[UnknownPerson]

What would the question usually ask us when they would like us to Absorb the Direct Material .. Direct Labour and Fixed Costs?

[sukhys]

(Original post by UnknownPerson)
What would the question usually ask us when they would like us to Absorb the Direct Material .. Direct Labour and Fixed Costs?

A question would not ask that and it seems like you havent learnt Absorption properly the reason for OAR is to charge overheads to a unit direct costs have already been charged to the unit as direct cost is something that can be identified with the cost unit.

e.g making a phone the materials will be the keys, the labour that goes into to it are all direct costs so its easy to charge it to the unit, whereas to find out how much electric went in to making it would be difficult thus the reason why we use OAR.

[jaadau121]

(Original post by UnknownPerson)
What would the question usually ask us when they would like us to Absorb the Direct Material .. Direct Labour and Fixed Costs?

Not sure what you mean, but i will still try to answer, ask again if its not what you were looking for!

you cannot 'absorb' direct costs such as labour or materials as they are already associated with specific products, you can only absorb overheads (on a relevant 'basis'), becuase they arent direct so need to be 'absorbed' by units of output to reach a fairer costs and ensure full cost recovery.


ADDITIONAL INFO
remeber if the question asks you to absorb the ovrhead and then says calculate selling price, you must add the overhead absorption costs (remeber to multiply by necessay labour or machine hours to reach the costs so if OAR is £10/ labour hour and a products takes two labour hours then £10 X 2 = £20) to direct costs such materials and labour costs.

The reason why i pointed this out is because OAR questions often do this (i did some past exam paper analysis of both old and new spec) and they often ask for OAR and then selling price hoping to catch you out because alot of people forget that the OAR is per hour and products often take longer than 1 hour to make and some even forget to add direct costs and base the selling price only on the overhead costs.

[UnknownPerson]

(Original post by jaadau121)
Not sure what you mean, but i will still try to answer, ask again if its not what you were looking for!

you cannot 'absorb' direct costs such as labour or materials as they are already associated with specific products, you can only absorb overheads (on a relevant 'basis'), becuase they arent direct so need to be 'absorbed' by units of output to reach a fairer costs and ensure full cost recovery.


ADDITIONAL INFO
remeber if the question asks you to absorb the ovrhead and then says calculate selling price, you must add the overhead absorption costs (remeber to multiply by necessay labour or machine hours to reach the costs so if OAR is 10/ labour hour and a products takes two labour hours then 10 X 2 = £20) to direct costs such materials and labour costs.
The reason why i pointed this out is because OAR questions often do this (i diid some past exam paper analysis of both old and new spec) and they often ask for OAR an dthen selling price hoping to catch you out because alot of people forget that the OAR is per hour and products often take longer than 1 hour to make and some even forget to add direct costs and base the selling price only on the overhead costs.

(Original post by sukhys)
A question would not ask that and it seems like you havent learnt Absorption properly the reason for OAR is to charge overheads to a unit direct costs have already been charged to the unit as direct cost is something that can be identified with the cost unit.

e.g making a phone the materials will be the keys, the labour that goes into to it are all direct costs so its easy to charge it to the unit, whereas to find out how much electric went in to making it would be difficult thus the reason why we use OAR.

I Get it Thanks Both of you .. and yeh i havent learnt this bit properly .. if you dont mind me asking how did you guys do in Accn3?

[MrPhilo]

So what has everyone predicted that will be on tomorrow?

[jaadau121]

(Original post by UnknownPerson)
I Get it Thanks Both of you .. and yeh i havent learnt this bit properly .. if you dont mind me asking how did you guys do in Accn3?

got an A, 85 UMS, you?

[UnknownPerson]

75 UMS

[gavinkelleher]

hi guys, i'm finishing up my revision for tomorrows exam, it helps to go through the specification on the AQA website and just make sure you're ready for what ever they throw at you, one thing people need to remember is that there are a lot of marks for the written questions in this unit so make sure you are revising the written aspects such as:
- benefits of using transfer price in relation to factory profit
- adv's and disadv's of using budgets in general
- uses, adv's and disadv's of Standard, ABC, Marginal and Absorption costing - comes up a lot!
- adv's and disadv's of break even

also make sure you are reading the way they mark the written questions via past exam mark schemes, i'm not sure if this is a generic problem but because i study Business i often over complicate my answers and miss the basic marks, so make sure you have perfected your writing abilities

Finally make sure at the end of the paper you go through and check every calculation you have made, sounds simple i know but catching the wrong number in a calculator can cost a lot of marks especially in the questions that dont give OF marks, and remember you have 2 hours so pace yourselves and dont rush through the paper!

good luck

[jaadau121]

(Original post by MrPhilo)
So what has everyone predicted that will be on tomorrow?

i have done an exma anayisis of the new spec and i cannot be certain but soem of the topics below have a good chance of coming up. please note AQA has a policy of testing everything in the syallabus with 6 exmaination, this exam is teh sixth of teh new spec so untested areas are likely to be tested.

Capital inv appraisal written plus payback , (it has come on every paper except January 2011, payback remains untested since the january 2010 exam, in teh following 4 exams npv has come up 3 times, so my guess is its time for the payback method)

budgeting calculation, (possibly debtor creditor or cash as they remain untested in ACCN4 in the new spec) plus a written question on pros and cons (as that a big area which remains untested in the new spec)

ABC Calculation (remains untested in new spec)

unrealised profit written plus calculation (unrealised profit has come up both previous june examinations)

there could be a short variance question and could also be breakeven possibly even drawing a BE graph

I hope people find it useful, this is only a prediction so dont focus too much on it even though i have based it on good detailed analysis of past papers

[jaadau121]

(Original post by gavinkelleher)
hi guys, i'm finishing up my revision for tomorrows exam, it helps to go through the specification on the AQA website and just make sure you're ready for what ever they throw at you, one thing people need to remember is that there are a lot of marks for the written questions in this unit so make sure you are revising the written aspects such as:
- benefits of using transfer price in relation to factory profit
- adv's and disadv's of using budgets in general
- uses, adv's and disadv's of Standard, ABC, Marginal and Absorption costing - comes up a lot!
- adv's and disadv's of break even

also make sure you are reading the way they mark the written questions via past exam mark schemes, i'm not sure if this is a generic problem but because i study Business i often over complicate my answers and miss the basic marks, so make sure you have perfected your writing abilities

Finally make sure at the end of the paper you go through and check every calculation you have made, sounds simple i know but catching the wrong number in a calculator can cost a lot of marks especially in the questions that dont give OF marks, and remember you have 2 hours so pace yourselves and dont rush through the paper!

good luck

i have made a six page booklet and learnt all the written stuff off by heart lol

[HumairaJ]

Does anyone know where I can get the January 2012 paper from?..it's not on the aqa website..

[xX-ViK-Xx]

I'm so scared, need an overall A grade and therefore a mid B would do it, but U4 is hardest out of them all especially written bits :'(


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[gavinkelleher]

(Original post by jaadau121)
i have made a six page booklet and learnt all the written stuff off by heart lol

haha that was good thinking, i've just plastered my room in posters

[gavinkelleher]

(Original post by HumairaJ)
Does anyone know where I can get the January 2012 paper from?..it's not on the aqa website..

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...LTNzmDzWzr8-CQ

[jaadau121]

(Original post by gavinkelleher)
haha that was good thinking, i've just plastered my room in posters

the first thing im gonna do in the exam is look for all written questions and write down what i remeber (ill be waking up at 6 to revise what ive learnt off by heart lol)

(Original post by HumairaJ)
Does anyone know where I can get the January 2012 paper from?..it's not on the aqa website..

google 'accn4 jan 2012'

second link is question paper

third link is mark scheme

[gavinkelleher]

very much doubt they would ask you to draw a break even graph so don't waste time practicing, they may ask you to interpret one but you just need to be able to think on your feet, as long as you can identify margin of safety etc. you will be fine

Also do not stress out! i keep saying this because i am trying not to myself haha, but in the ACCN3 exam i didn't understand the first question on realisation and i freaked and sat doing nothing for 25minutes just panicking and trying to remember how to breathe, keep calm and carry on, leave the harder questions to the end if necessary and write down all of your workings

[Mosinbad]

need 59 for an A

[gavinkelleher]

(Original post by jaadau121)
the first thing im gonna do in the exam is look for all written questions and write down what i remeber (ill be waking up at 6 to revise what ive learnt off by heart lol)

i have to wake up at 6 just to get to college but that's the downside of living an hour away i guess, this is the first exam i've done since January so my main focus is just on not panicking, there's nothing on the syllabus that i can't do, i just make calculation mistakes and miss the simple written marks because i over complicate, but i think if i spend the full 2hours on it i will be fine as i've been doing the mocks in an hour average

[Mosinbad]

(Original post by gavinkelleher)
very much doubt they would ask you to draw a break even graph so don't waste time practicing, they may ask you to interpret one but you just need to be able to think on your feet, as long as you can identify margin of safety etc. you will be fine

Also do not stress out! i keep saying this because i am trying not to myself haha, but in the ACCN3 exam i didn't understand the first question on realisation and i freaked and sat doing nothing for 25minutes just panicking and trying to remember how to breathe, keep calm and carry on, leave the harder questions to the end if necessary and write down all of your workings

Breakeven wont come on, it was on jan 2012 so i dont see it coming up

[gavinkelleher]

i'd rather be prepared for anything haha, the AQA examiners are unpredictable and general knobs when it comes to setting questions