Note: Some of the links in this page contain affiliate links. I will earn a small commission for any purchases you make, though there is no extra cost to you.
The products or services I recommend only I use them myself or after my investigation and truly believe they are useful to you. Don’t forget there are many other options out there – these are simply my preferred choices.
ACCA FR (Financial Reporting)
Notes, Practice, Mock Exam & Guides
ACCA FR (Financial Reporting, was F7) is one of papers in Applied Skills Module. The syllabus states its aim is to develop knowledge and skills in understanding and applying accounting standards and the theoretical framework in the preparation of financial statements of entities, including groups and how to analyse and interpret those financial statements.
ACCA Financial Reporting pass rates are relatively higher than other papers in same module which ranged from 47% to 51% in the past five sessions.
There is no significant change in the syllabus between September 2020 to June 2021 and September 2021 to June 2022) except some changes in accounting standards. 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 fair value consolidation adjustment, lease accounting (IFRS 16), revenue recognition (IFRS 15), calculation of gain/loss in disposal, financial instrument and government grants.
It is important to stress that the knowledge and skills in Financial Reporting are partly from Financial Accounting. The areas such as conceptual framework for financial reporting, recording transactions and preparing financial statements.
On top of these fundamental knowledge and skills, you are required to apply to financial reporting for single companies and for groups in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and relevant accounting standards. In addition, you are required to do analysis and interpret financial information from financial reports. This area leads directly to Strategic Business Reporting (SBR).
STUDY TOOLS
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.
Effective from June 2019, computer-based exam (CBE) total exam time is 3 hours and no more seeded questions in exam.
For paper-based exams, an extra 15 minutes is given to you to reflect the manual effort required as compared to the time needed for CBE. Total exam time is therefore 3 hours and 15 minutes.
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 examine the interpretation and preparation of financial statements for either a single entity or a group.
To know more about Computer-based Examination (CBE), please click HERE.
Syllabus
ACCA FR (was F7) is one of the Applied Skills Level papers in your ACCA professional qualification journey.
The syllabus begins with the conceptual framework for financial reporting with reference to the qualitative characteristics of useful information and the fundamental bases of accounting introduced in the Financial Accounting (FA) syllabus within the Knowledge module. It then moves into a detailed examination of the regulatory framework of accounting and how this informs the standard setting process.
The main areas of the syllabus cover the reporting of financial information for single companies and for groups in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and relevant accounting standards.
Finally, the syllabus covers the analysis and interpretation of information from financial reports.
There are 4 sections in the syllabus, which are –
A The conceptual and regulatory framework for financial reporting
Discuss and apply a conceptual and regulatory frameworks for financial reporting
B Accounting for transactions in financial statements
Account for transactions in accordance with International accounting standards
C Analysing and interpreting financial statements
Analyse and interpret financial statements
D Preparation of financial statements
Prepare and present financial statements for single entities and business combinations in accordance with International accounting standards
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.
A lot of students ask whether they need Paper FR textbook and some tutors said it's their own choice.
If your answer to either of question below is yes, buy the book:
-
Are you doing self-study with some popular tutor's notes?
-
Do you commit to ACCA study?
Draft your study plan, buy a textbook and follow the plan strictly is the path to success.
Click photo to see special offer and FREE delivery*!
*Terms & Conditions Apply
Exam Tips
ACCA Financial Reporting pass rates are stable which is around 50%. How to study it to pass in exam is one of the questions asked frequently by students.
Similar to other Skills Module papers, ACCA FR has 3 sections while Section A is objective test questions, Section B is case based objective test questions and Section C is constructed response questions.
From Examiner’s report, it seems Section C performance is critical to pass the exam while both Section A and Section B performance are quite stable.
Difficult Subjects
The following areas are considered challenging in Section A to a lot of students, they are –
-
Fair value consolidation adjustments;
-
Calculate total charge to the statement of profit or loss in respect of the right-to-use asset.
In Section B, it tests your knowledge on a number of topics in more detail than Section A.
It covers the whole syllabus and you need to read the case scenario and requirements very careful while the following topics are found challenging to many students in Section B –
-
Leases – IFRS 16
-
Research and development
-
Financial instruments
-
Revenue recognition
For Section C, questions are drawn from the following financial statements preparation –
-
Preparation single entity financial statements
-
Analysis of consolidated financial statements
-
Preparation of consolidated financial statements
-
Analysis of single entity financial statements
Examiner recently shares which areas are performed relatively weak by students –
-
Entries relating to a long-term contract – IFRS 15;
-
Leases – IFRS 16
-
Calculation of gain/loss on disposal;
-
Interpretation of financial statements;
-
Fair value adjustment of a contingent liability;
-
Government grant.
Last but not the least, Examiner always stresses you to pick “easy marks” first. We all know that it is very rare to have “full marks” in an exam. It is a test of you on how to allocate the limited resources, i.e. time, to get the maximum marks available. Sticking into the questions you are not familiar with is probably losing time to pick those “easy marks”.
