ACCA F9 Financial Management, the last paper in the foundation stage of ACCA. Though it is at the last paper of ACCA Skills module even then it is considered friendly among students and also it is evident from past years’ pass rates.
The reason why this subject is not as tough as F5 and F7 is that this is the first paper in ACCA scheme regarding financial management and thus its syllabus contains many of the basic knowledge regarding this topic. Although F9 extends and includes detailed discussion about many of investment and risk related topics still major portion of the syllabus is of introductory nature.
But students must not ignore that the name of this subject appends the word management with it so it should not be taken lightly. Students, while preparing this subject, should always learn with a perspective of management and how the specific topic will be applied in management situations.
Further, just to give you an idea about how the exam of ACCA F9 is structured, the weightage of theoretical and computational questions is equal i.e. 50%-50%.
Most of the questions will test the students about the ability to apply the knowledge as it is part of “skills” level but about 15%-20% of the questions will be knowledge based.
So, if we sum this paper in few words, it should not be a big deal for those who already sat F5 and F7 (especially F5) but still it should not be taken lightly as examiner tends to ask how the knowledge will be used to solve a particular situation under specific set of conditions and circumstances.