PQ overseas students

IMMIGRATION NOTICEBOARD
Dak Patel explains why it is vital students follow the advice given by the UK Border Agency to the letter
he past month has once again demonstrated the importance of ensuring that application forms under the New Tier structure are diligently and properly completed, as well as adhering to the additional requirements of photos and documents. Recently four friends, who all study together, jointly decided that they did not have to spend the 5 at a photo booth, but could submit applications with photos that they had taken some months before (and had used in previous applications before), which is of course against the rules. We are at pains to tell students, and have UKBA photo guidance on our noticeboards, to ensure that students submit photos taken in the PAST MONTH, and passport quality photos (and NOT used before). Most stations have modern photobooths where compliant photos can be obtained in minutes, so it is surprising that students will still risk the applications being returned, with the possibility that they are now out of time and have lost any appeal rights. I once saw a student cutting up family photos in reception, creating two passport photos. Of course, this student was doomed to failure, as the photos have to be of the individual themselves, taken on a white or grey background, and be of passport quality. The UK Border Agency (www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk) website carries full supporting documentation, guidance notes, and application forms, and there really is

Neil Russell was the ICAEW Case Study Senior Examiner from 1999 to 2010. We asked him how he would advise students to prepare for the assessment of ethics in the Case Study exam

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no excuse for students to get refused for blatant omissions. Students have to realise the four necessary elements, without which their applications are deemed to fail, namely the issue of a Certificate of Acceptance to Study (CAS), the original qualifications already achieved and mentioned on the CAS, bank statements meeting the maintenance and fee requirements, and recent, passport style photos. Yet, as the past week has demonstrated, not ensuring the correct documents are in place will prove fatal, with potentially devastating effects. Time and again, students will wait till the last moment to make an application, instead of preparing weeks or months before. With the additional requirements (and new application form introduced on the 22 November) students who do not prepare well in advance, will increasingly find themselves unable to meet the rules in time, as bank statements need to be prepared, and in the case of overseas sponsors, (Parents or legal Guardians) the sponsor now needs to sign the application form itself. We invite our students to spend time with our immigration team, who guide them through the (now 43 pages Tier 4 or 77 pages Tier 1 PSW) application form, and would recommend all students to check, double check, and where possible, seek legal assistance in making the applications. PQ Dr Dak Patel is Principal of LondonSAM

t 10% of the total marks for the Case Study, is it worth doing specific preparation in advance of the exam for discussing ethical issues? Do you prepare? Some comments Ive heard include Its not really worth it; I think other areas are far more important; I just wing it on the day; its not that difficult; and Im not sure what it means anyway, so why bother? But, as they say in America, do the math. You know the examiners will be allocating four skills assessment boxes for ethical issues. Prepare to address them and you can be confident that you will have four Sufficiently Competent grades towards the total you need to pass. What does the discussion of ethical issues cover? Here are some possible areas: Lack of professional independence Misuse of advice. Abuse of confidentiality. Working outside your sphere of expertise. Conflict of interest among stakeholders Shareholder/directors. Shareholder/employee interests. Performance related pay. Company/customer interests. Cartels. Related party transactions. Doubtful accounting/commercial practice Legal/regulatory breach. Aggressive collection/payment terms. Unfair contract terms. Misuse of customer information. Misleading advertising. Inappropriate pressure to achieve results Revenue/profit recognition. Manipulation of KPIs. Misclassification of revenue/capital expenditure. Over/undervaluation of assets/liabilities. Inappropriate forecasts for obtaining finance. In which areas will your skills be assessed? A look at recent Case Study exams gives you a good indication where the bulk of the marks for discussing ethical issues are given. Structuring problems and solutions: using professional experience to analyse the ethical issues Compliance with ethical standards. The impact of the public perception of the pawnbroking industry. The non-company activities of employees. The appropriateness of releasing to profit unclaimed amounts due to customers.
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ICAEW case study PQ

e final test
Have you identified the affected parties and set out the issues involved? What are the alternative courses of action open to your client? What are your recommendations and how have you justified them? Finally, ask your coach to assess whether your advice adds value and why or, if not, why not. If you have covered the above criteria and added value you should be confident that, in an exam, your answer would be sufficiently competent across all the relevant skills assessment boxes. Applying judgement: using professional experience to consider the implications of the ethical issues Quality of evidence supporting the allegations of non-company activities, animal testing, bribery, etc. Consideration of wider ethical issues: importance of image, being green, corporate governance. Impact of non-company activities: financial, employment contract, company reputation. Substitution of raw materials in breach of EU regulations. Transfer of employment outside the UK contrary to corporate responsibility statement. There are also additional points in assimilating and using information (eg ethical journalism, the negative image of the pawnbroking industry, the importance of green issues for consumers) and making recommendations (eg investigate the facts of the alleged wrongdoing, assess the legal position, ensure compliance with the ethical code, verify suppliers green credentials). How should you demonstrate your skills? You have now got a good idea of the sort of issues you might have to discuss and how your skills may be assessed. The Case Study study manual (Chapter 3, Section 1 in the 2010 version) provides you with a five-step process to use in the exam: Gather the relevant facts and identify the problem. Identify the affected parties. Identify the ethical issues involved. Consider and evaluate alternative courses of actions and associated consequences. Decide on a course of action. This is not complicated, but you need to be methodical and make sure you cover each element to obtain your sufficiently competent grades. Practise, practise, practise Your job now is to practise using this process in advance of your exam course, so that you get used to applying it effectively. Work with a colleague, manager or your QPRT as your coach to identify some examples in the press of the types of issues outlined above. Agree with them who you should be advising (your client) and on what the advice should be. Then use the above process to write a brief answer (no more than 400 words). Ask your coach to review your answer against the following criteria: Have you identified the key facts and defined the problem? On your course and in the exam Once you are on your Case Study exam course, pay attention to the assessment of ethics in your practice papers and mock exams. Compare your answers against the marking keys and identify how you achieved your grades for the ethics skills assessment boxes. If your answers are not sufficiently competent, identify what else you should have included and where in the five-step process you need to put more thought. When doing your preparatory work on the advance information, make sure you specifically address ethical issues. You will not be given enough information to complete all aspects of the structured process set out above. However, you can identify some likely ethical issues from the information provided and prepare an aide memoire with information and ideas against the first three steps. Its not a good idea to try and guess what the requirement will be. If you do, you will probably commit the cardinal sin of answering the question you want to answer, not the one the examiner sets. Finally, in your exam, remember there is nothing intrinsically difficult about this aspect of the assessment. The information is all provided in the advance information and the exam paper. You will have your advance information notes to start you off. You know that you need to apply the five-step process. You know from your advance practice and your mocks how to write a sufficiently competent answer. Now do it! PQ Neil Russell was the Case Study Senior Examiner 1999-2010. He is now the Programme Director at Training-by-Eos, a new tuition provider specialising in the ICAEW Case Study. Visit www.training-by-eos.com or contact info@training-by-eos.com.

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