北京市考生们！2020年ACCA国际会计师考试科目、考试题题型题量！

正确答案：
(b) Financial statement ratios can provide useful measures of liquidity but an analysis of the information in the cash flow
statement, particularly cash flow generated from operations, can provide specific insights into the liquidity of Warrburt. It is
important to look at the generation of cash and its efficient usage. An entity must generate cash from trading activity in order
to avoid the constant raising of funds from non-trading sources. The ‘quality of the profits’ is a measure of an entity’s ability
to do this. The statement of cash flow shows that the company has generated cash in the period despite sustaining a
significant loss ($92m cash flow but $21m loss). The problem is the fact that the entity will not be able to sustain this level
of cash generation if losses continue.
An important measure of cash flow is the comparison of the cash from operating activity to current liabilities. In the case of
Warrburt, this is $92m as compared to $155m. Thus the cash flow has not covered the current liabilities.
Operating cash flow ($92 million) determines the extent to which Warrburt has generated sufficient funds to repay loans,
maintain operating capability, pay dividends and make new investments without external financing. Operating cash flow
appears to be healthy, partially through the release of cash from working capital. This cash flow has been used to pay
contributions to the pension scheme, pay finance costs and income taxes. These uses of cash generated would be normal for
any entity. However, the release of working capital has also financed in part the investing activities of the entity which includes
the purchase of an associate and property, plant and equipment. The investing activities show a net cash outflow of
$43 million which has been financed partly out of working capital, partly from the sale of PPE and AFS financial assets and
partly out of cash generated from operations which include changes in working capital. It seems also that the issue of share
capital has been utilised to repay the long term borrowings and pay dividends. Also a significant amount of cash has been
raised through selling AFS investments. This may not continue in the future as it will depend on the liquidity of the market.
This action seems to indicate that the long term borrowings have effectively been ‘capitalised’. The main issue raised by the
cash flow statement is the use of working capital to partially finance investing activities. However, the working capital ratio
and liquidity ratios are still quite healthy but these ratios will deteriorate if the trend continues.

正确答案：
(b) (i) One company may have revalued its assets while the other has not.
(ii) Accounting policies and estimation techniques may differ. For example, one company may use higher depreciation rates
than the other.
(iii) The use of historical cost accounting may distort the capital and profit of the two companies in different ways.
Other answers considered on their merits.

正确答案：
(b) There are several issues that must be addressed as a matter of urgency:
Extra work must be planned to discover the extent of the breakdown in internal controls that occurred during the year. It is
important to decide whether the errors were isolated, or continued through the accounting period and whether similar errors
have occurred in other areas e.g. cash receipts from existing customers or cash payments. A review of the working papers of
the internal audit team should be carried out as soon as possible. The materiality of the errors should be documented.
Errors discovered in the accounting systems will have serious implications for the planned audit approach of new customer
deposits. Nate & Co must plan to expand audit testing on this area as control risk is high. Cash deposits will represent a
significant class of transaction in CF Co. A more detailed substantive approach than used in prior year audits may be needed
in this material area if limited reliance can be placed on internal controls.
A combination of the time spent investigating the reasons for the errors, their materiality, and a detailed substantive audit on
this area means that the audit is likely to take longer than previously anticipated. This may have cost and recoverability
implications. Extra staff may need to be assigned to the audit team, and the deadline for completion of audit procedures may
need to be extended. This will need to be discussed with CF Co.
Due to the increased audit risk, Nate & Co should consider increasing review procedures throughout the audit. In addition CF
Co is likely to be a highly regulated company as it operates in financial services, increasing possible attention focused on the
audit opinion. These two factors indicate that a second partner review would be recommended.
A separate issue is that of Jin Sayed offering advice to the internal audit team. The first problem raised is that of quality control.
A new and junior member of the audit team should be subject to close direction and supervision which does not appear to
have been the case during this assignment.
Secondly, Jin Sayed should not have offered advice to the internal audit team. On being made aware of the errors, he should
have alerted a senior member of the audit team, who then would have decided the action to be taken. This implies that he
does not understand the limited extent of his responsibilities as a junior member of the audit team. Nate & Co may wish to
review the training provided to new members of staff, as it should be made clear when matters should be reported to a senior,
and when matters can be dealt with by the individual.
Thirdly, Jin Sayed must be questioned to discover what exactly he advised the internal audit team to do. Despite his academic
qualification, he has little practical experience in the financial information systems of CF Co. He may have given inappropriate
advice, and it will be crucial to confirm that no action has been taken by the internal audit team.
The audit partner should consider if Nate & Co are at risk because of the advice that has been provided by Jin Sayed. As he
is a member of the audit team, his advice would be considered by the client as advice offered by Nate & Co, and the partner
should ascertain by discussion with the client whether this advice has been acted upon.
Finally Nate & Co should consider whether as a firm they could provide the review of the financial information technology
system, as requested by CF Co. IFAC’s Code of Ethics, and ACCA’s Code of Ethics and Conduct places restrictions on the
provision of non-audit services. Nate & Co must be clear in what exactly the ‘review’ will involve.
Providing a summary of weaknesses in the system, with appropriate recommendations is considered part of normal audit
procedures. However, given the errors that have arisen in the year, CF Co may require Nate & Co to design and implement
changes to the system. This would constitute a self-review threat and should only be considered if significant safeguards are
put in place, for example, using a separate team to provide the non-audit service and/or having a second partner review of
the work.

正确答案：