CIMA F3 Exam With Confidence Using Practice Dumps

In CIMA F3’s coverage of short-term financing, commercial paper (CP) is identified as a very cost-effective funding source for large, high-credit-quality companies. CP is an unsecured, short-term promissory note, typically issued for periods up to 270 days, making it ideal for a 6-month funding need. Because it is issued directly into the money markets by strong credits, the interest cost is usually lower than overdrafts or short-term bank loans, which include a bank’s margin.

The scenario states that the company is large, listed, has an “excellent credit rating”, minimal default risk and already has a commercial paper programme. This matches the textbook profile of a company for which CP is the cheapest source of short-term borrowing.

Treasury bills (C) are issued by governments, not companies, so they are an investment vehicle, not a borrowing method here. Bank overdrafts (A) are flexible but generally expensive and better for fluctuating day-to-day needs. A 6-month term loan (B) tends to involve higher arrangement fees and interest margins than CP. Therefore, option D is the most cost-effective choice.

The company is repurchasing and cancelling its own shares.

When shares are cancelled:

Share capital is reduced by the nominal value of the shares bought back. ✅

Any amount paid above nominal value reduces equity reserves (such as share premium and/or retained earnings), but it does not go through the Income Statement.

Total equity does decrease by the full repurchase amount (so option C is wrong).

No element of the repurchase (including any “premium to market value”) is treated as an expense in the Income Statement under IFRS – it’s purely an equity transaction (so D is wrong).

Option A is too specific and not strictly correct, because the premium over nominal is not necessarily all charged only to retained earnings – it can also be charged to share premium / other reserves.

So the one fully correct statement is:

B. The share capital figure would reduce by the nominal value of the shares purchased.