Guest of this issue: Deng, a student of Grade 20 1 1 in ACCA class of Hunan University of Commerce. 20 13 ACCA JHC south China top 6, 20 14CIMA business elite international challenge south China third place and best business potential award winner. On June 20 14, I took the P2, P3, P4 and P7 exams of ACCA and passed them at one time. So far, I have completed all the courses of ACCA and become a member of ACCA. At the invitation of Major, he came to share the classics, his views on ACCA and his unique views on business competition experience. Before it's too late, let's cut to the chase.
I think the ACCA exam itself is actually very difficult, mainly to see how much effort we have made in the preparation process. Some people don't want to read all day, but also want to pass the exam. It's certainly unlikely. However, students who devote themselves to review will definitely have no problem passing the exam, so the result depends on how much we usually pay. After more than two years of ACCA study, what comes in is knowledge and skills, and what comes out is business outlook and judgment. Are considered by individuals to be nothing worthy of praise. In addition, ACCA does not have the right to sign in China, and there is no discount for the CPA exam. Only you know what is really useful.
1.ACCA exam experience
In terms of difficulty, the ACCA exam itself is actually very difficult, because it only takes 50 points to pass, and the exam mode is very fixed.
However, no matter how difficult it is, it can be summarized as two points:
One is China people's language and thinking obstacles in English test, and the other is that there are too many contents, too many points and too many books in each test.
Then there are two corresponding countermeasures:
First, improve your English. Don't think that optical ACCA can improve English. After all, it is a professional title exam, not teaching English. Poor English is not only difficult to learn, but also will not improve after learning (China people will not study if they don't study). Therefore, we need to spend a lot of energy to improve our English. We recommend BEC Advanced Exam, BBC or CNN broadcast and American election debate. In my opinion, the level of English is the logic of learning English: you can say a sentence with n clauses in one breath and write a sentence as long as a paragraph in one breath. At this time, we can use English as a tool, and all our thoughts, ideas and ideas are expressed through it. Only in this way can you express your ideas consistently and quickly during the exam, even if you don't remember the specific answers.
Second, there are many subjects in ACCA examination, and it is necessary to deal with complicated book knowledge. I chose P2, P3, P4 and P7. If I eat every book repeatedly, I won't have enough time. In ACCA's examination system, books only play a reference role: read them once in 3-5 days, write down the knowledge points, and then do the questions. In the process of doing the problem, I really don't know how to turn over the books. The reason is this: there is only knowledge in books, but knowledge itself is not enough for you to pass the exam. Only by doing the problem can you learn to solve it. Doing the problem itself is a mock exam.
So, how many questions are you going to do? The reason why I passed 14 in succession is because I have always followed a principle: do my homework twice. The reading and problem-solving mode I mentioned before may not be suitable for everyone, because I am self-taught, and everyone usually has to follow the teacher. However, the amount of practice is universally applicable. If you take four subjects, each workbook will have 70 questions, and twice is 560 questions, not including the ACCA real questions you did before the exam.
Someone wants to ask, how can you do so many questions? Now let's analyze the value chain of "doing the problem". Quite a few times, people are looking at the table, filling in the format, or writing some complicated sentences when doing the questions, and even some students just unconsciously recite the answer format. These processes are worthless. I only wrote a few simple words when I did the problem: core format and calculation. Of course, you should fully understand the meaning (if it is complicated, drawing a few flowcharts or mind maps on paper will help clarify the relationship). As for the pure text questions, just go through them in your mind, provided that your English level can ensure that there is no difference between what you think and what you write. By using this method, my efficiency is getting higher and higher, and some questions have been done more than three times. With this amount of practice, most of the questions done in the examination room will feel like seeing their brothers.
With such a "business model", you can probably plan your own learning. I spent about two months on this four-subject exam, and the average time for each subject was about 18 days. Don't think that the earlier you prepare, the better. Some students have been preparing for half a year, but in fact they may not meet the 28 criteria, that is, only 20% of the work has been completed in the first 80% of the time. The most important thing in taking the ACCA test is the method. Only with a mature operation mode can we produce high-quality products. The significance of time planning is that products can be sold as soon as they leave the factory. If the production is too early, they will have to bear the storage cost and impairment risk themselves.
Of course, if it is stage F, the dead pile of questions is enough to pass the exam, because the questions in stage F are similar every year. However, there is a characteristic in the P stage. The focus of the exam is not only knowledge and a skill, but also the judgment of things. For example, in the P2 exam, one question is that a company has designed a financing tool, which has the characteristics of both equity and debt. How to characterize this tool? Even if you do more exercises, you may not be able to answer this question-because it has never appeared. In fact, this is a simulation of the working situation: as a corporate financier, how should we design financing terms (such as gambling and repurchase agreements) to bypass accounting standards, so as to identify them as equity and reduce the leverage ratio of the company? On the other hand, as auditors, how can we see through the clues in the terms so as to identify them in the financial statements according to their nature? Since there are 10 thousand contracts for 10 thousand financing, there is no ready-made template for you to use, so you can only use your own judgment. To do this kind of problems, besides a lot of practice, diligent thinking and extensive reading in class and conversation are also essential.
For another example, a question in the P4 exam examines the rationality of the specific application of the concept of real options in enterprise valuation. Practical options have been learned in the project evaluation. At best, a formula is enough. However, the application of real options in enterprise value evaluation is not only in books, but also in practical problems. Because it is an essay question, there is no formula to apply. At that time, in the examination room, I remembered two books, valuation and options, futures and other derivatives, which I read last September. I answered this question based on my memory of these two books and my understanding of practical options, and I also drew a picture to demonstrate. It can be said that this P4 has helped to accumulate financial knowledge for a long time.
To sum up, you should pass the ACCA exam at one time and four P-stage exams at one time. In short, it is: English+correct methods+practice+diligent thinking+extra knowledge accumulation in peacetime.
2.2 What's the use? ACCA？
As I said before, ACCA is actually less difficult. Therefore, from a personal point of view, this is not a commendable thing for everyone. In addition, ACCA has no right to sign in China, and CPA has no preferential treatment, so only you know what is really useful. Having said that, I still have a lot of feelings during my two years of study. Here I put forward two core points, hoping to give students some reference in the learning process.
(1) uses English as the teaching language and has a wide range of learning. This means that ACCA can open a door for you to benefit for life. After studying, you can continue to develop in almost any business direction. In this flat world, there is almost nothing you can't learn. For example, I often listen to lectures from world famous schools, and download original English textbooks in online public classes and forums. Accustomed to English teaching, you can learn the most cutting-edge knowledge and opinions today without waiting for Chinese translation; And ACCA itself can help you lay a good foundation in finance, auditing, finance, consulting and other basic knowledge. It is not difficult to study in depth.
(2) Guiding thinking rather than instilling knowledge. Some people say that ACCA is difficult and has a wide range of learning, which makes it a four-unlike. In fact, accounting is a difficult field (only complicated), but the combination of knowledge in so many fields has a synergistic effect, which is the understanding of the nature of business. The reason why undergraduate education is aimed at cultivating people to become living personalities with independent thoughts is also the core competitiveness of people in society. If you only focus on financial reporting and other technical fields, you can only train yourself into professional technicians in the end. ACCA has done a good job in guiding thinking, and can cultivate its own business outlook from financial analysis, business analysis, audit judgment, risk identification, financial instrument selection and other exercises. At present, domestic education still lags behind developed countries, and ACCA is a good choice.
3. What have I learned from countless competition experiences?
It's really interesting to participate in JHC, GBC and other competitions. I was lucky enough to be the captain twice. Business competition is not only to apply what you have learned, but also a good exercise for communication, cooperation and leadership. A person's role in his career will change constantly. It will take several years for these soft powers to finally form, but they are definitely one of a person's core competencies, so it is naturally beneficial to exercise as soon as possible.
In addition, when doing a case, cultivate your own business outlook: observe the operation mode of the target industry and the target company and form your own views. Of course, these skills need to be accumulated gradually. Now it seems that the idea at that time may be too naive, the problem is superficial, the data analysis is not to the point, the research also suffers from no way, and so on. But after all, this is a gradual process. Without the naivety of the past, there would be no maturity now. And these are not learned from books. As for some technical strengths of the application, such as financial modeling, PPT presentation, manuscript arrangement and so on. They are only necessary but insufficient abilities, but they are not the core.
In a word, after more than two years of ACCA study, what goes in is knowledge and skills, and what comes out is business outlook and judgment. ACCA is a good starting point (just a starting point! ), this journey is over for me, and there are more challenges and promotions waiting for me: never too old to learn. Finally, I sincerely wish you all to pass ACCA as soon as possible and become ACCA members.