ACCA到底是审计还是会计呢？

正确答案：
(b) Clearly, there is a link between the ability to write a business plan and the willingness, or otherwise, of small firms to carry
out strategic planning. Whilst writing a business plan may be a necessity in order to acquire financial support, there is much
more question over the benefits to the existing small business, such as Gould and King, of carrying out strategic planning.
One of the areas of greatest debate is whether carrying out strategic planning leads to improved performance. Equally
contentious is whether the formal rational planning model is worthwhile or whether strategy is much more of an emergent
process, with the firm responding to changes in its competitive environment.
One source argues that small firms may be reluctant to create a strategic plan because of the time involved; small firms may
find day-to-day survival and crisis management prevents them having the luxury of planning where they mean to be over the
next few years. Secondly, strategic plans may also be viewed as too restricting, stopping the firm responding flexibly and
quickly to opportunities and threats. Thirdly, many small firms may feel that they lack the necessary skills to carry out strategic
planning. Strategic planning is seen as a ‘big’ firm process and inappropriate for small firms. Again, there is evidence to
suggest that owner-managers are much less aware of strategic management tools such as SWOT, PESTEL and mission
statements than their managers. Finally, owner-managers may be reluctant to involve others in the planning process, which
would necessitate giving them access to key information about the business. Here there is an issue of the lack of trust and
openness preventing the owner-manager developing and sharing a strategic plan. Many owner-managers may be quite happy
to limit the size of the business to one which they can personally control.
On the positive side there is evidence to show that a commitment to strategic planning results in speedier decision making,
a better ability to introduce change and innovation and being good at managing change. This in turn results in better
performance including higher rates of growth and profits, clear indicators of competitive advantage. If Gould and King arelooking to grow the business as suggested, this means some strategic planning will necessarily be involved

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：
(ii) Apart from the fact that Alasdair can keep an eye on his tenant, the main advantages are twofold:
IHT: If the firm are the tenants, the property will be land and buildings used in a business carried on by a partnership
in which the donor is a partner. Thus, Alasdair will be able to claim business property relief (BPR) at a rate of 50%
so long as he remains a partner in the firm. However, this relief would not be available until Alasdair has owned
the property for at least two years from his firm taking up the tenancy.
CGT: As Alasdair is a partner in the firm using the building, it will also be a qualifying asset for the purposes of rollover
relief on any gains arising from the disposal of the property. Assuming that Alasdair acquires a replacement asset
which will be used in the trade, the gain on sale can be deferred against the tax base cost of the replacement asset.
In the event that rollover relief cannot be used, any gains on disposal will be subject to business asset taper relief.