CGMA Exam - Case Study Guide

chapter 5 Analysing the pre-seen materials

Chapter learning objectives

• When you have completed this chapter, you should recognise various techniques and models that can aid familiarisation with the pre-seen materials.

1 The importance of familiarisation

The pre-seen material is released approximately seven weeks before your exam date and one of your first tasks will be to analyse the context within which the case is set. Although your responses in the exam will be driven by the unseen material, you will only be able to fully assess the impact of each event on the organisation if you have a sufficient depth of knowledge and awareness of both the organisation and the industry in which it operates.

The purpose of the pre-seen material is to allow you to gain that knowledge and awareness. Remember, you will be acting in the position of a management accountant who works for the organisation in the early stages of a senior manager role. It will therefore be expected that you will have the same level of familiarisation as someone fulfilling that role.

It is extremely important that you study the pre-seen material thoroughly before you go into the examination. There are two main reasons for this:

• It will save time in the examination itself if you are already familiar with the pre-seen material.

• It enables you to develop a view of the situation facing the organisation in the case study.

You will not be able to respond to the examination tasks from the pre-seen material alone; the unseen ...