the cima student

CIMA released the pre-seen materials for the May 2019 MCS exam last week, you can find the official document from CIMA here.

CIMA MCS May 2019: Jord Homes Astranti Course

The May 2019 MCS Course from Astranti comes with a PASS GUARANTEE.

I used Astranti to pass my MCS exam first time last year, you can read about how I passed the MCS Norton exam here.

Here is what you can expect from Astranti with the Jord Homes MCS Course;

• Complete pre-seen pack of videos
• 3 x Full tuition videos
• 2 x Study texts
• 2 x Live Masterclasses
• 3 x Full Mock Exams (based on Jord Homes case study)
• Detailed marking and feedback
• Ethics Pack
• Pass Guarantee

To give you an insight into the pre-seen videos pack, here is over an hour on the pre-seen materials analysis on Jord Homes.

Pre-Seen Materials Analysis

I’ve had a run through the pre-seen materials for the May 2019 MCS Jord Homes scenario and have identified the following key information and focus areas for your exam next month;

Room for Growth

The below quote from the pre-seen materials is a clear indication there is room to expand operations into Asia and Latin America.

Developing countries within Asia and Latin America have large and growing population bases and rising disposable income, presenting a huge opportunity for the global prefabricated housing industry.

Shareholder Pressure

Jord Homes is 40% owned by instituational shareholders, while this investment is welcome it also comes with extra demands. The pre-seen tells us that they are questioning the current strategy of Jord Homes.

The Larsson family has a policy of maintaining the current production levels to continue to position Jord houses as rare and exclusive products. However, in the last year, this policy has been questioned by some institutional shareholders, who have suggested it is time to grow the business.

Local Trends

This also ties in with the above point, the shareholders are questioning Jord Homes strategy of being a high end, bespoke luxury company. It has served them well in the their current market but trends in Corvola are changing and it’s not only the customers demands that pose a threat but also the introduction of rival competitors.

However, in the last 5 years, due to demographic changes, Corvola has experienced a shortage in affordable housing, particularly in its main cities. During this time, several new prefabricated house building businesses have been set up in Corvola to address this need.

Financials – no big indicators?

I’ve run through the P&L  and SOFP and there isn’t much there to get your teeth into. No big outliers, the margins have remained constant over the last 12 months as you can see from this P&L analysis below.

The Statement of Financial Position is much the same, nothing screams at you. Although there are a couple of subtle indicators here;

• Cash in the bank has gone up 10,000 (17,010 to 26,480)
• There is no long term debt on the balance sheet

This suggests, to me, that there is plenty of money or sources of finance available to invest in the business.

I hope this has given you a few pointers with your MCS exam preparation.

Also, there is a 35 minute Q&A session with a CIMA qualified tutor on the upcoming MCS exam.

Good Luck!