CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide Session Lead Learning (duration) Outcomes

1 (Wk 1, 3-4 hrs) Introduction to Gateway Section B of syllabus Please note that the session duration time given for each area is a rough guide based on % of Gateway paper syllabus weightings. These timings must be taken into account with other personal commitments such as work, family time, recreation etc. Obviously the more hours students can dedicate to studying the higher their chance of success. Please use this as guidance rather than as an exact science of how to study, and please feel free to change it to suit your requirements.

Study Guidance/Tips

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Review the operational level syllabus (P1, E1, and F1) to ensure there are no knowledge gaps.

Familiarising yourself with the syllabus and what the exam is all about. Gateway paper is split into Section A (75 marks) and Section B (25 marks).

Section B consists of syllabus areas of management level papers: P2(A) Pricing and Product Decision (C) Budgeting and Management Control (D) Control and Performance measurement of responsibility centres. F2(B) Issues in Recognition and Measurement (C) Analysis and Interpretation of Financial Accounts (D) Developments in External Reporting E2(A) Strategic Management and Assessing the Competitive Environment (C) Management of Relationships

Minor updates for F2 for May 2013 exams FAQs about Gateway for MBA/ Masters in Accounting students FAQs about Gateway for management accountant route FAQs for professional gateway route
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Section B is examined by 12 objective test (which includes mcqs and short answer questions 2-3 marks) questions worth 25% of the total paper.

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Updated: June 2013

CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide SECTION B: (P2-A) PRICNG AND PRODUCT DECISIONS Session Lead Learning Outcomes (duration)
2 (Wk 1, 6 hours) 1. Discuss concepts of cost and revenue relevant to pricing and product decisions. 2. Analyse short-term pricing and product decisions. 3. Discuss pricing strategies and their consequences.

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1. Understand production budgeting and how to analyse quantities of materials needed to produce finished goods according to budget, (including managing of opening and closing inventories). 2. Understand how to deal with make or buy decisions and have ability to compare and contrast these calculations. 3. Understand in what situations linear programming might be used.

CIMAstudy.com Chapters (1)(5). 4. Understand how to change forecasts of pricing for more than two variables. Exam questions from Gateway papers: May-11- Q4.1 Nov-11- Q4.3 May-12- Q4.1, Q4.2, Q4.3, Q4.4 Nov-12- Q4.1, Q4.2, Q4.4 May-13-Q4.1, Q4.2, Q4.4

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CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide SECTION B: (P2-C) BUDGETING AND MANAGEMENT CONTROL Session Lead Learning Outcomes (duration)
3 (Wk 1, 7 hours) 1. Explain the principles that underlie the use of budgets in control. 2. Evaluate performance using budgets, recognising alternative approaches and sensitivity to variable factors. 3. Discuss the broader managerial issues arising from the use of budgets in control.

Study Guidance/Tips
1. Understand different approaches to budgeting for example divisional budgeting by department (sales budget, cash budget, purchases budget etc) and how these impact on each other. 2. Understand how what-if scenarios could impact on the master budget. 3. Understand what is meant by feedback and feed forward controls. 4. Know the difference between fixed and flexible budgeting. 5. Know the advantages and limitations of budgeting.

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Variances in Budgeting

CIMAstudy.com Chapters (10)(13).

Exam questions from Gateway papers: May-11- Q4.3 Nov-11- Q4.1, Q4.2, Q4.4

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CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide SECTION B: (P2-D) CONTROL AND PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY CENTRES Session Lead Learning Outcomes Study Guidance/Tips CIMA Technical (duration) Articles
3 (Wk 2, 7 hours) 1. Discuss the use of responsibility centres in devising organisation structure and in management control. 2. Discuss information suitable for management decision-making in responsibility centres. 3. Discuss the broader managerial issues arising from the division of the organisation into responsibility centres. CIMAstudy.com Chapters (14)(16). Exam questions from Gateway papers: May-11- Q4.2, Q4.4 Nov-12- Q4.3 May-13- Q4.3 1. Understand what is meant by transfer pricing and in what situations it would be used. 2. Have ability to discuss different approaches to transfer pricing for divisional decision making. 3. Understand how to calculate return on investments and its limitations. 4. Understand the use of cost, revenue, profit and investment centres as a means of management control. Ratio Analysis Transfer Pricing Cost-based transfer pricing

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CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide SECTION B: (F2-B) ISSUES IN RECOGNITION AND MEASUREMENT Session Lead Learning Outcomes (duration)
4 (Wk 2, 5 hours) 1. Discuss accounting principles and their relevance to accounting issues of contemporary interest.

Study Guidance/Tips
1. Understand the concept and application of financial reporting in hyper inflationary economies.

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2. Understand the principle of substance over form for Financial Instruments a true and fair representation of financial statements. CIMAstudy.com Chapters (14)(18). 3. Financial Instruments and understanding IAS32 and IAS39, their classification, initial recognition, their finance costs over a period of time. 4. IAS 19 the how to deal with the actuarial gains and losses in statements of comprehensive income. 5. IFRS 2 share based payments. How to ideally deal with the transaction types, identifying the fair value etc. Exam questions from Gateway papers: May-11- Q 4.10, Q4.12 Nov-11- Q4.11, Q4.9, Q4.10 May-12- Q4.12, Q4.10, Q4.9 Nov-12- Q4.9, Q4.10, Q4.11, Q4.12 May-13- Q4.9, Q4.10, Q4.12
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CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide SECTION B: (F2-C) ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS Session Lead Learning Outcomes (duration)
5 (Wk 2, 8 hours) 1. Produce a ratio analysis from financial statements and supporting information. 2. Evaluate performance and position.

Study Guidance/Tips
1. This requires the ability to calculate all sets of relevant financial ratios for given set of financial statements. 2. Candidates should know the formulas for these ratios and also should develop an understanding of what they mean. 3. The second learning outcome requires students to develop a broader scope of the ratio analysis, the story behind the numbers, the skill and ability of a candidate to understand what causes the movement in ratios for a particular scenario.

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DU Pont Approach Financial Statements Operational gearing

CIMAstudy.com Chapters (19)(23).

Exam questions from Gateway papers: May-11- Q 4.9 Nov-11- Q4.12 May-12- Q4.5, Q4.11 May-13- Q4.11

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CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide SECTION B: (F2-D) DEVELOPMENTS IN EXTERNAL REPORTING Session Lead Learning Outcomes (duration)
6 (Wk 2, 7 hours) 1. Discuss contemporary developments in financial and non-financial reporting.

Study Guidance/Tips
1. Candidates are advised to make maximum use of the additional free articles available at CIMA`s website for this particular syllabus area. 2. This syllabus area deals with the issues such as differences between IFRS and US GAAP and the measures towards the convergence, human resource accounting, the pressure for extending the quality and scope of external reporting & the social and political issues which are likely to be important for the stakeholders in an organisation. 3. This syllabus area should be studied using the learning techniques such as mind maps, elaborative interrogation and keyword mnemonic to better understand and retain the knowledge acquired.

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Environmental Reporting IFRS AND US GAAP

CIMAstudy.com Chapters (24)(26).

Human Asset Accounting Sustainability Reporting Simplifying Reports

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CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide SECTION B: (E2-A) STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND ASSESSING THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Session (duration)
7 (Wk 3, 10 hours)

Lead Learning Outcomes

1. Discuss different competitive environments and key external characteristics of these environments 2. Discuss developments in strategic management. CIMAstudy.com Chapters (1)(3).

Study Guidance/Tips
1. Know the key models/ theories including; PEST, stakeholder mapping, Porters Five Forces, Porters Diamond. 2. Understand different perspective perspectives on strategic management, including transaction cost, resource-based view and ecological perspective.

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Strategic planning or the emergent resource based view Porter's competitive advantage of nations theory with Q&A

May-11- Q4.7, Q4.8, Nov-11- Q4.8, Q4.6 May-12- Q4.8 Nov-12- Q4.7 May-13- Q4.5, Q4.6, Q4.8

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CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide SECTION B: (E2-C) MANAGEMENT OF RELATIONSHIPS Session (duration)
8 (Wk 3, 10 hours)

Lead Learning Outcomes

1. Discuss concepts associated with the effective operation of an organisation. 2. Discuss the activities associated with managing people and their associated techniques. CIMAstudy.com Chapters (11) (18)

Study Guidance/Tips
1. Understand the concept of power and organisation culture. Recognise different leadership styles. 2. Understand disciplinary procedures and their operations. Be aware of the nature and effect of legal issues affecting work and employment. 3. CIMA Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants is a highly examinable area and will re-appear again in strategic level papers and T4 part B exam. Find out more resources on www.cimaglobal.com/ethics

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Rationalising the finance function: Q&A The rise of shared service centres

May-11- Q4.5, Q4.6 Nov-11- Q4.5, Q4.7 May-12- Q4.6, Q4.7 Nov-12- Q4.5, Q4.8 May-13- Q4.7

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CIMAGateway Section B Self Study Guide Extra Resources:

1. Attempt as many Section B past exam papers as you can. All resources for each gateway route can be found under the following links; A1 G1 M1
CIMAsphere discussion boards A1, G1, M1 CIMAsphere useful blogs

Velocity Student e-magazine Financial Management magazine

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Email feedback to: [email protected] Updated: June 2013