上海市考生：ACCA证书是什么样的证书？ACCA证书在国内受到认可吗？

正确答案：
(d) Job rotation is an important training method and is often also seen as a means of motivation. It involves moving the trainee from one job to another and is therefore more suitable for lower level employees. The trainee is required to do different jobs in logical succession, thus broadening experience and gaining a picture of the organisation’s wider activities.

正确答案：
(b) (i) Cost of investment on acquisition of Dylan Co
Matters to consider
According to the schedule provided by the client, the cost of investment comprises three elements. One matter to
consider is whether the cost of investment is complete.
It appears that no legal or professional fees have been included in the cost of investment (unless included within the
heading ‘cash consideration’). Directly attributable costs should be included per IFRS 3 Business Combinations, and
there is a risk that these costs may be expensed in error, leading to understatement of the investment.
The cash consideration of $2·5 million is the least problematical component. The only matter to consider is whether the
cash has actually been paid. Given that Dylan Co was acquired in the last month of the financial year it is possible that
the amount had not been paid before the year end, in which case the amount should be recognised as a current liability
on the statement of financial position (balance sheet). However, this seems unlikely given that normally control of an
acquired company only passes to the acquirer on cash payment.
IFRS 3 states that the cost of investment should be recognised at fair value, which means that deferred consideration
should be discounted to present value at the date of acquisition. If the consideration payable on 31 January 2009 has
not been discounted, the cost of investment, and the corresponding liability, will be overstated. It is possible that the
impact of discounting the $1·5 million payable one year after acquisition would be immaterial to the financial
statements, in which case it would be acceptable to leave the consideration at face value within the cost of investment.
Contingent consideration should be accrued if it is probable to be paid. Here the amount is payable if revenue growth
targets are achieved over the next four years. The auditor must therefore assess the probability of the targets being
achieved, using forecasts and projections of Maxwell Co’s revenue. Such information is inherently subjective, and could
have been manipulated, if prepared by the vendor of Maxwell Co, in order to secure the deal and maximise
consideration. Here it will be crucial to be sceptical when reviewing the forecasts, and the assumptions underlying the
data. The management of Rosie Co should have reached their own opinion on the probability of paying the contingent
consideration, but they may have relied heavily on information provided at the time of the acquisition.
Audit evidence
– Agreement of the monetary value and payment dates of the consideration per the client schedule to legal
documentation signed by vendor and acquirer.
– Agreement of $2·5 million paid to Rosie Co’s bank statement and cash book prior to year end. If payment occurs
after year end confirm that a current liability is recognised on the individual company and consolidated statement
of financial position (balance sheet).
– Board minutes approving the payment.
– Recomputation of discounting calculations applied to deferred and contingent consideration.
– Agreement that the discount rate used is pre-tax, and reflects current market assessment of the time value of money
(e.g. by comparison to Rosie Co’s weighted average cost of capital).
– Revenue and profit projections for the period until January 2012, checked for arithmetic accuracy.
– A review of assumptions used in the projections, and agreement that the assumptions are comparable with the
auditor’s understanding of Dylan Co’s business.
Tutorial note: As the scenario states that Chien & Co has audited Dylan Co for several years, it is reasonable to rely on
their cumulative knowledge and understanding of the business in auditing the revenue projections.

正确答案：

(c) Within the strategy clock, ONA might consider both differentiation and focus. A differentiation strategy seeks to provide
products or services that offer different benefits from those offered by competitors. These benefits are valued by customers
and so can lead to increased market share and, in the context of ONA, higher seat utilisation. Differentiation is particularly
attractive when it provides the opportunity of providing a price premium. In other words, margins are enhanced through
differentiation. Air travellers may be willing to pay more to travel with an airline that offers seat allocation and free in-flight
food and drinks.
However, such a broad-based differentiation strategy may be inappropriate for ONA because of the need to service both
business and leisure travellers. Consequently, the potential strategy also has to be considered in the context of the two sectors
that the company perceives that it services. In the regional sector a focused differentiation strategy looks particularly attractive.
Here, the strategy focuses on a selected niche or market segment. The most obvious focus is on business travel and building
the company’s strengths in this sector. This focus on the business traveller might be achieved through:
– Ensuring that flight times are appropriate for the business working day. This is already a perceived strength of the
company. This needs to be built on.
– Providing more space in the aircraft by changing the seating configuration – and the balance between business and
standard class. ONA currently has a low seat occupancy rate and a reduction in seat capacity could be borne.
– Fewer passengers in the aircraft may also lead to improved throughput times. Loading and unloading aircraft is quicker,
minimising the delays encountered by the traveller.
– Providing supporting business services – lounges with fax and internet facilities.
– Speeding the process of booking and embarkation (through electronic check-in), so making the process of booking and
embarkation easier and faster.
– Providing loyalty schemes that are aimed at the business traveller.
Although this focused differentiation is aimed at the business customer it is also likely that particular aspects of it will be
valued by certain leisure travellers. Given the strong regional brand (people from Oceania are likely to travel ONA) and the
nature of the leisure travel in this sector (families visiting relatives) it seems unlikely that there will be a significant fall off in
leisure travel in the regional sector.
In the international sector, the strategic customer is less clear. This sector is serving both the leisure and business market and
is also competing with strong ‘no frills’ competitors. The nature of customer and competition is different. A strategy of
differentiation could still be pursued, although perhaps general differentiation (without a price premium) may be more effective
with the aim of increasing seat occupancy rate. This sector would also benefit from most of the suggested improvements of
the regional sector – providing more space in aircraft, faster passenger throughput, electronic check-in etc. However, these
small changes will not address the relatively low flight frequency in this sector. This could be addressed through seeking
alliances with established airlines in the continental countries that it services. Simple code share agreements could double
ONA’s frequencies overnight. Obviously, ONA would be seeking a good cultural fit – the ‘no frills’ low-cost budget airlineswould not be candidates for code shares.

ONA’s perception of market segmentation, reflected in splitting regional from international travel and distinguishing leisure
from business appears to be a sensible understanding of the marketplace. However, it might also be useful for them to
consider on-line customers and commission customers (travel agents) as different segments. Perceiving travel agents as the
strategic customer would lead to a different strategic focus, one in which the amount and structure of commission played an
important part.
Finally, whichever strategy ONA adopts, it must continue to review its operational efficiency. An important strategic capability
in any organisation is to ensure that attention is paid to cost-efficiency. It can be argued that a continual reduction in costs
is necessary for any organisation in a competitive market. Management of costs is a threshold competence for survival. ONA
needs to address some of the weaknesses identified earlier in the question. Specific points, not covered elsewhere, include:
– Improved employee productivity to address the downward decline in efficiency ratios.
– Progressive standardisation of the fleet to produce economies of scale in maintenance and training. This should reduce
the cost base.
– Careful monitoring of expenditure, particularly on wages and salaries, to ensure that these do not exceed revenue
increases.
Candidates may address this question in a number of ways. In the model answer given above, the strategy clock is used –
as it uses the term ‘no frills’ in its definition and so it seems appropriate to look at other options within this structure. However,
answers that use other frameworks (such as Ansoff’s product/market matrix) are perfectly acceptable. Furthermore, answerswhich focus on the suitability, acceptability and feasibility of certain options are also acceptable.