不能参加ACCA的考试，相关费用可以退吗？

正确答案：
(c) Rights issue price = 2·45 x 0·8 = ￡1·96
Theoretical ex rights price = ((2 x 2·45) + (1 x 1·96))/3 = 6·86/3 = ￡2·29
New shares issued = 20m x 1/2 = 10 million
Funds raised = 1·96 x 10m = ￡19·6 million
After issue costs of ￡300,000 funds raised will be ￡19·3 million
Annual after-tax return generated by these funds = 19·3 x 0·09 = ￡1,737,000
New earnings of Merton plc = 1,737,000 + 4,500,000 = ￡6,237,000
New number of shares = 20m + 10m = 30 million
New earnings per share = 100 x 6,237,000/30,000,000 = 20·79 pence
New share price = 20·79 x 12 = ￡2·49
The weaknesses in this estimate are that the predicted return on investment of 9% may or may not be achieved: the priceearnings
ratio depends on the post investment share price, rather than the post investment share price depending on the
price-earnings ratio; the current earnings seem to be declining and this share price estimate assumes they remain constant;
in fact current earnings are likely to decline because the overdraft and annual interest are increasing but operating profit is
falling.
Expected gearing = 38/(60 + 19·3) = 47·9% compared to current gearing of 63%.
Including the overdraft, expected gearing = 46/(60 + 19·3) = 58% compared to 77%.
The gearing is predictably lower, but if the overdraft is included in the calculation the gearing of the company is still higher
than the sector average. The positive effect on financial risk could have a positive effect on the company’s share price, but
this is by no means certain.

正确答案：
(c) Temporary staff assignments
Lending staff on a temporary basis to an audit client will create the following ethical threats:
Management involvement – Assuming that the manager or senior is seconded to the finance function of the audit client, it
is likely that the individual would be in some way involved in decision making in relation to the accounting systems,
management accounts or financial statements.
Self-review – On returning to the audit firm, a seconded individual could be a member of the audit team for the client to
which they seconded. This would create a self- review threat whereby they would be unlikely to be critical of their own work
performed or decisions made. Even if the individual were not assigned to the client where they performed a temporary
assignment, the audit team assigned may tend to over rely on areas worked on by a colleague during the period of their
temporary assignment.
Familiarity – if the individual is working at the client at any time during the audit, there will be a familiarity threat, whereby
audit team members will be unlikely to sufficiently challenge, and therefore not exercise enough professional scepticism when
dealing with work performed by the seconded individual.
In addition, due to the over-staffing problem of Becker & Co, the seconded individuals may feel that if they were not on the
secondment, they could be made redundant. This may cause them to act in such as way as not to jeopardise the secondment,
even if the action were not in the best interests of the firm.
The threats discussed above are increased where a senior person likely to make significant decisions is involved with the
temporary assignment, as in this case where audit managers or seniors will be the subjects of the proposed secondment.
In practice, assistance can be provided to clients, especially in emergency situations, but only on the understanding that the
firm’s personnel will not be involved with:
– Making management decisions,
– Approving or signing agreements or similar documents, and
– Having the authority to enter into commitments on behalf of the company.
In addition, the individual seconded to a client should not then be involved in any way with the audit of that client when they
return to the audit firm. This may be a difficult area, as presumably the client would prefer to have an individual seconded
to them who has knowledge and experience of their business, i.e. a member of the audit team, and most likely in this scenario
to be the audit manager. If this were the case the manager would then have to be reassigned to a different client, causing
internal problems for the audit firm. This problem is likely to outweigh any benefits, financial or otherwise, to Becker & Co.
If the temporary staff assignment were to a non-finance department of the client then the threats would be reduced.
If Becker & Co decides to go ahead with the secondment programme, the firm must ensure that the staff are suitably
experienced and qualified to carry out the work given to them by the client. There could be a risk to the reputation of Becker
& Co if the seconded staff are not competent or do not perform. as well as expected by the client.
One advantage of a secondment is that the individual concerned can benefit from exposure to a different type of work and
work environment. This will provide some valuable insights into accounting within a business and the individual may bring
some new skills and ideas back into the audit firm.
However, the staff seconded could be offered a permanent position at the client. This would lead to the loss of key members
of staff, and be detrimental for Becker & Co in the long run.
The other benefit for the audit firm is that a programme of secondments will ease the problem of an over-staffed audit
department, and should have cash flow benefits.
Tutorial note: In answering this question it is relevant to briefly mention corporate governance implications i.e. the client may
not be able to accept the services offered by their auditor for ethical, particularly objectivity, reasons.

正确答案：
(b) Perfect Shopper currently has a relatively short upstream supply chain. They are bulk purchasers from established suppliers
of branded goods. Their main strength at the moment is to offer these branded goods at discounted prices to neighbourhood
shops that would normally have to pay premium prices for these goods.
In the upstream supply chain, the issue of branding is a significant one. At present, Perfect Shopper only provides branded
goods from established names to its customers. As far as the suppliers are concerned, Perfect Shopper is the customer and
the company’s regional warehouses are supplied as if they were the warehouses of conventional supermarkets. Perfect
Shopper might look at the following restructuring opportunities within this context:
– Examining the arrangements for the delivery of products from suppliers to the regional warehouses. At present this is in
the hands of the suppliers or contractors appointed by suppliers. It appears that when Perfect Shopper was established
it decided not to contract its own distribution. This must now be open to review. It is likely that competitors have
established contractual arrangements with logistics companies to collect products from suppliers. Perfect Shopper must
examine this, accompanied by an investigation into downstream distribution. A significant distribution contract would
probably include the branding of lorries and vans and this would provide an opportunity to increase brand visibility and
so tackle this issue at the same time.
– Contracting the supply and distribution of goods also offers other opportunities. Many integrated logistics contractors also
supply storage and warehousing solutions and it would be useful for Perfect Shopper to evaluate the costs of these.
Essentially, distribution, warehousing and packaging could be outsourced to an integrated logistics company and Perfect
Shopper could re-position itself as a primarily sales and marketing operation.
– Finally, Perfect Shopper must review how it communicates orders and ordering requirements with its suppliers. Their
reliance on supplier deliveries suggests that the relationship is a relatively straightforward one. There may be
opportunities for sharing information and allowing suppliers access to forecasted demand. There are many examples
where organisations have allowed suppliers access to their information to reduce costs and to improve the efficiency of
the supply chain as a whole.
The suggestions listed above assume that Perfect Shopper continues to only supply branded goods. Moving further upstream
in the supply chain potentially moves the company into the manufacture and supply of goods. This will raise a number of
significant issues about the franchise itself.
At present Perfect Shopper has, by necessity, concentrated on branded goods. It has not really had to understand how these
goods sell in specific locations because it has not been able to offer alternatives. The content of the standing order reflects
how the neighbourhood shop wishes to compete in its locality. However, if Perfect Shopper decides to commission its own
brand then the breadth of products is increased. Neighbourhood shops would be able to offer ‘own brand’ products to compete
with supermarkets who also focus on own brand products. It would also increase the visibility of the brand. However, Perfect
Shopper must be sure that this approach is appropriate as a whole. It could easily produce an own brand that reduces the
overall image of the company and hence devalues the franchise. Much more research is needed to assess the viability ofproducing ‘own brand’ goods.