CIMA P1 study plan

Distinguish and apply absorption, marginal and activity-based costing to a single product scenario, computing overhead absorbed versus incurred

Reconcile marginal costing profit to absorption costing profit and explain the difference caused by inventory movement

Calculate and interpret under- and over-absorption of fixed overheads, including the causes

Build a worked costing schedule from raw data without referring to notes

Apply process costing with normal losses, abnormal losses and scrap values, including equivalent units under FIFO and weighted average

Compute joint-product costs using physical units, sales value at split-off and net realisable value, and justify the method chosen

Explain how by-products and waste are treated in cost accounts

Prepare a process account and an abnormal loss/gain account from a narrative

Apply standard costing to calculate material, labour and overhead variances, splitting each into price and usage/efficiency elements

Interpret variances as a management report, identifying which are controllable and what action follows

Explain the behavioural consequences of using variances as performance measures

Set out the format of a fixed and flexible budget and flex a budget to actual activity

Distinguish fixed, flexible, rolling and zero-based budgeting, and select the appropriate approach for a given organisation

Prepare a cash budget and a budgeted income statement from a set of receipts and payments assumptions

Explain the purpose of budgetary control, feedback and feedforward control

Identify behavioural and motivational issues in the budgeting process, including participation and slack

Calculate and interpret the causes of budget variances, separating planning and operational variances

Reconcile budgeted to actual contribution using a variance statement

Evaluate the use of budgets in performance evaluation, including the risk of short-termism

Apply learning-curve and incremental-budget techniques where relevant

Apply relevant costing to a decision, correctly excluding sunk costs and apportioned fixed overheads and including opportunity costs

Solve make-or-buy, accept-or-reject and shut-down decisions with limiting factors, using contribution per unit of scarce resource

Rank products and allocate a scarce resource, then test whether the ranking changes at a different constraint

Explain qualitative factors that could overturn a quantitative recommendation

Apply expected value, maximax, maximin and minimax regret to a decision under uncertainty, and explain the decision-maker's attitude each implies

Distinguish risk from uncertainty and explain how sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis are used

Compute a sensitivity margin and interpret the value of further information

Explain how the management accountant supports risk management and internal control

Complete a full-length timed mock under exam conditions and mark it against the published structure

Re-work every question missed in the mock until the method is reproduced without notes

Consolidate a one-page formula and method sheet covering costing, variances, relevant costing and decision criteria

Plan exam time allocation per section and rehearse the order in which questions will be attempted