From the perspective of someone who has taught F4 paper, and its predecessor papers for 12 years, the 2 main reasons why students don’t pass this paper can be summarised as:
Lack of knowledge
An inability to apply knowledge to questions
This article will aim to tackle each of these with some practical advice from myself, and some of the thoughts of your examiner.
Knowledge of the principles of law
To start here lets be clear about what the F4 examiner is looking for: it’s an awareness of the principles of law that affect accountants NOT an in-depth knowledge of English law through the perspective of a budding lawyer. Beware though; this does not mean that your examiner and his marking team are a soft touch:
From ACCA Examiner’s Report
‘…there were also many poor performances, whichindicated a lack, and in some cases a total lack, of legal knowledge.’
‘…some could cite the case of Dunlop v Selfridge to explain it, their knowledge of the exceptions to the rule left much to be desired. A surprising number knew very little.’
In practice this means you can afford to be a little less precise when answering questions than in other ACCA papers. Let me show you what I mean.
Imagine a question asks you to ‘Explain the meaning and effect of Counter Offer’. Any of the following responses would gain 2 marks in the exam, being 1 mark for the explanation and 1 mark for the use, or attempted use, of a relevant case.
Example 1 – A counter offer is where one party replies to an offer with a lower bid. The effect of the lower bid is to leave the original offer null and void per the case of Hyde v Wrench.
Example 2 – A counter offer is where one party replies to an offer with a lower bid. The effect of the lower bid is to leave the original offer null and void per the case of Hyde v ?
Example 3 – A counter offer is where one party replies to an offer with a lower bid. The effect of the lower bid is to leave the original offer null and void
For example, if A were to offer B his car for £500, and B was to reply that he would accept the car but only pay £400 this would be a counter-offer.
These illustrations seek to show how the markers will look to see if the accountancy student can communicate that they have learnt the relevant legal principles.
So now you know the level of learning that’s expected I guess we ought to move onto what you may want to know which is HOW do you learn all of this stuff?
Well for starters it pays to acquaint yourself with your examiner and his style. A quick review of his past exams will show you the following about a typical F4 English paper:
Q1 – The English legal system
Q2 – Contract formation
Q3 – The tort of negligence
Q4 – Company law Knowledge questions
Q5 – Capital and financing
Q6 – Variable topic
Q7 – Employment law
Q8 – Contract breach and damages
Q9 – Company law (often Directors) Problem / application questions
Q10 – Variable topic
This information isn’t meant to act as a set of exams tips, merely pointing out that the exam follows a fairly predictable format. It is always worth looking at the last exam though, as with the exception of contract breach topics very rarely get examined 2 sittings in a row, due to the breadth of the syllabus.
Anyway you really want to know how to learn law so let’s get cracking by showing you how I personally approach new topics, using a variety of techniques illustrated below.
