Financial Management & Strategic Management (FM and SM | FM SM) | CRACKER

Financial Management & Strategic Management – CRACKER is an exam-oriented, solved question bank for CA-Intermediate (New Syllabus), Group II, Paper 6. It does not re-teach the syllabus—it converts it into writing-ready practice. Every chapter opens with a point-wise concept summary and then works through theory questions, sub-topic-wise practical problems, and ICAI Revision Test Paper questions, each with a complete solution tagged to its source attempt. The book mirrors the 100-mark paper exactly—Financial Management (50 marks) and Strategic Management (50 marks)—and closes with a fully solved Model Test Paper and four fully solved recent papers presented in ICAI's current case-scenario format, taking a student from revision to answer-practice to self-assessment in a single volume.

The Present Publication is the 13th Edition, authored by CA. Rakesh Rathi and CA. Vivek Panwar, with the following noteworthy features:

• [Solved Past Exam Questions] Past-exam questions are integrated through the chapters across a long run of ICAI attempts, with the most recent papers—up to and including the May 2026 examination—reproduced as fully solved papers
• [Coverage of ICAI RTPs] Revision Test Paper (RTP) questions issued by ICAI are integrated chapter-wise with full solutions
• [Chapter-wise Marks Distribution] A chapter-wise marks break-up across attempts from May 2024 to May 2026, with per-chapter averages
• [Previous-Exams Trend Analysis] A question-by-question trend analysis capturing marks, the compulsory-question flag, and a Practical/Theory classification for each question
• [Comparison with ICAI Study Material] Each chapter is mapped to the corresponding chapter of the ICAI Study Material for direct cross-referencing
• [Relevant Formulae] Formulae for the Financial Management chapters are presented within the summaries as tables, decision rules and step-wise procedures
• [Solved Model Test Paper] A fully solved Model Test Paper is included for timed self-assessment
• [Solved Suggested-Answer Papers] Four fully solved papers—May 2025, September 2025, January 2026 and May 2026—are reproduced in ICAI's current case-scenario-led pattern
• [Case-study/Application Questions] The Strategic Management chapters carry case-study and application questions reflecting the application focus of the current exam
• [Exam-tagged Questions] Every question carries its exam attribution (attempt and marks), letting students gauge recency and weightage at a glance

The coverage of the book is as follows:

• Financial Management
• Scope & Objectives – The scope, objectives and the finance function; the profit-versus-wealth-maximisation debate; agency problem and agency cost
• Types of Financing – Sources of finance across tenures and instruments—equity, preference, retained earnings, debentures and long-term loans.
• Financial Analysis & Planning – Financial analysis and planning through ratio analysis
• Cost of Capital – Component costs (debt, preference, equity, retained earnings) and the weighted and marginal cost of capital
• Capital Structure – Capital-structure decisions and the underlying theories
• Leverages – Operating, financial and combined leverages
• Capital Budgeting – Investment decisions and capital budgeting appraisal techniques
• Dividend Decisions – Dividend decisions and dividend-relevance theories
• Working Capital Management – Management of working capital, including the operating cycle and working-capital financing
• Strategic Management
• Introduction to Strategic Management – Foundations of strategic management, the strategy hierarchy, and proactive-versus-reactive strategy
• External Environment Analysis – Strategic analysis of the external environment — industry and competitive forces
• Internal Environment Analysis – Strategic analysis of the internal environment — resources, capabilities and the value chain
• Strategic Choices – Strategic choices at corporate and business level
• Strategy Implementation & Evaluation – Strategy implementation and strategic evaluation and control

The structure of the book is as follows:

• The book is organised into two sections that map to the ICAI paper pattern:
• Section A — Financial Management (50 Marks) | Chapters 1 to 9
• Section B — Strategic Management (50 Marks) | Chapters 10 to 14
• Practice Papers – These are followed by a fully solved Model Test Paper and four solved suggested-answer papers (May 2025 through May 2026)
• Financial Management Chapter Architecture – Each chapter follows a uniform architecture
• A point-wise Summary (with diagrams, decision rules, step-wise procedures and the relevant formulae) → Theory Questions → Practical Problems grouped under sub-topic headers, each with a complete worked solution
• Strategic Management Chapter Architecture – Each chapter follows the same Summary-led approach, supported by theory and case-study/application questions
• Exam-tagged Questions – Every question is tagged to its source attempt, and the recent solved papers are presented in ICAI's current case-scenario-led format
• Front-matter Navigation Aids – The front matter carries three aids—Chapter-wise Marks Distribution, Previous-Exams Trend Analysis, and the Chapter-wise Comparison with the ICAI Study Material