How is the strategic business leader syllabus

How is the Strategic Business Leader syllabus examined?
The exams introduce work-related tasks and simulated realistic experiences, so better preparing
students for situations they are likely to encounter in the workplace. It will address any current
gaps in professional skills and at the same time broaden behavioural and business skills.

Strategic Professional – Essentials | Strategic Business Leader 7
TECHNICAL MARKS
The marking scheme will comprise 80 marks for the
correct use and application of syllabus knowledge.
This is not dissimilar to the other ACCA Strategic
Professional examinations in that the usual question
verbs will be used with each requirement to
probe the students’ knowledge and their ability
to demonstrate this appropriately in the context
of the case study. Obviously one major difference
is that all questions will be based upon the same
scenario to integrate the questions set, but this
could well be an advantage to the student who
will be focusing on one overall context for their
tasks. However, additional information, more
closely associated with each individual task, will
be revealed to help the candidate with the specific
context of the requirements associated with that
particular task.
PROFESSIONAL MARKS
In addition, there will be 20 marks for professional
skills and competences which permit ACCA
to examine professional and behavioural skills
pervasively throughout all of the case requirements.
This approach allows an assessment of the student’s
capabilities to demonstrate more than just their
technical proficiency and to show professional
skills which are deemed essential for a successful
accountant and business leader in the 21
st
century.
These are broadly under five headings:
§
Communication
§
Commercial acumen
§
Analysis
§
Scepticism
§
Evaluation
Each of the five main professional skills has three
leadership capabilities associated with it. The
examination will use these capabilities to allocate
marks to each requirement as appropriate.
Analysis
§
Investigate
§
Scrutinise
§
Consider
In summary, this means the candidates
have to thoroughly investigate and research
information from a variety of sources and
logically process it with a view to considering
it for recommending appropriate action.
Communication
§
Inform
§
Persuade
§
Clarify
In summary, this means the candidates have
to express themselves clearly and convincingly
through the appropriate medium while being
sensitive to the needs of the intended audience.
Commercial acumen
§
Demonstrate awareness
§
Use judgement
§
Show insight
In summary, this means the candidates have
to show awareness of the wider business
and external factors affecting business, using
commercially sound judgement and insight
to resolve issues and exploit opportunities.
The Professional skills and capabilities are:
How is the exam to be marked?

Strategic Professional – Essentials | Strategic Business Leader 8
As far as earning professional skills marks are
concerned, depending on the particular skill being
examined in the requirement, the examiner will
be looking for that skill to be evident in how you