吉林省考生想知道ACCA的科目F3怎么备考？

正确答案：
(b) Three potential problems that TMC might encounter in the proposed acquisition of CBC are as follows:
(i) TMC is forecast to have a 22% share of the market for disposable nappies at the end of 2008. If TMC was to acquire
CBC at that time it would then have a market share of ($681m + $155m)/$3,095m = 27%. Much will depend on
prevailing legislation. For example, in the UK it might be the case that the Director General of Fair Trading may ask the
Competition Commission (CC) to investigate if any organisation controls 25% or more of the market. The Secretary of
State may do likewise in circumstances where the proposed takeover would lead to the creation of a firm that would
control 25% or more of the market. (Similar examples from other countries would be equally acceptable.)
(ii) The directors of TMC need to be aware of the precise nature of the cultural problems that CBC has experienced during
recent years as this could be very damaging to its business if the acquisition of CBC goes ahead. In an extreme case
the organisational cultures of TMC and CBC might be incompatible. The directors of TMC need to make a very careful
assessment as to whether it would be possible to transform. a negative culture into a positive one. If they consider that
this would prove to be very difficult then they might be best advised not to proceed with the acquisition.
(iii) The directors of TMC have no experience of managing such acquisitions and this might mean that the integration of CBC
into TMC would prove problematic. It is probable that the systems are different as well as the management styles,
employee skills and business infrastructure.
(Alternative relevant discussion would be acceptable)

正确答案：
(b) The grapevine and rumour are the two main types of informal communication.
The grapevine is probably the best known type of informal communication. All organisations have a grapevine and it will thrive if there is lack of information and consequently employees will make assumptions about events. In addition, insecurity,gossip about issues and fellow employees, personal animosity between employees or managers or new information that has not yet reached the formal communication system, will all drive the grapevine.
Rumours are the other main informal means of communication and are often active if there is a lack of formal communication.A rumour is inevitably a communication not based on verified facts and may therefore be true or false. Rumours travel quickly(often quicker than both the formal system and the grapevine) and can influence those who hear them and cause confusion,especially if bad news is the basis of the rumour. Managers must ensure that the formal communication system is such that rumours can be stopped, especially since they can have a serious negative effect on employees.

正确答案：
(c) Examiner’s Note:
The topic of managerial motivation and budgeting has been a subject of discussion for a number of years. There are links
here to the topics of performance measurement and responsibility accounting. Discussion should be focused on the area of
budgets and the budgeting process, as specified in the question.
Setting targets for financial performance
It has been reasonably established that managers respond better in motivation and performance terms to a clearly defined,
quantitative target than to the absence of such targets. However, budget targets must be accepted by the responsible
managers if they are to have any motivational effect. Acceptance of budget targets will depend on several factors, including
the personality of an individual manager and the quality of communication in the budgeting process.
The level of difficulty of the budget target will also influence the level of motivation and performance. Budget targets that are
seen as average or above average will increase motivation and performance up to the point where such targets are seen as
impossible to achieve. Beyond this point, personal desire to achieve a particular level of performance falls off sharply. Careful
thought must therefore go into establishing budget targets, since the best results in motivation and performance terms will
arise from the most difficult goals that individual managers are prepared to accept4.
While budget targets that are seen as too difficult will fail to motivate managers to improve their performance, the same is
true of budget targets that are seen as being too easy. When budget targets are easy, managers are likely to outperform. the
budget but will fail to reach the level of performance that might be expected in the absence of a budget.
One consequence of the need for demanding or difficult budget targets is the frequent reporting of adverse variances. It is
important that these are not used to lay blame in the budgetary control process, since they have a motivational (or planning)
origin rather than an operational origin. Managerial reward systems may need to reward almost achieving, rather than
achieving, budget targets if managers are to be encouraged by receiving financial incentives.
Participation in the budget-setting process
A ‘top-down’ approach to budget setting leads to budgets that are imposed on managers. Where managers within an
organisation are believed to behave in a way that is consistent with McGregor’s Theory X perspective, imposed budgets may
improve performance, since accepting the budget is consistent with reduced responsibility and avoiding work.
It is also possible that acceptance of imposed budgets by managers who are responsible for their implementation and
achievement is diminished because they feel they have not been able to influence budget targets. Such a view is consistent
with McGregor’s Theory Y perspective, which holds that managers naturally seek responsibility and do not need to be tightly
controlled. According to this view, managers respond well to participation in the budget-setting process, since being able to
influence the budget targets for which they will be responsible encourages their acceptance. A participative approach to
budget-setting is also referred to as a ‘bottom-up’ approach.
In practice, many organisations adopt a budget-setting process that contains elements of both approaches, with senior
management providing strategic leadership of the budget-setting process and other management tiers providing input in terms
of identifying what is practical and offering detailed knowledge of their area of the organisation.