Section B – TWO questions ONLY to be attempted
Bob Wong was fortunate to inherit some money and decided he wanted to invest for the long term in one or more investments so he would have a higher income in retirement. He was not a specialist in accounting and had little understanding of how investments worked.
Bob studied an investment website which suggested that he needed to be aware of the level of risk in an investment and also that he needed to know what his basic attitude to risk would be. This meant he needed to decide what his risk appetite was and then select investments based on that.
When Bob studied share listings in newspapers, he noticed that they were subdivided into sectors (e.g. banks, pharmaceuticals, mining, retail). He noticed that some sectors seemed to make higher returns than others and he wanted to know why this was. One website suggested that risks also varied by sector and this was partly explained by the different business and financial risks which different sectors are exposed to.
One website said that if a potential investor wanted to know about any given company as a potential investment, the company’s most recent annual report was a good place to start. This was because, it said, the annual report contained a lot of voluntary information, in addition to the financial statements. Bob could use this information to gain an understanding of the company’s strategy and governance. The website suggested that the contents of the corporate governance section of the annual report would be particularly helpful in helping him decide whether or not to buy shares in a company.
Required:
(a) Explain ‘risk appetite’ and ‘risk awareness’, and discuss how Bob’s risk appetite might affect his choice of investments.
(8 marks) (b) Explain ‘business risk’ and ‘financial risk’ and discuss why risks might vary by sector as the website indicated. (8 marks)
(c) Distinguish, with examples, between mandatory and voluntary disclosure in annual reports, and assess the usefulness of corporate governance disclosure to Bob in selecting his investments. (9 marks)