ACCA P1 2007-2008年考试真题及答案

Professional
Accountant
Monday 8 December 2008

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

Section A – This ONE question is compulsory and MUST be attempted
1 The scientists in the research laboratories of Swan Hill Company (SHC, a public listed company) recently made a very
important discovery about the process that manufactured its major product. The scientific director, Dr Sonja Rainbow,
informed the board that the breakthrough was called the ‘sink method’. She explained that the sink method would
enable SHC to produce its major product at a lower unit cost and in much higher volumes than the current process.
It would also produce lower unit environmental emissions and would substantially improve product quality compared
to its current process and indeed compared to all of the other competitors in the industry.
SHC currently has 30% of the global market with its nearest competitor having 25% and the other twelve producers
sharing the remainder. The company, based in the town of Swan Hill, has a paternalistic management approach and
has always valued its relationship with the local community. Its website says that SHC has always sought to maximise
the benefit to the workforce and community in all of its business decisions and feels a great sense of loyalty to the
Swan Hill locality which is where it started in 1900 and has been based ever since.
As the board considered the implications of the discovery of the sink method, chief executive Nelson Cobar asked
whether Sonja Rainbow was certain that SHC was the only company in the industry that had made the discovery and
she said that she was. She also said that she was certain that the competitors were ‘some years’ behind SHC in their
research.

Required:
(a) Assess the secrecy option using Tucker’s model for decision-making. (10 marks)
(b) Distinguish between strategic and operational risks, and explain why the secrecy option would be a source
of strategic risk. (10 marks)
(c) Mr Cobar, the chief executive of SHC, has decided to draft two alternative statements to explain both possible
outcomes of the secrecy/licensing decision to shareholders. Once the board has decided which one to pursue,
the relevant draft will be included in a voluntary section of the next corporate annual report.
Required:
(i) Draft a statement in the event that the board chooses the secrecy option. It should make a convincing
business case and put forward ethical arguments for the secrecy option. The ethical arguments should
be made from the stockholder (or pristine capitalist) perspective. (8 marks)
(ii) Draft a statement in the event that the board chooses the licensing option. It should make a convincing
business case and put forward ethical arguments for the licensing option. The ethical arguments should
be made from the wider stakeholder perspective. (8 marks)
(iii) Professional marks for the persuasiveness and logical flow of arguments: two marks per statement.
(4 marks)
(d) Corporate annual reports contain both mandatory and voluntary disclosures.
Required:
(i) Distinguish, using examples, between mandatory and voluntary disclosures in the annual reports of
public listed companies. (6 marks)
(ii) Explain why the disclosure of voluntary information in annual reports can enhance the company’s
accountability to equity investors. (4 marks)
(50 marks)