2020年ACCA考试财务管理基础知识辅导资料(8)

正确答案：
1 ISLAND CO
(a) Briefing Notes
Subject: Principal Audit Risks – Island Co
Revenue Recognition – timing
Island Co raises sales invoices in three stages. There is potential for breach of IAS 18 Revenue, which states that revenue
should only be recognised once the seller has the right to receive it, in other words the seller has performed its contractual
obligations. This right does not necessarily correspond to amounts falling due for payment in accordance with an invoice
schedule agreed with a customer as part of a contract. Island Co appears to receive payment from its customers in advance
of performing any obligation, as the stage one invoice is raised when an order is confirmed i.e. before any work has actually
taken place. This creates the potential for revenue to be recognised too early, in advance of any performance of contractual
obligation. When a payment is received in advance of performance, a liability should be recognised equal to the amount
received, representing the obligation under the contract. Therefore a significant risk is that revenue is overstated and liabilities
understated.
Tutorial note: Equivalent guidance is also provided in IAS 11 Construction Contracts and credit will be awarded where
candidates discuss revenue recognition under IAS 11 as Island Co is providing a single substantial asset for a customer
under the terms of a contract.
Disputed receivable
The amount owed from Jacks Mine Co is highly material as it represents 50·9% of profit before tax, 2·3% of revenue, and
3% of total assets. The risk is that the receivable is overstated if no impairment of the disputed receivable is recognised.
Legal claim
The claim should be investigated seriously by Island Co. The chief executive officer’s (CEO) opinion that the claim will not
result in any financial consequence for Island Co is na?ve and flippant. Damages could be awarded against Island Co if it is
found that the machinery is faulty. The recurring high level of warranty provision implies that machinery faults are fairly
common and therefore the accident could be the result of a defective machine being supplied to Sawyer Co. The risk is that
no provision is created for the potential damages under IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets, if the
likelihood of paying damages is considered probable. Alternatively, if the likelihood of damages being paid to Sawyer Co is
considered a possibility then a disclosure note should be made in the financial statements describing the nature and possible
financial effect of the contingent liability. As discussed below, the CEO, Kate Shannon, has an incentive not to make a
provision or disclose a contingent liability due to the planned share sale post year end.
A further risk is that any legal fees associated with the claim have not been accrued within the financial statements. As the
claim has arisen during the year, the expense must be included in this year’s income statement, even if the claim is still ongoing
at the year end.
The fact that the legal claim is effectively being ignored may cast doubts on the overall integrity of senior management, and
on the integrity of the financial statements. Management representations should be approached with a degree of professional
scepticism during the audit.
Sawyer Co has cancelled two orders. If the amounts are still outstanding at the year end then it is highly likely that Sawyer
Co will not pay the invoiced amounts, and thus receivables are overstated. If the stage one payments have already been made,
then Sawyer Co may claim a refund, in which case a provision should be made to repay the amount, or a contingent liability
disclosed in a note to the financial statements.
Sawyer Co is one of only five major customers, and losing this customer could have future going concern implications for
Island Co if a new source of revenue cannot be found to replace the lost income stream from Sawyer Co. If the legal claim
becomes public knowledge, and if Island Co is found to have supplied faulty machinery, then it will be difficult to attract new
customers.
A case of this nature could bring bad publicity to Island Co, a potential going concern issue if it results in any of the five key
customers terminating orders with Island Co. The auditors should plan to extend the going concern work programme to
incorporate the issues noted above.
Inventories
Work in progress is material to the financial statements, representing 8·9% of total assets. The inventory count was held two
weeks prior to the year end. There is an inherent risk that the valuation has not been correctly rolled forward to a year end
position.
The key risk is the estimation of the stage of completion of work in progress. This is subjective, and knowledge appears to
be confined to the chief engineer. Inventory could be overvalued if the machines are assessed to be more complete than they
actually are at the year end. Absorption of labour costs and overheads into each machine is a complex calculation and must
be done consistently with previous years.
It will also be important that consumable inventories not yet utilised on a machine, e.g. screws, nuts and bolts, are correctly
valued and included as inventories of raw materials within current assets.
Overseas supplier
As the supplier is new, controls may not yet have been established over the recording of foreign currency transactions.
Inherent risk is high as the trade payable should be retranslated using the year end exchange rate per IAS 21 The Effects of
Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates. If the retranslation is not performed at the year end, the trade payable could be
significantly over or under valued, depending on the movement of the dollar to euro exchange rate between the purchase date
and the year end. The components should remain at historic cost within inventory valuation and should not be retranslated
at the year end.
Warranty provision
The warranty provision is material at 2·6% of total assets (2006 – 2·7%). The provision has increased by only $100,000,
an increase of 4·2%, compared to a revenue increase of 21·4%. This could indicate an underprovision as the percentage
change in revenue would be expected to be in line with the percentage change in the warranty provision, unless significant
improvements had been made to the quality of machines installed for customers during the year. This appears unlikely given
the legal claim by Sawyer Co, and the machines installed at Jacks Mine Co operating inefficiently. The basis of the estimate
could be understated to avoid charging the increase in the provision as an expense through the income statement. This is of
special concern given that it is the CEO and majority shareholder who estimates the warranty provision.
Majority shareholder
Kate Shannon exerts control over Island Co via a majority shareholding, and by holding the position of CEO. This greatly
increases the inherent risk that the financial statements could be deliberately misstated, i.e. overvaluation of assets,
undervaluation of liabilities, and thus overstatement of profits. The risk is severe at this year end as Kate Shannon is hoping
to sell some Island Co shares post year end. As the price that she receives for these shares will be to a large extent influenced
by the balance sheet position of the company at 30 November 2007, she has a definite interest in manipulating the financial
statements for her own personal benefit. For example:
– Not recognising a provision or contingent liability for the legal claim from Sawyer Co
– Not providing for the potentially irrecoverable receivable from Jacks Mines Co
– Not increasing the warranty provision
– Recognising revenue earlier than permitted by IAS 18 Revenue.
Related party transactions
Kate Shannon controls Island Co and also controls Pacific Co. Transactions between the two companies should be disclosed
per IAS 24 Related Party Disclosures. There is risk that not all transactions have been disclosed, or that a transaction has
been disclosed at an inappropriate value. Details of the lease contract between the two companies should be disclosed within
a note to the financial statements, in particular, any amounts owed from Island Co to Pacific Co at 30 November 2007 should
be disclosed.
Other issues
– Kate Shannon wants the audit to be completed as soon as possible, which brings forward the deadline for completion
of the audit. The audit team may not have time to complete all necessary procedures, or there may not be time for
adequate reviews to be carried out on the work performed. Detection risk, and thus audit risk is increased, and the
overall quality of the audit could be jeopardised.
– This is especially important given that this is the first year audit and therefore the audit team will be working with a
steep learning curve. Audit procedures may take longer than originally planned, yet there is little time to extend
procedures where necessary.
– Kate Shannon may also exert considerable influence on the members of the audit team to ensure that the financial
statements show the best possible position of Island Co in view of her share sale. It is crucial that the audit team
members adhere strictly to ethical guidelines and that independence is beyond question.
– Due to the seriousness of the matters noted above, a final matter to be considered at the planning stage is that a second
partner review (Engagement Quality Control Review) should be considered for the audit this year end. A suitable
independent reviewer should be indentified, and time planned and budgeted for at the end of the assignment.
Conclusion
From the range of issues discussed in these briefing notes, it can be seen that the audit of Island Co will be a relatively high
risk engagement.

正确答案：

(a) Simply defined, a project is ‘activity that has a start, a middle and an end and consumes resources’ – it is therefore a discrete
activity aimed at achieving a specific objective or range of objectives. Graham is intent on using the ‘environmentally aware’
project to achieve a specific objective – the attainment of the international environmental standard. He is, however, aware
that there are a number of internal stakeholders inside the company who question the significance of such a project.
Externally, he can point to significant stakeholders, including customers and government who are looking for CFS to become
more environmentally aware. The project is likely to have strategic and not simply operational or administrative significance
and the person appointed into the role of project manager, ideally, should have both the traditional skills associated with
project management plus those of strategic management. Grundy and Brown list the traditional project management
techniques as:

Clearly, the project manager must have the technical project management skills, being able to manage the project through its
life cycle, which involves defining the project in terms of project objectives and scope as defined by time, cost and quality.
Planning the project in terms of breaking the overall project down into separate activities, estimating the resources required
and linking activities to resources in terms of time and priorities. Implementing the plan, including reviewing the progress in
meeting time and cost objectives and taking corrective action where and when necessary. Finally, reviewing the outcomes of
the project in terms of what was delivered to the customer and the extent to which client expectations were met.
The strategic nature of the project means that the project manager must have significant leadership skills, not only of the
project team, who are likely to come from different functions and parts of the company, but also influential stakeholders inside
and outside the company. This implies they should have good ‘political’ and communication skills as the project is of strategic
significance to the company. The ability to show how this particular project fits with the overall strategy of the firm is
important. The project is an important part in the achievement of the company strategy and in CFS’s case may help it
differentiate itself from its competitors. However, the project manager must recognise that there will be resistance from existing
managers reluctant to see resources committed to projects outside of the traditional value chain of the company. Certainly,
the project manager for the ‘environmentally aware’ project will themselves need to be aware of the external environmental
pressures prompting the firm to set itself specific environmental objectives and be able to link into supportive networks and
alliances. Finally, Grundy and Brown argue that the project manager will be the key to reviewing and learning from the project,
assessing whether defined objectives were achieved, the effectiveness or otherwise of the implementation process and how
key stakeholders were managed. The danger is that projects are seen as ‘one-off’ rather than contributing to the knowledge
and learning of the organisation. There may be a significant ‘learning curve’ that the firm has to go down and look tocontinuously improve its project management process.

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(b) Franchising is typically seen as a quick and cost effective way of growing the business but Ramon should be aware of both
the advantages and disadvantages of using it as the preferred method of growth. Franchised chains are argued to benefit from
the sort of brand recognition and economies of scale not enjoyed by independent owner/managers. When combined with the
high levels of motivation normally associated with owner/managed businesses, franchises can be argued to get the best of
both worlds.
Franchising is defined as ‘a contractual agreement between two legally independent companies whereby the franchisor grants
the right to the franchisee to sell the franchisor’s product or do business under its trademarks in a given location for a specified
period of time. In return, the franchisee agrees to pay the franchisor a combination of fees, usually including an up-front
franchise fee, royalties calculated as a percentage of unit revenues, and an advertising conbribution that is also usually a
percentage of unit sales.’
Ramon is considering a type of franchising called ‘business-format franchising’, where the franchisor sells a way of doing
business to its franchisees. Business-format franchising is a model frequently found in the fast food and restaurant industry,
hotels and motels, construction and maintenance, and non-food retailing. Often these franchises are labour intensive and
relatively small-scale operations.
Franchising is seen as a safer alternative to growing the business organically, so while this may be true of well established
global franchises, failure rates among franchised small businesses were greater than those of independent businesses (in one
US study a 34·7% failure rate for franchises as opposed to 28·0% for independents over a six or seven year period). Often
it is the failure of the franchisor that brings down its franchisees. Failure stems from the franchisee not only having to rely on
their own skills and enthusiasm but also the capacity of the franchisor and other franchisees to make the overall operation
work.
The advantages to the franchisee are through gaining access to a well-regarded brand name that will generate a higher level
of demand and use of a tried and tested business model that should reduce the franchisee’s operating costs. Both of these
benefits stem from being a member of a well-established franchised system. Yet La Familia Amable along with many other
franchises will be new and small. These smaller franchises tend to be regional in scope, and fairly unknown outside their
regional market. This has a significant effect on what the franchisees can expect to gain from their franchisors and their
prospects of success. Both parties need to carefully assess the strengths and weaknesses of the system. Companies growing
via franchises need to take the time to understand their business model thoroughly and determine how franchising fits with
their long-term strategy. Care must be taken with the franchise agreement that creates a genuine partnership with the rightbalance between freedom and control over the franchisees.

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(c) Small businesses face a number of well-documented problems when seeking to raise additional finance. These problems have
been extensively discussed and governments regularly make initiatives seeking to address these problems.
Risk and security
Investors are less willing to offer finance to small companies as they are seen as inherently more risky than large companies.
Small companies obtaining debt finance usually use overdrafts or loans from banks, which require security to reduce the level
of risk associated with the debt finance. Since small companies are likely to possess little by way of assets to offer as security,
banks usually require a personal guarantee instead, and this limits the amount of finance available.
Marketability of ordinary shares
The equity issued by small companies is difficult to buy and sell, and sales are usually on a matched bargain basis, which
means that a shareholder wishing to sell has to wait until an investor wishes to buy. There is no financial intermediary willing
to buy the shares and hold them until a buyer comes along, so selling shares in a small company can potentially take a long
time. This lack of marketability reduces the price that a buyer is willing to pay for the shares. Investors in small company
shares have traditionally looked to a flotation, for example on the UK Alternative Investment Market, as a way of realising their
investment, but this has become increasingly expensive. Small companies are likely to be very limited in their ability to offer
new equity to anyone other than family and friends.
Tax considerations
Individuals with cash to invest may be encouraged by the tax system to invest in large institutional investors rather than small
companies, for example by tax incentives offered on contributions to pension funds. These institutional investors themselves
usually invest in larger companies, such as stock-exchange listed companies, in order to maintain what they see as an
acceptable risk profile, and in order to ensure a steady stream of income to meet ongoing liabilities. This tax effect reduces
the potential flow of funds to small companies.
Cost
Since small companies are seen as riskier than large companies, the cost of the finance they are offered is proportionately
higher. Overdrafts and bank loans will be offered to them on less favourable terms and at more demanding interest rates than
debt offered to larger companies. Equity investors will expect higher returns, if not in the form. of dividends then in the form
of capital appreciation over the life of their investment.