BPP ACCA f5 financial management 2017

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Study Text

Paper F5
Performance Management
This ACCA Study Text for Paper F5 Performance
Management has been comprehensively reviewed by
the ACCA examining team. This review guarantees
appropriate depth and breadth of content and
comprehensive syllabus coverage.

Performance Management

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Paper F5
Performance Management

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S
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PAPER F5

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

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In this Study Text which has been reviewed by the ACCA examination team we:
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Highlight the most important elements in the syllabus and the key skills you will need



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Provide lots of exam focus points demonstrating what is expected of you in the exam

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Emphasise key points in regular fast forward summaries



Test your knowledge in quick quizzes



Examine your understanding in our practice question bank

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Reference all the important topics in our full index

BPP's Practice & Revision Kit also supports this paper.

FOR EXAMS IN SEPTEMBER 2016, DECEMBER
2016, MARCH 2017 AND JUNE 2017

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First edition 2007
Ninth edition February 2016

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Introduction

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Contents
Page

Introduction
Helping you to pass
Studying F5
The exam paper and exam formulae
Syllabus and Study Guide

v
vii
viii
ix

Part A Specialist cost and management accounting techniques
1
2a
2b
2c

2d
2e

Costing
Activity based costing
Target costing
Life cycle costing
Throughput accounting
Environmental accounting

3
19
31
39
49
65

Part B Decision-making techniques
3
4
5
6
7

Cost volume profit (CVP) analysis
Limiting factor analysis
Pricing decisions
Short-term decisions
Risk and uncertainty

77
101
127
163
183

Part C Budgeting and control
8
9
10
11
12
13

Budgetary systems
Quantitative analysis in budgeting
Budgeting and standard costing
Variance analysis
Planning and operational variances
Performance analysis and behavioural aspects

217
247
267
287
311
327

Part D Performance measurement and control
14

15
16
17
18

Performance management information systems
Sources of management information and management reports
Performance measurement in private sector organisations
Divisional performance and transfer pricing
Further aspects of performance management

Practice question bank
Practice answer bank
Index

345
363
381
411
433
449
479
533

Review form

Contents

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iii

iv

Introduction

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Helping you to pass
BPP Learning Media – ACCA Approved Content Provider
As an ACCA Approved Content Provider, BPP Learning Media gives you the opportunity to use study
materials reviewed by the ACCA examination team. By incorporating the examination team's comments
and suggestions regarding the depth and breadth of syllabus coverage, the BPP Learning Media Study
Text provides excellent, ACCA-approved support for your studies.

The PER alert
Before you can qualify as an ACCA member, you not only have to pass all your exams but also fulfil a three
year practical experience requirement (PER). To help you to recognise areas of the syllabus that you
might be able to apply in the workplace to achieve different performance objectives, we have introduced
the 'PER alert' feature. You will find this feature throughout the Study Text to remind you that what you
are learning to pass your ACCA exams is equally useful to the fulfilment of the PER requirement.
Your achievement of the PER should now be recorded in your online My Experience record.

Tackling studying
Studying can be a daunting prospect, particularly when you have lots of other commitments. The different
features of the Study Text, the purposes of which are explained fully on the Chapter features page, will
help you whilst studying and improve your chances of exam success.

Developing exam awareness
Our Study Texts are completely focused on helping you pass your exam.

Our advice on Studying F5 outlines the content of the paper, the necessary skills you are expected to be
able to demonstrate and any brought forward knowledge you are expected to have.
Exam focus points are included within the chapters to highlight when and how specific topics were
examined, or how they might be examined in the future.

Using the Syllabus and Study Guide
You can find the syllabus and Study Guide on pages ix - xvii of this Study Text.

Testing what you can do
Testing yourself helps you develop the skills you need to pass the exam and also confirms that you can
recall what you have learnt.
We include Questions – lots of them – both within chapters and in the Practice Question Bank, as well as
Quick Quizzes at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge of the chapter content.

Introduction

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Chapter features
Each chapter contains a number of helpful features to guide you through each topic.
Topic list
Topic list

Syllabus reference

What you will be studying in this chapter and the relevant
section numbers, together with ACCA syllabus references.

Introduction

Puts the chapter content in the context of the syllabus as
a whole.

Study Guide

Links the chapter content with ACCA guidance.

Exam Guide

Highlights how examinable the chapter content is likely to
be and the ways in which it could be examined.

Knowledge brought forward from earlier studies

What you are assumed to know from previous
studies/exams.

FAST FORWARD

Summarises the content of main chapter headings,
allowing you to preview and review each section easily.

Examples

Demonstrate how to apply key knowledge and
techniques.

Key terms

Definitions of important concepts that can often earn you
easy marks in exams.

Exam focus points

When and how specific topics were examined, or how
they may be examined in the future.

Formula to learn

Formulae that are not given in the exam but which have to
be learnt.
Gives you a useful indication of syllabus areas that
closely relate to performance objectives in your Practical
Experience Requirement (PER).

vi

Question

Gives you essential practice of techniques covered in the
chapter.

Case Study

Real world examples of theories and techniques.

Chapter Roundup

A full list of the Fast Forwards included in the chapter,
providing an easy source of review.

Quick Quiz

A quick test of your knowledge of the main topics in the
chapter.

Practice Question Bank

Found at the back of the Study Text with more
comprehensive chapter questions. Cross referenced for
easy navigation.

Introduction

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Studying F5
The F5 exam requires candidates to be able to apply management accounting techniques in business
environments. The key question you need to be able to answer is 'what does it all actually mean?' Modern
technology is capable of producing vast amounts of management accounting information but it has to be
used to help managers make good decisions and manage effectively. The emphasis in this paper is
therefore on practical elements and application to the real world. The exam does not set out to trick you:
the paper will be fair.

1 What F5 is about
The aim of this syllabus is to develop knowledge and skills in the application of management accounting
techniques. It covers a number of specialist techniques, decision-making, budgeting and standard costing,
concluding with how business performance should be managed and controlled.

F5 is the middle paper in the management accounting section of the qualification structure. F2 concerns
just techniques and P5 thinks strategically and considers environmental factors. F5 requires you to be able
to apply techniques and think about their impact on the organisation.

2 What skills are required?


You are expected to have a core of management accounting knowledge from Paper F2.



To deal with the multiple choice questions, you will need to demonstrate understanding of the
subject across the entire syllabus.



For the longer questions, you will be required to carry out calculations, with clear workings and a
logical structure.



You will be required to interpret data.



You will be required to explain management accounting techniques and discuss whether they are
appropriate for a particular organisation.



You must be able to apply your skills in a practical context.

3 How to improve your chances of passing


There is no choice in this paper; all questions have to be answered. You must therefore study the
entire syllabus, there are no short-cuts.



You should then practise extensively on examination-style questions. Practice will improve your
ability to answer questions well, and should enable you to answer them more quickly. BPP's
Practice & Revision Kit contains questions on all areas of the syllabus.



Keep an eye out for articles, as the examination team will use Student Accountant to
communicate with students.



Read journals etc to pick up on ways in which real organisations apply management accounting
and think about your own organisation if that is relevant.

4 Brought forward knowledge
You will need a good working knowledge of basic management accounting from Paper F2. Chapter 1 of this
Study Text revises elements of costing, and further revision material is provided in other chapters, such as
those on CVP analysis and variance analysis. If you struggle with the examples and questions used to revise this
knowledge, you should go back and revisit your previous work. The examination team will assume you know
this material and it may form part of an exam question.

Introduction

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The exam paper and exam formulae
Format of the paper
From September 2016, the exam will be three hours and 15 minutes in duration. The exam paper is
divided into three sections.
Section A consists of 15 multiple choice questions of two marks each.
Section B consists of 15 mini scenario based multiple choice questions of two marks each.
Section C consists of two questions of 20 marks each.
All questions are compulsory.
The exam will cover as much of the syllabus as possible. Syllabus area A will only be examined in Sections
A and B of the exam.

Computer Based Examination
ACCA have announced that they intend to commence the launch of computer based exams (CBEs) for F5–
F9 towards the end of 2016. At the time of going to print the exact details had not been confirmed. Paper
based examinations will be run in parallel while the CBEs are phased in and BPP materials have been
designed to support you, whichever exam option you choose.

Exam formulae
Set out below are the formulae you will be given in the exam. If you are not sure what the symbols
mean, or how the formulae are used, you should refer to the appropriate chapter in this Study Text.
Chapter in
Study Text

Demand curve
P

= a – bQ

b

=

a

= price when Q = 0

5

change in price
change in quantity

MR = a – 2bQ

Learning curve

9

Y = axb
Where

viii

Y

a
x
b
LR

= cumulative average time per unit to produce x units
= the time taken for the first unit of output
= the cumulative number of units
= the index of learning (log LR/log 2)
= the learning rate as a decimal

Introduction

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Syllabus and Study Guide
The F5 syllabus and Study Guide can be found below.

Introduction

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ix


x

Introduction

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Introduction

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xi


xii

Introduction

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Introduction

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xiii


xiv

Introduction

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Introduction

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xv

xvi

Introduction

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Introduction

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xvii


xviii

Introduction

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P
A
R
T
A

Specialist cost and
management accounting
techniques

1
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2
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Costing

Topic list
1 Costing
2 The problem of overheads
3 Revision of absorption costing
4 Overhead absorption
5 Marginal costing
6 Absorption costing and marginal costing compared

Introduction
Part A of this Study Text looks at specialist cost and management accounting
techniques. This chapter serves as a revision of concepts you should have
covered in your previous studies.
In the following chapter we will be looking at more complex techniques, so it is
important that you are familiar with the key concepts and terminology in this
chapter.

3
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Exam guide
This chapter serves as an introduction to your study of cost and management accounting techniques, as
knowledge is assumed from Paper F2 Management Accounting and is still examinable at this level.
Questions in this paper will focus on interpretation rather than doing complex calculations.

1 Costing
FAST FORWARD

Costing is the process of determining the costs of products, services or activities.
Cost accounting is used to determine the cost of products, jobs or services (whatever the organisation
happens to be involved in). Such costs have to be built up using a process known as cost accumulation.
In your earlier studies you will have learnt how to accumulate the various cost elements which make up
total cost.

Absorption costing cost accumulation system

2 The problem of overheads
FAST FORWARD

Indirect costs, or overheads, are costs incurred in making a product or providing a service, but which
cannot be traced directly to products or services. Absorption costing is a means of incorporating a fair
share of these costs into the cost of each unit of product manufactured or each service provided.
If a company manufactures a product, the cost of the product will include the cost of the raw materials
and components used in it and the cost of the labour effort required to make it. These are direct costs of
the product. The company would, however, incur many other costs in making the product which are not
directly attributable to a single product, but which are incurred generally in the process of manufacturing a
large number of product units. These are indirect costs or overheads. Such costs include the following.



Key terms

Factory rent and rates
Machine depreciation




Supervision costs
Heating and lighting

A direct cost is a cost that can be traced in full to the product, service or department that is being costed.
An indirect cost or overhead is a cost that is incurred in the course of making a product, providing a service
or running a department, but which cannot be traced directly and in full to the product, service or department.
In some companies, total overhead costs may be substantially greater than the total of direct production
costs.

4

1: Costing  Part A Specialist cost and management accounting techniques

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It might seem unreasonable to ignore indirect costs entirely when accumulating the costs of making a
product, and yet there cannot be a completely satisfactory way of sharing out indirect costs between the
many different items of production which benefit from them.

2.1 Using absorption costing to deal with the problem of overheads
Traditionally, the view has been that a fair share of overheads should be added to the cost of units
produced to obtain a full unit cost of production and sales. This fair share should include a portion of
production overhead expenditure and possibly administration and marketing overheads too. This is the
view embodied in the principles of absorption costing.

2.1.1 Theoretical justification for using absorption costing
In a manufacturing organisation, production overheads are incurred in making the output, so each unit of

product receives some benefit from these costs. Each unit of output should therefore be charged with
some of the overhead costs.

2.1.2 Practical reasons for using absorption costing
(a)

Inventory valuations
Inventory in hand must be valued for two reasons.
(i)
(ii)

For the closing inventory figure in the statement of financial position
To calculate the cost of sales figure in the income statement

The valuation of inventories will affect profitability during a period because of the way in which the
cost of sales is calculated.
Cost of goods sold = cost of goods produced + the value of opening inventories – the value of
closing inventories
(b)

Pricing decisions
Many companies attempt to set selling prices by calculating the full cost of production or sales of
each product, and then adding a margin for profit. 'Full cost plus pricing' can be particularly useful
for companies which do jobbing or contract work, where each job or contract is different, so that a
standard unit sales price cannot be fixed. Without using absorption costing, it may be difficult to
decide what the price should be to earn a satisfactory profit.

(c)

Establishing the profitability of different products

This argument in favour of absorption costing states that, if a company sells more than one
product, it will be difficult to judge how profitable each individual product is, unless overhead
costs are shared on a fair basis and charged to the cost of sales of each product.

2.2 Using marginal costing to deal with the problem of overheads
For many planning and decision-making purposes, absorption costing is less useful as a costing method
than marginal costing. In some situations, absorption costing can actually be misleading in the
information it supplies.
Advocates of marginal costing take the view that only the variable costs of making and selling a product
or service should be identified. Fixed costs should be dealt with separately and treated as a cost of the
accounting period rather than shared out somehow between units produced. However, some overhead
costs are variable costs, which increase as the total level of activity rises; so the marginal cost of
production and sales should include an amount for variable overheads.

Part A Specialist cost and management accounting techniques  1: Costing

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