陕西省2020年ACCA国际会计师报考指南——新手报考必看

正确答案：
(b) Kohlberg’s levels of moral development
Description of levels
Kohlberg described human moral development in terms of three consecutive levels.
Preconventional moral responses view morality in terms of rewards, punishments and whether or not the act will be
penalised, found out or rewarded.
Conventional moral responses view morality in terms of compliance with the agreed legal and regulatory frameworks relevant
at the time and place in which the decision is taking place.
Postconventional responses go beyond the other two and frame. morality in terms of the effects of the action on oneself and
others, on how it will affect one’s own moral approach and how it will accord with wider systems of ethics and social norms.
Three people in the case
The three people mentioned in the case exhibit different levels of moral development.
Gary Howells is demonstrating the preconventional in that he sees the decision to disclose or not in terms of whether WM
can get away with it. He was inclined to conceal the information because of the potential impact on the company’s share
price on the stock market. His suggestion was underpinned by his belief that the concealment of the incorrect valuation would
not be ‘found out’.
Vanda Monroe demonstrates conventional behaviour, reminding the WM board of its legal and regulatory obligations under
the rules of its stock market listing. In particular, she reminded the board about the importance of the company’s compliance
with corporate governance and ethics codes by the stock market. To fail to disclose would, in Vanda’s view, be a breach of
those stock market expectations. Rather than rewards and punishments, Vanda was more concerned with compliance with
rules and regulations.
Martin Chan is demonstrating postconventional morality by referring to consistency of treatment and the notion of ‘do as you
would be done by’. He said that he wouldn’t want to be deceived if he were an outside investor in the company. His response
was underpinned neither by rewards or punishments, nor by compliance with regulations, but rather than a persuasion that
moral behaviour is about doing what one believes to be right, regardless of any other factors.

正确答案：
(ii) Shares held in Date Inc and the related dividend income
Degrouping charge
There will be a degrouping charge in Nikau Ltd in the year ending 31 March 2008 in respect of the shares in Date Inc.
This is because Nikau Ltd has left the Facet Group within six years of the no gain, no loss transfer of the shares whilst
still owning them.
Nikau Ltd is treated as if it has sold the shares in Date Inc for their market value as at the time of the no gain, no loss
transfer. This will give rise to a gain, ignoring indexation allowance, of ￡201,000 (￡338,000 – ￡137,000).
This gain will give rise to additional corporation tax of ￡60,300 (￡201,000 x 30%).
Controlled foreign company
Date Inc is a controlled foreign company. The profits of such a company are normally attributed to its UK resident
shareholders such that they are subject to UK corporation tax.
However, none of the profits of Date Inc will be attributed to Nikau Ltd because Date Inc distributes more than 90%
(￡115,000/￡120,000 = 95·8%) of its chargeable profits to its shareholders.
Dividend income
Nikau Ltd is a UK resident company and is therefore subject to corporation tax on its worldwide income.
The dividend income will be grossed up in respect of the withholding tax giving rise to taxable income of ￡39,792
(￡38,200 x 100/96). There is no underlying tax as there are no taxes on income or capital profits in Palladia.
The corporation tax of ￡11,938 (￡39,792 x 30%) will be reduced by unilateral double tax relief equal to the withholding
tax suffered of ￡1,592 (￡39,792 x 4%) resulting in corporation tax due of ￡10,346 (￡11,938 – ￡1,592).

正确答案：
(ii) Analytical procedures
Tutorial note: The range of valid answer points is very broad for this part.
■ Review the trend of MCM’s profit (gross and net) for the last five years (say). Similarly earnings per share and
gearing.
■ For both the National and International businesses compare:
– gross profit, net profit, and return on assets for the last five years (say);
– actual monthly revenue against budget for the last 18 months (say). Similarly, for major items of expenditure
such as:
– full-time salaries;
– freelance consultancy fees;
– premises costs (e.g. depreciation, lease rentals, maintenance, etc);
– monthly revenue (also costs and profit) by centre.
■ Review projections of future profitability of MCM against net profit percentage at 31 December 2004 for:
– the National business (10·4%);
– the International business (38·1%); and
– overall (19·9%).
■ Review of disposal value of owned premises against book values.
■ Compare actual cash balances with budget on a monthly basis and compare borrowings against loan and overdraft
facilities.
■ Compare the average collection period for International’s trade receivables month on month since 31 December
2004 (when it was nearly seven months, i.e.
$3·7
–––– × 365 days) and compare with the National business.
$6·3
■ Compare financial ratios for each of the national centres against the National business overall (and similarly for the
International Business). For example:
– gross and net profit margins;
– return on centre assets;
– average collection period;
– average payment period;
– liquidity ratio.
■ Compare key performance indicators across the centres for the year to 31 December 2004 and 2005 to date. For
example:
– number of corporate clients;
– number of delegates;
– number of training days;
– average revenue per delegate per day;
– average cost per consultancy day.

正确答案：
(b) In many ways Lawson Engineering and its performance explains why Kaplan and Norton developed the balanced scorecard
to overcome the reliance on traditional, and they would argue flawed, financial measures of performance such as return on
capital employed (ROCE). Lawson Engineering as a privately owned company does not have the same pressure to maximise
shareholder wealth, which is the overarching long-term goal of publicly quoted companies. The intangible resources discussed
above – both internal and external – reflect the success of the company in meeting the expectations of the other key
stakeholders in the business, namely customers, employees and suppliers. In terms of the other measures of performance
used in the balanced scorecard the customer perspective seems to be very much a positive area of performance. Lawson
Engineering has developed a clear niche strategy based on the excellence of its products. Market share as a measure of
customer satisfaction is not too relevant as the company has chosen to develop its own markets and is not looking for large
volumes and a dominant market share. The growth of the company suggests that it is both retaining its existing customer
base and acquiring new ones. Clearly there need to be measures in place to show where its growth is coming from. Customer
acquisition is usually an expensive but necessary activity and cutomer retention a more positive route to profitability. Today
there is increasing emphasis on customer relationship management (CRM) and measures to show the share of a particular
customer’s business the company has, rather than the overall market share the company has achieved. Michael Porter has
drawn attention to the fact that having the biggest market share is not necessarily associated with being the most profitable
company in that market. Customer acquisition and retention are both useful indicators of customer satisfaction which many
companies have problems in measuring. Finally, knowing which customers are profitable ones is a key requirement.
Surprisingly there is a lot of evidence to suggest that many companies are unsure which of their products and which
customers actually contribute to their profits.
The third measure in the balanced scorecard is an internal one – the effectiveness or otherwise of the firm’s internal processes.
In turn there are three areas where performance should be measured – innovation, operational processes and after sales
service (where appropriate). Innovation itself is a result of effective internal processes and Lawson Engineering through its
patents and awards has tangible evidence of its success. Many firms are measuring the contribution of products introduced
in the last three or four years – 3M, a global manufacturer of consumer and industrial products looks to achieve 30% of its
sales from products that are less than four years old. Equally important in a company such as Lawson Engineering is the time
taken to develop and get new products to their customers. The strategy of being ‘first to market’ can be a very effective
competitive strategy.
Equally important for the customers are the operational processes that produce and deliver the inputs from their suppliers.
The introduction of JIT and the use of technology to shorten and simplify the links between supplier and customer are ways
of shortening lead times and increasing customer satisfaction. Lawson Engineering has looked to innovate its processes as
well as its products and can look to develop measures of key areas of operational performance. Finally it is worth stressing
that financial performance, customer satisfaction and effective internal processes are all dependent on the people who make
things happen in the firm. Employees and the way they learn and grow in their jobs will determine whether or not the firm
succeeds. Again there is evidence to suggest that Lawson Engineering’s employees are being trained and developed and as
a consequence are well motivated.
The balanced scorecard has been criticised on a number of accounts. Firstly, such a comprehensive set of performance
measures will take considerable time and commitment on the part of senior management to develop. There is a need to avoid
over-complexity and assess the costs and benefits of the process. Secondly, there is the question of whether all the key
stakeholders have shared goals and expectations and whether the measures are focused on short-, medium- or long-term
performance. Thirdly, its focus on internal and external processes may not come easily to firms that have organised themselves
on traditional lines. Most organisations have retained departments within which functional specialists are located, e.g.
production, marketing etc. Changing the way performance is measured may need a radical change in culture and meetsignificant resistance.