ACCAF4法律的三种分类五种特征！

正确答案：
(b) The contributions payable by Savage to the trustees will not count as an asset for the purposes of the valuation of the fund.
IAS19 (paragraph 103) states that plan assets should not include unpaid contributions due from the reporting entity to the
fund. Thus in the financial statements of Savage the contributions would be shown as an amount payable to the trustees
and there may be legal repercussions if the amount is not paid within a short period of time. Following the introduction of
changes to a defined benefit plan, a company should recognise immediately past service costs where the benefit has vested.
In the case where the benefits have not vested then the past service costs will be recognised as an expense over the averageperiod until the benefits vest. The company will therefore recognise $125 million at 1 November 2004.

正确答案：
5 (a) IFRSs were not designed specifically for listed companies. However, in many countries the main users of IFRS are listed
companies. Currently SMEs who adopt IFRS have to follow all the requirements and not all SMEs take exception to applying
IFRS because it gives their financial statements enhanced reliability, relevance and credibility, and results in fair presentation.
However, other SMEs will wish to comply with IFRS for consistency and comparability purposes within their own country and
internationally but wish to apply simplified or different standards relevant to SMEs on the grounds that some IFRS are
unnecessarily demanding and some of the information produced is not used by users of SME financial statements.
The objectives of general purpose financial statements are basically appropriate for SMEs and publicly listed companies alike.
Therefore there is an argument that there is a need for only one set of IFRS which could be used nationally and internationally.
However, some SMEs require different financial information than listed companies. For example expanded related party
disclosures may be useful as SMEs often raise capital from shareholders, directors and suppliers. Additionally directors often
offer personal assets as security for bank finance.
The cost burden of applying the full set of IFRS may not be justified on the basis of user needs. The purpose and usage of
the financial statements, and the nature of the accounting expertise available to the SME, will not be the same as for listed
companies. These circumstances themselves may provide justification for a separate set of IFRSs for SMEs. A problem which
might arise is that users become familiar with IFRS as opposed to local GAAP thus creating a two tier system which could
lead to local GAAP being seen as an inferior or even a superior set of accounting rules.
One course of action would be for GAAP for SMEs to be developed on a national basis with IFRS being focused on accounting
for listed company activities. The main issue here would be that the practices developed for SMEs may not be consistent and
may lack comparability across national boundaries. This may mean that where SMEs wish to list their shares on a capital
market, the transition to IFRSs may be difficult. It seems that national standards setters are strongly supportive of thedevelopment of IFRSs for SMEs.

正确答案：
(c) It has become increasingly common for audit firms to include a disclaimer paragraph within the audit report. However, it is
not a requirement of auditing standards and individual audit firms need to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the
use of a disclaimer paragraph.
The wording is used to state the fact that the auditor’s report is intended solely for the use of the company’s members as a
body, and that no responsibility is accepted or assumed to anyone other than the company and the company’s members as
a body.
The main perceived advantage is that the disclaimer should help to reduce the exposure of the audit firm to liability claims
from anyone other than the company or the company’s body of shareholders. The disclaimer makes it clear that the audit
firm reports only to those who appointed the firm, i.e. the members of the company, and this may make it more difficult for
the audit firm to be sued by a third party.
It is also argued that the use of a disclaimer could help to bridge the ‘expectation gap’ by providing a clearer indication of the
responsibility of the auditor.
In this way the audit firm can manage its risk exposure in an increasingly litigious environment. Recent high profile legal cases
against audit firms, such as the Bannerman case in Scotland, illustrate that an audit firm’s duty of care can extend beyond
the company and its shareholders, and that audit firms should consider how to protect themselves against liability claims.
Tutorial note: It is appropriate here to quote recent cases such as the Bannerman case to illustrate the reason why audit
firms face increased potential exposure to claims from third parties. However, knowledge of specific legal cases is not
required to gain full marks for this requirement.
However, it can be argued that a disclaimer does not necessarily work to protect an audit firm. Each legal case has individual
circumstances, and while a disclaimer might protect the audit firm in one situation, equally it may not offer any protection
where the facts of the case are different.
In addition, it is often argued that if an audit firm conducts an audit using full due care and diligence, there is no need for a
disclaimer, as a high quality audit would be very unlikely to lead to any claims against the audit firm. Consequently, it could
be argued that the use of disclaimers as a means to limit liability could permit low quality audits to be performed, the auditors
being confident that legal cases against them are restricted due to the presence of a disclaimer within the audit report.