Questions in this paper
Our own one-line description of what each question tests. "Paper" jumps to the question's page in the official PDF; "Comments" to the examiners' notes on it.
| Q | Area | What it tests | Marks | Pass rate | Official | Walkthrough |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part I (MCQs) | MCQs | Fifteen 2-mark MCQs: a multi-product CVP case, an EOQ case for two materials, and standalone items on labour variances, job overhead recovery, operator requirements, LIFO issues and machine spare parts. | 30 | – | Paper Answer Comments | Not yet |
| Q1 | Overheads and cost allocation, Joint products and by-products, Employee cost and incentives | Allocating a shared packaging cost across four products, joint costs with a by-product and a further-processing decision, and Halsey and Rowan earnings. | 14 | – | Paper Answer Comments | Not yet |
| Q2 | Cost sheet, Process and operation costing | Full cost sheet working back to raw material consumed and sales, and a process account with normal waste, an accidental abnormal loss and damaged containers. | 14 | – | Paper Answer Comments | Q2 walkthrough |
| Q3 | Service costing, Unit, batch and job costing | Service costing for loan-application processing at a bank branch, and batch costing for a training course with break-even fee and minimum batch fill. | 14 | – | Paper Answer Comments | Not yet |
| Q4 | Standard costing and variances, Cost accounting systems and reconciliation | Material, labour and variable overhead variances, and a cost sheet with fixed overheads absorbed at normal capacity reconciled to financial profit. | 14 | – | Paper Answer Comments | Not yet |
| Q5 | Overheads and cost allocation, Budgets and budgetary control, Marginal costing and CVP | Machine-shop overhead with operator and machine hours, capacity and activity ratios, and opportunity cost when choosing between two products. | 14 | – | Paper Answer Comments | Not yet |
| Q6 | Introduction to cost and management accounting, Employee cost and incentives, Activity-based costing | Theory: classifying expenses by function and variability, choosing an incentive scheme for stated conditions, and either the suitability of ABC or the components of budgetary control. | 14 | – | Paper Answer Comments | Not yet |
Marks by area
All 114 marks set, by area (includes optional questions). MCQ items count towards their own area.
Overheads and cost allocation15 marks
Marginal costing and CVP13 marks
Employee cost and incentives11 marks
Cost sheet9 marks
Service costing8 marks
Unit, batch and job costing6 marks
Activity-based costing4 marks
Heavier and lighter than usual
Compared with the average across all 3 indexed sittings of CA Inter Paper 4 (differences of 5 marks or more).
Heavier
No area was notably heavier.
Lighter
- Budgets and budgetary control: 5 marks vs 10.3 average
What the examiners said
The main themes of the official examiners' comments, summarised in our own words. Read the full report for question-by-question detail.
- Performance was strongest on incentive-plan earnings, cost classification and the material and labour variances question.
- Joint products, the reconciliation of cost and financial profit, service costing, overhead absorption and budgetary control ratios were below average, often because one early figure (a by-product credit, normal capacity, standard hours) was wrong and carried through.
- The process costing question with an accidental abnormal loss and the theory parts on ABC and budgetary control were rated poor.