A challenge for April 2017’s CII J03 candidates was studying the massive manual in full
Last updated on September 25th, 2019 at 4:30 am
This week, we’re looking at the CII J03 April exam – the tax and legal aspects of business. This will be of interest to you if you’re planning to sit J03 in October.
The April 2017 Exam Paper
You can find a copy here.
Two hours are given to answer 15 short-answer questions for a total of 130 marks, and one thing you can say for this exam is that it does follow the syllabus and a well-trodden format too.
The April exam began with testing basic knowledge on partnerships, including simply giving a definition; this must have been a nice start for most candidates. It continued with IVAs, a net present value calculation (which may have foxed a few unless they had specifically taken time to practise this) and dividend rights of different types of preference share. Question 5 was another slightly easier calculation, working out profits to partner ratios. The next question, on how losses are treated in the early part of a new business, may have been a challenge and perhaps remembering all of the detail of a share incentive plan, the subject of Question 7.
The exam continued with another calculation this time on NICs, with Question 9 asking for an explanation of how chargeable gains are calculated for a limited company, followed by another calculation on paying a shareholding director a dividend or a bonus. The annual investment allowance formed Question 11, business relief for IHT in Question 12 and finally, Question 13 concerned maternity leave, Question 14 relevant life policies and Question 15 was a nice question on auto enrolment and the implications on enhanced protection.
All in all, this seemed like a fair paper. All a J03 candidate really has to do to pass is study in full the manual – which is a challenge in itself when you consider the size of it! This exam needs to be approached with a good study plan in place to ensure all chapters are fully covered, including using past papers to help with exam technique.
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The October 2016 Exam Paper
Comparing this paper with the one from October 2016 which you can find here.
On first glance, this paper looks slightly more challenging, with questions on bankruptcy, how a LLP differs from an ordinary partnership, an income tax and NI calculation for 14 marks, model articles of association, the accruals basis, fixed charges in relation to corporate financing, flexible working options (although this must have been a dream of a question surely!), rules around SSASs, accounting periods, business trusts and VAT registration.
In 2016, the pass rate for J03 dropped from 62.34% in 2015 to 50.94%. This has been the lowest pass rate for a while. In 2013, it was 56.30% which dropped to 54.81% in 2014.
Compare this to the pass rates for non-written exams such as J10, which in 2016 was 85.12%. You need to prepare in different ways, of course, for these exams, but interestingly both give 20 credits.
Grab the resources you need!
If you’re studying for your CII J03 exam, and you’re biting your nails due to anxiety about exam day, grab our free taster to try out one of Brand Financial Training’s mock exam papers for yourself. Click the link to download the J03 mock exam taster now!
Over to You…
Are you knowledgeable in the areas described above? If you’re planning on sitting J03 in October, which areas do you think will pose the greatest challenge for you?
