西藏想要报考ACCA考试的萌新们，在报考之前你需要了解这些条件

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(ii) Control weakness
ISA 260 contains guidance on the type of issues that should be communicated. One of the matters identified is a control
weakness in the capital expenditure transaction cycle. The assets for which no authorisation was obtained amount to
0·3% of total assets (225,000/78 million x 100%), which is clearly immaterial. However, regardless of materiality, the
auditor should ensure that the weakness is brought to the attention of the management, with a clear indication of the
implication of the weakness, and recommendations as to how the control weakness should be eliminated.
The auditor is providing information to help those charged with governance improve the internal systems and controls
and ultimately reduce business risk. In this case there is a high risk of fraud, as the lack of authorisation for purchase
of office equipment could allow expenditure on assets not used for bona fide business purposes.
Disagreement with accounting treatment of brand
Audit procedures have revealed a breach of IAS 38 Intangible Assets, in which internally generated brand names are
specifically prohibited from being recognised. Blod Co has recognised an internally generated brand name which is
material to the statement of financial position (balance sheet) as it represents 12·8% of total assets (10/78 x 100%).
The statement of financial position (balance sheet) therefore contains a material misstatement.
The report to those charged with governance should clearly explain the rules on recognition of internally generated brand
names, to ensure that the management has all relevant technical facts available. In the report the auditors should
request that the financial statements be corrected, and clarify that if the brand is not derecognised, then the audit opinion
will be qualified on the grounds of a material disagreement – an ‘except for’ opinion would be provided. Once the breach
of IAS 38 is made clear to the management in the report, they then have the opportunity to discuss the matter and
decide whether to amend the financial statements, thereby avoiding a qualified audit opinion.
Audit inefficiencies
Documentation relating to inventories was not always made readily available to the auditors. This seems to be due to
poor administration by the client rather than a deliberate attempt to conceal information. The report should contain a
brief description of the problems encountered by the audit team. The management should be made aware that
significant delay to the receipt of necessary paperwork can cause inefficiencies in the audit process. This may seem a
relatively trivial issue, but it could lead to an increase in audit fee. Management should react to these comments by
ensuring as far as possible that all requested documentation is made available to the auditors in a timely fashion.

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(c) Forensic accounting is where an assurance provider investigates a specific issue, often with a legal consequence, such as a
suspected fraud. Specifically it is the process of gathering, analysing and reporting on data for the purpose of finding facts
and/or evidence in the context of financial/legal disputes and/or irregularities. The forensic accountant will also give
preventative advice based on evidence gathered. This advice is based usually on recommendations to improve the internal
control systems to prevent and detect fraud.
The relevance here is that Webb & Co are likely to be asked to provide a forensic accounting service to Mulligan Co.
The investigation will consider two issues – firstly whether the fraud actually happened, and secondly, if a fraud has taken
place, the financial value of the fraud. The investigation should determine who has perpetrated the fraud, and collect evidence
to help prosecute those involved in the deception.
In this case the suspicion that inventory is being stolen should be investigated, as there could be other reasons for the
discrepancy found in the inventory records. For example, the discrepancy could be caused by:
– Obsolete or damaged inventory thrown away but not eliminated from the inventory records
– Despatches from the warehouse not recorded in the inventory management system
– Incoming inventory being recorded incorrectly (e.g. recorded twice in the inventory management system)
– Inventory being held at a separate location and therefore not included in the count.
If it is found that thefts have taken place, then the forensic accountant should gather evidence to:
– Prove the identity of the persons involved
– Quantify the value of inventory taken.
The evidence gathered could be used to start criminal proceedings against those found to have been involved in the fraud.

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(a) New ventures are notoriously risky and it is vital that the group has a clear idea of the factors that will be critical to the
restaurant’s success and the capabilities and competences needed to achieve their critical success factors. Johnson, Scholes
and Whittington define critical success factors as ‘those product (or service) features that are particularly valued by a group
of customers, and, therefore where the organisation must excel to outperform. the competition’. The group have chosen to
enter a highly competitive market and one where it is very difficult to create a distinctive product or service for the customer.
It is important in establishing what factors are important that they know the features their potential customers will particularly
value in the restaurant business. All too often firms design products or services on the basis of what the ‘expert’ inside the
company thinks the customer wants. One of the major problems in setting up a new restaurant is that customers can easily
compare one restaurant with another. Often they are in close proximity making all aspects of the service, particularly price,
easily open to customer evaluation.
Clearly, service will be a critical factor but precisely how will it be defined? Does the customer look for fast food service with
an emphasis on being served quickly? This seems unlikely and a more likely requirement is that the table service replicates
the friendly ambience experienced at restaurants on the Mediterranean. Many of their customers will have experienced this
first-hand and this would reinforce the Mediterranean theme. To deliver this service the waiters/waitresses will need
appropriate training. The menu and quality of food will be key factors – they lie at the heart of the reason for setting up the
business. How is distinctiveness to be achieved? The quality of the chef and kitchen staff will determine the quality of the
food served. The design of the restaurant and its layout and seating are also features, which it is important to get right. Aboveall, there is the need to create a price/value combination that is difficult for competitors to beat.

The critical success factors will stem from using the restaurant’s resources in a distinctive way. In Hamel and Prahalad’s
terms, there are three tests that can identify core competences in a company. Firstly, the core competence has the potential
for transfer across a variety of markets – less likely in a small business. Secondly, a core competence should make a significant
contribution to the perceived customer benefits of the end product or service. Finally, the core competence will be difficult for
a competitor to imitate. In service businesses such as restaurants, imitation of less tangible factors such as the quality of tableservice may be much more difficult to copy than the features designed into a tangible product.

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(b) As the term internal marketing implies, the methods of ascertaining staff reactions to the proposed growth strategy have close
parallels with the ways you find out about customer reaction to the company or its products. The benefits of taking a
structured research approach are considerable and often firms may prefer that attitude surveys are carried out by outside
consultants in order to improve objectivity and to remove some of the problems with Mark’s power and position. As with
external market research you are looking to see whether staff will ‘buy into’ the proposed strategy and the accurate
measurement of attitudes and consequent behaviour is very important.
Creating the framework for undertaking the research involves defining the issue to be researched – in this case staff attitudes
towards the growth strategy, designing the research methods, including the use of questionnaires and interviews, determining
the sample of staff to be involved, the use or otherwise of focus groups and ways of ensuring the data collected gives an
accurate picture of staff attitudes. The data generated must be analysed and presented to Mark in an appropriate way. How
the insights into staff attitudes are gained through the research is important, as is the communication of the results to the
staff. Mark should be aware that such research will inevitably create expectations among staff and managing those
expectations will be a test of his leadership powers.