of each section. met the requirements or did not meet.

This is very useful to see exactly where you need to improve.

Hope this helps

x

Thank you so much for this, i had no idea about it, was lovely to know that on section 2 i got EXC on my Ratio analysis and MET for Objectives and users of financial statements which goes to show my hard work paid off but on section 1 i had EXC for journals and rest was nearly all DNM which is really poor and i now know that i can't just think i know most of it as i don;'t .........fab really pleased to know i need to revise all of section 1 not just certain questions........
Lucix

Rinske

tigger37 wrote: »

I would love to see my exam feedback, but I can no longer see it as myAAT page changed when they made me a member this week.

Same here Tigger

Siobhan Carmel

siobhan Carmel

How do you actually get the feedback? I've been clicking on the 'exam feedback' tab but it dosen't give me any more info than I have already.

Regards

Siobhan