ACCAp3考官文章.doc

Performance appraisal Performance appraisal requires good interpretation and a good understanding of what the information means in the context of the question. Performance appraisal is an important aspect of Paper F7, Financial Reporting and of interest to Paper P3 students. At this level you are not only required to prepare financial statements but understand the information underpinning the results. You will often be required to make use of ratios to aid interpretation of the financial statements for the current year and to compare them to the results of a prior period, another entity, or against industry averages. Increasingly, candidate exam performance is demonstrating a lack of commercial awareness and knowledge that barely stretches past the rote learned phase. Candidates regularly state facts such as gross profit margin has increased or, payables days have gone down but this offers no interpretation of the reason behind the change in ratio. As a result markers find it difficult to award sufficient marks to candidates to achieve a pass. This article is designed to aid candidates in understanding what is expected to create a solid answer to a performance appraisal question. Specific problems When marking this style of question there are some common weaknesses that are identified, some of which are highlighted below: limited knowledge of ratio calculations appraisal not linked to scenario poor understanding of the topic limited understanding of what accounting information represents lack of commercial awareness discursive elements often not attempted inability to come to a conclusion poor handwriting (often illegible in some instances) poor English. Use the scenario The majority of questions that feature performance appraisal have an accompanying scenario to the question requirement. A weak answer will make no attempt to refer to this information in the appraisal and, therefore, will often score few marks. It is important that you carefully consider this info