CA final new syllabus now has a new multidisciplinary subject – Integrated Business Solutions, which will be applicable from May 2024 exams onwards. Multidisciplinary means that students will be tested on all the subjects in the CA final syllabus, including the new Self Paced Online Module (SPOM) subjects of Law and SCMPE.
INTEGRATED BUSINESS SOLUTIONS – The new open book exam
It is an open book model exam, and while ICAI has said students will be tested on all subjects of the final course, they haven’t given any particular study material to follow. This is what their website says –
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE – Why should you attempt Integrated Business Solutions MTP in the ICAI chapter
I attempted the IBS mock test paper in March 2024. One of the first things I realized while writing the mock test was that the actual number of study materials I ended up carrying was EXTREMELY insufficient, compared to what I should have taken.
What I mean is that – I was severely under-prepared and under-carried my books, given that it was an open book exam, in which ALL the subjects were being tested. I carried ONLY Saransh for the subject auditing and that covered only auditing standards.
The rest of the portions of auditing (Professional Ethics, Risk Based Audit, etc.) were still applicable for the IBS exam and I had to attempt those questions, based on my memory of previously studying that subject, months ago.
So my first advice here would be – don’t be shy. Take a suitcase to fit all your books in, if you have to. You should not feel in the exam hall that you needed some extra books, or that some additional study material could have helped out better. Take as many books as you need to pass.
Checklist – I’m embarrassed to say that I forgot to carry my Direct Tax study material, owing to the fact that I did not have a checklist and had such huge ton of books to carry. This is mainly the reason for making this IBS checklist blogpost.
I had not gone through the material for SCMPE (Costing) at all which is now a Self Paced Online Module (SPOM) exam. But what helped me during the mock test was quickly going through the index in which all the chapters and relevant topics were given in detail. Take a look below –
CHECKLIST of material to carry for Integrated Business Solutions/ IBS open book exam
Financial Reporting (FR)
Advanced Financial Management [AFM/ SFM]
Auditing
Law
SCMPE/ Costing
Direct Tax (DT)
Indirect Tax (IDT)
Integrated Business Solutions (IBS)
STUDY TIPS to incorporate for your Integrated Business Solutions exam
Whenever you finish going through a case study, make sure you write a summary on top of the case study what topics and subjects were covered in that particular case study. In case any case study gets repeated with almost the same questions in the exam, this will make it easy to find that particular case study. I’ve given an example below to show you how I’ve done it –
Attempt the Mock Test Paper conducted by ICAI. ICAI conducts 2 MTPs before every attempt. The first MTP usually is 2 months before the exam and the second MTP is usually 1 month before the exam. If you are reading this blog in March/ April first week, then there is an upcoming MTP series being conducted.
Most students prefer taking the mock test at home, but I would highly recommend that you attempt at least Integrated Business Solutions (IBS) paper at the ICAI chapter closest to you. Here are the details of ICAI’s April 2024 Mock Test Paper –
When you are going through your study material while doing self study at home, go through the index of each chapter in each subject 2-3 times. This will help you place that particular topic in the study material during the exam, and make it much faster.
Amendments – As much as possible, go through the amendments, especially Direct Tax and Law. Most faculties have amendment sheets available for free download on their website, which you can print and take with you for the exam or take the latest study material with you which has all the amendments incorporated.
For example, one newly added section from Capital Gains (DT) – section 50AA was tested as such in one of the case studies. Take a look below –
Conclusion
If you have any other suggestions or tips for Integrated Business Solutions exam, please let us know in the comments below, so that we can incorporate the same in the exams!
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