Urgent help from steve needed

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Barry
Barry Registered Posts: 101 Dedicated contributor 🦉
in AAT Level 4 (Level 8 in Scotland)
Hi steve can you help me. I am struggling knowing when to apply accounting standards to a certain question because there are so many of them. I am trying to learn them from your book but they are going over my head.

Please please help me the exam is so close and i am stressing about it.

Baz

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  • Bluewednesday
    Bluewednesday Registered Posts: 1,624 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
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    Barry

    I know I'm not Steve but wanted to reassure you.

    As I remember the knowledge of some of the standards is just summary knowledge, are you sure you're not looking too deeply into it? Steve's book is useful but as Steve has said himself, will take you through to the advanced corporate reporting stage, so a lot of them aren't examinable at DFS level.

    Which particular standards are you having problems with and I may be able to help a bit?
  • Julia
    Julia Registered Posts: 78 Regular contributor ⭐
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    Hi Barry

    as Bluewednesday says you only need to have basic understanding of what standards are examined at AAT level.

    I am a BPP tutor for financial reporting and Steve's book is an invaluable resource to have (i have a copy) however his book looks at every accounting standard currently in issue and a lot of them are not tested at AAT so maybe you are looking at standards which are not going to be tested and trying to apply those to AAT questions.

    I am sure Steve will reply to this thread but you should let us know which particular standards you are struggling with.

    Are you booked on a revision course?

    Julia
    Tutor FR & Audit BPP
  • Marg22
    Marg22 Registered Posts: 84 Regular contributor ⭐
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    Hi Barry

    I did exactly what you seem to be doing - learning all the standards. I bought a book and kept revising it over and over again.

    I took DFS in December 2008 and passed it, but on hindsight I can see now that I was focusing too much on the wrong thing.

    I would advise you to make sure that you can do the following very quickly:-

    Journals
    Profit and loss account
    Balance Sheet
    Consolidated accounts
    Cashflow statements
    Ratios

    Do still do some work on the standards, but focus much more on the above.

    Best of luck

    Marg
  • Richard
    Richard Registered Posts: 373 Dedicated contributor 🦉
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    Marg22 wrote: »
    Hi Barry

    I did exactly what you seem to be doing - learning all the standards. I bought a book and kept revising it over and over again.

    I took DFS in December 2008 and passed it, but on hindsight I can see now that I was focusing too much on the wrong thing.

    I would advise you to make sure that you can do the following very quickly:-

    Journals
    Profit and loss account
    Balance Sheet
    Consolidated accounts
    Cashflow statements
    Ratios

    Do still do some work on the standards, but focus much more on the above.

    Best of luck

    Marg

    I agree with this post, I too sat DFS in Dec 08, and probably spent too much time focussing on the standards.

    Have you seen this guide issued by the AAT? It shows you which standards you need to know, and how in-depth your knowledge needs to be.

    http://www.aat.org.uk/servlet/file/Unit_11_DFS_guidance_notes_revised_Feb_09.doc?ITEM_ENT_ID=16780&download=1

    You may also find this helpful, its a guide on how to tackle the written parts of the exam.

    http://www.aat.org.uk/servlet/file/DFS_and_written_tasks.doc?ITEM_ENT_ID=11245&download=1

    Good luck for June.
  • Steve Collings
    Steve Collings Registered Posts: 997 Epic contributor 🐘
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    Barry

    You have received some A1 advice from the other contributors on here.

    Try not to get too bogged down with certain aspects of my book. My book takes every IFRS/IAS in issue as at January 2009 and describes the technical content. Not all the standards I have written about in my book are tested at AAT.

    You will only ever be asked about one or two standards in their entirety e.g. IAS 38 or some aspects of IFRS 3. As long as you have a basic understanding of the examinable standards you will be absolutely fine. I think the main areas you should be concerned about are being able to calculate the numbers in DFS e.g. ratios or consolidated financial statements AND having the ability to write about the numbers.

    The main job of an accountant is to help explain financial information to non-accountants - the numbers are essentially a form of shorthand. Being able to calculate numbers is only one aspect of DFS - the crucial aspect is having the ability to EXPLAIN to a non-financially orientated individual what those numbers mean. This is the main thrust of DFS.

    DFS is a technical paper but it is also a paper which any student of AAT should acually enjoy because it examines what an accountant actually does in real life.

    Having a good and structured revision programme is also essential. Do not be sporadic with your revision - try to have a methodical structure to it. I advised one student on the AccountancyStudents forum who is panicking about her ACCA financial reporting paper to use the contents page of her text book as a structure for revision. That way you are following a logical format rather than jumping around the syllabus.

    Remember not to get too bogged down with the standards - this is what a lot of students do and why a lot of students fail DFS. The paper is called 'Drafting Financial Statements' not 'Drafting Accounting Standards' so don't think you need to know the ins and outs of all the standards because you do not!:001_smile:

    Best wishes
    Steve
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    Marg22 wrote: »
    Hi Barry

    I did exactly what you seem to be doing - learning all the standards. I bought a book and kept revising it over and over again.

    I took DFS in December 2008 and passed it, but on hindsight I can see now that I was focusing too much on the wrong thing.

    I would advise you to make sure that you can do the following very quickly:-

    Journals
    Profit and loss account
    Balance Sheet
    Consolidated accounts
    Cashflow statements
    Ratios

    Do still do some work on the standards, but focus much more on the above.

    Best of luck

    Marg

    I would just like to add that Marg is correct. You only need to focus on the above subjects and knowledge of accounting standards is not really tested in the exam.
  • Barry
    Barry Registered Posts: 101 Dedicated contributor 🦉
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    Steve

    Thank you for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate your help. I will do what you say about the revision process.

    Don Juan we were told that accounting standards will be examined at some point ; i have also read that in the AAT magazine. I have also looked at passed papers and they test some standards but we never know which ones.

    Baz
  • Gem7321
    Gem7321 Registered Posts: 1,438 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
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    When I did DFS I found there was only one direct question on IAS and it would have been very few marks. But you will get more marks in your written questions if you can say '... as per IAS1 Presentation of Financial Statements.'
  • Paul24
    Paul24 Registered Posts: 578 Epic contributor 🐘
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    I can honestly say when I passed DFS I made no metion of the standards, because I didnt know them!

    However, I would reccommend learning the key principles of the standards, as when you move onto a professional qualification if you do so, you need an extensive knowledge of them. I found out the hard way by waiting until I started CIMA, which led to even more work leading up to my first financial exam!!
  • Steve Collings
    Steve Collings Registered Posts: 997 Epic contributor 🐘
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    Paul's advice is spot on.

    You need to (at the very least) have a basic understanding of them if you move on to further professional courses. In particular if you do ACCA you will need to know the examinable standards in a lot of detail - especially when you get to the advanced corporate reporting stage.

    I always advise DFS candidates to get into the habit of getting a knowledge of the IAS/IFRS at AAT technician because it is then less of a shock at the chartered qualifications stage when you are required to know them in lots of detail.

    DFS does, in fact, test more standards than candidates actually think. For example if you do a consolidated balance sheet, you are applying the provisions in IAS 27. If you calculate goodwill you are applying IFRS 3. Where you do accruals/prepayments you are applying the principles in the Framework Document. A cash flow statement is dealt with under IAS 7. So there are a lot of standards tested in DFS though most of the time you are not aware you are actually applying them.

    Best wishes
    Steve
  • potsandclocks
    potsandclocks Registered Posts: 15 New contributor 🐸
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    advise on what to study for MAC

    Hi All I have taken your advise on the DFS exam revision just wondered if anyone had any simular advise for the MAC exam (unit 33 ) as I am feeling a little bogged down with all of that as well.

    Also anybody got any motivational ideas I am finding it hard to knuckle down !! HELP:001_unsure:
  • Paul24
    Paul24 Registered Posts: 578 Epic contributor 🐘
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    potsandclocks wrote: »

    Also anybody got any motivational ideas I am finding it hard to knuckle down !! HELP:001_unsure:


    How much do you want to pass?

    How much do you want to fail?
  • Londina
    Londina Registered Posts: 814 Epic contributor 🐘
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    Richard wrote: »
    You may also find this helpful, its a guide on how to tackle the written parts of the exam.

    http://www.aat.org.uk/servlet/file/DFS_and_written_tasks.doc?ITEM_ENT_ID=11245&download=1

    Good luck for June.

    Do you know where to find too the written tasks for MAC or BTC?

    thanks
  • Richard
    Richard Registered Posts: 373 Dedicated contributor 🦉
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    Try this for the MAC written tasks, I think this was published in a recent AAT magazine. I haven't seen anything for BTC though.

    http://www.aat.org.uk/servlet/file/Management_accounting_and_written_tasks_Part_1.doc?ITEM_ENT_ID=16793&download=1

    http://www.aat.org.uk/servlet/file/Management_accounting_and_written_tasks_Part_2.doc?ITEM_ENT_ID=16794&download=1
  • Londina
    Londina Registered Posts: 814 Epic contributor 🐘
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    Richard wrote: »
    Try this for the MAC written tasks, I think this was published in a recent AAT magazine. I haven't seen anything for BTC though.

    http://www.aat.org.uk/servlet/file/Management_accounting_and_written_tasks_Part_1.doc?ITEM_ENT_ID=16793&download=1

    http://www.aat.org.uk/servlet/file/Management_accounting_and_written_tasks_Part_2.doc?ITEM_ENT_ID=16794&download=1

    cheers:thumbup1:

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