A marking key can look like a long list of ticks. Read properly, it is a map of where the marks are. This topic shows how examiners build a key, walks through a sample key box by box and shows how one missed point can cost you a whole grade.
In 30 seconds
Examiners build each key from the facts, technical and ethical knowledge, analysis results, judgements, conclusions and recommendations that fit the case. The key has four parts: executive summary, requirement 1, requirement 2 and overall factors such as appendices and style. In a box with four critical criteria, missing any one drops you a grade.
You never write a marking key in the exam, but reading one tells you what a full-mark answer contains.
How a key is built
Having chosen the skills for the paper, examiners set out the specific criteria for each. These are the possible facts, technical and ethical knowledge, results of analysis, what those results imply, professional judgements, conclusions and recommendations that matter in the case. You are not asked to produce a marking key. It is written from the requirements of each case, so it differs from case to case.
Cases usually ask you to challenge assumptions or apply professional scepticism to figures from people who have their own interests. The requirements often fit together like this: first, an assessment of current financial information, with comparisons and scepticism, and second, an evaluation of a current problem or proposal, covering benefits, risks and ethics. The key therefore has four parts.
- Executive summary: a summary of the whole report.
- Requirement 1: financial statements analysis and related issues.
- Requirement 2: data analysis and related issues.
- Overall paper: appendices, structure and communication.
A sample key, box by box
The sample below uses a retail business. Its boxes show only four criteria each, so failing any critical criterion drops a grade.
| Box | What it rewards in the sample |
|---|---|
| Executive summary, general | States the purpose of the report, summarises the two requirements, states assumptions and states reservations, that is, scepticism |
| Requirement 1: using data and information appropriately | Places the business in context, in its industry and in its lifecycle. Identifies the wider context and the effect of new competition and new technology on retail sales |
| Requirement 1: identifying issues and options | Older revenue streams, the need to keep existing customers, newer streams for younger customers, the pros and cons of internet sales, marketing options |
| Requirement 1: using professional tools and knowledge | Key numbers, suitable tools, key ratios cross-referenced to the appendix, the effect of inventory valuation on gross profit, the revenue mix |
| Requirement 1: applying scepticism and ethics | Figures to be used for a bank loan, high closing inventory blamed on price changes, no inventory write-off, a branch manager who just reaches a bonus target, a doubtful change in seasonality |
| Requirement 1: analytical skills and judgement | Revenue trend in naira and percentages, the strength of diverse streams, the effect of stream mix on gross profit, slow growth in new sales |
| Requirement 1: conclusions | Conclusions under a heading on revenue growth, margins, customers and technology, and the effect of recession |
| Requirement 1: recommendations | Keep diverse streams, build an interactive website, invest in technology and training, keep contact with customers, consider varied locations |
| Overall: appendices | Tabulated figures in naira and percentages, revenue trend and mix, gross profit overall and by stream, inventory days, a logical layout and a flexed key assumption |
| Overall: structure and style | Enough headings, sensible paragraphs, legible, numbered pages, a disclaimer for an external report, formal and tactful language, correct spelling |
How one missed point drops a grade
Take the appendix box above. It has four criteria: a table mixing naira and percentages, the revenue trend and mix, gross profit overall and by stream, and inventory days. Three candidates answer.
- Candidate A meets all four points and earns superior achievement: 4 marks.
- Candidate B leaves out inventory days and earns competent achievement: 3 marks.
- Candidate C gives only a ratio table with no trends, no stream split and no inventory days, so only one point is met and the grade is not competent: 1 mark.
The same logic applies to every box. In the May 2015 key for the value chain requirement, the tools box lists four points: recognise the value chain model, consider the primary activities, consider the support activities and apply the model to the case. A candidate who names the model and covers only the primary activities meets two of the four.
Common mistakes
- Naming a tool but not applying it to the case.
- Covering half of a model, such as the primary activities only.
- Leaving out the conclusion heading, so no conclusions can be credited.
- Missing the scepticism points because the figures are accepted as given.
- Putting working in the appendix but never carrying the results into the report.
Quick revision
- Criteria come from the facts, knowledge, analysis, judgements, conclusions and recommendations of the case.
- Four parts: summary, requirement 1, requirement 2, overall.
- A box usually shows four critical points. Each missed point can drop a grade.
- Cover a whole model, not half of it.
Practice questions
These are original questions in the style of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria exam. Try each one before you open the answer.
Question 1. In the sample key, a box has four critical criteria and you meet three. Your grade is most likely:
- Superior achievement
- Competent achievement
- Below competent achievement
- Void
Show the answer
B. Three points give competent achievement, worth three marks.
Question 2. Which sample box would reward the point that a branch manager just reaches a bonus target?
- Using data and information appropriately
- Applying scepticism and ethics
- Recommendations
- Report structure
Show the answer
B. A manager who just reaches a bonus target suggests the figures may have been shaped, which is a scepticism and ethics point.
Question 3. Who writes the marking key?
- The candidate, in the appendix
- The examiners, from the requirements of each case
- The client in the case
- The same key is used for every case
Show the answer
B. Candidates never write a key. The examiners build it from each case, so it differs from case to case.
Question 4 (6 marks). A candidate’s appendix shows a table in naira and percentages and the revenue trend. It has no gross profit by stream and no inventory days. State the grade the sample appendix box would award and explain why.
Model answer
Show the model answer to Question 4
Grade (2 marks). The box lists four criteria, and the candidate has met two: the table and the revenue trend. That is below competent achievement, worth two marks. (2)
Reasons (4 marks). Competent achievement needs at least three items and superior achievement needs four. (1) Gross profit by stream and inventory days are missing, so two critical points are not met. (1) Adding either one would lift the grade to competent achievement. (1) Adding both would give superior achievement. (1)
The next topic covers how numbers are rewarded, the grade profile and quality versus quantity.
Pathfinder on Reading a marking key: a worked example, box by box
These are the ICAN Pathfinder questions that test this topic. ICAN owns the questions and the suggested solutions, so we point you to them and do not copy them. Open your Pathfinder, attempt each question under exam conditions, then check your answer against the notes above.
The tools box lists four points on the value chain model. Count how many of them your own practice answer would meet.
Revise first: How one missed point drops a grade
Both keys end with separate appendix, structure and style boxes. Compare their wording with the overall boxes in the sample key.
Revise first: A sample key, box by box
Source: ICAN Pathfinder, Case Study. Diets covered: May 2015, November 2015 and May 2016.
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