Day 1 - AAA WTS September 22 exams by Kashif Kamran

About this video

• Video Title: Day 1 - AAA WTS September 22 exams by Kashif Kamran
• Channel: Kashif Kamran
• Speakers: Kashif Kamran
• Duration: 02:34:57

Overview

This video is the first day of a webinar series focused on preparing for the Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exams in September 2022. Tutor Kashif Kamran introduces himself, discusses the AAA exam format, pass rates, and the importance of understanding the examiner's mindset. He also covers new developments, time management strategies, critical exam techniques, and how to achieve professional marks. The session concludes with advice on creating a study plan for the remaining 14 days before the exams and recommends relevant articles and past papers.

Key takeaways

• Kashif Kamran's Profile: He is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant with over 15 years of teaching experience, specializing in AAA, AA, and SBL papers. He owns Kashif Kamran's Digital Learning and is associated with various educational institutions.
• AAA Exam Pass Rates: The pass rates for the AAA paper have been declining, with the June 2022 sitting showing a pass rate of 31%.
• 20 Professional Marks: The introduction of 20 professional marks starting from September 2022 does not fundamentally change the paper format but shifts the focus to demonstrating professional skills alongside technical knowledge.
• Syllabus Focus: Syllabus areas D (planning and audit of historical financial statements), E (other assignments), and F (completion, review, and reporting) are crucial for the AAA paper, particularly for Section A and Section B questions.
• Critical Exam Techniques: Key techniques include managing time per question, carefully reading requirements, planning answers (allocating one-fourth of the time), paying attention to verbs and signposts, leaving difficult questions to return later, making the marker's job easier through structure, and avoiding unnecessary lists/bullets.
• Professional Marks Checklist: To gain professional marks, students should structure answers as briefing notes (in question 1), calculate and comment on materiality, calculate and comment on ratios/trends, prioritize significant risks, explain the implications of ethical threats, recommend case-specific actions/procedures, write case-specific answers, provide conclusions where necessary, challenge management statements, evaluate assumptions, and explain impacts on reports.
• Time Management: With the introduction of professional marks, there is an increase in available time per mark (2.44 minutes vs. 1.95 minutes previously), which should be used to improve answer quality and demonstrate professional skills.
• Study Planner for 14 Days: Students should self-evaluate their standing, set a goal for success, create a timetable based on their strengths and weaknesses, rewatch previous webinars, read technical and recent articles (especially new ones and current issues), practice with mock exams, and review examiner reports.
• Recommended Reading: Apart from new articles, students are advised to read knowledge-based articles on laws and regulations, auditor liability, group audits, using the work of internal auditors, going concern, reporting to those charged with governance, proposed revisions to the code of conduct, and data analytics.