2020年ACCA考试审计与认证业务（基础）精选考点(7)

正确答案：
(ii) ‘No frills’ low-cost budget airlines are usually associated with the following characteristics. Each of these characteristics
is considered in the context of Oceania National Airlines (ONA).
– Operational economies of scale
Increased flight frequency brings operational economies and is attractive to both business and leisure travellers. In
the international sector where ONA is currently experiencing competition from established ‘no frills’ low-cost budget
airlines ONA has, on average, one flight per day to each city. It would have to greatly extend its flight network, flight
frequency and the size of its aircraft fleet if it planned to become a ‘no frills’ carrier in this sector. This fleet
expansion appears counter to the culture of an organisation that has expanded very gradually since its formation.
Table 1 shows only three aircraft added to the fleet in the period 2004–2006. It is likely that the fleet size would
have to double for ONA to become a serious ‘no frills’ operator in the international sector. In the regional sector, the
flight density, an average of three flights per day, is more characteristic of a ‘no frills’ airline. However, ONA would
have to address the relatively low utilisation of its aircraft (see Tables 1 and 2) and the cost of maintenance
associated with a relatively old fleet of aircraft.
– Reduced costs through direct sales
On-line booking is primarily aimed at eliminating commission sales (usually made through travel agents). ‘No frills’
low-cost budget airlines typically achieve over 80% of their sales on-line. The comparative figure for ONA (see
Table 2) is 40% for regional sales and 60% for international sales, compared with an average of 84% for their
competitors. Clearly a major change in selling channels would have to take place for ONA to become a ‘no frills’
low-cost budget airline. It is difficult to know whether this is possible. The low percentage of regional on-line sales
seems to suggest that the citizens of Oceania may be more comfortable buying through third parties such as travel
agents.
– Reduced customer service
‘No frills’ low-cost budget airlines usually do not offer customer services such as free meals, free drinks and the
allocation of passengers to specific seats. ONA prides itself on its in-flight customer service and this was one of the
major factors that led to its accolade as Regional Airline of the Year. To move to a ‘no frills’ strategy, ONA would
have to abandon a long held tradition of excellent customer service. This would require a major cultural change
within the organisation. It would also probably lead to disbanding the award winning (Golden Bowl) catering
department and the redundancies of catering staff could prove difficult to implement in a heavily unionised
organisation.
Johnson, Scholes and Whittington have suggested that if an organisation is to ‘achieve competitive advantage through
a low price strategy then it has two basic choices. The first is to try and identify a market segment which is unattractive
(or inaccessible) to competitors and in this way avoid competitive pressures to erode price.’ It is not possible for ONA to
pursue this policy in the international sector because of significant competition from established continental ‘no frills’
low-cost budget airlines. It may be a candidate strategy for the regional sector, but the emergence of small ‘no frills’ lowcost
budget airlines in these countries threaten this. Many of these airlines enter the market with very low overheads
and use the ‘no frills’ approach as a strategy to gain market share before progressing to alternative strategies.
Secondly, a ‘no frills’ strategy depends for its success on margin. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington suggest that ‘in the
long run, a low price strategy cannot be pursued without a low-cost base’. Evidence from the scenario suggests that ONA
does not have a low cost base. It continues to maintain overheads (such as a catering department) that its competitors
have either disbanded or outsourced. More fundamentally (from Table 2), its flight crew enjoy above average wages and
the whole company is heavily unionised. The scenario acknowledges that the company pays above industry salaries and
offers excellent benefits such as a generous non-contributory pension. Aircraft utilisation and aircraft age also suggest a
relatively high cost base. The aircraft are older than their competitors and presumably incur greater maintenance costs.
ONA’s utilisation of its aircraft is also lower than its competitors. It seems highly unlikely that ONA can achieve the
changes required in culture, cost base and operations required for it to become a ‘no frills’ low-cost budget airline. Other
factors serve to reinforce this. For example:
– Many ‘no frills’ low-cost budget airlines fly into airports that offer cheaper taking off and landing fees. Many of these
airports are relatively remote from the cities they serve. This may be acceptable to leisure travellers, but not to
business travellers – ONA’s primary market in the regional sector.
– Most ‘no frills’ low-cost budget airlines have a standardised fleet leading to commonality and familiarity in
maintenance. Although ONA has a relatively small fleet it is split between three aircraft types. This is due to
historical reasons. The Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s appear to be very similar aircraft. However, the Boeings
were inherited from OceaniaAir and the Airbuses from Transport Oceania.
In conclusion, the CEO’s decision to reject a ‘no frills’ strategy for ONA appears to be justifiable. It would require major
changes in structure, cost and culture that would be difficult to justify given ONA’s current position. Revolution is the
term used by Baligan and Hope to describe a major rapid strategic change. It is associated with a sudden transformation
required to react to extreme pressures on the organisation. Such an approach is often required when the company is
facing a crisis and needs to quickly change direction. There is no evidence to support the need for a radical
transformation. This is why the CEO brands the change to a ‘no frills’ low-cost budget airline as ‘unnecessary’. The
financial situation (Table 3) is still relatively healthy and there is no evidence of corporate predators. It can be argued
that a more incremental approach to change would be beneficial, building on the strengths of the organisation and the
competencies of its employees. Moving ONA to a ‘no frills’ model would require seismic changes in cost and culture. If
ONA really wanted to move into this sector then they would be better advised to start afresh with a separate brand andairline and to concentrate on the regional sector where it has a head start over many of its competitors.

正确答案：
(a) Quality
Quality has become an increasingly important issue in organisations. For some companies it is an important differentiator,
allowing the organisation to pursue a high price/high quality strategy. For other organisations, such as UPC, the quality
threshold requirements for their products have increased significantly over the last few years. Customers have increased
expectations of product construction, longevity and reliability. Quality is rarely absolute; and it is usually constrained by such
factors as selling price. This particularly applies in UPC’s market where it is likely that the quality of the product is limited by
the relatively low price consumers are willing to pay for it. Quality concerns how a product meets its designed purpose and
satisfies its original requirements. The target selling price is likely to be one of those requirements.
At UPC quality appears to be defined in terms of the physical condition of the products (no breakages, cracks or chips) and
in the accurate positioning of the printed image on the product. These are the reasons given by the UPC management for
setting up the inspection team. However, this perception of quality would have to be confirmed by the customer. It may be
that other issues, such as the density of the printed image, are also important to the customer but have not yet been fed back
to UPC.
Many definitions of quality include references to the customer. They stress meeting the requirements of the customer or user
of the product. UPC might benefit from re-considering who it perceives to be the customer. Their current perception appears
to be that the customer is the gift shop that sells the product. It is not the ultimate person or consumer who buys the product
from the shop and uses it. For this consumer, other issues may be significant such as:
– The ability to wash the item in a dishwasher.
– The long-term safety of the product, for example: the handle does not break off a cup and spill its content on the drinker.
– The long-term clarity of the image on the item after many washes.
Investigating the issue of quality from the perspective of the consumer may identify other problems that need addressing.
Finally, quality has to be considered in the context of responsibility. UPC currently uses a courier company to deliver its
products to the gift shops. This means that freedom from breakage is only partly under UPC’s control. The delivery condition
of products is partly determined by the care with which the courier company handles the package. Hence delivery quality
depends on courier performance as well as on packaging care. In contrast, the quality of the printed image on the item is
completely within the control of UPC.
Quality control
Quality Control (QC) is primarily concerned with checking and reviewing work that has been done. It is an inspection system
for ensuring that pre-determined quality standards are being met. In theory, the responsibility for the control of quality lies
with the person undertaking the process, whether it is the production of goods, delivery of a service or the passing of
information. QC is the part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements.
In many quality control systems, sample products are removed and inspected. Defects in these sampled products may lead
to the whole batch being inspected and defective items destroyed. This is essentially the role of the inspection team at UPC,
where 1 in 20 packed packages are inspected for accuracy of printing and correctness of packing. Incorrect packing in a
sampled package will lead to the inspection (and potential re-packing) of all packages packed by that employee. Failure in
the accuracy of the printed image is likely to lead to the destruction of the whole batch, and the re-setting of the production
imaging machine to address the positional inaccuracy of the image. It has to be stressed that, in this instance, quality control
is a sampling activity and so it is very likely that defective batches will get through to the customer. To criticise the inspection
unit for failing to find defective batches (‘the quality inspection team is just not working’) fails to recognise the sampling nature
of the role.

In the context of UPC there are at least three further factors that inhibit effective quality control.
– The quality control of the positioning of the image takes place too late in the process. It should take place before packing,
not after it. Valuable packing time and materials can be wasted by packing items with defective images which are found
when the package is inspected.
– The reward system for packers is based on the throughput of packages rather than the quality of packing. In the past
many manufacturing organisations have valued productivity more than quality and reflected this in their reward system.
This is the case at UPC where faults in packing are not reflected in the reward system of the packers. In fact, the very
opposite appears to be true. Packers are incentivised to pack quickly, not effectively. Beckford suggests that ‘a major
barrier to quality may be built into the reward system of the organisation’.
– There is evidence that the inspection team has participated in the achievement of the required throughput targets by
passing packages that did not meet the required quality. This is clearly giving the wrong message, but the inspection
team is only reflecting the need for the company to meet certain deadlines.
Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance (QA) is the part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be
fulfilled. It may be defined as a set of procedures designed to ensure that quality standards and processes are adhered to and
that the final product meets or exceeds the required technical and performance requirements. Quality assurance covers
activities such as product design, development, production, installation and servicing. It also sets the pre-determined
standards required for effective quality control. If quality control is primarily concerned with detecting defective products, then
quality assurance is primarily about the prevention of quality problems through planned and systematic activities.
There is little evidence of quality assurance at UPC. However, the company may wish to consider:
– Setting quality targets and delegating responsibility for achieving those targets to the people who are meant to achieve
them. In UPC it would be preferable to give responsibility for product quality to the employees who actually make the
products and to reflect this in their reward structure. One of the roles of QA is to enable quality improvement initiatives.
A possible initiative is to investigate the purchasing of imaging machines (or adopting the current ones) with a facility
to automatically assess the accuracy of the image before printing. If the image falls outside certain tolerances then it
may be feasible for the machine to automatically adjust it before printing. If these machines were installed, it would be
the responsibility of QA to ensure that they were calibrated correctly and to verify that every product had undergone the
necessary check.
– QA also offers quality advice and expertise and trains employees in quality matters. They would set standards for
materials used in packing and establish systems for monitoring raw materials sent by suppliers to ensure that these
standards were met. It may also be possible to improve how items are physically laid out in the package to reduce the
chance of damage. The internal layout of the packages may be constructed in such a way that they only allow products
to be packed in a prescribed pattern. QA would be involved in defining that prescribed pattern and training packers to
use it – as well as subsequently monitoring that the prescribed pattern had been followed.
– The increased importance of quality means that many customers now demand some proof that the supplier is capable
of consistently producing quality products. This proof is part of the ‘confidence’ factor of QA and may be demonstrated
by a third party certification, such as ISO 9000. Certification helps show the customer that the supplier has a
commitment to consistently supplying a quality product. QA will be concerned with gaining and maintaining such
certification and this should assist the company in securing and retaining contracts.
At UPC the current inspection team is focused on QC. The responsibility for this should be moved to the production process
itself or to the people who actually undertake that process. The inspection team could then focus on QA, setting standards
for quality, establishing how those standards should be monitored, and then ensuring that such monitoring is being
performed. In making this transition, the company will move to a culture of attempting to prevent faults rather than relyingsolely on detecting them.

正确答案：
(ii) Quality of service is the totality of features and characteristics of the service package that bear upon its ability to satisfy
client needs. To some extent the number of complaints and the need to provide non-chargeable consultations associated
with the remedying of those complaints is indicative of a service quality problem that must be addressed. Hence this
problem needs to be investigated at the earliest opportunity. Assuming consultants could have otherwise undertaken
chargeable work, the revenue foregone as a consequence of the remedial consultations relating to commercial work
amounted to (180 x ￡1500) = ￡27,000. Client complaints received by HLP during the year amounted to 1·24% of
consultations undertaken by commercial advisors whereas none were budgeted. In contrast, competitor MAS received
135 complaints which coincided with the number of non-chargeable consultations undertaken by them. This may
indicate that MAS operate a policy of a remedial consultation in respect of all complaints received from clients.
With regard to the number of on-time consultations, HLP only achieved an on-time consultation percentage of 94·4%
which is far inferior to that of 99% achieved by competitor MAS. Also, HLP re-scheduled the appointment times of
1,620 (3%) of its total consultations whereas competitor MAS only re-scheduled 0·5% of its consultation times. The
percentage number of successful consultations provided by HLP and MAS was 85% and 95% respectively which
indicates that competitor MAS possesses a superior skills-base to that of HLP.
The most alarming statistic lies in the fact that HLP was subject to three successful legal actions for negligence. This
may not only account for the 150% increase in the cost of professional indemnity insurance premiums but may also
result in a loss of client confidence and precipitate a considerable fall in future levels of business should the claims
become much publicised.