Economic Order Quantity in Working Capital Management
In ACCA MA (was F2) and FM (was F9) Exam, a formulae sheet is provided with the question book. Students are encouraged to fully...
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ACCA PM (Performance Management)
Guides, Practice & Mock Exam
ACCA PM (Performance Management) is one of papers in Applied Skills Module. The syllabus states its aim is to develop knowledge and skills in the application of management accounting techniques of quantitative and qualitative information for planning, decision-making, performance evaluation and control.
There is a minor change in the syllabus between prior year exam and 2023/24 session. Past paper questions seen in last year are still very good in preparing the exam.
In examiner’s report, it highlights some areas that many students performance can be improved such as calculation of division’s return on investment, limitations of using externally generated information, performance measurement and cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis.
It is important to stress that the knowledge and skills in Performance Management are partly from Management Accounting. The areas such as costing techniques, overhead treatments types of budgets and variances analysis.
On top of these fundamental knowledge and skills, you are required to understand the decision-making tools and how to apply those tools. In addition, performance management systems, measurement and control is another key area in the syllabus. This area leads directly to Advanced Performance Management (APM).
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Exam Structure
3-hour exam
All questions are compulsory. The 3-hour (see below) exam will assess all parts of the syllabus and will test knowledge and some comprehensive or application of this knowledge.
Section A includes 15 two-mark objective test questions covering all areas in the syllabus.
Section B comprises 3 ten-mark questions each containing five objective test questions.
Section C comprises two 20 marks constructed response questions. The questions will come from decision making techniques, budgeting and control, performance measurement and control areas of the syllabus.
To know more about Computer-based Examination (CBE), please click HERE.
Syllabus
ACCA PM is one of the Applied Skills Level papers in your ACCA professional qualification journey.
The syllabus begins by focusing on the information needs, technologies and systems required by organisations to manage and measure performance in the modern, competitive environment.
It then moves to specialised costing and management accounting topics which some knowledge assumed from Management Accounting (MA), mainly overhead treatments.
The syllabus also considers decision-making in which you are expected to appreciate problems surrounding scarce resource, pricing and make-or-buy decisions, and how this relates to the assessment of performance.
The most important aspect of many accountant's lives is budgeting. PM requires you to demostrate the knowledge on different budgeting techniques and the problems inherent in them. Some budgeting techniques such as fixed, flexible and incremental budgets is assumed from MA.
Standard costing and variances are then built on. You are familiar with different types of budgeting, standard costing and variances analysis from your Management Accounting paper. But now, you need to do more by showing your performance analysis techniques.
The final part is performance measurement and control. Both financial and non-financial performance measurements are required as these are the cornerstone for Advanced Performance Management.
There are 6 sections in the syllabus, which are –
A Management information systems and data analytics
Identify and discuss the management information systems, the uses and controls over information and big data and data analytics used by organisations to manage and measure performance.
B Specialist cost and management accounting techniques
Explain and apply cost and management accounting techniques
C Decision-making techniques
Select and appropriately apply decision-making techniques to facilitate business decisions and promote efficient and effective use of scarce business resources, appreciating the risks and uncertainty inherent in business and controlling those risks
D Budgeting and control
Identify and apply appropriate budgeting techniques, including quantitative techniques, and methods for planning and control and use standard costing systems to measure and control business performance and to identify remedial action
E Performance measurement and control
Assess the performance of private, public and not-for-profit organisations from both a financial and non-financial viewpoint, appreciating the problems of controlling divisionalised businesses and the importance of allowing for external aspects
F Employability and technology skills
Demonstrate required employability and technology skills
In the exam, you will see questions from every section in the summary above. There is no one area you can ignore as all of them will be in your exam. Perhaps you find the topics above are separated, however, they are linked together in real business world as well as the syllabus design.
Time Management
The general principle in ACCA Performance Management Paper exam is 1 mark per 1.8 minute which means you have 100 marks to complete an exam within 180 minutes.
It is observed that many good attempts in Section A and Section B but not in Section C. You should be careful that the time spent on Section C questions of the exam. Examiners suggest you should allocate 72 minutes (or 40%), the minimum, of your total time in attempting Section C. It is probably more than what you need to work on objective test questions.
It is wise for you to practice mock exam to train your time management skills before you need to attempt the paper.
Technical Articles
It is a section sharing with you on ACCA Performance Management (PM) technical articles to help you understanding of complex concepts in simple way. In addition, you can find exam tips in our examiner review report on ACCA Performance Management exam.
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