This type of question was again new to the examining of audit and assurance. The reason for the question being linked to question 1. Under the “old” 2.6 syllabus, many questions had brief short introductory sections followed by the longer scenario based questions. With the new F8 examination taking question 1 as the scenario, this meant that question 2 was based on the shorter introductory sections.
Questions could therefore range from between 2 and 5 marks and be based completely on theory. As noted below, understanding the distinction between the requirement verbs of list and explain/describe is essential to providing the correct format and detail in an answer.
Part (a)
Candidates were required to explain the five fundamental principles of ACCA’s Code of Ethics and Conduct.
The requirement verb for this section was explain. So the marking scheme for this question was simply 1 mark for each point; effectively 0.5 for identifying the fundamental principle and 0.5 for the explanation. In other words, listing the principles was not sufficient to obtain a pass – explanation was also required.
Answers to this question varied considerably. A significant number of candidates obtained full marks by correctly listing and explaining all five principles. However, a significant minority either did not attempt the question or provided incorrect examples.
Common errors and reasons why those errors did not obtain marks included:
Error | Reason for lack of marks |
---|---|
Including principles that were not in ACCA’s list. The main example of this was “independence” although a small minority of candidates included the standard threats to independence such as self- review and self interest. | These points were not relevant and so no marks could be awarded. |
Not providing sufficient explanation of the points made. For example, explaining integrity as the an accountant must have integrity. | To gain more than 0.5 of a mark, then integrity had to be explained in other terms rather than simply restating the term. |
Overall, the question was answered well.