0:02 Hello everyone. Good morning or
0:04 afternoon depending on where you're
0:07 joining us from and welcome to this AFM
0:10 infocus webinar support for the March
0:13 2026 exams. My name is Isabelle. I work
0:15 as an education community manager at
0:19 ACCA and our session today is focused on
0:21 examiners reports unlocked. This will
0:23 provide an in-depth exploration of
0:25 essential exam support resources like
0:28 the examiner's reports and the read the
0:30 mind of the mark marker articles. You're
0:32 going to get some practical exam
0:34 technique tips and there'll be an
0:36 opportunity to ask your questions live.
0:38 Now we have Andrew Mo who has joined us
0:41 today to deliver his session drawing on
0:43 his experience to provide lots of
0:45 valuable insights and a deeper
0:48 understanding of this subject. Andrew is
0:50 a qualified accountant at PWC
0:52 um and has been with Kaplan in London
0:55 for over 10 years and he's now an expert
0:58 tutor for AFM and SPL and works with
1:01 ACCA to support students in their exams
1:04 as well as offering his own courses.
1:06 He's known for being very clear and
1:08 concise and he'll be uh great for
1:09 helping you feel calm and confident
1:12 about this exam. But before I hand over
1:14 to Andrew, I just want to go over some
1:15 very quick housekeeping points to get
1:17 help you get the most out of this webinar.
1:18 webinar.
1:20 So at the bottom of your screen, you'll
1:22 see a number of buttons that you can
1:24 use. Make sure both the slide and media
1:26 player icons are selected as you'll need
1:29 those both during the webinar. We have
1:31 an attendee chat function as well and
1:32 I've seen some of you have already been
1:35 getting involved in that. um that there
1:36 you can engage with your fellow
1:38 students, but don't uh share any
1:40 personal information and chat just
1:43 because that is visible to everyone.
1:45 You'll see an icon that looks like a
1:47 file. Clicking that will give you
1:49 helpful um materials related to today's
1:51 webinars, including direct links to
1:54 resources. Now, do feel free to
1:56 rearrange your screen, resize the
1:58 windows, and if you can't hear us or the
2:00 slides aren't progressing at any point,
2:02 just try refreshing your browser as that
2:04 usually helps.
2:06 Now, registering for this webinar means
2:08 that you'll get an email tomorrow with
2:10 all the details of how you can watch it
2:11 again. So, don't worry if you've missed
2:13 anything due to technical issues or that
2:15 if you have to drop off halfway through,
2:17 you'll be able to catch up again later on.
2:19 on.
2:21 So, if you do want to ask a question uh
2:23 during the session, you'll have the Q&A
2:25 button that you can use um and there'll
2:27 be a dedicated team working in the
2:29 background to answer those. But just a
2:31 very quick note that we might not be
2:32 able to respond to everyone
2:35 individually, whether through the Q&A
2:37 inbox or Andrew in his own segment at
2:40 the end because we get a high volume of
2:41 questions, but we'll be covering lots
2:44 and hopefully you'll still get an answer
2:47 to your question, just not directly.
2:49 That's enough from me. I am now going to
2:51 hand over to Andrew. I'll be back at the
2:53 end of the session. Take it away,
2:54 Andrew. Thank you.
2:55 >> Thanks a lot, Isabelle. Hi, everyone.
2:57 Welcome along to this session. Thanks so
2:59 much for attending live. Great to see so
3:01 many of you on here and also such a
3:03 great range of countries. I think we've
3:04 pretty much got every continent covered
3:06 here, which is absolutely excellent. I'm
3:08 based in the UK where the weather is and
3:11 has been since the start of 2026
3:13 miserable. So very rainy, very great and
3:15 actually it's quite nice being inside
3:16 cozy doing the thing I love most which
3:18 is AFM. So yeah, I'm in a really
3:20 comfortable place here and looking
3:21 forward to this session and helping you
3:24 with this. Now I may turn my webcam off
3:26 shortly just because as someone has said
3:27 there is a little bit of a lag and if I
3:28 do that then that will go. So I'm going
3:30 to say bye on the webcam and then
3:33 hopefully uh the lag will improve
3:34 slightly and I'll say hi again at the
3:36 end because um yeah that that usually
3:39 helps with the bandwidth. Right, let's
3:42 look at we're going to look at in this
3:44 session examiner insights and a few
3:46 common pitfalls. So mistakes that
3:49 students make in AFM. Then we're going
3:50 to be looking at understanding the
3:53 marker and mark allocation. So there is
3:55 an article called read the mind of the
3:56 marker which is a really good one and
3:58 I'm going to give you some key insights
4:00 from a marking perspective as to how you
4:02 can pick up a few more marks. I'm going
4:04 to give you some practical exam
4:06 technique tips. technique is absolutely
4:08 crucial in AFM. I think a lot of people
4:11 actually under prioritize it, if that's
4:13 even a word, but they they prioritize
4:14 theory and they think, "Ah, but if I
4:17 just know absolutely everything about
4:19 every bit of the syllabus, surely I'll
4:21 pass." And that's not true. You need to
4:23 have good technique to be able to pass
4:25 this exam as well. And as Isabelle said,
4:26 at the end, we'll leave a bit of time
4:29 for some Q&A. So, I'll do my best to get
4:31 through as many questions as I possibly
4:34 can at the end of the session.
4:38 Right. So let's move on and we are going
4:42 to look at these insights from the
4:44 examining team. So we get to meet the
4:46 examiners not in person but we get to
4:49 see their thoughts and this is taken
4:52 from the September December 2025
4:54 examiner report. Now this document is
4:56 available to you on ACCA's website and I
4:58 recommend that you do have a look at it.
5:00 So there is lots of great stuff in here
5:03 for you to see. You can also see this
5:05 exam. So the September December 2025
5:08 exam is available on the practice
5:09 platform. So again I highly recommend
5:11 you go and look at these questions. What
5:13 I'm going to do here is talk give you
5:16 advice which is applicable to you why
5:18 groups of questions rather than specific
5:20 topics that came up in this. But again
5:22 you can go into this report and get into
5:23 a bit more detail if you want to have a
5:25 look as well.
5:29 Right in this exam question one now the
5:31 big 50 marker. So this was the big big
5:35 question investment appraisal and ESG.
5:37 So that was our there were sort of our
5:39 two main topics that came up in this
5:42 exam. So September December 25 by the
5:44 way is like a hybrid exam. So it's a mix
5:47 of questions from both September and
5:50 December 2025. So this was one of the
5:52 featured questions was a big 50 mark
5:54 investment appraisal. Just put in the
5:55 chat would you be happy with that if
5:57 investment appraisal is your big 50
5:59 marker in the March exam? Would that be
6:01 you celebrating or would you be
6:03 thinking, "Oh dear, I wish I was doing a
6:05 different one." What's your what your
6:08 thoughts? If you get a big investment
6:10 appraisal, if this is you in a few weeks
6:11 time and you get a big investment
6:14 appraisal question, you happy with that
6:16 or are you going to be wishing that you
6:18 had chosen a different exam at this
6:20 point? Yes. Okay. Yeah. I think that's
6:22 the general consensus is that Yeah.
6:24 would be lovely, says Harry. Yeah. Um
6:26 wouldn't complain. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah.
6:28 I think most people would be would be
6:29 pretty happy with that. So this was the
6:31 big one um in this question and actually
6:33 it was quite a nice question but what I
6:35 want to do is give you a few bits of
6:37 advice that the examiner gave from this
6:38 question and again it doesn't matter if
6:40 you haven't seen this question I'm going
6:42 to give you some general tips here. Now
6:44 one of the things in this question it
6:47 said about um explain don't just list
6:48 advantages. Now one of the question was
6:51 about advantages of um a particular
6:53 technique or a particular thing that the
6:57 company was looking to do and this what
6:58 what some people do when there's
7:00 advantages is they'll just list them and
7:02 they'll say oh this will help them to
7:04 save money this will help them to expand
7:05 into new markets this will help them do
7:08 that but what you need to do is explain
7:12 it so just always think like so what why
7:13 is that an issue why do I care about
7:15 that so this will help them to save
7:18 money and then explain it because it's
7:21 going to be reducing their fixed cost by
7:23 10%. Using that exhibit to do that and
7:25 then what you could even do is then go
7:27 on to say and by saving this money this
7:28 will allow them to invest further in
7:30 marketing or you know again it depends
7:32 on the scenario of course but what you
7:34 can't do is just do like a bullet point
7:36 list. I think some people just think ah
7:38 I'll just write down you know a list of
7:41 three or four words and then that isn't
7:43 going to be that's not going to be okay.
7:45 So that's the first one. Don't just list
7:47 things if they're asking for advantages.
7:48 You need to fully explain them. And I
7:50 know a lot of people don't write enough
7:52 words in AFM.
7:55 Okay, the next one. When you do
7:57 something like an NPV calculation or an
8:00 APV or hedging or evaluation, whatever
8:02 it is, if you've got some sort of
8:05 detailed working, for example, in an
8:07 NPV, something like your tax allowable
8:10 depreciation or maybe working capital,
8:12 something along those lines, do those
8:14 separately. And what you're going to do
8:16 is you need to label them. So label it
8:18 working one, working two, and make it
8:21 really easy to mark. What the examining
8:22 team was saying in this exam in
8:24 particular was students were trying to
8:26 do too many calculations just in the
8:28 cells. You know, in the main body of the
8:30 NPV, people are thinking, "Ah, I'll just
8:32 do all my calculations in here." But it
8:34 can get quite messy and it can get quite
8:36 hard to mark. So anything complicated,
8:38 do it as a separate working. If in
8:39 doubt, split it out. There you go.
8:40 There's a little saying for you. If in
8:42 doubt, split it out. And it does make it
8:44 a lot easier to mark. And please keep
8:47 the markers happy by making sure that
8:54 Wait, with this is true for every
8:56 question by the way, considering the big
8:57 picture. Now, this is good for your
8:59 commercial acumen marks. Yeah, a lot of
9:02 people do an MPV and you get into that
9:04 almost that routine. A lot of you given
9:06 a lot of love for MPVs in the chat panel
9:07 there, which is great to see. But what
9:09 you got to think is how does this affect
9:11 the big picture? What is this actually
9:13 going to do for the company? So just
9:14 think about that and that will help you
9:16 to get those commercial acumen marks. I
9:17 think a lot of people say ah positive
9:20 MPV therefore accept. But again just
9:21 think like what impact is it going to
9:23 have on various stakeholders? Will the
9:24 staff be happy? What will customers
9:26 think of this? So again just think a
9:27 little bit wider. You're almost getting
9:30 into SPL type territory sometimes with
9:33 some of the AFM discussion. So I think
9:34 too many people are a bit like almost
9:36 clinical with this. They're a bit right
9:38 it's positive accept it job done. But
9:40 actually just try and think like what
9:41 other implications might this project
9:43 have. Right? You are going to hear me
9:47 say this a lot. In every single AFM
9:49 question you do, question one, question
9:52 two, and question three, you need to get
9:53 some assumptions in there. Does anyone
9:56 know which of the professional skills
9:59 marks is uh will be covered when you do
10:02 your assumptions? So what uh the reason
10:04 I'm saying you need to do assumptions in
10:05 every question is because one of the
10:08 professional skills marks categories
10:10 is to do with assumptions and and
10:12 challenging those. Does anyone know?
10:13 Again, put it into the chat. Yeah,
10:15 brilliant. Well done, Sheriff. Um so
10:17 yeah, professional skepticism.
10:18 Absolutely right. And that will appear
10:22 in every question in AFM. So even if
10:23 they don't ask for it, you need to do
10:25 assumptions. Now in this one, they did
10:28 ask for assumptions specifically. And
10:30 you'll notice I haven't put their state
10:32 assumptions. I've put their challenge
10:35 assumptions. So you can't just say this
10:37 assumes that inflation is constant at
10:40 10%. That's not okay. What you need to
10:43 do is say why that isn't going to be a
10:45 valid assumption. So this assumes
10:48 inflation is constant at 10%. However,
10:51 as we can see, there is a recession
10:53 going on at the moment and this is
10:54 likely to change or whatever there is in
10:56 the exhibit. Or you could say this is a
10:58 10-year project. Inflation is likely to
11:00 vary over that time period. And then you
11:02 can also talk about the impact which
11:05 could cause our MPV to decrease. So it's
11:07 not okay just to list assumptions. You
11:10 need to say why it is not valid as well.
11:11 And that's going to get you the marks.
11:13 Again, the examining team say that a lot
11:14 and you'll hear me say that a lot
11:17 throughout this session as well.
11:19 And then in this one there was a bit on
11:22 ESG. So thinking about sort of like your
11:24 ethics and sustainability, governance
11:27 type things and
11:28 a lot of people just almost defining
11:31 what it is in this exam rather than
11:32 picking up on the specific issues in the
11:35 scenario and recommendations. So please
11:36 use the exhibits. The exhibits are
11:38 there. They're your friend. Like these
11:39 exhibits are there to help you and give
11:42 you clues. So please make sure you do
11:43 use those and that will really help your
11:46 answer. Okay. So there was some general
11:47 advice from question one. So this is
11:49 about sort of NPVs and investment
11:52 appraisal type questions. Some advice
11:53 again which you can use for other
11:54 questions not just this one from
11:56 September December. Is everyone all
11:57 right with that so far? Could you just
11:58 give me like a bit of thumbs up or a
12:00 smiley face or whatever it is just to
12:01 make sure make sure everyone's all right
12:15 Okay, good stuff. Right, I've seen a few
12:17 things flying which is great. Thanks
12:18 Charlotte and the chat as well. Good. Lovely.
12:20 Lovely.
12:23 Right, question two. Someone said
12:27 earlier on about acquisitions and how
12:28 much you love them. I think I think
12:29 that's what it said in the chat, wasn't
12:33 it? I don't know. But acquisitions, um,
12:35 these questions can be quite tricky.
12:36 Now, the reason students find these
12:39 tricky is because there isn't really
12:41 like a set template for them, is there?
12:43 Like my students when we're doing MPVS I
12:46 give my A FM students a template you
12:47 know it's like right here you go you
12:49 start with your sales and your costs
12:51 etc. When you're doing acquisitions you
12:53 can't really use that. It's like well
12:55 the questions are quite varied and it
12:57 might be they want a share for share
12:59 exchange or calculate the percentage
13:01 gain in the share price to this one. So
13:02 it's almost like a little puzzle with
13:05 acquisitions and that tends to make it a
13:07 little bit trickier. So there's often
13:09 it's almost like problem solving which
13:11 again can be a bit tricky but the more
13:12 you do the more you practice these the
13:14 easier they become and you start seeing
13:16 similar things repeated which is always good.
13:17 good.
13:19 So what I would suggest and this is what
13:21 the examiner suggests is a stepby-step
13:24 approach. Now that isn't to say that
13:26 there is a standardized step-by-step
13:27 approach and step one you do this, step
13:30 two you do that, but generally structure
13:32 your answer in a way that is easy to
13:34 follow. So if you're asked to do a
13:36 percentage gain to a company for example
13:38 a great first step is to work out the
13:40 current value and then the second step
13:42 is to work out the new value and then
13:44 the third step is to work out the
13:46 percentage gain. So following that sort
13:47 of approach where it's like right I'm
13:48 going to label it here are the current
13:51 values here are the new values and this
13:52 is the gain. That makes it really easy
13:55 to mark. This is a very common issue for
13:57 students is they just do a mass of
13:58 numbers in the spreadsheet and then
14:00 expect the markers to piece it all
14:01 together. And guess what? you're not
14:06 going to get many marks, right? Even if
14:07 you have to make up some numbers, right?
14:09 So, even if your current value and your
14:11 new value of the companies were all over
14:12 the place and you weren't quite sure
14:14 what you're doing, please, if they ask
14:16 for percentage gain in a question, just
14:18 do it. Do the difference between those
14:20 numbers and do it as a percentage
14:22 because guess what? You still get those
14:24 marks. Even if the numbers were wrong
14:26 earlier on, you still get those marks.
14:28 Now, at this point, I'm going to
14:30 introduce you to my favorite three
14:32 letters in the AFM exam. Does anyone
14:33 know what I'm getting at? Where you can
14:35 get marks even though your numbers
14:37 previously were wrong. There are three
14:41 letters that markers are allowed to give
14:43 you and it means that you'll still get
14:45 marks even though previously the numbers
14:46 weren't quite right. Does anyone know
14:47 what I'm talking about? So, I'm looking
14:51 for a threeletter acronym. Just keep
14:52 swimming is my favorite saying. Yeah,
14:54 you're right. But in terms of marking,
14:55 yeah, just keep swimming. We'll get on
14:57 to that.
14:59 OFR is what I was referring to here.
15:01 Brilliant. Lots of you getting that. And
15:03 that's the own figure rule. And what
15:05 that means is if you made a mistake
15:07 earlier on in your calculations, for
15:09 example, getting the values wrong in
15:11 step one, you can still get the
15:13 percentage gain figures in step three,
15:15 but even though you're using the wrong
15:17 numbers from before. So, so
15:18 [clears throat] that leads to just keep
15:20 swimming. Just keep going no matter
15:22 what. Because even if your first
15:23 numbers, even if you have to guess some
15:24 numbers, just keep working through them
15:25 because you'll still get those method
15:28 marks later. So very important in AFM,
15:30 you just keep going. Own figure rule is
15:32 a really really good friend. And by the
15:34 way, even if your discussion is based on
15:36 the wrong numbers, you can still earn
15:38 those discussion marks. So just yeah,
15:39 just make up a number if you have to and
15:42 and keep going.
15:44 Right? Synergy figures in particular
15:46 often cause issues. In some AFM
15:50 questions, they give you the total
15:52 synergy as a result of this acquisition.
15:54 So, they'll say, "Oh, the synergy is
15:56 worth $50 million in total." And you go,
15:57 "Okay, great. That's that's the
15:59 additional value that we're going to
16:04 create." But also, you've got sometimes
16:06 annual synergy and it will say they will
16:09 save $5 million per year, in which case
16:10 you then need to factor it into your
16:12 calculation, probably then multiply it
16:14 by P ratio or something. So, just be
16:17 careful. Is it annual or is it total?
16:19 It's sort of like just the wording that
16:21 they give you there sometimes causes
16:22 confusion. So, please be careful with that.
16:24 that.
16:26 And this one was overcoming barriers to
16:28 synergy. And the question specifically
16:31 asked for actions to overcome barriers
16:33 to synergy. That's a good example of
16:35 where students were answering the wrong
16:36 requirement because they were actually
16:39 answering uh what are the barriers to
16:41 synergy for example. But it's not that.
16:43 It's actions to overcome that. So, just
16:45 be careful.
16:48 And finally for this exam, question
16:50 three, foreign exchange risk management,
16:53 hedging. Now, everyone's favorite topic
16:55 apart from acquisitions. And this one
16:57 was a foreign exchange question, not an
16:59 interest rate hedging one. Are you all
17:01 aware you will get a hedging question in
17:02 your exam? There will be a
17:04 riskmanagement question, so brace
17:06 yourself and prepare for it. Again, I
17:08 love giving my students a bit of a
17:10 proformer to use for these. And I've
17:12 actually got loads of videos on my
17:14 YouTube. So it's Andrew Mower AFM on
17:16 foreign exchange risk management. So if
17:18 you want to go and have a look again,
17:19 I've worked through a few bits on there
17:22 which are going to be useful.
17:25 A few pointers from the examiner. Always
17:27 state the number of contracts. So when
17:28 you're working out the number of
17:30 contracts, make sure you do that working
17:32 and round them to the nearest whole
17:34 number. So just be careful with that and
17:35 always make sure you do do that. That
17:39 should be a relatively easy mark.
17:41 For foreign exchange questions, you need
17:42 to make sure that everything is
17:45 translated back into your home currency.
17:47 So, if you're doing the premium, for
17:49 example, with some options, make sure
17:51 then you translate it back into the home
17:53 currency. If you've got a gain or a loss
17:56 on some futures, make sure you translate
17:57 them back into the home currency. So,
17:59 just be consistent and make sure
18:01 everything's getting translated back
18:03 because some people leave a bit of a mix
18:05 of currencies, um, which is a bit of an issue.
18:06 issue.
18:08 Um, you need to make sure you discuss
18:10 your findings. Now, this is something
18:12 that frustrates me sometimes with
18:14 hedging questions, people spend too long
18:17 on the numbers. They get so caught up in
18:19 the calculations and because you know
18:21 what you're aiming for. You know that
18:22 there's a number you're aiming for at
18:24 the end, they can be a bit of a time
18:26 trap. But there are loads of marks going
18:28 for your findings and recommendation as
18:30 to which hedging product to go with. So,
18:32 structure it properly. Discuss each of
18:35 the hedging options one by one. It might
18:37 be forwards, futures, options. Discuss
18:39 each one individually and then do a
18:41 recommendation. Not only then are you
18:42 going to get some discussion marks, but
18:43 also you're going to get some
18:45 professional skills marks because you're
18:47 showing analysis and evaluation skills.
18:49 And maybe you're doing well, you you do
18:50 need to do some assumptions in there as
18:52 well. Of course, every question we do
18:54 assumptions. So, you need to challenge
18:55 those as well. And again, you'll be
18:57 picking up marks for your discussion.
18:59 Too many people when they're doing
19:01 hedging questions
19:04 do loads of numbers and then just don't
19:05 discuss them. So please remember to
19:08 discuss it even if it is um even if it
19:10 seems like there's loads of numbers to
19:11 do there will always be lots of marks
19:14 for calculations
19:16 and in this one again this was specific
19:18 to this question but answer the specific
19:20 requirements set not one that you
19:21 prepared so in this one there was a bit
19:23 around the treasury that they were
19:25 asking you to discuss and again students
19:27 were giving general answers that weren't
19:29 really related to the exhibit so just
19:31 read the ex read the requirement a
19:33 couple of times and just I always check
19:35 back I'm always going right check this
19:36 check that right let's just check I'm
19:38 actually answering the question set
19:39 because if you don't you're going to
19:41 throw away loads of marks
19:44 okay right that's it from the question
19:46 by question advice and that's a really
19:48 nice exam because it covers all three
19:50 sort of yeah big topics really so you
19:51 got investment appraisal valuations and
19:54 hedging so it's a good one and I highly
19:55 recommend you do do go and look at that
19:57 exam and yeah really think about those
19:59 tips I've just given you before you
20:03 attempt it if you haven't already
20:05 what I've now done is take advice from
20:07 the examining team in this article. So
20:10 from this examiner report and give you a
20:13 few traits of lowquality answers and
20:17 high quality answers. So
20:20 lowquality answers
20:23 copy the exhibit. Oh dear, this is a
20:25 real hater markers. You just copy chunks
20:27 of the exhibit into your answers and
20:30 then don't con comment on it or add any
20:31 value to it at all. I would not be
20:33 copying and pasting anything from the
20:35 exhibits. I would just be yeah adding
20:38 value to it and yeah copying and pasting
20:39 stuff it just wastes their time. So I
20:41 really wouldn't do it.
20:44 Other things that lowquality answers do
20:46 they forget to recommend. Now
20:49 recommendations very important in AFM
20:51 because again sometimes you will get
20:53 marks for it directly but also that
20:54 analysis and evaluation those
20:57 professional skills marks are for
20:59 conclusions and recommendations. So you
21:01 need to make sure you do that. And you
21:02 know, some people say, "Oh, do I need to
21:04 do a conclusion in every question?" And
21:07 if in doubt, do a conclusion. Yeah, it's
21:08 a good thing to do. You're not going to
21:09 lose marks for it. So wrap up and
21:12 recommend, give advice, and that's going
21:14 to really help with your answer.
21:17 A lot of people who write lowquality
21:19 answers list points without explaining
21:21 them. It's almost like note format,
21:23 which isn't okay in AFM. You need to
21:25 actually explain them properly. Oh,
21:28 messy calculations. No, thank you.
21:30 Right, just we're going to get into the
21:32 mind of a marker in a few minutes when
21:34 we get on to that section, but just
21:37 imagine you're having to mark an AFM
21:40 script over the next few weeks and
21:42 you're presented with one with numbers
21:44 all over the spreadsheet and you've no
21:45 idea what any of the numbers are and you
21:47 are expected to try and piece that
21:50 together. If you are giving the markers
21:52 a headache and if you're giving them
21:53 work to do by going here you go, here's
21:56 a load of numbers, you figure it out,
21:57 they are not going to give you marks.
21:59 are not going to like you. So, you've
22:01 got to make it clear. Really work on
22:03 that over the next few weeks before the
22:05 exam. Make it neat and you are going to
22:07 earn more marks.
22:09 And again, I mentioned this one. I
22:12 probably say this is the biggest risk in
22:14 AFM is spending too long on the
22:16 calculations. Getting lost in the
22:18 numbers and then running out of time.
22:19 So, then you don't have time to do any
22:21 discussion or you Yeah, you don't have
22:23 time to answer the other bits. So, be
22:25 careful. Get that balance. And again,
22:27 you've got to be pretty ruthless with
22:29 the calculations here.
22:33 Okay. So, in the event that you have a
22:34 low quality answer, these are the sort
22:36 of things you'd be showing. But you are
22:37 not going to do that. So, look, that's
22:39 the this um person falling off their surfboard.
22:41 surfboard.
22:43 Now, we are going to be riding that wave
22:45 like a pro because we are going to be
22:47 doing high quality answers. So, this is
22:48 these are traits of high quality
22:50 answers. And guess what? It's pretty
22:51 much the opposite, isn't it? It's going
22:54 to be clear, structured calculations
22:56 with narrative as well. So, explaining
22:58 what you're doing, applying concepts to
23:01 the scenario. So, using the exhibits and
23:03 drawing conclusions,
23:04 laying your answers out well. Headings,
23:07 by the way, love headings. Markers love
23:08 headings. Breaks up your answer. It's
23:11 great. Challenging those assumptions
23:14 throughout your whole exam. And again,
23:15 you're relating the answers to the
23:17 scenario, but also to the industry
23:21 they're in. if they're in the um I don't
23:23 know if they're in the food industry,
23:25 you might make little points around food
23:27 hygiene being an important factor. You
23:28 know, you can drop in a couple of things
23:30 relevant to that industry and that
23:31 really helps for those commercial acumen
23:34 marks within that um those professional
23:36 skills marks.
23:39 Okay. Finally, then for this section,
23:41 some examiner tips. So if I had to give
23:43 you a few tips that the examiners
23:46 recommend from this examiner report,
23:48 the first one, allocate your time to
23:50 each requirement and stick to it. Now I
23:52 recommend to my students that they do
23:54 two minutes per mark. Now that doesn't
23:56 include the professional skills marks.
23:59 So if there's an MPV for 10 marks, I say
24:02 spend 20 minutes on that. And you've got
24:04 to stick to it. It's all very well and
24:06 good just saying, "Ah, yeah, let's uh 20
24:07 minutes that will do." And then half an
24:09 hour in you're still writing. So, you've
24:10 got to be very disciplined with your timings,
24:12 timings,
24:14 plan your answers, and structure them.
24:16 So, I always, again, I I suggest to my
24:18 students, you do headings and
24:20 subheadings before you even start the
24:22 question. Get it all planned out first
24:24 because it really helps
24:27 answer the question you've been asked,
24:28 not one that you think that you want or
24:30 one that you prepared yesterday and
24:32 every bit of it. So, always make sure
24:34 you're looking at sub requirements.
24:36 Don't give up. As we discussed earlier
24:38 in the chat, OFR is key. own figure
24:41 rule. Just keep going. Even if you think
24:42 I've gone wrong here, just keep going.
24:44 Just keep swimming. As I always tell
24:46 people because you will stick up, you'll
24:49 still get those marks even if you are
24:52 not quite getting the numbers right.
24:53 And yeah, those professional skills
24:55 marks. So again, thinking about those
24:56 assumptions, thinking about drawing
24:58 conclusions, very very important. How
25:00 many professional skills marks are there
25:02 in AFM? By the way, we haven't even
25:04 mentioned that. So
25:06 how many across the whole exam? How many
25:08 professional skills marks are there available?
25:16 Just give you a sec. Just pop that.
25:18 Yeah. Well done, Tendo. Brilliant. 20.
25:22 20 marks. That's a lot, isn't it? 20.
25:25 This is huge. You only need 50 to pass.
25:27 So, if you get those professional skills
25:30 marks, you're 40% of the way to a pass.
25:32 And do you know what? I think a lot of
25:35 students almost forget about these or
25:37 just think nah I'll just sort of
25:39 naturally get those but you need to work
25:40 at them in AFM. This isn't like some
25:42 other subjects where they sort of just
25:44 form part of your answers. In AFM you
25:45 need to do those assumptions. You need
25:48 to do those conclusions. So just really
25:49 work on those. Again I've got a YouTube
25:51 video on those professional skills marks
25:53 with some examples um if you want to
25:56 have a look at that specifically.
26:00 and examiner tip, tutor tip. Anyone
26:02 who's ever passed AFM will tell you the
26:06 key to success is doing as many pass
26:07 questions as you can. So, you need to
26:10 practice as many past exam questions as
26:13 you possibly can to time. You need to do
26:15 questions with that time pressure to get
26:16 used to it. And that's the best way to
26:19 prepare for AFM. So, that's from the
26:20 examiner. That's from me. That's what I
26:22 tell all my students. the the single
26:24 best thing you can do, especially at
26:25 this stage. If you're doing the March
26:27 exams, you need to do as many questions
26:30 as you can.
26:31 Okay. Right. That's it for the September
26:34 December 2025 review. Um, can you just
26:36 put in the chat panel like one key thing
26:38 you've taken away from that? So, I'm
26:40 just going to turn my cam back on just
26:41 to say hi again. It might create a bit
26:44 of a lag, but just while we have a
26:46 little breather and just absorb all that
26:48 stuff I've told you, what was the one
26:50 key takeaway that you've got from what I
26:51 just told you about the September
26:54 December 25 examiner report? Pop that
26:55 into the chat. I'm interested to know
26:57 what you what anything that you
26:59 specifically picked up that you can
27:01 really think about over the next few weeks.
27:07 By the way, as Martin has said in the
27:09 chat, I will pick up any questions at
27:12 the end in the Q&A and think about the
27:14 um and yeah, I'll answer those as we go.
27:16 Um so at the end, I'll look at those.
27:18 Yeah, don't give up. Brilliant. Um OFR,
27:19 just keep swimming. Yeah, brilliant.
27:20 Yeah, I love that. That's a lot of it.
27:22 Own figure rule. Um yeah, explain your
27:26 points. Love that. Yeah, time management
27:28 absolutely crucial, Eric. Yeah. Okay,
27:29 brilliant. There loads coming in here,
27:31 which is great. Just keep swimming. Not
27:32 Yeah, don't take too long on your
27:34 calculations, Paulo. Brilliant. Hi
27:35 Paula, by the way, I've got a few of my
27:37 students on here, which is always nice
27:41 to see. Um, business awareness. Yeah.
27:43 Yeah. Okay. Brilliant.
27:45 Um, okay. Yeah. So, there are a few
27:47 there are a few coming out. Daniel, you
27:48 said you can't see the responses, but
27:50 I'm just um I'll read a few out as we
27:53 go. Okay. Great. Right. I'm going to
27:56 turn off my camera again. I'll say um by
27:58 just so we don't get too much of a lag.
28:01 And we're going to go back to um the
28:03 presentation. thinking about the marker
28:06 and mark allocation now. So
28:14 So it's for your discussion it's one
28:16 mark per point. You can get two if it's
28:18 a really well discussed point but I
28:20 generally suggest you aim for one mark
28:22 per point. I'm not saying that you can't
28:23 do well discussed points. I'm just
28:25 saying that that's a safer bet. So I'd
28:28 recommend like a short concise paragraph
28:30 that's yeah well explained related to
28:32 the scenario but that can just be two or
28:33 three lines. You don't need to write
28:35 loads for that. So yeah one mark per
28:37 point is generally what you'd be aiming at.
28:39 at.
28:41 And then in terms of calculations it's
28:43 one or two marks per figure depending on
28:46 the complexity. So again you'll get a
28:48 mark for your numbers as you work
28:50 through them. There aren't any half
28:51 marks available in AFM. I know there are
28:53 in some subjects not in AFM. So it'll be
28:55 one or nothing.
28:57 And then your professional skills marks.
28:59 I saw a couple of questions in the chat.
29:00 Now remember um put your questions into
29:04 the Q&A rather than the chat. But um
29:06 professional skills marks they they look
29:08 at your overall response. So they will
29:10 look at your in your entire answer and
29:12 think right has this student
29:14 demonstrated skepticism for example have
29:16 they challenged some assumptions? So if
29:17 you have throughout then they'll give
29:19 you that score and if they think you've
29:21 shown some commercial acument. So it's
29:23 not like a mark per assumption. it's
29:25 more their general feel. So by doing
29:26 those assumptions and those conclusions
29:27 that will really help you to get those marks,
29:30 marks,
29:33 right? What are markers looking for? So
29:35 this is from the article by the way,
29:36 read the mind of the market. Again, good
29:38 article to look at. So available on
29:40 ACCA's website, so you can look at the
29:42 full article, but I'm giving you the
29:43 highlights here. I'm picking out the
29:46 most important things for you. They look
29:48 um for you to answer the verbs. Now, a
29:51 nice example of that is if it's evaluate
29:54 whether they should, you know, you might
29:55 then want to think about doing something
29:57 like pros and cons of that decision. So,
30:00 evaluate whether if you just go yes,
30:01 they should, you're not really
30:03 evaluating, you're just sort of giving
30:05 one side. So, trying to get a bit of a
30:07 balance or if it's discuss, you need to
30:10 do your discussion, etc.
30:11 They're looking for a sensible approach
30:13 to things. And I know that's easy to say
30:14 and you think, well, what does that
30:16 mean? Like, what's a sensible approach?
30:19 But again, like a step-by-step approach
30:21 to something is a really good way to do
30:24 it. Or if it's um discussing a project,
30:26 doing some pros and cons of it, things
30:27 like that. Yeah, they'll go, "Right,
30:28 great. That's that seems a sensible
30:30 approach." That may not be the way they
30:32 did it in the marks game or in the model
30:33 answers, but that will still earn credit
30:35 if you if they think, "Right, that makes
30:37 sense." So, yeah, structuring it in a
30:40 sensible way is important. Adding value.
30:42 So, not just copying and pasting, not
30:44 just quoting the exhibits, but actually
30:48 adding your own thoughts and will help.
30:50 And also, as we've seen, methodical
30:51 calculations. So, really clearly
30:53 labeled. By the way, when you're doing a
30:55 spreadsheet, make sure you label it like
30:57 part A, part B. You label your
30:59 calculations as they are in the
31:00 requirements because that makes it a lot
31:02 easier to mark as well. And yeah, label
31:04 them. A good example of that, by the
31:06 way, is in a whack. You know, your cost
31:08 of capital, you label, right, I'm now
31:10 going to find the cost of equity. Here's
31:11 my numbers. Now, I'm going to do the
31:13 cost of debt. Here's my numbers. And
31:15 then I like using a little table at the
31:16 end there. So, right, here's how I work
31:19 out the whack. So, again, labeling that
31:20 and showing what you're doing will
31:21 really help. So, they're going to love
31:28 Okay. In terms of these professional
31:29 skills marks, I've mentioned these
31:30 throughout this session, but just to get
31:33 them down. So, communication,
31:36 um, that is going to be your only in
31:39 question one. So only in the big 50 mark
31:40 question will you get communication
31:42 marks and they are going to be looking
31:44 for a report format. So they want a
31:46 report format and you're going to need
31:49 to do two from subject date and then an
31:51 introduction to your report your report
31:53 findings. The spreadsheet you can label
31:56 as an appendix and then at the end you
31:57 need to do a conclusion in your report
31:59 as well. So getting that report format
32:02 and generally having an answer that's
32:04 easy to follow and easy to read will
32:06 earn you those communication marks. So
32:07 they're only going to be in question one,
32:09 one,
32:11 but the remaining three are all going to
32:12 be in every question, analysis and
32:15 evaluation. So that's going to be about
32:17 using the data, but then also drawing
32:20 conclusions and discussing your
32:22 findings. So the main thing you need to
32:24 do with that is to add value and
32:27 conclude. So like offer advice as a
32:28 result of the numbers that you've calculated.
32:30 calculated.
32:32 Skepticism we've talked about. So not
32:34 just accepting things. There was a
32:38 lovely tip from the examiner in a
32:40 conference I went to last year which was
32:42 with skepticism look for inconsistencies.
32:44 inconsistencies.
32:47 So if it tells you there's currently a
32:50 recession on in this country and people
32:52 are really struggling financially and
32:54 then later on it says we're launching a
32:57 new product. We anticipate that sales
33:00 volumes will increase by 30% per year.
33:02 You need to look at that and go hang on
33:04 a minute. You just said that people are
33:05 struggling financially and there's a
33:07 recession and yet you're forecasting
33:09 growth of 30% per year for this new
33:11 product. That seems a bit weird. So
33:13 that's the sort of thing to look out for
33:15 and that's often the case with NPVS.
33:17 Look out for any inconsistencies and
33:20 challenge them and say well yeah you've
33:23 said that growth's going to be 30%. But
33:25 this may not be suitable because there
33:27 is a recession on. So you're challenging
33:28 that assumption. So that's a great thing
33:30 to look out for.
33:33 And then commercial acumen, a tricky one
33:34 that to to earn marks, but that's all
33:37 about relating it to the exhibits and to
33:39 the industry. So using the information
33:41 in the exhibits and making points
33:43 relevant to that company that are
33:45 feasible, making good suggestions and
33:47 again just dropping little bits in
33:48 around the industry and what they do
33:51 will really help with that as well. So
33:53 20 marks and remember the bottom three
33:55 there will be in every single AFM
33:57 question and communication. All four of
34:00 those will be in question one.
34:02 Right. Why do students lose marks? So
34:04 again, this is from the read the mind of
34:06 the market article.
34:09 Number one, by far poor time management.
34:12 That is the biggest risk in your exam by
34:14 by miles. And when my students finish
34:16 their exam, I always say to them,
34:17 they'll send me a WhatsApp and go,
34:18 "Andrew, I finished the exam." And I go,
34:20 "Great, well done. What a lovely
34:22 feeling." And I say, "Did you finish it
34:24 all? Did you answer everything?" And
34:26 when they go, "Yep, I managed to do it
34:28 all." I go, "Yes, great. You've probably
34:30 passed." Yeah, there is a high chance if
34:32 you have attempted the whole exam that
34:34 you have passed. If a student said to
34:36 me, um, I gave question one a really
34:39 good go, but I didn't really have time
34:41 to do questions two and three. I go, oh
34:42 dear. Because suddenly that's become a
34:45 lot harder to pass. So, time management
34:48 absolutely crucial.
34:50 Not planning your answer and not
34:52 planning your timings throughout as
34:54 well. Um, again, a common reason that
34:56 students don't pass this. So, we've got
34:58 to plan and and map out what how long
35:00 you going to spend on each bit. Again,
35:01 we mentioned a few times not adding
35:03 value. So, just copying and pasting and
35:06 and ironically given the layout of my
35:08 slide here using bullet points. So,
35:10 markers don't like bullet points in AFM.
35:12 We want you to explain things properly
35:15 and bullet points tend to lead to
35:17 students just writing almost like a list
35:19 like this like I've got you got on the
35:21 screen there or notes but bullet yeah
35:23 you need to write them fully and and add
35:25 some context um and add some value to those
35:28 those
35:30 other things the markers say that often
35:33 lose marks missing the report format in
35:35 question one now that's easy so that
35:37 should be everyone on this session
35:40 should be getting that report format not
35:42 relating to the scenario and not being
35:44 skeptical. So these are again these are
35:46 all things like these are sort of the
35:47 professional skills marks that people
35:49 are throwing away. So again, we've seen
35:50 that a few times. Make sure you're doing
35:53 those please.
35:54 Right, I'm going to give you an example.
35:56 I've said about adding value a few times
35:59 now and I think sometimes you go, "Okay,
36:01 great. I need to add value." But again,
36:03 what does that mean? How does that look?
36:04 And so I thought I'll give you an example.
36:07 example.
36:10 So this would be you've done an MPV, the
36:12 numbers come out as negative and you say
36:14 reject the project as the MPV is
36:17 negative. And yeah, that is that's fine.
36:19 That's sort of more of like an FM type
36:20 answer, isn't it? You're not really
36:22 adding that much to it. But if we want
36:24 to turn that into a good one, what you
36:26 could do is something like this based on
36:28 the calculations and assuming the
36:30 assumptions made are correct, XPLC or
36:31 whatever they called should reject the
36:33 project on financial ground as the MPV
36:35 is negative. So, can you see there then
36:38 I'm suddenly adding a little bit more.
36:40 I'm being a bit skeptical, aren't I?
36:41 Like, that's that's good. Again, the
36:42 markers that we're looking at going,
36:44 "Oh, they're saying assuming I mean,
36:46 I've put assuming the assumptions, which
36:48 is a bit of a not the best wording, but
36:50 it's it will do the job." And I've said
36:52 about the fact on financial grounds. So,
36:54 I'm thinking that this isn't just yeah,
36:56 is easier saying reject the project. So,
36:57 can you see I'm adding a little bit more
37:00 value to my answer now.
37:02 And this is a classic example of a poor
37:04 assumption. This assumes revenue will
37:06 grow each year. Lots of people will
37:08 write that as an assumption. What do we
37:10 need to do to that to earn the mark? We
37:12 can't just state the assumption. What
37:15 was the word that we need to
37:17 what was the word that that I'm looking
37:18 for here? We we don't just state the
37:31 What's the the missing word? So, we
37:33 can't just state assumptions. We need to
37:35 also something challenge it. Ellen,
37:38 brilliant. Well done. Um, glad Ellen's
37:39 one of my students. So, great to see you
37:40 got that first, Ellen. Very proud of
37:44 you. And yeah, that is absolutely right.
37:47 We need to challenge it. And what I've
37:48 done here is this assumes that revenue
37:50 will grow by 5% each year. I said given
37:52 this project is in a new market with
37:54 unpredictable demand, this may differ,
37:56 which would affect the MPV. So, can you
37:58 see I'm now like challenging that a bit
38:00 more saying right, we're in a new market
38:01 and there's unpredictable demand. So
38:03 this may not be accurate. And then the
38:05 impact of that is that will affect the
38:07 MPV. And I'm not writing loads there by
38:09 the way, am I? Like that's what two and
38:11 a half lines. That's not a huge amount
38:13 I'm writing. I can do that in one
38:15 minute. But that then is like getting
38:16 into Yeah. Okay. That's that's a really
38:18 valid point. And we've actually added
38:24 Okay. Right. We're going to get into the
38:27 Q&A fairly shortly, but before we do
38:29 that, I want to um just give you some practical
38:31 practical
38:34 exam technique tips. So, my top advice
38:36 for you, this is like right if you say,
38:39 Andrew, I've got a few minutes. Tell me
38:42 how to pass AFM. This is it. So, pay
38:44 attention, switch on, and practice this
38:47 over the next few weeks. Number one,
38:49 manage your time.
38:51 So, we talked about time management. And
38:54 if you answer every requirement, you've
38:56 got a really good chance of passing this
38:57 exam. If you answer everything, you
39:00 stand a great chance.
39:02 So, how do we do that? In the 50 mark
39:05 questions, that's 98 minutes. If you
39:08 just take half of the exam,
39:10 this is my approach that I recommend to
39:12 students. And yeah, people like really
39:13 like this. I know people do it in all
39:15 sorts of different ways, but I like
39:17 doing it like this. So, I would start
39:18 with the the 50 mark question, by the
39:20 way, because I like getting the big one
39:22 out the way. And I asked the examiner
39:24 which questions that or the examining
39:25 team which question they would start
39:27 with if they were doing the exam and
39:28 they agreed with me. They would start
39:30 with the big 50 marker first as well.
39:33 And I would spend the first 18 minutes
39:36 planning and reading and then that
39:38 leaves 80 minutes to actually do the
39:41 question. So this is just for the big 50
39:44 marker. So in those initial 18 minutes I
39:46 would be reading the requirements first
39:49 before you do anything else. Then you
39:50 plan out your answer with the report
39:53 format headings and subheadings and then
39:55 you can go and read the exhibits. Now
39:57 again I've got a YouTube video uh called
39:59 the first five minutes of the AFM exam
40:02 on my YouTube channel which I show you
40:04 exactly what I do like how I structure
40:06 it that report format everything. So go
40:08 and look at that if you want to see
40:10 exactly what you need to do in those
40:11 first few minutes um of the exam
40:15 question. And then in terms of writing
40:16 that's when you're actually going to do
40:17 the requirements. That leaves you two
40:19 minutes per mark because you've got,
40:21 don't forget, you've got 10 professional
40:23 marks in this 50 marker. So, you've got
40:27 40 technical marks. 80 minutes to do 40
40:29 technical marks. So, that's two minutes
40:32 per mark. So, if part A is five marks,
40:34 give yourself 10 minutes. If part B is
40:37 12 marks, give yourself 24 minutes. And
40:40 that bottom point is crucial. There's no
40:41 point in doing any of this unless you're
40:43 strict. You've got to stick to those
40:45 timings and look at the clock. Write
40:46 down the time that you're going to
40:47 finish that part and then move on once
40:50 you're done.
40:52 And then the 25 mark questions are just
40:55 half that. So 25 marks, 49 minutes
40:56 planning and reading. You're going to
40:59 have 9 minutes for these questions in
40:59 which you're going to read the
41:01 requirements, plan out your answer with
41:03 headings and subheadings. No need for a
41:05 report format, by the way, in the 25
41:07 markers. And then read the exhibits. And
41:08 then you're going to have 40 minutes,
41:10 which again gives you two minutes per
41:12 mark. So you're just getting into that
41:14 habit of allocating two minutes per
41:16 mark. It just makes it easy, doesn't it?
41:18 It just go right you every all of you
41:20 can time things by two and yeah, so you
41:22 can just do that and then stick to those
41:24 and that'll be great. So that's for the
41:31 Okay, my next tip for you. So that was
41:34 time management. This is practice.
41:36 And yeah, you got three weeks to go
41:38 roughly until the exam. And I love this
41:42 this graphic. My friend and uh SPL co-t
41:44 Ben Wilson loves this graphic. I see him
41:47 using this one a lot. And this is about
41:48 how much you learn from theory,
41:50 practice, and mistakes. You need to make
41:52 mistakes. Mistakes are great. You learn
41:54 from mistakes. Um I I'm always making
41:56 mistakes. You know, I'll if if I trip
41:58 over a paving slab in the garden, I'll
42:00 think, right, next time I'm going to be
42:03 careful. If someone told me um in a
42:05 book, um one must always be careful of
42:06 paving slabs, I'd probably go, all
42:08 right, okay, and forget that. If I trip
42:10 over that payment slab and and bash my
42:12 knee, I'm going to remember that and I'm
42:14 going to learn from that. And that's
42:16 exactly the same with exams. Make those
42:17 mistakes because you will learn so much
42:20 more from those. And you can do full
42:22 exams on the practice platform. These
42:24 are great opportunity to make mistakes.
42:26 You've got the pre-Marchch 2026 mock
42:29 exam and that two of those questions I
42:31 did the debrief for. So they'll be on
42:34 ACCA's um student YouTube channel soon.
42:36 So that's a great place to start.
42:37 And then you've got loads of recent
42:40 exams including that September December
42:43 2025 hybrid exam. So loads of past exams
42:45 on ACCA's practice platform for you to
42:47 go and practice and make mistakes in.
42:49 And again, it's a safe space. ACCA don't
42:51 look at these. So don't worry about um
42:54 if making mistakes. Make sure you do do
42:57 them to time under exam conditions. And
42:58 then you can look at the examiner
43:00 comments and mark plans. And as I said
43:02 for the pre-Marchch 26 mark, you also
43:04 get those YouTube debriefs which are
43:10 Okay, right. That is it. So, my two
43:12 major tips were time management and then
43:15 practice. It's time for me to answer
43:16 your questions. So, we said we'd give
43:19 you 15 minutes and we are bang on time.
43:22 Um, so I'm now going to look in the Q&A.
43:25 Now, I know lots of you have put
43:28 questions in the chat. Um, I'm not
43:29 reviewing questions in the chat panel.
43:31 I'm only going to look in the Q&A. The
43:32 team are then passing me questions to
43:35 do. I might turn my camera back on at
43:37 this point. Hi. Um, so I'm going to be
43:38 reading through the questions and
43:40 answering them as I go. I'll read the
43:41 question out because then if anyone
43:43 can't see the questions and when we put
43:45 the recording out, you can then um hear
43:47 the question as well as we go. So
43:51 there's um right lots of questions here.
43:54 Um so Muhammad said, is it okay to keep
43:55 the equation within the spreadsheet cell
43:57 not writing it in full in a separate
44:00 cell? Will the formula we use even be
44:01 relevant for the marker or only the
44:03 figure we get? Right. Good question.
44:06 Essentially, what Muhammad's asking is,
44:08 can the markers see the formula that
44:10 you've put in the cell in the
44:11 spreadsheet or will they just see the
44:13 final number? And the answer is they'll
44:15 see both, which is really good news for
44:17 you guys because it means you don't need
44:19 to write out the formula as well. So, if
44:22 you're doing equals MPV, for example, a
44:24 function that I love in AFM, the markers
44:25 will be able to see that you've done
44:27 equals MPV, they're able to see which
44:29 cells you've selected, and you're good
44:31 to go. So you don't need to write that
44:33 out again. Now I would caveat that as I
44:35 said towards the start of this session
44:36 which is if you've got quite a
44:38 complicated working like something like
44:40 tax allowable depreciation or working
44:42 capital. Yeah, you you can do them in
44:44 the cells but you might end up with a
44:46 cell that's about you know like you know
44:48 really long and and really complicated.
44:50 So anything complicated I probably would
44:52 do as a separate working. What you can't
44:56 do, and please don't do this, is do the
44:59 numbers in your calculator and then type
45:02 them into the spreadsheet. No, that is
45:04 that's a real annoyance of mine. I've
45:06 done a few videos about that. Do not use
45:08 these calculators. Get rid of that
45:10 calculator. I hope that didn't break.
45:12 But get rid of that calculator because
45:14 you need to do them in the cells because
45:16 then the markers can see your workings.
45:18 If you make a mistake, you can still get
45:20 those method marks. if you type it in
45:21 your calculator and then just type the
45:23 number in manually, you're not getting
45:24 any marks if you get it wrong. So, get
45:25 rid of that calculator and just practice
45:28 in the spreadsheet. Okay. Um Muhammad
45:32 then also asked um for questions with
45:33 estimate and calculate, do you need to
45:34 comment on the result even if the
45:37 question does not indicate? Um so, yeah,
45:40 good question. And I yeah, I would um
45:41 there are a couple of times in the
45:42 questions you'll see it says
45:45 specifically no discussion is required,
45:48 but that's very rare. So I would always
45:50 comment on my calculations and don't
45:51 forget you also need to be doing
45:53 assumptions on every set of calculations
45:55 anyway. So yeah, what I'd end up doing
45:58 is having the calculations in the
46:00 spreadsheet and then I'd also have my
46:02 discussion points in the word processor.
46:03 Now very important you do that
46:06 discussion word processor calculations
46:07 in the spreadsheet. You can just label
46:10 them both part A. So part A will be part
46:12 of part A will be in your spreadsheet.
46:13 Part of part A will be in your word
46:15 processor. And that's fine. Yeah, that's
46:16 that's absolutely fine. But yeah, just
46:18 if in doubt, discuss what you're doing
46:21 is it's important.
46:23 Um, at what point do I make use of basis
46:25 points given in the hedging question?
46:26 That's a very specific one to Dender. Um,
46:28 Um,
46:31 basis points, a basis point is a percent
46:36 of a percent. So 10 basis points is 0.1%
46:38 essentially. So divide it by 100 and pop
46:40 a percentage sign behind it and that
46:42 will give you your um that will give you
46:44 it as a percentage. It's usually in the
46:48 context of uh companies can borrow above
46:50 or below the base rate like so many
46:52 basis points above and below that. So
46:54 it's usually to do with that it's it's
46:56 quite hard to that question is quite
46:58 general. It's quite hard to to answer it
47:00 without seeing the context but that's
47:01 what a basis point is. It's just a
47:03 percent of a percent and they they'll
47:04 use that as a reference and that'll be
47:06 for interest rate hedging usually. So
47:07 that's going to be for for dealing with
47:10 interest rates.
47:12 Um must we explain all the assumptions?
47:15 Um DC Clifford said so cost of capital
47:17 inflation tax cost appreciation time
47:19 horizon. Um you won't have time to go
47:21 through all of those. Now some questions
47:24 especially question one will give you
47:26 marks for assumptions. It will say you
47:29 know part C um discuss the assumptions
47:31 made in as part of the calculations for
47:33 five marks in which case you need to do
47:36 five assumptions. Great. But in the 25
47:38 mark questions, it probably won't
47:40 specifically ask for assumptions, but
47:42 you need to do them because of those
47:45 professional skills marks. So, it's
47:47 yeah, it sort of be led by the question,
47:50 but if in doubt for a 25 marker and
47:51 you're just doing them, I'd probably do
47:53 two or three, but don't try and do all
47:54 of them because yeah, you'll you'll run
47:56 out of time because in any question
47:57 there are probably at least 10 assumptions.
48:00 assumptions.
48:03 Um, okay. Um, GGO, you said, uh, for
48:06 candidates preparing for March, how far
48:08 back should we go with past exam papers
48:10 when revising? Um, especially since
48:11 there have been syllabus changes in
48:13 recent sittings. Okay, good question.
48:16 Um, the good thing with AFM is unlike
48:19 something like tax, um, the syllabus
48:21 doesn't change much. So, there have been
48:23 a couple of small changes. for example,
48:25 they changed the way they do value at
48:27 risk calculations
48:30 um like last academic year, but apart
48:32 from that there aren't many changes. So
48:33 you can go back quite a few papers and
48:35 you'll be absolutely fine. So all of
48:37 those on the practice platform will be
48:40 really good to practice. And I know what
48:42 you're going to be thinking. How many
48:45 past exams do I need to do? And the
48:47 answer is always the same. The more you
48:49 do, the better your chances of passing.
48:51 So there isn't a set number. I can't say
48:53 to you you need to do 12 pass exams
48:55 because you know someone might do one
48:57 and pass, someone might do 20 and not
48:59 pass. But the more you can do the
49:00 better. That's that's all I'll say. So
49:02 the more you can do the better.
49:05 Okay. Um right some good questions so
49:07 far. Well done guys. Uh
49:09 Uh
49:11 so Harry said you've attempted the exam
49:13 in the past and you get muddled muddled
49:16 up on forex and hedging. Uh drilling the
49:17 techniques along with learning the key
49:18 benefits and drawbacks is the best
49:20 approach. um you need the technique
49:24 drilled. Um yeah, hedging the good thing
49:26 about hedging Harry is that questions
49:28 often are quite similar. So if you look
49:30 at enough past exam questions, you'll
49:33 start seeing the same sort of tricks and
49:34 the basics are the same. You know, for
49:37 futures again, I have my proformer I
49:39 share with my students, which is you
49:40 work out like buy or sell, number of
49:42 contracts, which expired. I have like a
49:44 step-by-step approach and that will pick
49:45 up marks. you know, instantly you're
49:47 getting a load of marks if you have that
49:49 that sort of right structure in place.
49:50 But definitely, as you said, like
49:52 knowing the benefits and drawbacks of
49:54 the different hedging products will help
49:55 with that discussion. And then
49:57 remembering things like your assumptions
50:00 and to do a conclusion. What I'd say is
50:02 don't try and be perfect with the
50:03 numbers in hedging. You know, not many
50:05 people will get the numbers perfect, but
50:07 as long as they're good enough and like
50:09 you've got some stuff down and then you
50:11 discuss it, even if it's, you know, a
50:13 horrible question, you can all get 15
50:16 out of 25. at a minimum just by having a
50:18 go at the numbers, doing some stuff and
50:19 then going, "Oh, that'll be all right.
50:20 Never mind." And now I'm going to move
50:21 on to the discussion parts and really
50:24 focusing on getting those. And so, yeah,
50:27 perfectionism is overrated with with AFM
50:29 and all ACCA exams. Don't try and be
50:31 perfect because if you do, you're
50:33 probably going to run out of time and uh
50:34 you're going to throw away loads of easy marks.
50:36 marks.
50:39 Okay. Um,
50:43 Muhammad, any um tips for performance
50:45 evaluation questions? Number of ratios.
50:48 Yeah. Okay. Good question. There's a
50:50 really good past exam question called
50:52 selfmed which is about restaurants which
50:56 I uh worked for in my course. I know I
50:59 can't remember which exam it is.
51:01 I want to say one of the
51:04 Oh, I don't know one of the 2022 pass
51:06 exams. Maybe maybe the September or
51:07 December one from memory, but that's a
51:09 good one with restaurant chains for
51:11 performance analysis. Now, performance
51:14 analysis questions in AFM, they're
51:16 they're a bit bit of a curveball, aren't
51:17 they? They're a bit different and some
51:18 people aren't expecting those. So, it's
51:20 a good thing to mention because it can
51:23 come up. What I tend to suggest is do
51:25 yeah, allocate yourself some time to do
51:27 some calculations. Maybe just go right,
51:28 I'm going to do calculations for 10
51:30 minutes and then I'm going to discuss
51:32 those for 20 minutes or or whatever it
51:33 is. maybe about probably about a third
51:35 of your time that you've got for that
51:37 part. Spend on some calculations. Just
51:39 do as many as you can in the time and
51:41 then you're going to discuss them and
51:42 actually start drawing some conclusions
51:44 from it because again a lot of people
51:46 will spend 90% of the time doing numbers
51:48 and then 10% doing some rubbish
51:50 discussion. So just just yeah do a few
51:52 numbers. Don't overthink them. Get just
51:54 do some easy ones and then then get on
51:56 to calculations with the performance. Um
51:58 they're actually quite nice those
51:59 questions but you just need to um be prepared.
52:01 prepared.
52:03 Um, Cormarmac, um, I think I covered
52:05 that a minute ago, but yeah, your
52:07 narrative needs to be in your word
52:08 processor, please, not in the
52:10 spreadsheet. You can put little things
52:11 in the spreadsheet, you know, if you're
52:14 just labeling cost of capital or um, the
52:16 value now is this or whatever, that's
52:18 fine. But if you're doing a conclusion
52:19 or if you're doing assumptions, get
52:21 those into the word processor. It makes
52:23 it a lot easier to mark. The formatting
52:24 in the spreadsheet sometimes isn't the
52:26 best. So, get that into the word
52:29 processor. Um, good question. Um, Andrea
52:31 said in the report when you do your from
52:32 two, do you actually put your name and
52:34 the date or leave it blank? Um, usually
52:36 Andra the two will be like to the board
52:38 of directors or something. So it will
52:40 say it'll give you the context. So to
52:43 the XCO board of directors and then from
52:45 don't put your name. So don't put Andrew
52:48 or or for me Andrew. You just put um
52:50 finance manager or something. And then
52:52 date you can just put today. Yeah. If
52:53 you can't if you don't know what the
52:54 date is on the day, just put today.
52:56 That's fine. you're more like ticking
52:57 the box to show that you know it's a
52:58 report and you're getting that structure
53:00 down. So don't worry too much about what
53:03 you put there. It's a good question.
53:06 Um so um Mariam said, "Do we have to
53:08 discuss the calculations even if the
53:10 question does not specify to discuss
53:12 them?" Um if in doubt, discuss them
53:13 because there are often marks for
53:16 discussion. So yeah, I would. Uh
53:18 Luke said, "If you had to sit the exam
53:20 in March, what specific topics would you
53:24 be focusing on at this stage?" Um,
53:25 I don't know what's in the exam, Luke.
53:27 Is that my first thing to say because I
53:29 I I don't know and rightly so. I should
53:31 know what's going to be in the exam. And
53:32 also, there are several versions of the
53:34 exam. So, Luke, you might get a
53:35 different question from Mariam, uh, for
53:38 example, in the actual exam. The core
53:40 topics that get tested every time. Yeah,
53:41 there will be hedging, there will be
53:43 some sort of investment appraisal,
53:45 valuations, um, are going to be really
53:47 important. So, yeah, those are sort of
53:48 the core things you'd be looking at just
53:52 to revise um, as is the case every time.
53:55 Um, does IFR cover the whole syllabus?
53:58 So, if you make a mistake uh doing the
54:01 revenue and then um yeah, you you just
54:02 lose that mark, Luke, and then you still
54:04 get the rest of the marks. Um, so yeah,
54:06 you still get um you still get your MP
54:08 if you do your MPV bit at the very end.
54:10 Even though your numbers above are
54:11 wrong, you'll still get the MPV mark.
54:15 Yeah. So, it's fine. You could get 49
54:17 out of 50 on question one. Even though
54:19 your numbers are completely wrong
54:20 because if you make a mistake early
54:22 doors with the numbers and then you use
54:23 those numbers all the way through the
54:25 rest of the question and you comment on
54:27 those and everything, you could still
54:29 you could get 49 out of 50 even though
54:31 your MPV should be negative and actually
54:32 it was positive. So yeah, it's it's
54:36 fine. It covers the whole thing.
54:39 Um, other questions? So I think a couple
54:42 of more. Amy, you said yeah. Okay. So
54:45 yeah, if you discuss if you do an MPV
54:47 and as I just said in that scenario, you
54:49 get a negative MPV but it should have
54:51 been positive. If you get a negative
54:53 MPV, your comment would be reject the
54:56 MPV. You will still get that mark
54:57 because you will get the marks based on
54:59 the numbers that you've got. So your
55:01 discussion is own figure rule sort of
55:03 thing as well. So yeah, don't worry.
55:07 Just keep swimming no matter what. Um
55:09 Um
55:10 yeah. No. Um Kirsty, I wouldn't do
55:12 bullet point. So Kirsty said, "Uh, would
55:15 you say no bullet points at all or is it
55:16 okay to add bullet points as long as
55:17 they're explained?" I just wouldn't
55:19 bother. Just do short concise
55:21 paragraphs. Like why have a dot at the
55:22 start? Um, it just wastes time, so I
55:25 wouldn't worry.
55:28 Um, right.
55:30 Um, Mariam said, "For discount factors,
55:32 can we calculate discount factors in
55:33 Excel rather than take them from the
55:35 table? Will marks be deducted?" Um, no,
55:37 it's fine. You can do them in the Excel,
55:39 but I'd ask why are you doing that? I'd
55:41 use the MPV function. So, I wouldn't use
55:43 discount factors anymore. I'd use the
55:45 MPV function. It's much quicker. So, I
55:48 wouldn't do either really.
55:53 Um, right. Other questions coming in.
55:55 Um, what tips would I give to a student
55:59 who's previously failed AFM? Um, again,
56:01 there's I I did an ACCA webinar, the
56:04 back on track one, um, towards the end
56:05 of last year with with Isabelle as well,
56:08 and we covered a load of things on there
56:10 about resitting and general advice,
56:12 which is really valuable. So, make sure
56:13 you're going to have a look at that as
56:15 well. But AFM specifically, the main
56:18 thing is just to, you know, any failed
56:20 attempt in the past, that's in the past.
56:22 You think about what are you going to do
56:24 differently next time and use the stuff
56:25 we've talked about in this webinar. And
56:27 I've had loads of students on my courses
56:28 who have come to me having previously
56:31 got, you know, scores in the 30s, 40s. I
56:32 even had a student who'd been in the 20s
56:35 and I had a student who was in the 20s,
56:36 you know, just we just changed worked on
56:38 a few little things and then she got 83
56:40 in the next exam, which was incredible.
56:42 So, a lot of the time it's just little
56:44 adjustments, little things that you
56:45 weren't quite doing right that can turn
56:47 your score into a pass. So yeah, it's
56:48 just about going through all the things
56:50 I've said and yeah, not dwelling too
56:51 much on what happened in the past, but
56:54 just yeah, think positively um and
56:57 really use those tips I've given you. Um
57:00 yeah, um Rozan said about BOP um the
57:02 full formula question in past papers.
57:03 No, no, no, no, no. You've now got the
57:06 BOP calculator. So any past exams from
57:10 years ago, they used to use the the BOP
57:11 formula which was quite complicated. The
57:14 Black Scholes option pricing model um
57:16 which I used to love because students
57:18 had to use the manual calculator and
57:20 it'd be like about it'd be about you
57:22 almost the whole calculator would be
57:24 taken up with this formula. You don't
57:25 need to do that anymore. You just use
57:28 the BOP calculator. On the topic of BOP,
57:30 if it's going to be tested in your exam,
57:32 they have to give you the BOP
57:34 calculator. So, if it appears as one of
57:36 your answer response um screens, you're
57:38 going to need to use it. So, look out if
57:40 it's there in the corner, you need to
57:42 use it.
57:44 Um and then Danielle, probably the last
57:46 question because I need to hand back to
57:49 uh Isabelle in just a minute or so, but
57:51 any tips for marking your own questions?
57:53 The model answers seem unachievable.
57:55 It's difficult to compare, right? Yeah,
57:58 the numbers in AFM are probably a little
58:01 bit easier to self-re
58:02 Yeah. if they're if they're right or
58:04 wrong and you can sort of see if you're
58:06 in the right lines. Discussion-wise, I'd
58:09 say the model answers write way more
58:10 than they should and not not sorry, not
58:12 that they should, but way more than you
58:14 can achieve in the time available to
58:16 you. So, don't worry about trying to
58:18 replicate ACCA's model answers. You
58:20 don't need to do that. Um, again, I on
58:22 my YouTube channel, I did a walkthrough
58:23 of a question called Lerg Shell, which
58:26 is a recent hedging question, real exam,
58:27 and I did it from start to finish
58:29 against the clock. So, I've got the
58:31 timer at the top and I'm showing you
58:32 this is what I would do in the exam. You
58:33 know, literally I didn't I didn't pause
58:35 the video at all. I did it in one go and
58:37 I showed you how much I'd write in each
58:38 bit like the length of my paragraphs and
58:40 things. So, maybe go and have a look at
58:41 that because that just show you like
58:43 what a realistic answer is in the time
58:45 and it's not perfect because again I did
58:46 it against the clock but it shows you
58:48 what you can achieve in the time. Um, so
58:51 that's a good one to look at.
58:54 Okay. Right. That is going to be it
58:55 because um we are pretty much out of
58:56 time but Isabelle I'll hand over to you
58:58 to wrap up. Thanks so much for all your
59:00 questions. Thanks for uh attending live
59:02 and yeah, best of luck with the exam in
59:05 March. Good luck.
59:07 >> Thank you, Andrew. Thank you so much. Um
59:08 yeah, unfortunately that does bring us
59:11 to the end of today's session. Before we
59:12 go, though, we just wanted to highlight
59:16 some key resources to be using um in the
59:19 run-up to the exam. You can access these
59:22 via the resource um icon on this
59:25 webinar, including direct links. Um, and
59:27 another reminder as well, don't worry if
59:30 you've missed anything uh today because
59:32 having registered means you're going to
59:34 receive an email in the next 24 hours or
59:36 so with a link to watch this again on demand.
59:38 demand.
59:40 Thank you so much for everyone who's
59:42 attended today. Thank you as well to
59:44 Andrew for all your support and to the
59:46 team working in the back end trying to
59:49 answer as many questions as possible and
59:51 to help the session run smoothly. But
59:53 most of all, I think we all just want to
59:56 wish you the very best in your exams.
59:58 So, good luck and take care. Thanks for
