ACCA Strategic Business Leader (SBL) Introducation

What is SBL

Strategic Business Leader (SBL)

An innovative case study examination

Integrated technical, ethical, and professional skills.

Paper Structure ACCA Strategic Business Leader

  • 4-hour duration allowed (240 minutes)
  • 100 marks, 80 for application of technical content, and 20 for professional skills
  • 50 marks to pass
  • 12-15 pages of case study information
  • All questions are based on the same scenario
  • The emphasis is on a combination of technical and professional skills

The skills and expertise you’ll need

A successful student should:

  1. bring forward the skill and knowledge from earlier learning and exam in the context of acting as a strategic business leader
  2. take a board interest in their day to day work, undertake wider reading, and develop business acumen in order to apply this to the scenario given
  3. demonstrate their technical skills in a practical context, professionalism, and professional skills
  4. show the ability to access, interpret and synthesize the scenario and other information to provide appropriate solutions to the tasks required.
SBL Strategic Business Leader ACCA
SBL Strategic Business Leader

1.1 Being Leader

As a leader, you are expected to be able to analyze a business situation and provide and implement an appropriate, effective and sustainable solution. This Means that can

  • be clear and focused, identifying the key issues in any situation
  • analyze and address ethical concerns
  • use technical principles and quantitative study to move out key issues, confirm causality and integrate a broad range of circumstances into a coherent argument
  • make recommendations that meet the needs of users and ‘are fit for purpose.

1.2 Thinking Strategically

Having a strategic perspective means that you can do the following:

  • Take a long-term perspective.
  • Look at the whole organization as well as individual products/divisions/ SBUs.
  • Set the selection of the whole organization and integrate its activities.
  • Consider the views of all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
  • Analyze the organization’s resources and define resource requirements
  • Relate the organization to its environment.
  • Look at gaining a sustainable competitive advantage.
Thinking Strategically SBL ACCA
Thinking Strategically SBL ACCA
SBL Strategic Business Leader ACCA
SBL Strategic Business Leader ACCA
SBL Strategic Business Leader ACCA
SBL Strategic Business Leader ACCA
ACCA SBL Marks Allocation
ACCA SBL Marks Allocation

A quick guide to dividing your time in Exam

  • 25% Leadership and Governance
  • 25% Strategy and Risk
  • 50% Delivering Strategy

Three Phases of study for Strategic Business Leaders

  1. Learning phase
  2. Revision phase, and
  3. final preparation (including mock exams and feedback) phase.

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Categories SBL

SBL Tips and Techniques

How to pass ACCA SBL - Tips and Techniques

How to pass SBL – Tips and Techniques

This is a technical article on how to pass SBL and SBL Tips and Techniques for students.

  1. One of the issues students face in the exams is to handle the case study in the allotted time.
  2. To handle this exam effectively and efficiently, You, must plan your paper for 40 to 50 Mins at least and then start a draft answering the answers…
  3. If you think that it is just a combo of P1 and P3 sorry folks you are absolutely wrong here. A lot of new techniques are involved in it.
  4. Another thing which makes this paper the unique it has 80 Knowledge marks and 20 Professional Marks, and if you plan that you will focus on Knowledge area and ignore the Professional marks and Strategy it is folks
  5. To get those professional marks you must work on these professional skills Communication, Commercial Acumen, Analysis, Scepticism, and Evaluation.
  6. You must know, how to Apply knowledge into the application of Scenarios
  7. Learn concepts and how to draft answers and pass this Beast paper

The Recommended approach

  • Read information in the sequence (Background, List of exhibits, task, exhibits)
  • Link tasks to exhibits when reading exhibits
  • Highlight relevant and useful information
  • Once scenario read, read requirements again
    • Be certain about what is being asked
    • Verb
    • Rule of AND
    • No professional marks if technical answer incorrect

Writing Skills in SBL Tips and Techniques

  1. Sentences should be short and to the point
  2. Each point in a separate paragraph
  3. Leave space between the paragraph
  4. include heading and subheadings but not excessively so
  5. Answer Questions in Numerical Order (Preferred)
  6. Don’t define the framework
  7. The Formate: Cant get full professional marks if formats not used correctly

Professional Marks

  • Making the most important or crucial points.
  • Only making relevant points and not including extra information or wrong or unsupported points.
  • A not repeating point already made.
  • Use short sentences
  • Use headings to break down information into the clearly identifiable section

In the words of the examiner

Time Management

250 minutes available
-40 minutes: Read the case study, plan the answer (Read all pages end to end, know where to find relevant information easily when writing)
-200minutes: individual requirements:
prepare for and answer (100 marks so 2 minutes per mark)
-allocate time for each part

Effective Reading

-No point in skimming through the paper-
no choice in the exam
-Read info in the sequence given
-Link task to exhibits when readings
exhibits
-highlight relevant and useful information

Analyzing the requirements

-Be certain about what is being asked
-No professional marks if technical answer incorrect
-Verb
-Rule of AND
-Translate into your native Language

Planning

-Plan the whole exam before answering any part of the paper because of the integrated nature of the case information.
-One requirement may directly or indirectly relate to the next one
-Can cross reference answer instead of wasting time
-Decide how many points need to be made
(1 mark for 1 point usually in SBL- another mark for the same point possibly if fully
developed)
-Use syllabus and previous knowledge when identifying points you will later write but link it to the case
-Be aware of the professional marks

Writing Skills

-Get into the character of the task
-be aware of what you are being asked to do and who they answer is for (the audience)
-Answer the requirement
-The breadth of issues (Depth of the discussion by applying syllabus knowledge to the scenario but not excessive).
-Sentences should be short and to the point (2-4 sentences for each point)
-Each point in separate paragraphs
-Include headlines and subheadings but not excessively so

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