Long hailed as the toughest ACCA paper, P4 is not without considerable challenges. For many ambitious accountants conquering ACCA P4, Advanced Financial Management holds a similar level of hope and aspiration as high-class athletes competing at the Olympic level.
At this stage in your exam journey, good exam techniques on the day are a must. (Have a look at these exam tips from our award winning lecturer Colm Foley). Meanwhile, just like the Olympic athletes, your preparation is everything. There are some steps that can be taken to pave the way to success.
Own F9!
ACCA F9 is not just the basis of P4 but the foundation and the cornerstone. All five areas of the P4 paper build and expand on the F9 syllabus and your burden will be greatly eased by being comfortable with it. This may be of particular concern to learners coming in at the ACCA Professional level through the degree route, or for those whose F9 studies are a distant memory. Learning providers need to be proactive on this matter for example at StudyOnline.ie we allow all our ACCA Unlimited learners to have full access to our very successful F9 content. If you are thinking of sitting P4 in December, start revising that crucial F9 material right now.
Bring your common sense into the exam hall.
Many learners try to summon up a correct answer from their P4 studies that fit the question. Remember that this paper tests your ability as an advisor: the ability to quickly assimilate a bulk of information, analyse that information, give good, sound advice and explain why that advice is in the client’s best interest. The ability to answer these questions pulls in the threads of all your prior learning and work experience. Do not leave these incredible pieces of competitive advantage at the door! Put yourself in that manager’s shoes and discuss what you would actually do in that situation and why.
Take an Interest
At your fingertips, every day of the week are the gifts of excellent case studies called the real world. If you want to know what works, what doesn’t and why just read your business papers or subscribe to some good quality business websites. You have not travelled this long, arduous journey to practice in a vacuum. The same scenarios that are being played out in business today will be the ones you will have to advise on in the future and will appear on your P4 paper. Be especially aware of emerging and current topics and allow their discussion to inform your advice. I enjoy www.businesspost.ie
Let the examiner take a bow.
The P4 exam team provide excellent technical articles and podcasts. What could be better than the advice of the examiner to assist your preparation? Use all the available resources from the exam team and watch for the most recent articles to point you towards current topics of interest for further research.
P4 is, for most people, their ultimate or penultimate exam. This paper is definitely a marathon, not a sprint. However, if you have made it this far, good preparation will get you past this hurdle in style.
