Everything you need to know about ACCA Strategic Business Leader (SBL)
My name is Steve Chen, the Fellow member of ACCA, the founder of GlobalAPC, the author of 4 accounting books, a technical writer of ACCA AB magazine, and hold two markers position in 2 major accountancy bodies. I have been the first tutor analysing the latest SBL Preseen material and helped global ACCA students pass the SBL exams over the years.
How to study SBL ACCA?
GlobalAPC provides pass guarantee SBL course which is fully updated to the latest SBL preseen materials, giving you the best chances of passing this difficult paper.
Here is a list of contents:
- ACCA SBL Pass Rates
- SBL Exam Variant
- Format of SBL exam paper
- ACCA SBL Professional Marks in Detail
- Exam Duration, Marks Allocation
- Verbs in the SBL exam
- SBL Syllabus – Main capabilities from ACCA Official Syllabus and Study Guide
- SBL Examiner Reports and Technical Articles
- SBL Exam Strategy
- Preparation time
- Past Exams
- SBL Exam technique (Our own three top tip activities)
- Examiner highlights
ACCA SBL Pass Rates
The published SBL exam global pass rate is around 50% (49% in December 2022, and 50% and 51% in March, June, 50% in September and 52% in December 2023 exams).
SBL Exam Variant
There is only one exam variant of SBL exam, and this is a compulsory paper at the Strategic Professional Level of ACCA Qualification.
Two compulsory papers are SBL and SBR (Strategic Business Reporting), with four optional papers (AAA, ATX, APM and AFM) where students need to complete two out of four.
When is ACCA SBL exam?
There are four SBL exam sittings in a year: March, June, September and December exam.SBL exam result will be released one month after the exam, with all SBLscripts marked by human beings.
Students can sit any papers at the Strategic Professional Level in any order.
Format of SBL exam paper
To download the Pre-seen and Pre-seen guidance documents:
Step 1. Go to Exam Planner
Step 2. Click on SBL booked exam details within ‘Your Plan’
Step 3.Click on the download links for the ‘Pre-seen’ and ‘Pre-seen Guidance’ documents
After the latest preseen material is downloadable, GlobalAPC provides the insightful analysis which is included in the ACCA SBL course.
Preseen information:
- Company industry: Any
- Real or fictitious company: fictitious, to avoid political influences
- How many companies in the preseen to focus on: only 1
- How many pages of the preseen information: around 12 pages (12 pages in Sept23 exam sitting (First preseen case is available); 11 pages in Dec23 and 12 pages in Mar24.
- How many parts are included in the preseen material: Introduction section; Industry information section; Company information section; Financial information section.
- Do we need to do specific industry information search? Our view is yes, as the limited information is in the preseen material, therefore, through additional search of the case information will prepare you better regarding business sense.
Unseen information (Exhibits) and Exam Information:
- Exam duration: 3 Hours and 15 Minutes (195 Minutes)
- Marks: 100 Marks (Split into 80 Technical Marks and 20 Professional Marks)
- Professional marks: Analysis skill (4 marks); Evaluation (4 marks); Scepticism (4 marks); Commercial acumen (4 marks); Communication (4 marks).
- 4 Levels of professional marks: zero marks if not at all level; 1.33 marks if at not so well level; 2.66 marks if quite well level; 4 marks if at very well level.
Professional marks can sometimes turn a marginal failed paper into a pass.
These marks are subjective marks, but ACCA uses 'professional', to avoid confusion.
Here is the top tip - you are not required to tell examiner that your answer relates to which part of the professional skills marks!
ACCA SBL Professional Marks in Detail
Through years of experience of helping students pass their ACCA SBL exam, we have our own approach of how to effectively score these professional marks. You can learn our summarised steps below for each professional skill mark.
Analysis:
Steps:
1.What information is available – calculate ratios using financial and other non-financial information
2.How does the information compare – with the past, industry average and competitor’s information
3.What does the information mean – consider the impact on the business and reasons why this result arises
Communication:
Steps:
1.Required format
2.What is the audience’s level of understanding
3.Points should be made in a logical and progressive order
Scepticism:
Steps: Questioning and challenging by reviewing
1. Sufficient evidence to support the claim now?
2. If not, what further evidence is required?
3. If challenge, do it in a professional and courteous way.
Commercial acumen:
Steps:
1.Business awareness – how matters are affected by the issue in the question
2.Effective judgement – which one(s) are relevant
3.Insight – in depth, ie considering numbers and people impact
Evaluation:
Steps:
1.Balanced argument with headings ‘advantages and disadvantages’; ‘benefits and risks’
2.Consider financial and non-financial issues to create a broad argument
3.Conclude or recommend (sensible recommendation or conclusion supported by summarised arguments such as benefits and risks)
Effective Time Management
My top tip regarding the mark allocation is to use the first 15 minutes to plan all the questions in SBL exam.
Then use the 180 minutes/80 marks = 2.25 minute per mark when planning the answer.
Number of points
Per the SBL exam marking scheme, we can see that it is one mark per valid point. This means that one point = 1.5 lines sentence(s).
If you are given 10 marks, you are expected to write 10 sentences, however, I would then teach my students to write 5 ideas with 2 sentences per idea.
CBE
SBL exams are computer based, with exams scheduled in March, June, September and December.
This means that there will be 4 completely different preseen materials of SBL exam ahead of each exam sitting.
Exam result is usually released one month after the exam ends.
Verbs in the SBL exam
Although there are different verbs in the SBL exam questions, our years of teaching experience tells us there are not too much differences, unlike in other professional qualification exams such as CIMA and ICAEW.
Having sad that, there are still minor differences we need to pay attention to.
- Analyse: Explain the reasons about what happened.
- Assess: Determine the strengths/weaknesses/importance/ significance.
- Compare: Explain similarities and differences.
- Conclusion or Recommend: Conclude with a decision which should be sensible and supported by arguments.
- Criticise: Explain weaknesses and problems.
- Evaluate: Advantages and disadvantages (benefits and risks); conclusion.
- Interpret: Explain with examples.
- Outline: Briefly explain the focussed points.
- Summarise: Conclude with explanations.
- Critically: Look out what’s wrong with it and whether information is missing from the wider scenario.
What is ACCA SBL about?
The best way is to view the SBL Syllabus from ACCA – Main capabilities from ACCA Official Syllabus and Study Guide
Apply excellent leadership and ethical skills to set the ‘tone from the top’ and promote a positive culture within the organisation, adopting a whole organisation perspective in managing performance and value creation
Evaluate the effectiveness of the governance and agency system of an organisation and recognise the responsibility of the board or other agents towards their stakeholders, including the organisation’s social responsibilities and the reporting implications
Evaluate the strategic position of the organisation against the external environment and the availability of internal resources, to identify feasible strategic options
Analyse the risk profile of the organisation and of any strategic options identified, within a culture of responsible risk management
Select and apply appropriate information technologies and data analytics, to analyse factors affecting the organisation’s value chain to identify strategic opportunities and implement strategic options within a framework of robust IT security controls
Evaluate management reporting and internal control and audit systems to ensure compliance and the achievement of organisation’s objectives and the safeguarding of organisational assets
Apply high level financial techniques from the Applied Skills exams in the planning, implementation and evaluation of strategic options and actions
Enable success through innovative thinking, applying best in class strategies and disruptive technologies in the management of change; initiating, leading and organising projects,while effectively managing talent and other business resources
Apply a range of professional skills in addressing requirements within the Strategic Business Leader examination and in preparation for, or to support, current work experience
Demonstrate other employability and digital skills in preparing for and taking the Strategic Business Leader examination
SBL Examiner Reports and Technical Articles
you should read SBL examiners’ report as the reports cover the common weaknesses made by acca students, detailing the performance of each question.
You can also get access to the examiner reports here
Technical articles of SBL are also useful to recap the key areas of SBL syllabus with insightful analysis. You can get access to these articles here
How to revise for ACCA SBL?
Below I listed my top three steps as the SBL Exam Strategy to best prepare for your exams.
I have done a pre-recorded video which is so popular among SBL students, and this video is about 'Strategy and Business model'.
This shows you exactly what SBL examining team is looking for in students' answer, ie being able to use a practical, and a holistic approach when answering strategic questions.
1. Revise 'Must Know' Models:
Unlike the previous ACCA P1 Governance, Risk and Ethics, and ACCA P3 Business Analysis exams, the current SBL exam focuses purely on application of knowledge to the case scenario.
This has two implications:
1. Exams are easier to pass, particularly to those who have real working experience.
2. Students are forced to think about implications to the business, ie be able to explain the 'next step' to the examiner, rather than stick to endless basic analysis which are restricted in the business models.
However, as this paper name is so called 'Strategic...', this means students are expected to comment on things using a HOLISTIC approach, rather than focus on a single area in the business.
I have listed the top 9 business models which help shape a better answer framework in the SBL exam.
- SWOT, PESTEL, Value Chain, Diamond and 5 Forces Analysis.
- Ansoff and generic strategies.
- SFA test.
- Cultral web analysis.
- Elements in Turnaround Change Management Strategy.
- Balogun and Hope Hailey - Acceptance of change.
- Project Management cycle.
- E-marketing (6Is).
- Mendelow's mapping matrix.
ACCA SBL webinar
I have done a seperate SBL webinar about how to comply with best practice per the Internal Control Framework in the SBL exam.
I used my own mnemonics to summarise these as 'CCRIM':
1. Control environment
2. Control procedure
3. Risk management
4. Information and communication
5. Monitoring
2. Make sure you revise the theorectical areas in SBL exam:
Unlike in the previous part one 'Must Know' models, regarding the following areas, if SBL students did not revise them, it's nearly impossible to score any marks.
- Roles of board, directors, secretary and committees.
- Roles of internal auditor or function, risk manager.
- Integrate report format, and Project Initiation Document format
- Internal control framework
2 weeks before every SBL exam sitting, we provide in-depth analysis of the preseen material case, linking preseen information to the syllabus knowledge, and tipped exam questions.
For example, during Dec23 SBL exam sitting, we have correctly tipped the following areas:
1. Diversity of board - pros and cons - in our Q3 (Tipped Question)
2. Stakeholders - Q6 (Tipped Question)
3. Talent Management - Our Preseen Application Note - Chapter 17 4. Risks related issues - Our preseen application note, mock exam and tipped questions give full info on these.
3. In depth Preseen Material Analysis
Although there are some voices that preseen material is not important so that do not waste your time in doing extra research. My experience tells me this is not true.
Preseen case information forms the basis of the actual exam questions, and therefore students need to take it very seriously in understanding every bit and piece inside the material. As examining team will not purely set questions based on their imaginations, there are certain real world events needed to be taken into account. Therefore, our excellent SBL training experience tells me you could do the followings for the preseen material:
- Search for similar companies.
- Think about the key risks, solutions, from real world's perspective.
- Try to link each syllabus area to the preseen case information.
ACCA SBL how long to study?
If you are self studying SBL paper using ACCA Study Hub resources, please make sure you will allocate about 10 weeks to cover the whole syllabus, and the chapter questions at the end of chapter from there, plus another 4 weeks covering the revision questions from the Study Hub.
If you choose to study SBL with GlobalAPC, we have a tailored SBL study plan aiming to complete the whole Syllabus Phase using our precise Education Book which is exam focussed, ie only teach what you need to know to pass the SBL exam.
Then we will turn to the question practice phase to practice past exam questions.
Finally once the SBL preseen material is released from ACCA, we will go through preseen material in depth, plus tipped questions in our mock exams to perfect your SBL study.
We will spend about 3.5 weeks covering the Syllabus Phase and 3 Weeks covering the Revision and Preseen Analysis Phase of the study, with our ACCA online course which proves to be effective helping more than 4,800 students pass their Strategic Business Leader Exams.
Your writing approach:
Tip 1: Point + because... / implications... / so what...
In my SBL class, I use a very standadised writing approach which suits to every SBL exam question. SBL markers love to see your analysis based on the given information, ie key words like because, so that, therefore will automatically earn you good marks.
Tip 2: Avoid 'Over Explaining your point'
Many failed scripts are with too many unncessary words. If you can explain your point in one sentence, do not duplicate it using another one.
Remember, Quality is always more important than Quantity!
"Always position yourself as the management team member in the SBL exam rather than be a student, so that you can take care of the company in every situation, rather than giving theorectical answers which would not help the company at all."
Steve Chen, FCCA
Past Exams
Past Exam Questions
Make sure you will cover at least 2 recent exam sitting preseen material, past exam questions, answers, examiners report, and marking scheme. Nowadays, ACCA will only publish these via the Practice Platform
Your answer style
My top this for your answer style, is that never simply include one sentence as one point. Make sure you always bring value to your answer, by explaining the 'next step' for the business.
How to pass SBL in first attempt, with our exam techniques (3 Activities)?
Activity 1.
Plan the time
Activity 2.
Copy and paste preseen information
Activity 3.
Plan number of points
1. Plan the time
Style 1 – use 195 minutes to do the whole paper, ie you should allocate 195 minutes/80 marks = 2.4 minutes per mark.
Style 2 – use 15 minutes time to read and plan the question, and the 180 minutes to tackle the whole paper, ie 180 minutes/80 marks = 2.2 minutes per mark. I would certainly prefer the style 2.
2. Copy key preseen information to the on-screen scratch pad
I would highly recommend my students to copy and paste the following information to the on-screen scratch pad before reading the exihibits on the exam day:
- Company name, location, properties, client base, services it provides or goods it sells.
- Mission, vision and values.
Activity 3. Plan the number of points to write:
The basic rule: 1 mark = 1 sentence
Each point = your point + because/implication + preseen or unseen information
The reason to use this approach is because this style will impress the marker that you are adding some value to the answer. This is crucial in the SBL exam, as the marks would be quite generous indeed.
I always say to my SBL students, 'you need to give an excuse to the marker to award you marks'.
Video Session:
This is the SBL preseen application to the March 24 case: Transcentral Football club, and this video was so popular among SBL students as they appreciated my indepth analysis of this case.
Presented by ACCA SBL Tutor Guru - Steve Chen
Is SBL ACCA easy?
This is a question I get asked quite often from my students. My answer is A BIG YES to English native speakers as they tend to absorb information in a quicker manner than those who are not English native speakers.
However, a big trap when I mark those English native speakers regarding their SBL mock exams, I tend to find out their answers are with too much unneeded information, ie with metaphor, general introduction to the case, as these seem to be unncessary in the SBL exam.
Nevertheless, SBL is recommended to any students as the first Strategic Professional level paper to choose from.
In the SBL exam, financial information in the preseen would be important. I have done the in depth analysis of such financial part to make sure students have a clear mindset of what is going on in the preseen material.
Make sure you are able to at least, understand:
1. Revenue changes
2. Profit margins
3.Regulatory requirements, such as FFPR in the football industry.
My in depth analysis of SBL preseen financial information.
In each SBL exam, ACCA SBL examiner will surely include the following comments. Make sure that you will focus on the general weaknesses from other students, and be aware of lots of easy marks actually exist in this paper.
‘Many candidates made insufficient use of the information presented in the exam exhibits to support their answers, despite these being key to generating relevant points to use in their answers.’
Dec 2023 Examiner Report (This comment also exists in Sept23 Examiner's report)
‘Some candidates continue to answer the task they wish had been set rather than the task actually set. This seems to have been compounded by the introduction of the pre-seen information, with some candidates clearly prepreparing answers from this information and then using this, regardless of the question asked..’
Sept 2023 Examiner Report
