Management accounting: Decision and control exam

MiaM
MiaM Registered Posts: 26 Regular contributor ⭐
I am due to sit my decision and control exam in a couple of weeks time and I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips or advice that could be useful?

Also, is it easier or harder compared to the budgeting exam?

Thanks!

Comments

  • Pian32
    Pian32 Registered Posts: 474 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Decision and Control is harder than budgeting.

    You have more in depth work on variances and others area such as ratios and there are longer written sections.

    I would make sure you are happy with the calculations and how to format your written answers to boost your marks.

    I found a really useful thing to do was read the answers to the AAT practice papers for the written parts as well as the sample paper as that gives a good idea of what they're looking for.
    AAT Level 4, MAAT
    ACCA in progress
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    F5- Passed Dec 2020
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    F7- Passed June 2021
    F8 - Passed Sep 2021
    F9 - Passed June 2021

    SBL -
    SBR - Passed Mar 22
    ATX - Passed Dec 21
    APM - Passed June 22
  • MiaM
    MiaM Registered Posts: 26 Regular contributor ⭐
    edited September 2021
    Great thanks for your advice! :)
  • NataliaBobrova
    NataliaBobrova Registered Posts: 15 New contributor 🐸
    Hello MiaM,

    I'm at the same boat, sit my in a few weeks. This will be the first time, so I can't compare with the budgeting one. It would be easier to say if you had any particular question or problem.

    Generally I would say to pay more attention to writing aspects, such as advantages/disadvantages, comparisons, causes, impacts etc. You can complete your writing task faster if you have some drafts and core information for the answer in your head. As Pian3 said, it was useful to read answers to written parts first. I'd rewrite them in my own words afterwards.

    As I can see in the mock assessments, the understanding of variances and ratios/performance indicators are the key parts. I would also memorise all the formulas by heart.

    Is there any particular topic you are struggling with? I would take time to put my head around this one, revise and solve the problem tasks from text book and QB again.

    Good luck! :)
  • MiaM
    MiaM Registered Posts: 26 Regular contributor ⭐
    @NataliaBobrova Thanks for your reply! I don't know if I am the only one but I always find the written parts of exams difficult so I write a little amount and focus on the other questions but I'll definitely take yours and Pian32 advice about brushing up on those written tasks.

    I seem to understand variances but ratios I am really struggling with! There's so many to memorise by heart and you never know which one is actually going to come up but I will just try to memorise them and see how I do.

    Good luck for yours too! :)
  • Pian32
    Pian32 Registered Posts: 474 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    I think the key with the ratios isn't to memorise them directly but understand what they want to show. For most of them you'll then be able to work it out.

    You'll also start to recognize that you have x information so you can work out y ratios.

    Finally for ratios since you need ratios to compare against you'll often be given a partially filled in table and can work out the equations using the prefilled information if needed.
    AAT Level 4, MAAT
    ACCA in progress
    F4- Passed Aug 2020
    F5- Passed Dec 2020
    F6- Passed Sep 2020
    F7- Passed June 2021
    F8 - Passed Sep 2021
    F9 - Passed June 2021

    SBL -
    SBR - Passed Mar 22
    ATX - Passed Dec 21
    APM - Passed June 22
  • MiaM
    MiaM Registered Posts: 26 Regular contributor ⭐
    @Pian32 Thanks for your advice! I'm definitely going to focus on ratios more before my exam just so I understand them a bit more :)
  • Jay36598
    Jay36598 Registered Posts: 28 Regular contributor ⭐
    Hi @MiaM

    I took my MDCL on 18 Sep 2021 and awiating results. I did MABU a week before that. I prepped quite in detail and I'll share with you my thoughts.

    In MDCL, what stumps people the most is Variances. It's calculating them and then analysing the root-cause why those variances occured. In MABU, calculations are relatively straight forward. If you can get your head around Vcariance calculations and what goes in each one then you'd be smooth sailing.

    This is the reason that Task 5 has such a low, low success rate, as discussed in the chief examiner's report.

    There are some excellent youtube videos which only detail task 5 and how to appraoch it. They were quite helpful to me.

    In my expereince: MDCL was easier for me, just because I prepared variance analysis (calculations and root-cause finding) very well. I was not sweating in the exam, compared to MABU where I was rushing myself for lack of time.

    You may already have taken you exam by now, so maybe my advice is too late.

    AAT Student Member, 2021
    L2 (93%), L3 (90%), L4 (on-going)
  • AAT_Team
    AAT_Team Administrator Posts: 502 🤖 Admin 🤖
    @MiaM We've had to remove your comment unfortunately as you have touched upon live assessment material.

    A gentle reminder to everyone in this thread to please avoid discussing any live material, thank you - AAT
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