Budgeting

Joe Barraclough

Hello all

i started studying my aat level 2 in september and i am now just beginning my level 4 exams, i am 13 exams up with no fails and i have my first level 4 exam in a weeks time....Budgeting.

Is level 4 as hard as people say or do people exxagerate?

any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated

regards

uknitty

Budgeting isn't so bad - in fact I didn't really notice a huge amount of difference between budgeting and costing.

Main difference at level 4 is that you are not just required to do the calculations, but also to write writen answers explaining what the figures mean and also make recommendations about what action to take based on your workings.

Budgeting is probably a good one to start with - it leads naturally on to FNPF.

FNST is probably the exam that causes most people problems at level 4. I did this as my first exam, but in hindsight if I had advice to give I would say that because there are lots of IAS to learn buy a book that covers all the IAS's (try "A students guide to International Accounting Standards by Claire Finch") and read through the standards that are coveredfor FNST whilst you are studying other units. The more time you can give yourself to gain a good knowledge of this unit the better.

Jo Clark

Joe Barraclough wrote: »

Is level 4 as hard as people say or do people exxagerate?

Hello Joe

Some people will find Level 4 easier than others, depending on previous experience and possibly their current job role if employed in accountancy.

I found Budgeting fairly straightforward and really enjoyed this module. However, I would highly recommend that you concentrate on the written elements as well as the calculations.

Also, you do not receive your results immediately like you do at Levels 2 and 3, however I am sure you were probably already aware of this.

Good luck with your exam.


JC

NicF

So far I've only done FNST and business tax and I'm taking credit management and control on Monday. I haven't got any results yet so I may change my mind about what I say next, but business tax was not really any more difficult than the level 3 subjects, just maybe slightly more stuff and there were questions in the exam where you just had blank boxes to type in rather than all the tables with drop down options you get in level 3 (although plenty of these as well). The worst part about this exam for me was remembering all the submission and payment dates and the penalties, but these were all multiple choice type questions so still not too bad.

The numbers part of FNST isn't actually that bad. Obviously more advanced than level 3 but not especially difficult. The thing I found difficult was remembering all the information from the IASs as I have a really bad memory. The questions on these require written answers where you give a definition, explain what is meant by, or discuss some aspect of an IAS. There's also a question where you have to write a report analysing ratios given. I didn't actually mind the written parts, except for the problem remembering the information I was supposed to be writing about.

Credit management and control is definitely no more difficult than level 2 or 3 so far. Especially as I've already covered the ratios in FNST.

If you've done levels 2 and 3 in less than a year and you have a good memory then you will have no problem with level 4. I would wish you good luck, but I don't think you need it. :001_tongue:

N

Joe Barraclough

thanks for all the advice, i guess its been 2 months since my last exam (been doing the icas) so i am just freaking out a bit i guess