CIMA P6 - Management accounting business strategy
Paper P6 'Management Accounting - Business Strategy' is a wide-ranging exam that includes aspects of strategic analysis, choice and implementation. To pass, candidates need both technical knowledge and the ability to apply their knowledge to specific scenarios.
P6 is not purely a business strategy exam. The title includes the words 'management accounting' and indicates that candidates should expect to consider business strategy in the context of financial information about a business' performance.
- The syllabus is split into four areas:
- Assessing the Competitive Environment
- Interacting with the Competitive Environment
- Evaluation of Options, Planning and Appraisal
- Implementation of Strategic Plans
Study Text
Price: £30.00
Suitable for: Nov 2008 exams
ISBN: 9780751752892
The P6 Study Text provides comprehensive coverage of the principles and practice of business strategy. This is supplemented by a range of case studies that illustrate the application of business strategy ideas in the real world. The Text uses tables to summarise information, and diagrams to help illustrate ideas such as the value chain and gap analysis. Although candidates' ability to apply knowledge to a scenario is as important as pure knowledge in P6, it is still crucial to have a sound understanding of the key terms and ideas. The 'key terms' feature in the text helps to provide this.
Practice & Revision Kit
Price: £16.00
Suitable for: May and November 2008 exams
ISBN: 9780751751901
Candidates often find business strategy questions particularly difficult, since there is rarely a single correct solution, nor any standard template that can be learned to shape an answer. The Kit uses past exam questions to provide valuable guidance on how to tackle the wide range of scenarios candidates should expect to find in the P6 exam. The answer guidance in the kit highlights the models and ideas they should use to help answer questions, but also constantly reminds them that it is applying knowledge to the specific context of the question scenario that earns them marks, rather than simply reciting theories.
Passcards
Price: £10.00
Suitable for: May and November 2008 exams
ISBN: 9780751752236
The Passcards are prepared to reflect the structure and content of the Study Text very closely. They summarise the essential knowledge needed to pass the examination, and use a range of visual cues to aid recollection of key ideas. While there are no templates available for constructing standard answers in this subject, there are many models and aspects of theory that can be summarised through diagrams and visual representation. The Passcards provide candidates with these summaries, which they can then use as 'pegs' to hang their answers on.
i-Learn
Price: £40.00
Suitable for: Nov 2008 exams
ISBN: 9780751752618
BPP Learning Media's i-Learn for P6 'Management Accountant - Business Strategy' provides focused, interactive study material designed to reinforce key areas of the wide ranging P6 syllabus. The i-Learn is broken down into 11 modules which compliment the Study Text. They are: Strategic ideas and strategic information; Strategic objectives and the business environment; The global competitive environment; Customers and suppliers; The strategic environment; Resource analysis; SWOT analysis and gap analysis; Competition, products and markets; Corporate appraisal; Strategic decisions; and Measuring performance. Short questions are included throughout the modules to reinforce understanding.
i-Pass
Price: £30.00
Suitable for: Nov 2008 exams
ISBN: 9780751752755
The P6 examination requires answers in narrative format, and does not use objective testing. Nonetheless, answering objective test questions is a very good way to revise the wide range of theoretical knowledge that candidates will have to acquire to pass the exam. The P6 i-Pass disc has been prepared to help students achieve the necessary familiarity with these fundamental concepts and aspects of theoretical knowledge. The emphasis is on achieving speed and accuracy of recall, so that candidates will have the essentials at their fingertips when they sit their exams, and can discuss the relevant issues appropriate to any question.
Success CD
Price: £15.00
Suitable for: May and November 2008 exams
ISBN: 9780751752373
The Success CD is an excellent aid to revision, which can be used on occasions that would otherwise represent idle time, such as the daily commute. The emphasis is on providing overviews of important topics, such as understanding an organisation's competitive environment and evaluating its strategic options. This product supplements more traditional forms of study, and is particularly useful to students of P6, since it provides simple accounts of the strategy-related ideas that candidates often have difficulty in articulating. It also includes tips from an experienced tutor about what the examiner is looking for, as well as areas where candidates often do badly.
