ACCA考试：会计师与企业基础经典习题(9)

正确答案：
(c) A management buyout represents a change in ownership rather than a change in strategy. However it should, as suggested
above, lead to a comprehensive review of the customers and product groups the firm chooses to supply and the basis on
which it seeks to achieve competitive advantage. In terms of the strategy pursued prior to the buyout, Bonar Paint seems to
be trying to achieve a differentiation focus strategy but without being able to achieve the higher profit margins associated with
the successful implementation of such a strategy.
If as seems likely Bonar Paint chooses to become a more focused company through product range reduction and serving fewer
customers, implementation of such a strategy will have clear implications for the whole of the organisation. Using the
McKinsey 7S model strategy change will lead to changes in the structure of the organisation. The departure of Bill and Jim
Bonar will have major repercussions for the roles taken by the three senior managers. Decisions will be needed on who is to
lead the company and the responsibilities of the other two managers. Bonar Paint has a very traditional functional structure
with the managers being responsible for discrete areas of activity. The change in ownership gives a major opportunity to see
whether this structure continues to be an appropriate one for handling the challenges of an increasingly competitive
environment. Any significant change to the product and/or customer portfolio as proposed by Tony Edmunds will need to be
implemented through a change to the structure. Product divisions may need to be set up if there is a decision to enter the
market for D-I-Y paints.
Systems will also need to change to accommodate any reduction in the product range and numbers of customers. Reference
has already been made to the impact on the production side of the business of such a strategic decision and the associated
consequences for areas such as sales and finance. Clearly, the lack of marketing information on product sales, customers and
profitability needs to be quickly addressed before any divestment decisions are taken. Making strategic decisions using poor
or inadequate information is a recipe for disaster. Decisions on new product development also will require a system that better
integrates the interests and information of the key functional areas.
Staff are the critical resource without which the buyout will not succeed. The change in ownership will cause uncertainty and
the buyout managers will need to spell out the changes that are both necessary and needed. Changes to the product and
customer portfolio will have a significant impact on some members of staff. Issues of redundancy/redeployment are best
addressed early, along with opportunities the change in strategy will create. Closely linked to staff are the skills those staff
will need to implement chosen strategy. The need to have a greater awareness of customer and competitor activity will require
new skills in the marketing area. Any investment in new production technology will affect the type of skills needed to use it.
The links between strategic decisions and human resource strategy need to be appreciated.

Style. concerns the way the three buyout managers carry out their new roles and communicate with staff. There is a significant
difference between leading and managing the business and each of the buyout managers will need to communicate a clear
sense of where the firm is going and inspiring staff to follow their vision and mission. This links closely with the concept of
shared values and the overall culture of the firm. The exit of the founders of the business could potentially create a cultural
void, which could lead to staff uncertainty. Unless quickly addressed good staff may leave the firm and adversely affect the
strategic change the new owners and managers are trying to introduce.
In implementing a chosen strategy there is a danger that the ‘hard’ Ss of strategy, structure and systems are attended to while
the soft Ss of staff, skills, style. and shared values are largely ignored. There is compelling evidence to suggest that it is thesoft Ss which will determine the success or otherwise of the management buyout.

正确答案：
6 To get the best out of people, managers need to have effective communication skills. Professional accountants as managers need to understand the difference between aggressive and assertive behaviour. Often an exchange of communication can be interpreted as a belligerent response from an employee. However, a slight difference in approach can communicate different feelings and achieve a more positive result.
(a) Aggressive behaviour is competitive and directed at defeating someone else. It is standing up for oneself at the expense of other people. It is defending one’s rights but doing so in such a way that violates the rights of other people. Aggressive behaviour ignores or dismisses the needs, wants, opinions, feelings or beliefs of others.
Characteristics of aggressive behaviour include excessive ‘I’ statements, boastfulness, and the individual’s opinions expressed as fact, threatening questions or postures from the individual, sarcasm and other throw-away remarks and a constant blaming of others.
Aggressive behaviour can be self defeating. It may cause such antagonism in the others in the organisation that they will refuse to co-operate or work with the person showing aggressive behaviour.

正确答案：
(d) Professional accountant’s liability
Liability for reporting on PFI
Independent accountants may be required to report on PFI for many reasons (e.g. to help secure a bank loan). Such forecasts
and projections are inherently unreliable. If the forecast or projection does not materialise, and the client or lenders (or
investors) consequently sustain financial loss, the accountant may face lawsuits claiming financial loss.
Courts in different jurisdictions use various criteria to define the group of persons to whom independent accountants may be
held liable for providing a report on an inaccurate forecast or projection. The most common of these are that an accountant
is liable to persons with whom there is proximity:
(i) only (i.e. the client who engaged the independent accountant);
(ii) or whose relationship with the accountant sufficiently approaches privity;
(iii) and to persons or members of a limited group of persons for whose benefit and guidance the accountant supplied the
information or knew that the recipient of the information intended to supply it;
(iv) and to persons who reasonably can be foreseen to rely on the information.
Measures to reduce liability
As significant assumptions will be essential to a reader’s understanding of a financial forecast, the independent accountant
should ensure that they are adequately disclosed and clearly stated to be the management’s responsibility. Hypothetical
assumptions should be clearly distinguished from best estimates.
The introduction to any forecast (and/or report thereon) should include a caveat that the prospective results may not be
attained. Specific and extensive warnings (‘the actual results … will vary’) and disclaimers (‘we do not express an opinion’)
may be effective in protecting an independent accountant sued for inaccuracies in forecasts or projections that they have
reported on.
Any report to a third party should state:
■ for whom it is prepared, who is entitled to rely on it (if anyone) and for what purpose;
■ that the engagement was undertaken in accordance with the engagement terms;
■ the work performed and the findings.
An independent accountant’s report should avoid inappropriate and open-ended wording, for example, ‘we certify …’ and ‘we
obtained all the explanations we considered necessary’.
Engagement terms to report on PFI should include an appropriate liability cap that is reasonable given the specific
circumstances of the engagement.
The independent accountant may be able to obtain indemnity from a client in respect of claims from third parties. Such ‘hold
harmless’ clauses obligate the client to indemnify the independent accountant from third party claims.

正确答案：
(c) Principal audit work
(i) Development expenditure on the Fox model
■ Agree opening balance, $6·3 million, to prior year working papers.
■ Physically inspect assembly plant/factory where the Fox is being developed and any vehicles so far manufactured
(e.g. for testing).
■ Substantiate costs incurred during the year, for example:
– goods (e.g. components) and services (e.g. consultants) to purchase invoices;
– labour (e.g. design engineers/technicians, mechanics, test drivers) to the payroll analysis;
– overheads (e.g. depreciation of development buildings and equipment, power, consumables) to
management’s calculation of overhead absorption and underlying cost accounts.
■ Review of internal trials/test drive results (e.g. in reports to management and video recordings of events).
■ Reperform. management’s impairment test of development expenditure. In particular recalculate value in use.
Tutorial note: It is highly unlikely that a reasonable estimate of fair value less costs to sell could be made for so
unique an asset.
■ Substantiate the key assumptions made by management in calculating value in use. For example:
– the level of sales expected when the car is launched to advance orders (this may have fallen with the delay
in the launch);
– the discount rate used to Pavia’s cost of capital;
– projected growth in sales to actual sales growth seen last time a new model was launched.