ACCA BT common mistakes
ACCA BT · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When asked which board committee sets directors' pay, selects the audit committee, or picks the remuneration committee for approving the audit plan, because both names sound 'financial'.
Board committees are memorised as a list of names without linking each committee to its specific decision rights, so exam pressure triggers word-association.
What to do instead
Build a three-column table for each committee: who sits on it, and three decisions only it makes. Then sort 15 mixed duties into audit, remuneration, nomination and risk, writing one line of justification for each.
Defines span of control as 'the number of layers from top to bottom' or says that a wide span produces a long chain of command.
Structural terms are learned as isolated definitions, and the organisation chart is not translated into words.
What to do instead
Draw two organisation charts with the same headcount but different shapes. Label span as the number of direct reports at each level and chain as the number of reporting levels. Write one sentence for each using the phrases 'direct reports' and 'reporting lines'.
Answers a corporate governance question with platitudes such as 'be transparent' or 'act ethically' without naming mechanisms such as independent NEDs, separation of chair and CEO, or audit committee composition.
Governance is treated as general ethics or common sense rather than as a specified set of structural mechanisms.
What to do instead
Learn five named governance mechanisms and, for each, write the problem it solves (for example, independent NEDs counter executive dominance). Practise using the mechanism name in the first sentence of the answer, then explain its effect.
Lists 'competitor pricing' or 'the company's weak cash flow' under PESTEL's economic or legal factors, or places a new tax rate in SWOT strengths.
Both frameworks are taught as 'environment analysis', and the internal/external boundary is not practised under time pressure.
What to do instead
Before answering, draw a line: PESTEL covers external macro factors outside management control; SWOT covers internal strengths and weaknesses plus external opportunities and threats. Sort 12 mini-cases and justify each placement in one line.
Labels a high-power, low-interest stakeholder as 'keep informed', or gives every stakeholder the same communication approach, because the Mendelow quadrants are remembered as a list of names rather than as two axes.
The quadrant labels are memorised without plotting power and interest as separate dimensions.
What to do instead
Draw the 2x2 with power vertical and interest horizontal. For five named stakeholders, score power and interest from 1 to 5, plot each one, then state the strategy: minimal effort, keep informed, keep satisfied or key player.
Describes the firm's own strengths in a Five Forces answer, or omits threat of substitutes and writes only about existing rivals.
Industry attractiveness analysis is confused with internal capability analysis, and the five forces are not rehearsed as a complete set.
What to do instead
Memorise the five forces as a checklist. For each force, write one sentence beginning 'The power of ... depends on ...'. Apply the checklist to one industry and explicitly rule out internal strengths before writing.
Calls a raw list of sales transactions 'information' and says information becomes data after processing, reversing the hierarchy.
Everyday language uses data and information interchangeably, so the exam's technical distinction is not anchored.
What to do instead
Learn the chain data -> information (processed and contextualised) -> knowledge (experience applied). Write one workplace example for each stage and check the direction of transformation before answering.
Says SaaS gives the customer control of the operating system, or labels Office 365 as IaaS because it is delivered over the internet.
Cloud models are memorised as acronyms without the 'who manages what' technology stack.
What to do instead
Draw a three-row stack of application, platform and infrastructure. Mark provider versus customer responsibility for IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, then classify five familiar services and state the dividing line for each.
Answers a Blake-Mouton question by saying '9,9 is best because it is the highest number' without explaining concern for production and concern for people, or calls a manager with high people focus '9,1'.
The grid is learned as numbers rather than as two behavioural dimensions.
What to do instead
Draw the grid with both axes labelled. Write the behaviour at 1,1; 1,9; 9,1; 9,9 and 5,5, and give a one-sentence example of what the leader does at each position.
Lists Tuckman's stages in order but then places 'adjourning' before 'performing', or describes storming as 'politeness and uncertainty'.
Stage names are memorised as a sequence without the behavioural markers that distinguish each stage.
What to do instead
Write a one-line behaviour for each stage, for example storming equals conflict over roles and power. Then map a short team scenario to each stage and justify the match using the behaviour, not the stage name alone.