Financial Management

Where the marks are

Percentages are the examinable weighting for each area. Revising in this order puts your time where the marks are.

1. Investment Appraisal

   25%

   Investment appraisal methods · Inflation and taxation in DCF · Risk and uncertainty in investment appraisal · Specific investment decisions

2. Business Finance

   20%

   Sources of finance · Cost of capital · Sources of finance and their relative costs · Capital structure theories and practical considerations · Finance for micro, small and medium sized entities (MSMEs)

3. Business Valuations

   15%

   Nature and purpose of the valuation of business and financial assets · Choice of assets valuation bases · The valuation of debt and other financial assets · Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and practical considerations in the valuation of shares

4. Risk Management

   15%

   The nature and types of risks and approaches to risk management · Causes of exchange rate differences and interest rate fluctuations · Hedging techniques for foreign currency risk · Hedging techniques for interest rate risk

5. Working Capital Management

   15%

   The nature, elements and importance of working capital · Management of inventories, accounts receivable, accounts payable and cash · Determining working capital needs

6. Financial Management Function and Environment

   10%

   The nature and purpose of financial management · Corporate objectives and the influence of stakeholders · Financial management in not-for-profit organisations · The economic environment of business · Financial markets and institutions

Where candidates lose this paper

The Institute publishes its own past questions. What it cannot give you is an answer to these.

There is not enough time to read the whole study text before the diet.

The official study text condensed and reorganised by examinable weighting, with every claim cited back to the page it came from — so you can check anything you doubt in one click.

You write practice answers for months and never find out whether a single one would have scored.

Write by hand, photograph it, and have it marked against the examiner's own marking guide — with the marks broken down the way the examiner breaks them down, and the reason for each one.

The study text is hundreds of pages and none of it tells you which parts the examiner actually asks about.

Every syllabus topic, ordered by the share of marks it carries, so your revision time follows the marks instead of the page count.

You know the answer but lose marks anyway, and no one ever explains where they went.

The Institute's published solution beside your attempt, with the mark allocation visible — so you can see the marks sitting in the principle and the application, not only the final figure.

You have only ever typed your answers, and the paper is written by hand.

Timed mocks written on paper, under exam conditions, so you discover how long handwriting takes before it costs you a question.