Soooooo i sat down on Sunday and opened the Kaplan Financial Statements study text. Within minutes i was reaching for Frank wood to find out just exactly what a control account is and how it works. I can't beleive it, my mind was a total blank. I can apportion your costs for you and complete a statement of comprehensive income but i seem to have locked the basics away in a dark place. Luckily i have all the text books and within an hour was comfortable once again. The panic was tremendous though, i was just wondering if this is the norm or am i studying wrong? Any hints, tips and offers of donning a wig and completing my exams for me for a small prize will be greatly appreciated.
You're bound to have an off day Shaun but the end is near my friend. The more i read about what services i will be able to offer under full AAT status the more it makes me wonder whether or not ACCA would be worth going for, especially as i am getting older. However, the challenge really grips me, it excites me more than anything i've done so far even at this lower stage, i'm still progressing in something that i, myself chose to do.
Now wheres that mirror.
Neil
P.S. I thought the title might reel you in Shaun. This came about as i was trying to memorise some of the IASs and the title was part of an interpretation under IAS2 i think, though please please don't quote me. The next thing i know i was looking through various web pages reading up on the subject and it's not even relevant to my studies as yet.
-- Edited by Spamkebab on Tuesday 24th of January 2012 04:18:55 PM
No hints here Neil, but in finishing my HNC myself and the rest of the course are having similar problems. It's slightly easier for me as I'm using some of the skills daily but many in the course don't. We've now got our graded unit approaching (a final exam) and it covers the whole lot over the 2 years. Some in my class are struggling to remember basic bookkeeping now, personally my downfall is layouts for manufacturing accounts, partnership and limited company balance sheets.
Phew thank heavens for that (i don't mean that i'm glad others forget the basics, just glad it seems par for the course so to speak). It's nothing major although remembering the basics is quite major in itself, it is easy to brush up on if you have your study materials handy. I know it has all sunk in because of the time it takes to refresh my memory. Like you say, not working in an accounts or bookkeeping environment doesn't help either.
When we are working at passing exams after the first few I think that all of us realise that the old grey matter will only hold so much information.
There's an old saying about learning to pass exams is totally different to learning how to do the job and it's very true.
We learn every little detail for the exams that we are sitting next and everything else, although still there gets pushed back into the recesses of the old grey matter.
Quite often I find myself being able to quote exact sections from a financial reporting or audit standard but can't actually remember which standard it's from!
On a linked note in relation to study and memorising stuff. My boy came up with an interesting observation the other day.
The brain only remembers what it needs to remember.
Sit in front of a mirror and look into your eye's. Look at the left eye, then look at the right eye.
Your brain will not register any movement of the eye's in the mirror even though (a) you know that they are moving and (b) anyone else looking at you can tell you that your eye's are moving. However, no matter how much you try it's too inconsequential for your brain to bother remembering it.
Sometimes when you're trying to study but you are bored with the subject I think that it's the same effect. You read what's on the paper but your brain can't be bothered sticking it in storage.
That's why I like the Kaplan books as it's all about practical application rather than rote learning.
Anyway, I sort of stayed on subject but went completely off piste there.
kind regards,
Shaun.
P.S. Following Kris's downfall's line, my real bugbear is Cashflow Statements although I'm finding them a lot easier under IFRS than under UK GAAP.
P.S.2 Was having a seriously off day today thinking why on earth am I putting myself through the anguish of the latter stages of ACCA when if I did AAT (or IFA or AIA) I could still be a practicing accountant only much, much quicker. It's not as if I'm intending to offer Audit services anyway!
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Shaun
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