icaew case study november 2021 student room

Orders of merit

Advanced level - july 2024, international subject order of merit.

Faye Bottomley, London (KPMG LLP)

Corporate Reporting

Eleanor Greenwood, Aldershot (Dixon Wilson)

Strategic Business Management

Ryan Betts, Reading (RSM UK Audit LLP) Joseph Gabbott, Poole (Forvis Mazars LLP)

View the Order of Merit.

Training-by-Eos

Your key to icaew case study success.

Urgent update to November 2021 tuition 

It is with regret that, due to severe and sudden illness we have made the difficult decision to cancel all Training-by-Eos tuition for the November 2021 Case Study exam.

A member of the team will be in contact with all existing students to go through the refund process.

Knowledge, skills and expertise

Our unique experience gives you the tools you need to pass.

Neil brings a unique and valuable perspective to ICAEW Case Study tuition, having led the ICAEW Case Study examining team as Senior Examiner for 12 years. During this time his team produced 25 live examinations and introduced Competency Based Assessment to the ACA Case Study Exam. 

Using our unrivalled combination of experience in setting and marking ACA Case Study, we build your confidence and give you the exam technique you need to pass.

Whether you are looking for a complete tuition package, or simply to enhance your existing tuition with ACA Case Study Mock Exams or   Adv ance Information Analysis support, Training-by-Eos can help you.

5 ways we will support you

Training-by-eos are icaew case study specialists. we believe that everyone who has made it this far is capable of passing the aca case study exam, and we are here to help you..

Our FREE Marks Feedback Review course gives you the understanding of where you went wrong, what the examiners were looking for, and enables you to create your plan for passing

Our Mastering Case Study course builds your confidence in using our proven exam technique

Our Case Study Masterclass Tuition guides you through the ICAEW Case Study Business Advance Information, and develops your exam technique using 4 Mock Exams based on the Live AI

4 Mock Exams written by our ICAEW experienced team, including an illustrative answer, planning sheets and ICAEW style marking key provide you with detailed feedback

Our forums enable you to ask questions of our tutors and discuss ideas with your colleagues

Why choose us

Outstanding pass rates.

In the November 2020 exam, Beal, our students achieved an average pass rate of over 20% points more than the ICAEW equivalent (89.7% v 69.1%).

100% of our students recommend us

"I have recommended Case by EOS to 3 people sitting in November as it is the best case tuition provider. Nothing but praise for the work and effort put in." - Amjad, passed August 2020

Available across the globe

We have worked with 4,400+ students across 42 countries since 2011

"I am really impressed - proper time and effort has gone into the marking and giving us analysis that we can use"

- rahil, passed july 2019.

ICAEW Case Study

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Case Study blog

A free resource for all case study students: exam preparation and technique tips delivered straight to your inbox..

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Advanced Level Case Study advance information

The Advanced Level Case Study exam includes advance information released prior to the exam sitting. This allows you time to become familiar with the information and to undertake any other appropriate research and analysis.

Select the relevant product below, depending on the exam sitting, and proceed to check out to get the product in your ICAEW Bookshelf. You will be able to access this within your exam and see any notes and highlights you’ve made, as well as using the search function.

This document is also available as a standard PDF that you can print and use in your exam sitting.

To access the pdf and for more information on the Case Study exam, please visit https://www.icaew.com/for-current-aca-students/exam-resources/advanced-level/case-study .

Available editions:

New website launched

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website which integrates our learning platform, information website, purchase links and The Profit Room (our free student learning community) within a single site. Hit the button below to visit our new website. Hope to see you there soon (and in the next few seconds hopefully!). ‍

For exclusive Case Study tips, sign up to The Profit Room , our free student learning community!

Case study. what to do to pass..

"Unique" is one word for Case Study. We have heard less polite words used, but let's go with "unique". With zero technical content and a closed-form markscheme, Case Study is fundamentally different to all the other ACA papers. Which can be confusing after taking 14 broadly similar exams, and hence many students come unstuck when they arrive at Case Study. Don't worry, we know what to do to pass! It is just that you need to shift your paradigm when it comes to preparing for this unique exam. The most important point to know is that, in Case Study, there is no discretion at all for the marker. Nothing, nada, zip, niente. A Case Study marker is actually more of a "matcher" as he or she will simply work through your script and award marks if your ideas "match" the finalised ICAEW markscheme. So even if you have a very good business idea which happens not to be on the markscheme, you will get no credit. Actually, it's worse than that: you will have wasted precious examination time on writing an idea which is perfectly good in the real-world, but which gets you no credit in exam-world. Meaning that exam-world can be a whole world of hurt for the unprepared! However, one of the good things about Case Study is that you can prepare well by learning the Advance Information (a 40-50 page document which is released by ICAEW 6 weeks before exam day) ... the Advance Information provides financial statements, industry background information, media articles, business plans and Ethics hints on the business which will form the basis of your exam. No other ACA paper provides quite this much detail ahead of exam day, so at least we know, broadly, what the exam will cover! Making the most of this Advance Information, we will write a set of 5 full Mocks to ICAEW-standard to create our popular Mock Exam Pack, which is released ahead of each July and November sitting (obviously, entirely tailored to the July and November businesses, respectively). Our Mock Exam Pack includes full question papers, ICAEW-style marking grids to help you perform the marking/matching process yourself and full student-standard model answers so that you understand how to structure your responses. Please note: our model answers really are student-standard, meaning that they can be humanly achieved (unlike your typical ICAEW SBM model answer, for example!). If you would like to receive very detailed feedback on your attempts at our Mock Exam Pack, as well as further technique training and access to all our Case Study on-demand and PDF resources, our On-Demand Course is the option for you. Or if you just want some constructive feedback on your Mock attempts, we offer our Technique Improvement Service (TIS). Scroll down the page to learn more about our Case Study offering.

Personalised feedback.

Case Study is not a technically-demanding exam, but without the right advice on exam technique, you are relying on luck to pass the exam. As part of our On-demand Course intake, you will receive highly detailed, personalised advice on your attempts at 4 of the Mocks from our live July 2024 Mock Exam Pack. Past students have described this feedback as "gold dust" because it is only through receiving expert tutor guidance on how you yourself are writing your scripts that we can pick up issues such as wasting time through a waffly writing style, inclusion of points which are just never going to be on the markscheme, insufficient or excess time allocated to particular areas, incorrect labelling of Appendices, and so on. Our course is unique in the sense that we focus exclusively on the live set of Advance Information rather than past papers. This ensures that all of your precious study time focuses on relevant content. ‍ Click here to learn more.

Some stats on our Case Study Live Online Feedback Course.

Since 2013 when we launched our business, we have helped over 2,000 students pass Case Study through our live tuition courses.

Since 2013, the Big 4 pass rate for our Case Study tuition courses has been 99.9% (with the only students who failed scoring 49 ... annoying!).

Unlock your potential

Given the unique nature of the Case Study examination (and, in particular, the closed-form markscheme), it is absolutely vital that you receive detailed, personalised advice on writing style, time management and, most importantly of all, whether you are writing the correct types of point to have a chance of scoring. Our Case Study Technique Improvement Service (TIS) provides detailed, personalised reviews of your attempts at our live Case Study Mock Exam Pack.

Writing style

You will receive advice on how to shorten or lengthen your writing style to ensure that you are picking up the marks you deserve. We will also comment on whether you are writing the right style of points to have a chance of scoring on the closed-form Case Study markscheme.

Time management

You will receive advice on whether you are allocating your scarce answering time correctly through our expert knowledge of the markscheme and how marks are awarded in practice.

Technique Advice Report

To really drive home our advice, we will provide you with a 2-3 page Technique Advice Report on each paper submitted. This includes our popular "5 Top Tips to Improve".

Discover the most commonly asked questions about our Case Study courses and resources.

It is probably easier if we start with TIS, which is a feedback-only service. This means that you need to purchase the live Mock Exam Pack, sit the papers in your own time and email them in to us for our review. We will then provide a detailed Technique Advice Report on each Mock. TIS is therefore a service where you largely work on your own, and react to our feedback. Other than our written feedback, we do not provide any "teaching" or video content as part of TIS. On the other hand, our On-demand Course is a full tuition course, so we provide various teaching sessions via recorded videos: sessions on general technique training, detailed reviews of how we designed each of the Mocks in the Mock Exam Pack, additional supporting video content and further exclusive sets of PDF resources. Our On-demand Course involves a lot more tuition than TIS so it tends to have a higher pass rate than TIS, but both services have very high pass rates that significantly exceed the ICAEW global average. Please note that we do not include any marking services within the cost of the Mock Exam Pack: TIS is an additional service which must be booked in advance, in addition to purchasing the Mock Exam Pack.

We always phase the release of the 5 Mocks in our Mock Exam Pack so that we do not rush the process. This also allows us to have some time to work with our tuition course students to see what will be beneficial for students to be tested on. Mock 1 in our July 2024 Mock Exam Pack is due for release on Friday 7 June 2024 by 23.59 UK time. We will then release a Mock each week for the following 4 weeks until all 5 Mocks have been released. ‍

It takes a huge amount of tutor time to write, check and publish 5 full Mocks ... the total content in the Mock Exam Pack is the length of a medium-length novel and it all has to be put together within a few short weeks, meaning many late nights and weekend working to get the content produced to the very high standards that we demand of ourselves. Once the exam is over, the publication then becomes worthless as no one wants to use our past paper Mocks! We do therefore have to recover our time and costs in preparing our materials. Don't forget that in addition to the Mock PDF files, as part of the cost of the resource, we also provide video Tutor Debriefs, our Advance Information Overview document and video and hundreds of short-form questions based on the Advance Information.

What our students say.

Just to let you know I passed CR with score of 75 (was 48 with another provider) and Case Study with a score of 65. Thanks for all the help!

Your tutor was the best tutor that I have encountered in my ACA studies. He presented the information in a very clear, concise and calm manner and focused on what students forget to include in their answers. He is by far the best tutor when compared to my bland experience at a previous tuition provider and I went from 43 at my first  attempt to a mark of 77.

Your tutor went beyond the extra mile for the Case Study tuition course. From the outset it was clear that he had invested an incredible amount of time into preparing the tuition course and this showed because his understanding of the examination and its markscheme was unrivalled. His expert knowledge of the markscheme helped him instil confidence in myself and the other students: we just knew that if he followed his advice, we would pass. I am grateful for his expertise and support.

Thank you for taking the time to prepare the Mock Exam Pack and Cracking Case resources, I found them very useful.

Both  of the exam scenarios were in your Case Study Mock Exam Pack which was really helpful.

I just want to say a massive thank you!! I failed Case Study last December only scoring 34, even though I took a full course at a top provider, it was only when studying your course that I realised how little they focused on technique and the smaller details to help get the pass. I bought the Cracking Case book, Cracking Case on-demand course, TIS on two papers and the Exam Room Pack ... absolutely fabulous. I wish I had come to you guys sooner for some of my earlier papers to avoid all the frustration and fails.

On-demand Course

Purchase exam room notes.

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How to approach the advance information for the Case Study exam

Published: 15 Sep 2021 Update History

Introduction

What is the advance information, what should you do with the advance information before your exam, tips for success.

This guide is designed to help you understand how to approach the advance information for your Case Study exam. It will cover what the advance information is, what should you do with the advance information before your exam and tips for success.

This series of Case Study exam resources will cover everything you need to know to prepare for the Case Study exam. This includes:

• Introduction to the Case Study exam
• How to approach the advance information
• Using the advance information during the Case Study exam
• A guide on Requirements one, two and three
• An overview of the Executive Summary

How to prepare to retake the Case Study exam

You can access the advance information six weeks before your Case Study exam here . To help you prepare for this exam, we explore here what the advance information is, the steps you need to take to become familiar with it and tips for success.

The advance information is written to give you an insight into your client firm. You are expected to write a report that is tailored to you client's needs, just like you would do in the workplace.

Each advance information is unique, however there are clear themes in how they are structured:

• About you - who you work for, what tasks you have performed in the past
• Information about the industry
• History of the client firm
• Management accounts for the last three years - Profit or Loss (P/L), Statement of Financial Position (SOFP) and Statement of Cashflows (SOCF) plus notes
• Financial commentary
• Information about products, clients and suppliers 
• Strategic review
• Media articles 

Your most important task is to become familiar with the advance information and your client. We know the exam is extremely time-pressured, so, the more you know about your client, or, where to find the essential information then that is time saved in the exam.

Consider this quote from the Scour Case Examiners' Report (From the Case Study exam in July 2020):

Successful candidates … had clearly prepared well, making the necessary effort to master the advance information for themselves and to hone their exam technique.

In terms of how to become familiar the following steps are recommended:

A first read-through; with a highlighter pen. Be careful not to highlight too much, if you highlight too much information then the highlighting loses its effectiveness. Whilst reading you may want to make small notes in the margin. The aim here is to get a feel for the industry, the client and the broad themes. This may take an hour or so, and will allow you to set the scene and context for the more detailed analysis that follows.

A second read-through. Have to hand somewhere to make notes (paper or a word document), so that you can begin to create a summary of the advance information, sometimes referred to as a precis. The aim here is to begin to focus on what is really important. 

The advance information will have about 40 pages of dense text. Much of this is background or contextual information, you need to start focusing on what information you may need to refer to in the exam. For instance:

• Focus on the management accounts. Create a spreadsheet using the data in the profit or loss accounts and associated financial notes. 
• Identify potential 'wider business issues'.
• Identify potential ethics and business trust issues.
• Identifying what each media article tells us.

Once you have done this you can then think about the likely headings and content that may appear in the exam marking key.

This level of analysis will take a least half a day, if not longer.

You should now have enough information to create a condensed summary of the advance information.

The following steps will help you familiarise yourself with the advance information:

• Casual first read-through with a highlighter making margin notes.
• Detailed second read-through, creating detailed notes on each exhibit.
• Transfer the management accounts into a spreadsheet, this allows you to see beyond the basic numbers, highlighting trends and margins. Do the same for any set-piece calculations in the exhibits on products, clients and suppliers.
• You might find creating  blank mark keys with draft headings and indicative content useful. Put the headings in using pencil in case you need to react to something 'unexpected' in the exam. Remember, you must react to what you see in the exam, not what you want to see in the exam.

Read out this code to the operator.