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Accounting Technicians Ireland

Chief Moderator’s Report

Academic year: 2013-2014

Exam sessions: Summer and Autumn

Exam papers and solutions received:

Certificate: Financial Accounting Diploma: Advanced Financial Accounting

Law and Ethics (NI) Advanced Taxation (RoI)

Law and Ethics (RoI) Advanced Taxation (NI)

Business Management Management Accounting

Taxation (NI)

Taxation (RoI)

Submitted by:

Dr. Antoinette Flynn,

Department of Accounting and Finance,

Kemmy Business School,

University of Limerick,

Limerick.

16th October 2014

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Table of Contents Overview of Report Structure: ............................................................................................................ 2

Section A: Modular Review of the Summer and Autumn Certificate exam sessions ......................... 3

Section B: Modular Review of the Summer and Autumn Diploma exam sessions ............................ 7

Section C: Reflections on the Summer and Autumn Certificate exam sessions ............................... 12

Section D: Reflections on the Summer and Autumn Diploma exam sessions .................................. 13

Section E: Exam Moderation Process ............................................................................................... 14

Section F: Declaration and Signature. ............................................................................................... 15

Appendix: Overall Exam Statistics, 3 year view ................................................................................ 16

Overall Exam Statistics .................................................................................................................. 16

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Overview of Report Structure:

Section A: Modular Review of the Summer and Autumn Certificate exam sessions

Section A includes commentary on the exam papers and solutions for Summer and

Autumn Certificate exam sessions in relation to content, style, balance of difficult versus

easier questions, the appropriateness of exam marks, the degree of difference between

Summer and Autumn papers, how the paper addresses the learning outcomes, how the

paper addresses the syllabus, and any other comments deemed appropriate.

Section B: Modular Review of the Summer and Autumn Diploma exam sessions

Section B includes commentary on the exam papers and solutions for Summer and

Autumn Diploma exam sessions in relation to content, style, balance of difficult versus

easier questions, the appropriateness of exam marks, the degree of difference between

Summer and Autumn papers, how the paper addresses the learning outcomes, how the

paper addresses the syllabus, and any other comments deemed appropriate.

Sections C and D: Reflections on the Summer and Autumn Certificate/Diploma exam

sessions

Sections C and D includes commentary on the balance of difficulty across both the

Certificate and Diploma examinations and on the standard of examinations for the

Certificate and Diploma level for the Summer and Autumn exam sessions.

Section E: Review of the Moderation Process

Section E outlines the exam moderation process, the role of the Chief Moderator in that

process and an overall review of the conduct of the Board of Examiners at programme

level.

Section F: Declaration and Signature

Section F is a declaration signed by the Chief Moderator, giving an opinion on

Accounting Technicians Ireland’s examination moderation and whether its examination

process meets the appropriate academic standards.

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Section A: Modular Review of the Summer and Autumn Certificate exam

sessions

Certificate

Financial

Accounting

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

Both exam papers were a fair challenge for students with more

choice than last year’s exam papers. Last year, I suggested that the

examiner should consider broadening the exam question choice for

students.

This year, the examiner included a choice within the compulsory

question 3, (6 parts do 4), which is very welcome. As well as

providing an element of choice, it captures the breadth of the

syllabus, thereby enabling the students more opportunities to

demonstrate their attainment of the learning outcomes.

Both papers were well laid out, and the marks per question/part of

question and instructions were very clear to students. The allocated

marks per question/part of a question clearly differentiated the

difficulty of the various questions/sub-parts within questions. The

differentiation of the marks also accurately reflects the different

levels of cognitive learning outcomes, as suggested in the syllabus.

The exam papers covered a wide range of the syllabus and the

Summer exam paper was sufficiently different from the Autumn

paper. The inclusion of a theory question and theory sub-sections in

the repeat paper, in particular Q3 and Q4 for example, is

commendable. These theory questions create another opportunity to

provide varied evidence of student understanding.

Overall, the Summer and Autumn papers are appropriately designed

to examine specific module learning outcomes.

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Certificate

Law and

Ethics (RoI)

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

Both exam papers are challenging in terms of breadth and depth of

content and time management with 9 questions out of 13, to answer

(with reading time, that’s an average of 16 minutes per question in

Section B and C).

Examiners have considered broadening the exam question choice for

students and as a consequence, there is more choice in this year’s

papers in comparison to last year’s papers. The addition of two

questions, one in section B and one in section C, provides students

with further opportunities to demonstrate their attainment of the

learning outcomes.

Each of the three sections follows the logic of the course syllabus.

The examiner labelled each question in both papers clearly and this

facilitated the student to quickly determine their question choices. It

also clearly demonstrates how both exams map onto the syllabus for

future students.

The papers are well laid-out. The marks per question/part of

question are allocated appropriately and the examination instructions

are very clear to students. Both papers cover a wide range of topics

across the syllabus. The Autumn paper is sufficiently different from

Summer paper, with a welcome variety in questioning styles

employed in both.

Overall, the Summer and Autumn exam papers are appropriately

designed to examine specific module learning outcomes.

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Certificate

Business

Management

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

Both exam papers are suitable for this subject level and provide

students with a good choice (compulsory question in Section A and

good choice in Section B) to demonstrate their learning outcome

attainment. A broad range of syllabus topics is examined across both

papers. The exam papers are well laid-out, and the marks per

question/part of question and instructions very clear to students. The

Autumn paper is sufficiently different from Summer paper.

In this year’s papers, there is a clearer link between the question

requirement and the mark awarded (more marks for discussion

items), as per the recommendation. This better aligns the assessment

with the learning outcomes and delineates between the questions/sub-

questions that require evidence of knowledge and those that assess

the student’s comprehension.

Overall, the Summer and Autumn papers are appropriately designed

to examine specific module learning outcomes.

Taxation

(RoI)

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

These exam papers are challenging paper with very limited choice

(no choice in Section A and limited choice in Section B). Both exam

papers covered a wide range of topics across the syllabus. In

particular, both papers made good use of multiple choice questions to

capture the breadth of the syllabus.

Q6 MCQ in the Summer paper and Q3 MCQ in the Autumn paper

capture the breadth of the syllabus allowing the students to

demonstrate their attainment of the learning outcomes. Furthermore,

the inclusion of narrative style questions (Q3 in the Summer paper

and Q6 in the Autumn paper) introduces a better balance across this

very numeric paper.

Careful attention has been paid to the structure and lay-out of the

exam papers and the marks per question/part of question and

instructions are very clear to students. The allocation of marks

within questions accurately differentiates the difficulty of the various

parts of the questions and supports the examiner’s goal to distinguish

between different levels of attainment.

Generally, the Summer and Autumn exam papers are suitably

prepared to examine specific module learning outcomes.

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Certificate

Taxation

(NI)

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

Both taxation exam papers are demanding paper with very limited

choice (no choice in Section A and limited choice in Section B). The

intensity of this exam reflects the intensity of the syllabus of this

module.

There are a good range of topics across the syllabus examined in this

paper, as demonstrated in Q1 in the Summer paper and Q5 and Q6 in

the Autumn paper. Also, the inclusion of narrative sub-questions in

Q6 (Summer paper) is a welcome to approach to capturing and

examining the breadth of the syllabus. They provide another

opportunity to accommodate the potential diversity of students’

learning styles.

Both papers were well prepared and structured and the marks per

question/part of question and instructions were very clear to students.

The Autumn and Summer exam papers are sufficiently different from

each other to appropriately test students.

The NI tax papers are quite different in style to the ROI tax papers,

with the latter being heavily weighted towards calculations. Some

consideration should be given to this as part of an overall syllabus

and programme review and closer co-ordination of between

examiners is recommended.

On the whole, the Summer and Autumn papers were appropriately

prepared to test specific module learning outcomes.

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Section B: Modular Review of the Summer and Autumn Diploma exam

sessions

Diploma

Advanced

Financial

Accounting

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

The exams papers represent a fair challenge for students, with limited

choice for students (no choice in Section A and limited choice in

Section B). Unlike last year’s papers, there is no choice within

questions.

Both papers cover a wide range of topics across the syllabus. In

particular, Q2 in the Summer and Autumn papers tests the breadth of

knowledge of the students.

The Summer paper did not follow the standard 20 marks per

question, as opposed to the Autumn paper. The examiner has

carefully allocated the marks according to question difficulty and

requirements (for example, 20, 15 and 25 marks in section A). On

review, the marks accurately reflect the difficulty of questions and

confirm that the examiner is continually aware of the need to match

the examination mark to the difficulty of the examination question.

Both papers are well laid out, and the marks per question/part of

question are very clear as are the instructions to students (excellent

attention to detail and presentation overall). The Autumn exam is

sufficiently different from the Summer exam.

It is commendable that theory/narrative questions/sub-questions

appear in both papers. These theory/narrative questions test the

students understanding of the theory and as such both provide a

balance to the calculation-style questions in the paper.

Some consideration should be given to broadening the exam question

choice for students. For example, Q1 could be the only compulsory

question on the paper. This can be discussed at the syllabus review.

In general, these exam papers were very well thought-out and

distinctively set at a higher level in comparison to Financial

Accounting Autumn exam offered to the Certificate students.

Overall, the Summer and Autumn papers are appropriately designed

to examine specific module learning outcomes.

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Diploma

Advanced

Taxation

(RoI)

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

Both these exam papers were appropriately challenging at this level,

with some choice (no choice in Section A and a good choice in

Section B, two out of four questions).

Both papers included a good range of topics from the syllabus and

yet, they were sufficiently different from each other. For example,

the use of MCQ (Q6) and the narrative question (Q7) in the Summer

paper appropriately captures the breadth of the syllabus and provides

a welcome balance in the paper. The balance of theory and

calculation questions in both papers allows for diversity among

learning styles and provide excellent platforms for students to

demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the syllabus.

The marking of questions (marks per question/part of question) and

the instructions were presented very clearly to students. Some more

consideration should be given to the norm of 20% per question when

clearly different questions require more time to answer/are more

difficult to answer. For example, Q1 and Q2 in the Summer exam

are the more demanding questions yet both are marked on par with

other questions.

Finally, this exam is specifically set at a higher level in comparison

to Taxation exam offered to the Certificate students. Overall, the

Summer and Autumn papers are appropriately designed to examine

specific module learning outcomes.

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Diploma

Advanced

Taxation

(NI)

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

Both these papers were demanding with some choice (no choice in

Section A and a good choice in Section B). The questions covered a

wide range of topics across the syllabus especially with the inclusion

of Q7 in the Summer paper.

The paper is well laid out. Marks per question/part of question are

consistently shown throughout and the instructions are clear, explicit

and consistent with other papers.

The allocated marks per question/part of question differentiate the

difficulty of the various questions and support the examiner’s goal of

Examiner to distinguish between different levels of attainment.

As per last year’s recommendation, the examiner included partial

discussion/theory questions is appropriate at this level (for example

Q4, b and Q6,a in the Summer exam). This addition is appropriate

for this level and provides greater balance in both papers.

Appropriately, the Diploma-level tax papers are set at a distinctively

different (higher) level in comparison to the taxation exams offered

to the Certificate students.

Overall, the Summer and Autumn papers are appropriately prepared

to examine the module’s various learning outcomes.

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Diploma

Management

Accounting

Summer and

Autumn

Exams and

Solutions

Both papers are prepared at an appropriate level, with some choice

for students (all compulsory questions in Section A and limited

choice in Section B).

The questions on both papers cover a wide range of syllabus topics

but are sufficiently different from each other.

Both papers are very well laid out paper and the instructions are

clearly presented to the students. The balance of the marks for

questions across sub-parts appears to accurately reflect the difficulty

and the mark awarded. The marking scheme differentiates the

difficulty of the various questions and supports the examiner’s goal

of distinguishing between different levels of attainment.

The inclusion of discussion/theory questions/sub-questions in each

paper is appropriate at this level and provides greater balance in the

papers. For example, Q4, Q2c, Q5b in the summer paper and Q4 and

the narrative sub-parts in questions 6 (a and b) and 5 (b) in the

Autumn paper offer students further and varied opportunities to

demonstrate their understanding of the syllabus.

Both papers are set at a distinctively Diploma level. Overall, the

Summer and Autumn papers are appropriately designed to examine

module learning outcomes.

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Diploma D

iplo

ma:

IAS

Summer

and

Autumn

Exams

The three variants of the exam papers represent a

comprehensive challenge to students, covering in-depth their

knowledge of SAGE payroll, accounts and excel.

The papers are well laid out and the marks per question/part of

question are very clear to students. The instructions for the

student are clearly presented in sufficient detail in each paper.

The questions are designed to allow the student to demonstrate

their knowledge and learning in a layered fashion. The

marking scheme appropriately captures each new component,

mindful of the need to avoid awarding marks for work

completed in the earlier parts/sections.

The three papers are sufficiently different from each other but

are comparable in terms of the standard required.

Overall, the IAS Summer and Autumn papers are

appropriately designed to examine the specific module

learning outcomes.

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Section C: Reflections on the Summer and Autumn Certificate exam sessions

To : The Accounting Technicians Ireland Board of Examiners

Overall, the standard and quality of examination preparation is appropriate to a Certificate

level course. On balance, the examinations represent a reasonable challenge to the students

and were more clearly linked to the module learning outcomes. Examiners have reviewed the

allocation of marks for questions to ensure they reflect the difficulty of the question and that

the marks appropriately differentiate between a memory-testing item (list/detail) and a higher

cognitive function item (comment/discuss). Overall, one can conclude that the marking

schemes adopted have allowed the examiners to distinguish between different levels of

learning outcome attainment.

In my last report, I suggested that where possible, a theory question/discussion question

should be included on the examination paper to better balance the paper and offer students a

choice, which acknowledges the diversity of students’ learning styles. The examiners have

taken this point on board and where practical, have included a narrative or theory related

question(s) or included it as part of a question. From a pedagogic stance, the inclusion of

theory/discussion questions may also allow the examiner to refine the assessment tool to best

reflect the range of learning outcomes associated with the module syllabus.

Historically, there has been limited choice offered to students in most papers. Again, there

may be historic reasons or a syllabus-driven rationale for this constraint. Where practical,

examiners have now included a choice within exam sections or more commonly, a choice

within exam questions (6 subsections, do 4). This adjustment is most welcome and greatly

facilitates the demonstration of learning attainment by the student to the examiner. It remains

to be seen whether this adjustment will incentivise strategic students to take the exam (and

hopefully pass) rather than opting out of the exam altogether to ensure that other less onerous

exams are passed (self-management of workload).

A review of the examination statistics (see appendix) revealed that there is a general

improvement in Certificate pass rates, in comparison to AY 2012-2013 (bar the obvious

exception of Law and Ethics, Northern Ireland). This aberration was discussed at length at

the exam board and the members suggested a variety of avenues for investigation, some of

which are being pursued.

In last year’s report, the unusual drop in the pass rate for Taxation, Northern Ireland was

noted. This year, that trend has reversed and once again, the taxation exams in the Republic

and Northern Ireland have similar pass rates. Finally, this year the percentage of absent

students has breached the normal levels of between 10%-16%, of those that register to sit an

exam. This issue was explored in more detail at the exam board and will be investigated

further.

As I have stated in my previous report, studying financial accounting for the first time in

tandem with taxation can be somewhat confusing for students. Some of the terminology and

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how the information is presented, are similar across the modules and the capacity to separate

their applications may not be evident to ab-initio students. From my experience, a basic

financial accounting module is usually a pre-requisite for students studying tax for the first

time. To what extent ATI students find that combination difficult remains to be seen. This

issue should be explored as part of the wider syllabus review in the near future. Furthermore,

the intensity of some of the exam papers (taxation in particular) should be addressed at that

syllabus review.

Section D: Reflections on the Summer and Autumn Diploma exam sessions

To : The Accounting Technicians Ireland Board of Examiners

Overall, the standard and quality of examination preparation is appropriate to a Diploma level

course. On balance, the examinations represent a reasonable challenge to the students and

were clearly linked to the module learning outcomes. The marking schemes adopted allowed

the examiners to distinguish between different levels of attainment. Indeed, all of the

observations I have already made on the allocation of marks and expanding the choice on the

exam papers in Section C, are applicable here too. For this year’s submissions, there is a

consistently high standard of exam presentation across all papers.

At this level, one or more theory/discussion (higher cognitive function item) questions are

included to truly test the student’s understanding of the concepts. The examiners have where

practical, included a full theory questions or part of a theory question. It should be noted that

the examiners were aware of the need to clearly signal any and all changes to the exam

format in advance to instructors and students. Any and all changes (minor or otherwise) were

effectively communicated by the examiners during the Liaison Days.

On balance, the exam choice is still limited at this level. The Advanced Taxation papers offer

more choice but the standard of 3 compulsory questions is adopted throughout at this level.

The impact of this relatively confined choice should be considered at the syllabus/programme

review.

The advanced modules in Taxation and Financial Accounting flow nicely from the

introductory modules offered in the certificate year. They build on the student’s prior

knowledge and deepen their appreciation for the topics. Management Accounting is

appropriately placed in the Diploma year of this programme as it is too challenging for an

absolute beginner. The IAS module is a valuable practical component of the Diploma, as it

simultaneously develops the student’s specific accounting-related IT skills and integrates the

learning in other modules. It should be noted that the IAS (TAS) option is being

discontinued and will not be offered in 2014-2015 except for repeating students.

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A review of the examination statistics (see appendix) revealed that there is a welcome year-

on-year improvement in Diploma pass rates, in comparison to AY 2012-2013 and AY 2011-

2012 (except for parts of the IAS exam). The falling pass rates of the IAS exam are to be

expected, given the efforts of the examiner and external examiner to design exam papers that

provide a more comprehensive challenge to students, in order to better support the

development of their skills in computerized payroll and accounts.

The four modules appear to be a reasonable workload for Diploma students (who may or may

not be full-time students). To what extent ATI students find that combination difficult

remains to be seen. This issue of a ‘reasonable workload’ should be discussed in relation to

the syllabus/programme review across both the Certificate and Diploma levels.

Section E: Exam Moderation Process

The exam moderation process began with the distribution of the exam papers and exam

solutions, prepared by the individual examiners (each examiner is a subject specialist), to the

relevant external examiners, by mid-December, 2013. The external examiners are

independent subject specialists tasked to review their allocated exam papers for clarity,

accuracy, relevance and suitability to the certificate/diploma examination level.

Simultaneously, all certificate and diploma exam papers and exam solutions were distributed

to the Chief Moderator, for an additional independent review and to determine that the exam

papers represent a fair challenge to the students, allowing them to demonstrate achievement

of the learning outcomes on a modular basis.

This year, a new means of draft exam distribution was piloted among examiners and external

examiners. While some technical and process issues were highlighted, it proved to be more

effective, immediate and cost beneficial than the older system and will continue to be adopted

as a better means of timely distribution, albeit with minor process refinements.

The external examiners prepared a written review of the exam papers and solutions. On

receipt of the external examiners feedback, the subject examiners worked closely with the

external examiners to ensure that the issues highlighted were addressed, to the advantage of

the student. The Chief Moderator also prepared a preliminary report that addressed each of

the individual papers and provided commentary on the overall certificate and diploma set of

examinations. The individual examiners also considered this report and any issues of

presentation/accuracy etc. were appropriately addressed.

The Modular Boards, the first scheduled for early February 2014, provided an in-depth

opportunity to review each exam paper, in light of the external examiners feedback and the

Chief Moderator’s report. At this forum, the issues for discussion that I highlighted in my

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report were explored in an open and collegiate manner and a consensus recommendation was

arrived at, where possible and practical. For example, examiners agreed to consider how they

could broaden the exam choice for students, within the various constraints of module exam

preparation. Any changes adopted for future exam papers were discussed at a later date with

the Chief Moderator (if required) and were highlighted to tutors in the Liaison Days, October

2014.

The Exam Boards (Summer and Autumn) were convened to review and ratify the

examination results of students. The boards discussed the examination statistics, question by

question for each exam paper. The examiner (who also responsible for the correction of the

the exam scripts) discussed the examinations statistics with reference to the overall pass rate

of the subject etc. (see the appendix for more details of examination statistics). The Chief

Moderator also discussed the overall examination statistics in relation to the expected

programme norms, which prompted further discussion and clarification. Special

Circumstances and/or Breach of Discipline matters were presented in an appropriate manner

and the Exam Board decisions made were in line with regulations.

The external examiners also prepared a report with an opinion on the fair and consistent

marking of each paper, in line with the agreed Marking Scheme and the overall distribution

of the marks, in relation to expectations. That report provided general and specific (question

by question) feedback for students on the examinations. This report is published online

annually and is a very valuable resource for students. I would highly recommend that all

students and tutors should read and reflect on the examiners reports, as a very valuable

learning resource. Overall, I am satisfied with the Modular Board and the Exam Board

process and the overall review conducted at the Board of Examiners at programme level.

Section F: Declaration and Signature.

In my opinion, assuming that the items mentioned in sections A through to D are addressed

where practical, the Accounting Technicians Ireland examination process as a whole meets

the requirements of the specification and maintains standards year on year. I fully understand

that Accounting Technicians Ireland reserves the right to make the final determination in all

matters relating to the examination process.

_______________________________________________

Dr. Antoinette Flynn

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Appendix: Overall Exam Statistics, 3 year view

Overall Exam Statistics

3 Year View

Summary Report

The table below shows the overall pass rate statistics for each subject for the past three years. The

figures are based on the nos. of students who pass the subject in either Summer (May) or Autumn

(August).

This therefore shows the overall pass rate for the subject for the Academic Year in question.

Figures are shown rounded to the nearest whole number for convenience.

Subject Name 2013-2014 2012-2013 2011-2012

1st YEAR

Financial Accounting 79% 78% 68%

Business Management 83% 82% 82%

Taxation (ROI) 78% 82% 82%

Taxation (NI) 80% 73% 79%

Law & Ethics (ROI) 74% 76% 71%

Law & Ethics (NI) 67% 79% 70%

2nd YEAR

Advanced Financial Acc. 80% 79% 79%

Management Acc. 85% 79% 76%

Adv. Taxation (ROI) 74% 75% 66%

Adv. Taxation (NI) 80% 79% 79%

IAS (Sage ROI) 79% 89% 81%

IAS (TAS) 76% 82% 89%

IAS (Sage NI) 86% 87% 89%

NOTE: The IAS (TAS) option is being discontinued and will not be offered in 2014-2015 except for

repeating students.