Tips studying ACCA P7 Advanced Audit & Assurance (UK or International)

Audit Risk

Additional Info to help assess risk

Analytical Procedures re risk assessment, ratios

Accounting Matters and audit procedures (inc sale and leaseback)

Ethics and Prof Issues (inc quality control, advertising, money laundering) Forecasts

Audit report scenarios (inc uncorrected misstatements ISA 450)

Reporting to Audit Committee

NOCLAR

Big data and data analytics

Initial Audits

Difficulties in audit of estimates and fair value

Subsequent Events
Here are a few ACCA P7 Exam Tips in order to maximise your chances of success while actually sitting
the exam.

Reading time:

You have 15 minutes reading time during which you can write on the exam paper (but anything you do
write on the exam paper will not be marked), but during which you cannot write in the answer booklet.

Use this time to:

read the requirements for the Section B questions and underline or highlight key words in the
requirements.

at this stage, identify which of the three option questions that you will not attempt.
Read it anyway there may be some useful phrases or ideas that you can work into the
other answers

beware the word and within the requirement! The requirements often ask for more
than one thing in the same sentence for example, identify and explain

the identification and the explanation will both carry marks, but it is easy in the middle
of the exam to identify and then forget to explain. Underline or highlight the words
identify and explain and you will find it much more difficult to forget either

then read the requirements for the 2 Section A compulsory questions worth 35 marks and 25
marks respectively so that youre aware of what youre looking for in the questions when you
read them

next, read the questions highlighting key words as you go along and effectively making the
skeletons of answer plans

which question to do first? There are two schools of thought about this and its your choice. The
first school says start with the 35 marker, then the 25 marker followed by 2 x 20 marks.

I think that I would probably choose the second method and start with a 20 mark question
followed by the 35 marker, then the 25 marker and finish with the second 20 marker, but that
may not suit you so, as I say, its your choice

Section A

35 marker compulsory question 1 63 minutes

this will probably involve responding to a partners email about a forthcoming audit client where
you are asked to identify business risks, audit risks that you expect to face, principal procedures
that you expect to perform during the audit and any ethical issues that may be relevant
 the 63 minutes time allocation should be allocated as 17.5 minutes PLANNING your answers to
the various parts of the question and 45.5 minutes writing your answer to those various parts

it is vital that you stick rigidly to time allocation within all these questions. There should be no
question of you finishing the 3 hours and saying I didnt have time to do part d) of question 1.
There HAS to be a proper attempt at ALL parts of the questions that you elect to attempt

this is the question where 4 professional marks are available for style, presentation, clarity,
persuasiveness . so make sure that you can write a letter, an email, a draft press release, an
address to the shareholders a report ..

Section A

25 marker compulsory question 2 45 minutes

planning time here is 12.5 minutes so use it wisely and that leaves just 32.5 minutes for writing
out your plan

this is typically an audit question with an accounting twist asking you to comment on matters
to be considered and explain the audit evidence that you should expect to find during your
review of the audit working papers

the particularly important word in this question is explain the audit evidence. Not identify or
list but explain. Further, you dont expect to find something like if that fails then telephone the
third party . So be very careful to restrict your answer to an explanation of the audit evidence
that you could expect to find in audit working papers (and a telephone conversation isnt
evidence that you would find on an audit file!)

also important is to ensure that you are on top of the IAS / IFRS and particularly the more recent
ones or those with recent amendments

document numbers and titles are NOT IMPORTANT they score no marks

Section B

choice of 2 from 3 questions worth 20 marks each 36 minutes each

planning time here is 10 minutes for each of your two chosen questions so, as always, use it
wisely and that will leave only 26 minutes writing time

there will most probably be something about ethics in one or even two of these optional
questions

make sure you write something for every part of every question. You are unlikely to be able to
finish every part of every question either because you run out of time or you get stuck but
you can always write something.
 each comment that you make should be within its own sentence and leave a line between your
sentences effectively making them into paragraphs

time yourself copying sentences from a book and stop after 1 minute and 18 seconds. Thats the
time that you have available to write one sentence containing just one markable point.

youre unlikely to get past the third line and thats the MAXIMUM length of a sentence /
paragraph in the exam

make sure that your writing is legible. If a marker cant read your script, he cant give you credit
for your thoughts!

if you write one long paragraph containing several points, then there is a danger that the marker
will miss some of the points.

start each part of each question on a new page in the answer booklet (if you run out of pages
you will be provided with a supplementary booklet!).

that way you can always go back to questions and you will be able to add more to your answer
neatly, if you have time left at the end of the exam.

do make sure you make it clear at the top of the page which part of which question you are
answering.

for a non-numerate exam like P7, be aware of just how many marks are available for each part-
question and plan sufficient points to include within your answer to get the majority of those
marks. Remember, one correct point earns one mark.