山西省考生：ACCA考试内容是什么？难度和专业课相比怎样？

正确答案：
(b) Paying a dividend of 10c per share.
There are insufficient retained earnings to pay a dividend of more than 5c per share.

正确答案：
(b) Divestment of products or parts of the business is one of the most difficult strategic decisions. As apparent in Bonar Paint a
reduction in the products and customers served by the firm is likely to cause significant changes to the firm’s value chain and
system. Currently Bonar Paint supplies its customers, regardless of size, directly and this inevitably means that their
distribution costs are increased. The reduction in products and customers may allow a choice to be made about the costs of
supplying customers directly as against using distributors to handle the smaller customers.
In using the value chain one is looking to identify the significant cost activities and how those costs behave. Some costs may
be affected by the overall size of the firm e.g. advertising while others affected by the batch size being processed. The changeto fewer products will lead to a bigger batch size and a number of positive consequences for costs. The value chain’s major
benefit is in identifying and quantifying the links that exist between various activities within the firm and between the firm
and its customers and suppliers. In Bonar Paint’s case does a reduction in product range lead to less product failures and
consequent warranty claims? Does simplifying the product range lead to shorter lead times and better delivery time
performance for its customers? Above all, a good understanding of its value chain will let it know if it changes an activity what
are the consequences for other parts of the system.
In terms of reducing the product range, before such a decision is taken Bonar Paint must carry out a thorough analysis of the
pattern of customer demand for each paint type. In all probability it will find that 80% of its sales come from 20% of its
product range. Having given this qualification, reducing the product range can have a number of beneficial results on other
parts of the value chain. The immediate effect is likely to be that Bonar Paint produces fewer batches over a given time period
but produces them in larger quantities. This will bring cost savings but the impact on other parts of the value chain is equally
important. The beneficial effects are:
– With a smaller product range the control of raw materials and finished inventory will be simplified affecting inbound and
outbound logistics. This will improve the inventory turn and make for better product availability.
– With an improved inventory turn this will reduce the firm’s working capital needs and release significant amounts of
cash.
– A simpler operations process should facilitate staff savings and support more automation.
– Warranty claims and support costs could be reduced.
– Bonar Paint will be purchasing fewer raw materials but in greater volume and on a more regular basis. This will lead to
improved price and delivery terms from its suppliers.
– Bonar Paint can offer improved product reliability and better delivery to its customers and should improve its market
share.
In terms of operational disadvantages, these therefore are largely in terms of the impact on customer service levels seen in
terms of product range availability. Once again it is important to have accurate information on the sales and profitability of
each product so informed divestment decisions could be taken. Care must be taken to identify any paints, which though
ordered infrequently, and in small quantities are a pre-cursor for customers ordering other paints. Some important customers
may require that the full range of their paint needs are met in order to continue buying from Bonar Paint.
Reduction of the product range and customer base is an important strategic decision. Eliminating non-contributors or ‘dog’
products both in terms of paints and customers is a key part of managing the product portfolio. However, inertia both in terms
of products and customers is a real strategic weakness. In terms of the three tests of suitability, acceptability and feasibility
the analysis suggests that only acceptability is likely to be an issue. Tony Edmunds needs to be convinced that it is an
appropriate strategy to adopt. It is the lack of accurate sales analysis that lies at the heart of the problem and that is his areaof responsibility!

正确答案：
(b) Risk management strategies and Chen Products
Risk transference strategy
This would involve the company accepting a portion of the risk and seeking to transfer a part to a third party. Although an
unlikely possibility given the state of existing claims, insurance against future claims would serve to limit Chen’s potential
losses and place a limit on its losses. Outsourcing manufacture may be a way of transferring risk if the ourtsourcee can be
persuaded to accept some of the product liability.
Risk avoidance strategy
An avoidance strategy involves discontinuing the activity that is exposing the company to risk. In the case of Chen this would
involve ceasing production of Product 2. This would be pursued if the impact (hazard) and probability of incurring an
acceptable level of liability were both considered to be unacceptably high and there were no options for transference or
reduction.
Risk reduction strategy
A risk reduction strategy involves seeking to retain a component of the risk (in order to enjoy the return assumed to be
associated with that risk) but to reduce it and thereby limit its ability to create liability. Chen produces four products and it
could reconfigure its production capacity to produce proportionately more of Products 1, 3 and 4 and proportionately less of
Product 2. This would reduce Product 2 in the overall portfolio and therefore Chen’s exposure to its risks. This would need
to be associated with instructions to other departments (e.g. sales and marketing) to similarly reconfigure activities to sell
more of the other products and less of Product 2.
Risk acceptance strategy
A risk acceptance strategy involves taking limited or no action to reduce the exposure to risk and would be taken if the returns
expected from bearing the risk were expected to be greater than the potential liabilities. The case mentions that Product 2 is
highly profitable and it may be that the returns attainable by maintaining and even increasing Product 2’s sales are worth the
liabilities incurred by compensation claims. This is a risk acceptance strategy.

正确答案：
(b) A cost driver is the factor that determines the level of resource required for an activity. This may be illustrated by considering
costs for each of the four levels in Order Number 377.
Unit based costs:
Direct material costs are driven by the quantity, range, quality and price of materials required per product unit according to
the specification for the order.
Direct labour costs are driven by the number of hours required per product unit and the rate per hour that has been agreed
for each labour grade.
Batch related costs:
The number of machine set-ups per batch is the cost driver for machines used.
The number of design hours per batch is the cost driver for design work.
Product sustaining costs:
The number of marketing visits to a client per order is the cost driver for marketing cost chargeable to the order.
The number of hours of production line maintenance per order is the cost driver for production line cost.
Business sustaining costs:
These costs are absorbed at a rate of 30% of total cost excluding business sustaining costs. This is an arbitrary rate which
indicates the difficulty in identifying a suitable cost driver/drivers for the range of residual costs in this category. Wherever
possible efforts should be made to identify aspects of this residual cost that can be added to the unit, batch or product related
analysis.
The cost drivers are useful in that they provide a basis for an accurate allocation of the cost of resources consumed by an
order. In addition, investigation of the cause(s) of a cost driver occurring at its present level allows action to be considered
that will lead to a reduction in the cost per unit of cost driver.
Examples of causes that might be identified are:
Material price may be higher than necessary due to inefficient sourcing of materials. This may be overcome through efforts
to review sourcing policy and possibly provide additional training to staff responsible for the sourcing of materials.
The number of machine set-ups per batch may be due to lack of planning of batch sizes. It may be possible for batch sizes
in this order to be increased to 1,250 units which would reduce the number of batches required to fulfil the order from five
to four. This should reduce overall costs.
The amount of production line maintenance (and hence cost) required per order may be reduced by examining causes such
as level of skill of maintenance carried out – by GMB’s own staff or out-sourced provision. Action would involve re-training of
own staff or recruitment of new staff or changing of out-source providers.
(alternative relevant examples and discussion would be acceptable for all aspects of part (b))