新手小白必看的ACCAF6的学习建议

正确答案：
(b) Management judgement may have a greater impact under IFRS than generally was the case under national GAAP. IFRS
utilises fair values extensively. Management have to use their judgement in selecting valuation methods and formulating
assumptions when dealing with such areas as onerous contracts, share-based payments, pensions, intangible assets acquired
in business combinations and impairment of assets. Differences in methods or assumptions can have a major impact on
amounts recognised in financial statements. IAS1 expects companies to disclose the sensitivity of carrying amounts to the
methods, assumptions and estimates underpinning their calculation where there is a significant risk of material adjustment
to their carrying amounts within the next financial year. Often management’s judgement is that there is no ‘significant risk’
and they often fail to disclose the degree of estimation or uncertainty and thus comparability is affected.
In addition to the IFRSs themselves, a sound financial reporting infrastructure is required. This implies effective corporate
governance practices, high quality auditing standards and practices, and an effective enforcement or oversight mechanism.
Therefore, consistency and comparability of IFRS financial statements will also depend on the robust nature of the other
elements of the financial reporting infrastructure.
Many preparers of financial statements will have been trained in national GAAP and may not have been trained in the
principles underlying IFRS and this can lead to unintended inconsistencies when implementing IFRS especially where the
accounting profession does not have a CPD requirement. Additionally where the regulatory system of a country is not well
developed, there may not be sufficient market information to utilise fair value measurements and thus this could lead to
hypothetical markets being created or the use of mathematical modelling which again can lead to inconsistencies because of
lack of experience in those countries of utilising these techniques. This problem applies to other assessments or estimates
relating to such things as actuarial valuations, investment property valuations, impairment testing, etc.
The transition to IFRS can bring significant improvement to the quality of financial performance and improve comparability
worldwide. However, there are issues still remaining which can lead to inconsistency and lack of comparability with those
financial statements.

正确答案：
(b) Supaserve, through its electronic point of sale system (EPOS), is already likely to have useful information on the overall
patterns of buying behaviour in terms of products bought frequently, peak periods, etc. It is less likely to have detailed
information on individual customer purchase patterns, though it may be monitoring where its customers are living, travel
patterns, etc. The introduction of the new online system has the potential to have a major strategic impact on the company
and its relationship with its customers. Impact can be measured by assessing the significance of the change on the company’s
operations and the likelihood of its occurrence. In Michael Porter’s words, ‘the basic tool for understanding the influence of
information technology on companies is the value chain . . . and how it affects both a company’s cost and the value delivered
to buyers’.
Clearly the investment in Internet based technology will affect both the cost and revenue sides of the business. In terms of
operations the company will need to decide the way in which to integrate the new method of customer buying with its
traditional methods. Does it create a separate ‘dedicated’ warehouse operation solely involved with the online business or does
it integrate it within its existing operations? The customer will have immediate access to information on whether goods are in
stock or not, and this may have a significant impact on the procurement systems Supaserve has with its suppliers and the
inbound logistics which get the products to where they are needed for dispatch to the customers.
Online shopping will have a major impact on outbound logistics in that a totally new distribution process will have to be
created. The extent to which this new service is provided in-house by setting up a new activity within Supaserve, or
alternatively is outsourced to specialist distributors is a key decision affecting costs and efficiency. Supaserve’s delivery
performance will be both measurable and potentially available to competitors and a real source of competitive advantage or
disadvantage.
The new online system will have an immediate impact on marketing and sales. Can customers pay over the Internet?
Opportunities for direct marketing to individual customers are opened up and customisation becomes a real possibility.
Customers can link into after-sales services and provide insights into customer satisfaction. On the support side of the value
chain the impact on human resources may be profound and technology lies at the heart of the change. Above all there is a
key need to link the new strategy to the operational systems needed to deliver it.
Clearly, the introduction of the online shopping system offers an opportunity for Supaserve to differentiate itself from its
aggressive competitors. The online service, as suggested above, is likely to appeal to a limited but growing segment of its
customers. In strategic terms it is a focus differentiation strategy enabling Supaserve to provide an improved level of service
to its customers. For this customers are willing to pay a small premium. Perhaps the more significant impact on its profit
margins will be derived from improved levels of customer retention and the attraction of customers who formerly shopped
with its competitors. The ability to sustain its competitive advantage will be measured by the impact on its competitors and
their ability to introduce a similar service.
There are a number of useful models for assessing the impact of an IT related change. These could include the five forces
model and the frameworks developed by Michael Earl assessing the strategic impact of IT. Michael Earl argues persuasively
for the correct alignment between business strategy and IT strategy. Indeed he sees a need for a ‘binary approach’ with the
alignment of IT investment activities in existing ways of doing business as having to be accommodated with the IT investments
associated with more radical change to the ways business is conducted.

正确答案：
(ii) Strategy of the business regarding its treasury policies
Treasury policies are reviewed regularly by the Board. It is group policy to account for all financial instruments as cash
flow hedges. As a result, changes in the fair values of financial instruments are deferred in reserves to the extent the
hedge is effective and released to profit or loss in the time periods in which the hedged item impacts profit or loss.
The Group contracts fixed rate currency swaps and issues floating to fixed rate interest rate swaps to meet the objective
of protecting borrowing costs. The cash flow effects of the interest rate swaps match the cash flows on the underlying
instruments so that there is no net cash flow effect from movements in market interest rates. If the interest rate swaps
had not been transacted there could have been an increase in the annual net interest payable to the Group. The strategy
of the group is to minimise the exposure to interest rate fluctuations.

正确答案：
(ii) Administration of the company’s tax affairs
The corporation tax return must be submitted within 12 months of the end of the accounting period, i.e. by 5 April
2008.
Corporation tax is due nine months and one day after the end of the accounting period, i.e. by 6 January 2008.
HMRC have 12 months from the filing date to enquire into the corporation tax return. This deadline is extended if the
return is submitted late. Once this deadline has passed the return can be regarded as agreed provided it includes all
necessary information and there has been no loss of tax due to the company’s fraud or negligence.
Jane should have notified HMRC by 5 July 2006 that Speak Write Ltd’s first accounting period began on 6 April 2006.
The penalty for failing to notify is a maximum of ￡3,000.