cima operational case study august 2021

Operational Level

Operational Case Study

Comprehensive online CIMA OCS courses covering every exam window. Now enrolling for May 2024.

• 29 hours of course content
• 3 Mock Exams with Solutions
• Applied theory sessions
• ACCA exam debrief lectures
• 100s of Practice Questions
• 250 exam-grade questions
• Specimen exam debriefs
• 130 exam-grade questions
• Award-winning training
• Exam debrief lectures
• Theory review lessons of key topics
• Buy and start studying immediately
• Mock exam debriefs

Start learning from only £199.

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Course Features & Benefits

HD video lectures covering the entire syllabus delivered by expert tutors. Crisp audio and vivid examples, accessible from anywhere.

Prepare with realistic exams designed by CIMA gurus for each window. Our online simulator offers real test conditions to practice with precision. Model answers included.

Download detailed course notes on the complete syllabus. Crafted with clarity, these concise and clear guides are filled with real-world examples.

When you buy an individual standard course, you get access to that course forever . With any future syllabus updates automatically added.

Contact our student support team any time if you have technical issues with your course or doubts about your access.

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All our courses are updated to reflect the latest syllabi. Any updates to courses you have access to are incorporated free of charge.

VIVA only works with elite tutors from across the UK and Ireland - from university lectures to former Big 4 managers and company directors.

Your tutor walks you through every question from two ACCA SBR specimen exams and one mock exam, explaining how you should answer on exam day.

Your tutor walks you through every question from the ACCA LW specimen exam, explaining how you should answer on exam day.

Your tutor walks you through every question from two ACCA TX mock exams, explaining how you should answer on exam day.

Handy on-demand review lessons covering the key topics from the E, F and P pillars.

Our famous E/F/P Applied sessions identify the key theories from your OT studies, and model how to apply them in your answers on exam day.

Your tutor walks you through every question from the ACCA AA specimen exam, explaining how you should answer on exam day.

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Andrew is a Chartered Accountant and award-winning tutor. He previously worked as a forensic accountant at a Big Four firm, and spent several years tutoring at Kaplan UK. He was voted PQ Magazine's Lecturer of the Year - Private Sector in 2018. His average student feedback score in 2022 was 9.6/10, having taught over 1,000 learners. He has guided '1st in the World' students on 4 separate occasions.

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Elite Course Extra Benefits

Our Elite Courses include everything from the Standard Course offerings, plus a range of personalised and exclusive features that will guarantee you pass your exams.

Our Elite courses include live, interactive sessions with your tutor and a small cohort of Elite students. Personalised guidance on exam technique and marking criteria.

Elite students get round-the-clock support from their tutor, via office hours, forum access and live interactive sessions.

Mock marking comes as standard for all mock exams on the Elite courses. Our experienced markers give personalised feedback, not just generic advice.

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Your Elite tutor will host sessions focusing on exam writing technique, giving demonstrations and inviting collaboration on constructing answers that are sure to pass.

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*We're so confident in the power of our Elite Courses, that we guarantee your pass. If you meet the conditions and still somehow don't pass, we will grant you free access to the next Elite Course.

Course Syllabus

Operational Case Study covers real-world problem-solving: applying operational theories to practical business challenges. Now enrolling for CIMA OCS May24 courses.

Pre-course work

Choose your exam window.

Select the tab corresponding to your preferred exam window, and then choose between the Standard or Elite Course (features explained in detail above).

The course runs for 6 weeks, starting on Mar 23, 2024.

We offer two payment options.

The course runs for 5 weeks, starting on Jul 06, 2024.

The course runs for 6 weeks, starting on Sep 20, 2024.

The course runs for 5 weeks, starting on Jan 03, 2025.

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Despite very difficult personal circumstances, with VIVA's help I managed to not only pass the SCS but to achieve my highest case study score from the 3 levels. Please keep doing what you do as it's so good!

I passed my OCS with a scaled score of 137 and got a letter from CIMA saying that I obtained the joint third position for the February 2019 case study and I believe that VIVA's materials really helped to make this possible.

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I want to thank VIVA for bringing to a successful end my study journey. I only wish I knew about VIVA earlier! Since using VIVA, I have passed my final exams.

I have used VIVA for all three Case Studies, passing first time on all three. I could not have done it without VIVA's help! Hands down, the best resource out there for CIMA Case Studies.

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Management Accounting Mastery

Master the skills needed to pass the cima exams and become a chartered global management accountant, a breakdown of the cima operational case study exam (ocs).

T he aim of the CIMA Operational Level Case Study Exam (OCS) is to teach you how to APPLY your knowledge from the three objective test papers in the workplace.

Here you’ll play the part of a Finance Officer (at a fictitious organisation) who is responsible for implementing strategy and focuses on the short-term elements of the business.

Some of the competencies you’ll be expected to demonstrate are:

• An understanding of costs and cost accounting, in order for you to start preparing budgets, and advise on short-term changes to products, volume and prices.
• An understanding of how the business is structured and how to communicate aspects of the budget, during both preparation and delivery, to non-finance staff.
• To prepare financial reports to show how the business is performing.
• To produce Management Information such as raw data, performance information, cost reports and present reality through numbers.
• Know about the regulatory environment, financial reporting, and business taxation.
• Making decisions on working capital, cash and short-term finance.
• Influencing your colleagues and peers in the finance department (e.g. product managers).

Exam Window

The OCS will be held during the fourth week (generally five days) in every exam-month –February, May, August and November.

Brought Forward Knowledge Required

You’ll be expected to remember all the key theories, models, frameworks, and calculations etc you learnt in the three objective test papers so that you can apply them to the business setting of the fictitious organisation in the OCS

Learning Outcomes and Syllabus Content

There is no additional syllabus content for you to learn as you should have all the knowledge you need from your studies of the three objective test papers.

However, in the OCS, you must be able to demonstrate that you can apply the following skills from the learning outcomes tested in the three OT exams to the particular business context of the case:

• Technical skills – 64% of your score
• Business skills – 16% of your score
• People Skills – 14% of your score
• Leadership Skills – 6% of your score

Let’s look more closely at these skills below..

1. Technical skills – 64% of your score

Rather than performing specific calculations or simply demonstrating technical knowledge as you would in the objective tests, the OCS goes beyond this and you’ll be expected to:

• Explain the benefits of applying certain techniques to the scenario
• Interpret the findings of a previously prepared analysis/report

The technical skills required in the case study will be drawn from across the CIMA E1, P1 and F1 papers

The OCS will examine you more on higher level skills such as analysis, synthesis, interpretation and justification of recommendation

2. Business skills – 16% of your score

What the OCS is really testing here, is whether you can appreciate that any given syllabus topic from E1, P1 or F1, can have different benefits or drawbacks given different business situations

To develop this awareness ahead of your exam, it’s important that you take an interest in the business news and practice analysing business based case studies.

You will NOT earn credit for business skills if you produce a list of benefits and drawbacks of a management accounting technique without saying WHY they are a benefit or a drawback given the context of the case.

There’s no set list of business skills that you should be aiming to develop and tick off before the exam but you should make sure you are familiar with the fictitious organisation in the case.

3. People Skills – 14% of your score

To be a ‘business ready’ trainee management accountant you are expected to develop people skills including communication, persuasion and understanding others’ needs

4. Leadership Skills – 6% of your score

The tasks you will have to perform in this exam will require an analysis of the situation to consider how to drive performance or to manage organisations and teams through change.

Although the E1 presents some theories on this area for testing in the objective test exams, the OCS will assess application of those theories by asking you to respond to different issues presented in the exam.

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Top tips for Operational Case Study examination

• Application is so important. Generic textbook answers do not score well. The secret here is assimilation of the technical knowledge with the context and details of the pre-seen scenario.
• Use the company name/ staff members/ key themes of the pre-seen -eg environmental or innovative plans to underpin your suggestions & make them relevant & applied.
• Make sure you know your pre-seen inside out… eg if the company does not offer credit sales at the moment, be careful not to suggest debt factoring as a way to ease cashflow!!
• CIMA examiner has asked that students assume life as normal for their case-study answers (Eg a life before COVID pandemic began)… Although, all relevant comments will be awarded if correct and in context, but you should avoid excessive references to COVID/ lockdown/ impact of health social distancing etc on the company.
• Students should be familiar with the CIMA Blueprint… particularly the I – CAN statements. 

https://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/Future%20of%20Finance/1901-9263%20Operational%20Exam%20Blueprints%20FINAL%20ONLINE%20v4.pdf

The ‘I CAN pages from this link are pasted below..

These tell student the weightings and mix of the topics they can expect in EVERY OCS exam…

For example -from the ICAN table..– Section F ( working capital) will be between 7 and 13% of every op case study exam paper – so this table shows the importance of those topic areas – eg we know from this that working capital will be examined in EVERY OCS exam paper going forward (at least 7% of the marks) – so this topic is guaranteed…

Use your objective test knowledge ( 2019 syllabus) notes & Open Tuition lectures to revise – bearing in mind P1 is the LEAD paper for OCS, but F1 and E1 both important too,

When working through your P1/ F1/ E1 notes –try to keep a high level overview – rather than drilling down to the detailed calculations – instead be able to explain/ define/ know the pros and cons of techniques and whether they would be ‘useful’ for the pre-seen company in your scenario.

Graphs are common in the OCS – so be sure you can explain and interpret graphs ( linear programming for example).

Always write enough – ensure you expand/ explain & apply. Leave lots of white space – use subheadings to present your answers & help markers award marks that you deserve.

Avoid bullet points – unless you are out of time

Use the percentage weightings of each exam SUBTASK to guide how much time to spend on each part of your answer

Visit CIMA website & find detailed examiner reports & past exam questions to see errors and weaknesses made by students in recent sittings. Also a good way to see the types of questions to expect and level of detail CIMA are requiring in their answers.

Exam pass rates

Certificate in Business Accounting, CIMA’s CGMA® Professional Qualification Objective Test and Case Study Exam pass rates

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Exam Resource

May-aug24 management pre-seen material.