[Q costs and Revenues] Discrepancy do you use a minus sign during reapportionment?

topcat

Kaplan do in their examples but during an AAT practice paper the model answer does not, so bit confused to the official method, i think the minus sign should be there it makes sense .. but would appreciate feedback on this :thumbup1:

My answer:



Model answer:

Nps

Kaplan probably use minus signs to aid in the teaching and understanding of it. It's like a lot of accountancy, for something which is obviously going to be a deduction, a minus sign or brackets is not always used. Example, Cost of Sales, we know this will be deducted from revenue so it is not always shown in brackets as it is just assumed we know that it is a deduction.

I'm guessing in the AAT example, the system automatically deducts the figure for you, hence it would be odd to also show it in brackets (as it would look like an addition).

topcat

just doing the third practice exam and they use the minus in nothing like a bit of consistency! :thumbdown:dont know if the system would class putting the minus sign in as a wrong answer or if you missed the sign would it be wrong ? (doesnt tell you what to do)

Nps

I imagine it would class the answer as wrong as it will affect the whole calculation (I'm assuming its a question where the answer is automatically generated as you put the figures in). If it's not obvious in the exam, just check the calculated answer as you input your figures to see if it is adding or subtracting, then add/remove your minus sign as necessary. To be honest though, I don't remember sitting an AAT exam where it didn't make it clear as to whether you needed to use minus signs/brackets or not.

topcat

thanks NPS , think i am going to stick the minus signs on in the exam just makes sense , unless it tells me other wise . going to put the one i printed screened above down to a mistake and hope for the best!

Nps

I've just looked and I can see now that it's not one where the answer is calculated as you type. As the question doesn't specify otherwise, as per the initial instructions, I would put a minus in. I can only assume that both answers would be marked correctly though, as by the nature of the question, you know the figure will be deducted so both answers would be technically correct. As you calculate the final figure yourself, you are demonstrating the knowledge, so I would hope the marking is set up to allow both answers.

You're right though, a bit of consistency would be nice as the two answers you show clearly show AAT using different methods.

Amy Smith

I may be too late, but just a bit of information! In the exam, the question stated clearly whether I needed to put a minus sign in or not and to what degree of precision...
Which was lucky, because I was getting confused and worried that I'd be marked down if I did!

I can't guarantee it will be the same for you, but I'd be surprised if it's different... :001_smile: