> Thanks for the extensive reply, David.
I return the thanks...
>
> I'm sure I'm not alone in being horrified at the
> philosophy of "teach what's
> in the book and be quiet" Any examiners out there
> should make a note to
> respond to such accusations.
My experience is that Chief Examiners never become
engaged in public debate. If you check the archives to
this discussion you will see only one occasion when a
Chief Examiner did become embroiled in a discussion
and his own 'team' at the Board contradicted what he
said. They were then 'contacted' and had to change
their view. It's all there in the discussions
archives.
>
> Accepting what you say at face value, I would ask
> who validates the chief
> examiners' work? Where is the quality control? I've
> asked this question
> before in various fora and don't think I've had an
> answer yet. I will repeat
> (I think) that I am an examiner for something other
> than A level and our
> systems are checked and double checked for such
> errors .. GCSE and A level
> the same? If so, how come we still have these
> apparent errors?
There's several answers to this:
a. laziness
b. stupidity
c. arrogance ('teachers won't complain')
d. carelessness
e. apathy
None of the above are particularly attractive I am
sure you will agree.
>
> This is the first time I have come across Zero
> budgeting; and although I
> didn't need to, just to be on the safe side, I
> checked my dictionary of
> accounting terms and didn't find it!
>
> > Thus in the A-Z dictionary ZBB is not listed
> though zero budgeting is.
>
> Which A-Z dictionary?
The one by the Chief Examiners! hence my point.
>
> > It was much the same with a Peter Fearns book on
> Business Studies. Gearing
> was shown as
> > shares: borrowed funds. When the board were
> telephoned about this (Fearns
> was the chief
> > examiner) the caller was told to teach what was in
> the book.
>
> Is this true and to whom did the caller speak?
The caller spoke to the subject officer at the time.
(1984)
If
> true, is it any wonder
> that Universities seem to pour scorn on BS
> qualifications?
>
> > So what does ZBB stand for then?
> > The definitions and descriptions of ZBB on both
> sites are woefully
> inadequate and deserve a > more treatment despite
> the fact that they are
> relative rarities in practice.
Please explain what ZBB stands for then!
>
> > I disagree as the market is a Business Studies
> rather than an Accounts
> candidate. Take for > example Break Even. It ignores
> economies of scale -
> but a Business Studies candidate has to > accept
> that. The BS candidate
> accepts one method of depreciation. A Business
> Studies
> > candidate ignores sensitivity analysis for DCF.
>
> You are making a good point, of course. There is a
> difference, though,
> between having to make things simpler vis a vis
> getting things wrong, or
> understating them, I'm sure you'll agree.
Yes agreed.
However something can be wrong by omission too.
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