CPA Australia SMA study plan

Map the Domain 1 syllabus into a one-page concept sheet covering cost classification, cost behaviour, and the distinction between management and financial accounting

Classify 20 mixed costs into fixed, variable, step, and mixed categories and justify each classification in one sentence

Compute contribution margin, gross margin, and breakeven volume for three worked scenarios without referring to notes

Draft a personal glossary of 25 Domain 1 terms with a one-line definition and one worked example each

Apply activity-based costing to a two-product scenario and compare resulting unit costs against a traditional absorption approach

Explain when ABC changes decisions and when it merely redistributes overhead

Work through process costing using weighted-average equivalent units for a single department

Identify the three most common costing errors you made this week and write a correction note for each

Distinguish planning, budgeting, forecasting, and control, and place each on a timeline for a sample organisation

Prepare a master budget cascade from sales through production, materials, labour, and cash for a single-product firm

Explain the behavioural consequences of top-down versus participative budgeting with two workplace examples

Compute a cash budget and identify the month in which a funding shortfall arises

Integrate standard costing with the budgeting cycle by setting standards for one product and justifying each standard

Compute and interpret material, labour, and overhead variances, splitting each into price and efficiency components

Diagnose whether a variance is controllable and who owns it in a typical organisational structure

Revisit Domain 1 weak points flagged in weeks 1-2 and close at least three of them

Compare financial and non-financial performance measures and select a balanced set for a service business

Design a balanced scorecard with two objectives and one measure per perspective, each with a target and data source

Evaluate return on investment, residual income, and economic value added for a divisional manager, and state which metric drives which behaviour

Identify three dysfunctional behaviours that poorly designed KPIs can incentivise

Separate relevant from irrelevant costs across five short scenarios, naming the sunk, committed, or allocated cost being excluded

Apply relevant costing to a special-order decision including opportunity cost and spare capacity effects

Analyse a make-or-buy and a keep-or-drop decision, quantifying qualitative factors alongside the numbers

Structure a constrained-resource decision using contribution per unit of the limiting factor

Explain how cost management and performance measurement connect to strategy execution and value creation

Distinguish shareholder value from stakeholder and triple-bottom-line perspectives and apply each to one case

Identify sustainability costs and benefits that conventional management accounting omits, and propose how to measure two of them

Assess how an organisation's value chain and competitive position shape its cost structure choices

Consolidate all five domains into a single-page formula and framework sheet you can recall from memory

Complete a timed mixed-domain practice set and log every error by domain and error type

Re-teach your three weakest topics aloud in under five minutes each, without notes

Build a final-week revision list ranked by error frequency and mark each item as closed or open