2021年12月ACCA考试时间！

正确答案：
(a) To: Joe Lawson, Managing Director, Lawson Engineering
From:
Business case for financial support
The treatment of intangible resources is an area of considerable concern to the financial community and in many ways the
situation that Lawson Engineering finds itself, is typical of the current confusion surrounding the value placed on intangible
resources. This in turn reflects a traditional concern that the strategic health and the financial health of a business are not
one and the same thing. Intangible resources cover a wide variety of assets and skills found in the business. These include
the intellectual property rights of patents; brands; trademarks; trade secrets etc through to people-determined assets such as
know-how; internal and external networks; organisational culture and the reputation of the company.
It is important for you to present a case which shows how the investment in intangible resources is just as important a source
of value creation for the customer as is investment in tangible assets such as plant and finance which are traditionally focused
on in financial statements of the firm’s well being. As one source expresses it, ‘for most companies, intangible resources
contribute much more to total asset value’. Kaplan and Norton in a 2004 article on intangible assets go further and argue
that ‘measuring the value of such intangible assets is the holy grail of accounting’. The increasing importance of service
businesses and service activities in the firm’s value chain compound the problems faced in getting a true reflection of the
firm’s ability to create value. One view is that the key value creation activity lies in the relationships a firm has with its key
stakeholders – its customers, suppliers and employees. These relationships develop into distinctive capabilities, defined as
‘something it can do that its competitors cannot’. These distinctive capabilities only become competitive advantage(s) when
the capability is applied to a relevant market. Firms attain a sustainable competitive advantage when they consistently
produce products or services with attributes that align with the key buying criteria for the majority of customers in the chosen
market.
Competitive advantage, to be strategically significant, must have the twin virtues of sustainability and appropriability.
Sustainability means the ability to sustain an advantage over a period of time. Fairly obviously, assets such as plant and
technology may be easily obtainable in the open market, however it is only when they are combined with less tangible
resources that advantages become sustainable over time because competitors cannot easily copy them. Equally significant
are intangible resources such as reputation and organisational culture in that they influence the firm’s ability to hold on to
or appropriate some of the value it creates. If other stakeholders both inside and outside the firm are able to take more than
their fair share of value created – for example customers forcing down prices or employees demanding excessive wage
increases – this will reduce the funds available for the firm to invest in further development of its intangible resources, and
as a consequence begin to weaken its competitive advantage.

Essentially, intangible resources can be separated into those capabilities that are based on assets and those that are based
on skills. As one source puts it asset based advantages are derived from ‘having’ a particular asset and skills based advantages
stem from the ability to be ‘doing’ things competitors are unable to do. Assets are those things that the firms ‘owns’ – the
intellectual property as embodied in patents, trademarks and associated brands, copyrights, recognised by law and
defendable against copying under that law. It is worth noting the effort and investment that many companies are putting into
defending their intellectual property against the threat of copying and piracy. A more recent asset that many firms spend
considerable time and effort in developing are databases on key activities in the firm’s value chain – customer databases are
only one of the possible sources of firm information and know-how. One of the most prized intangible assets is that of the
firm’s reputation which may reflect the power of the brands it has created. Reputation may be easier to maintain than create
and meets the key tests of sustainability. The capability to produce innovation consistently may be instrumental in creating
in the minds of customers the longer-term competitive advantage of reputation. Reputation is argued to represent the
knowledge and emotions the customer may associate with a firm’s product range and can therefore be a major factor in
securing the competitive advantage derived through effective differentiation.
A positive organisational culture, staff know-how and networks are equally important intangible sources of competitive
advantage. These by their very nature may be more dynamic than asset based intangibles and the know-how of employees
in particular is an intangible resource that results in the distinctive capabilities which differentiate the firm from its competitors.
Much has been written about the significance of organisational culture and the way it reflects the style. of top management,
the ‘can do’ culture of Lawson Engineering clearly creates a competitive advantage. One interesting study of how chief
executive officers rate their intangible resources in terms of their contribution to the overall success of the business showed
that company reputation, product reputation and employee know-how were the most highly regarded intangible resources.
Hamel and Prahalad argue that core competences rather than market position are the real source of competitive advantage.
They gave three tests to identify a core competence – firstly the competence should provide potential access to a wide variety
of markets and thus be capable of being leveraged to good effect, secondly, it should be relevant to the customer’s key buying
criteria and thirdly, it should be difficult for competitors to imitate.
The disadvantages of intangibles stem from the differing value placed on such assets and competences by the various
interested stakeholders. How should a company’s reputation be measured? How long will that reputation yield competitive
advantage, particularly in view of how swiftly such reputations can disappear? It seems likely that the financial markets with
their ability to reflect all knowledge and information about the firm in its share price increasingly will take the contribution of
intangibles into account.
Overall the case should be clearly made that the strengths of the company rests in its unique combination of intangible
resources and the capabilities – both internal and external – that it has. Financial health is not always the same as strategichealth and by any objective measure Lawson Engineering is worthy of support.
Yours,
Strategy consultant

正确答案：
(a) Evidence of trading
[Client address]
[Own address]
[Date]
Dear Bob,
I note that you have been selling some books in order to raise some extra income. While you believe that the sums are not
taxable, I believe that there may be a risk of the book sales being treated as a trade, and therefore taxable under Schedule D
Case I. We need to refer to guidance in the form. of a set of principles known as the ‘badges of trade’. These help determine
whether or not a trade exists, and need to be looked at in their entirety. The badges are as follows.
1. The subject matter
Some assets can be enjoyed by themselves as an investment, while others (such as large amounts of aircraft linen) are
clearly not. It is likely that such assets are acquired as trading stock, and are therefore a sign of trading. Sporting books
can be an investment, and so this test is not conclusive.
2. Frequency of transactions
Where transactions are frequent (not one-offs), this suggests trading. You have sold several books, which might suggest
trading, although you have only done this for a short period - between one and two years.
3. Length of ownership
Where items are bought and sold soon afterwards, this indicates trading. You bought your books in the 1990s, and the
length of time between acquisition and sale would not suggest trading.
4. Supplementary work and marketing
You are actively marketing the books on your internet website, which is an indication of trading.
5. Profit motive
A motive to make profit suggests trading activity. You sold the books to raise funds for your property business, and not
to make a profit as such, which suggests that your motive was to raise cash, and not make profits.
6. The way in which the asset sold was acquired.
Selling assets which were acquired unintentionally (such as a gift) is not usually seen as trading. You acquired the books
for your collection over a period of time, and while these were intentional acquisitions, the reasons for doing so were for
your personal pleasure.
By applying all of these tests, it should be possible to argue that you were not trading, merely selling some assets in
order to generate short-term cash for your business.
The asset disposals will be taxed under the capital gain tax rules, but as the books are chattels and do not form. part of
a set, they will be exempt from capital gains tax.
Yours sincerely
A N. Accountant

正确答案：
(d) The benefits that might accrue from the successful implementation of a Total quality management programme by the
management of the combined entity include the following:
– There will be an increased awareness of all personnel within Quicklink Ltd of the need to establish a ‘quality culture’
within the company which will provide a basis of improved performance throughout the organisation.
– The successful adoption of a TQM philosophy would ensure that there is a real commitment to ‘continuous improvement’
in all processes.
– It would place a greater focus on customer satisfaction since at the heart of any TQM programme is a deep-seated
commitment to the satisfaction of every customer.
– There would be a greater emphasis upon teamwork which would be used in a number of forms e.g. quality circles which
could be established with a view to improving performance within every area of the business. The fostering of team spirit
will also improve communication within Quicklink Ltd.
– A major characteristic of a TQM programme is process-redesign which is used to simplify processes, systems,
procedures and the organisation itself. In this respect the adoption of a TQM philosophy will be invaluable since the
integration of the Quicklink Ltd and Celer Transport businesses will require, of necessity, a detailed review of those
processes currently employed.
– The adoption of a TQM philosophy will necessitate the monitoring of quality costs in order to measure whether the
objective of continuous improvement is being achieved. In this respect the aim will be to eliminate internal failure costs
such as late deliveries and lost items which are clearly detrimental to a business which operates in the transport and
haulage industry.