重磅消息：听说海南省ACCA考试有免考？你得有这些条件哦

正确答案：

(b) Benchmarking at Marlow Fashion will not be an easy exercise. Marlow Fashion has developed a distinctive way of reaching
its markets that means direct comparisons will be hard to make. Certainly, it can carry out historical benchmarking in
comparing how its own processes and activities have improved, or otherwise, over a relevant period of time. Unfortunately,
this is likely to simply confirm worsening performance. It can compare its own key operations against the ‘best in class’;
regardless of which industry the excellent performer comes from. It could and should have been carrying out competitive
benchmarking on the retail side of the business where information should be more easily available. There may be an
opportunity to benchmark itself against firms that have gone through a similar crisis and achieved a successful turnaround.

In terms of the advantages and disadvantages, the willingness of managers responsible for a key area of performance to
compare themselves against relevant external performance measures should make them take responsibility for any changes
necessary. In Marlow Fashion, the acceptance that things have to be done differently will be the first stage in the turnaround.
Getting managers face-to-face with the problems, accepting responsibility for change and recognising that the necessary
changes are ‘doable’ is an important stage in creating a willingness to change. The disadvantages are that every organisation
and situation is different and there is no one best way. Marlow Fashion thought it had discovered the best way and this created
an unwillingness to change. There is also the danger that you are solving today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions. A good
competitor will be trying to maintain its competitive advantage through constantly improving its processes. It also has a vested
interest in trying to prevent its improvements from being revealed to its competitors. Also, many of the ‘softer’ processes –
typically involving people – are difficult if not impossible to replicate in another organisation. These advantages are to do with
culture and leadership and not easily transferable to another organisation and the context in which it is operating.

正确答案：
(a) E-commerce is transforming many of the traditional relationshps between supplier and customer and retailing is no exception.
In broad terms, electronic commerce is defined as ‘the use of electronic networks to facilitate commercial transactions’. In
terms of tangible goods, such as supermarket shopping, it enables online ordering and delivery direct to the customer and
represents a significant move away from the well-established retail formats. Benefits to companies using electronic commerce
have seen companies increase their sales by 10–20% and reduce costs by 20–45%. However, in a significant sized business
like Supaserve the investment costs are high, affecting profit margins and making for more intense competition.
Business-to-consumer electronic commerce is argued to face more barriers to growth than its business-to-business equivalent
and is at an earlier stage in its lifecycle. Issues surrounding the potential for fraud, security of payments, privacy of personal
data and difficulties in accessing electronic retailers, explain this slower start for the retailing side of electronic commerce.
Clearly, for the move to be successful in Supaserve there needs to be a sufficiently large number of customers who can be
persuaded to use the service. This, in turn, will reflect the number of homes with computers and online capabilities. However,
the traditional retailer with a trusted brand and reputation is often in a better position than the specialist online retailer with
no physical stores.
Assessing the size and defining characteristics or attributes of the customer segment likely to use the online shopping service
is an interesting task. There is evidence to suggest that age may be a key factor, with electronic retailing appealing to younger
customers familiar with using information technology. Income may be an important way of segmenting the market, with online
shopping appealing to those families with high disposable income, access to computers and a lifestyle. where leisure time
is valued. Chris’s knowledge of his current customer base will be important in positioning them at various stages of their
lifecycle – does the company appeal to young families with heavy shopping demands? Further insight into buying behaviour
will come from geodemographic segmentation where the combination of where a customer lives and the stage in their
particular shopping lifecycle will give real insights into their buying behaviour and willingness or otherwise to use electronic
shopping.
Essentially, Chris has to come to a decision on whether there is a combination of characteristics that form. a significant
segment willing to use online shopping. This will enable him to decide how it can be measured, whether it is big enough to
make the investment in online shopping worthwhile, can it be accessed and whether it is sufficiently distinct to cater for itsparticular needs.

正确答案：
(ii) Control weakness
ISA 260 contains guidance on the type of issues that should be communicated. One of the matters identified is a control
weakness in the capital expenditure transaction cycle. The assets for which no authorisation was obtained amount to
0·3% of total assets (225,000/78 million x 100%), which is clearly immaterial. However, regardless of materiality, the
auditor should ensure that the weakness is brought to the attention of the management, with a clear indication of the
implication of the weakness, and recommendations as to how the control weakness should be eliminated.
The auditor is providing information to help those charged with governance improve the internal systems and controls
and ultimately reduce business risk. In this case there is a high risk of fraud, as the lack of authorisation for purchase
of office equipment could allow expenditure on assets not used for bona fide business purposes.
Disagreement with accounting treatment of brand
Audit procedures have revealed a breach of IAS 38 Intangible Assets, in which internally generated brand names are
specifically prohibited from being recognised. Blod Co has recognised an internally generated brand name which is
material to the statement of financial position (balance sheet) as it represents 12·8% of total assets (10/78 x 100%).
The statement of financial position (balance sheet) therefore contains a material misstatement.
The report to those charged with governance should clearly explain the rules on recognition of internally generated brand
names, to ensure that the management has all relevant technical facts available. In the report the auditors should
request that the financial statements be corrected, and clarify that if the brand is not derecognised, then the audit opinion
will be qualified on the grounds of a material disagreement – an ‘except for’ opinion would be provided. Once the breach
of IAS 38 is made clear to the management in the report, they then have the opportunity to discuss the matter and
decide whether to amend the financial statements, thereby avoiding a qualified audit opinion.
Audit inefficiencies
Documentation relating to inventories was not always made readily available to the auditors. This seems to be due to
poor administration by the client rather than a deliberate attempt to conceal information. The report should contain a
brief description of the problems encountered by the audit team. The management should be made aware that
significant delay to the receipt of necessary paperwork can cause inefficiencies in the audit process. This may seem a
relatively trivial issue, but it could lead to an increase in audit fee. Management should react to these comments by
ensuring as far as possible that all requested documentation is made available to the auditors in a timely fashion.