题目内容

designs and manufactures wooden tables and chairs. The business has expanded rapidly in the last two years, since
the arrival of Patrick Tiler, an experienced sales and marketing manager.
The directors want to secure a loan of $3 million in order to expand operations, following the design of a completely
new range of wooden garden furniture. The directors have approached LCT Bank for the loan. The bank’s lending
criteria stipulate the following:
‘Loan applications must be accompanied by a detailed business plan, including an analysis of how the finance will
be used. LCT Bank need to see that the finance requested is adequate for the proposed business purpose. The
business plan must be supported by an assurance opinion on the adequacy of the requested finance.’
The $3 million finance raised will be used as follows:
$000
Construction of new factory 1,250
Purchase of new machinery 1,000
Initial supply of timber raw material 250
Advertising and marketing of new product 500
Your firm has agreed to review the business plan and to provide an assurance opinion on the completeness of the
finance request. A meeting will be held tomorrow to discuss this assignment.
Required:
(a) Identify and explain the matters relating to the assurance assignment that should be discussed at the meeting
with Mulligan Co. (8 marks)

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whether your firm would be prepared to conduct a joint audit in cooperation with Lead & Co, on the future
financial statements of Maxwell Co if the acquisition goes ahead. Leo Sabat thinks that this would enable your
firm to improve group audit efficiency, without losing the cumulative experience that Lead & Co has built up while
acting as auditor to Maxwell Co.
Required:
Define ‘joint audit’, and assess the advantages and disadvantages of the audit of Maxwell Co being conducted
on a ‘joint basis’. (7 marks)

to the following three audits of financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2006:
(a) Blythe Co is a new audit client. This private company is a local manufacturer and distributor of sportswear. The
company’s finance director, Peter, sees little value in the audit and put it out to tender last year as a cost-cutting
exercise. In accordance with the requirements of the invitation to tender your firm indicated that there would not
be an interim audit.
(b) Huggins Co, a long-standing client, operates a national supermarket chain. Your firm provided Huggins Co with
corporate financial advice on obtaining a listing on a recognised stock exchange in 2005. Senior management
expects a thorough examination of the company’s computerised systems, and are also seeking assurance that
the annual report will not attract adverse criticism.
(c) Gray Co has been an audit client since 1999 after your firm advised management on a successful buyout. Gray
provides communication services and software solutions. Your firm provides Gray with technical advice on
financial reporting and tax services. Most recently you have been asked to conduct due diligence reviews on
potential acquisitions.
Required:
For these assignments, compare and contrast:
(i) the threats to independence;
(ii) the other professional and practical matters that arise; and
(iii) the implications for allocating staff.
(15 marks)

budgeting approaches.
However, academic studies (e.g. Beyond Budgeting – Hope & Fraser) argue that the annual budget model may be
seen as (i) having a number of inherent weaknesses and (ii) acting as a barrier to the effective implementation of
alternative models for use in the accomplishment of strategic change.
Required:
(a) Identify and comment on FIVE inherent weaknesses of the annual budget model irrespective of the budgeting
approach that is applied. (8 marks)

principal (lead) contractor to build the Giant Dam Project in an East Asian country. The board of R&M prided itself in
observing the highest standards of corporate governance. R&M’s client, the government of the East Asian country, had
taken into account several factors in appointing the principal contractor including each bidder’s track record in large
civil engineering projects, the value of the bid and a statement, required from each bidder, on how it would deal with
the ‘sensitive issues’ and publicity that might arise as a result of the project.
The Giant Dam Project was seen as vital to the East Asian country’s economic development as it would provide a
large amount of hydroelectric power. This was seen as a ‘clean energy’ driver of future economic growth. The
government was keen to point out that because hydroelectric power did not involve the burning of fossil fuels, the
power would be environmentally clean and would contribute to the East Asian country’s ability to meet its
internationally agreed carbon emission targets. This, in turn, would contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases
in the environment. Critics, such as the environmental pressure group ‘Stop-the-dam’, however, argued that the
project was far too large and the cost to the local environment would be unacceptable. Stop-the-dam was highly
organised and, according to press reports in Europe, was capable of disrupting progress on the dam by measures such
as creating ‘human barriers’ to the site and hiding people in tunnels who would have to be physically removed before
proceeding. A spokesman for Stop-the-dam said it would definitely be attempting to resist the Giant Dam Project when
construction started.
The project was intended to dam one of the region’s largest rivers, thus creating a massive lake behind it. The lake
would, the critics claimed, not only displace an estimated 100,000 people from their homes, but would also flood
productive farmland and destroy several rare plant and animal habitats. A number of important archaeological sites
would also be lost. The largest community to be relocated was the indigenous First Nation people who had lived on
and farmed the land for an estimated thousand years. A spokesman for the First Nation community said that the ‘true
price’ of hydroelectric power was ‘misery and cruelty’. A press report said that whilst the First Nation would be unlikely
to disrupt the building of the dam, it was highly likely that they would protest and also attempt to mobilise opinion in
other parts of the world against the Giant Dam Project.
The board of R&M was fully aware of the controversy when it submitted its tender to build the dam. The finance
director, Sally Grignard, had insisted on putting an amount into the tender for the management of ‘local risks’. Sally
was also responsible for the financing of the project for R&M. Although the client was expected to release money in
several ‘interim payments’ as the various parts of the project were completed to strict time deadlines, she anticipated
a number of working capital challenges for R&M, especially near the beginning where a number of early stage costs
would need to be incurred. There would, she explained, also be financing issues in managing the cash flows to R&M’s
many subcontractors. Although the major banks financed the client through a lending syndicate, R&M’s usual bank
said it was wary of lending directly to R&M for the Giant Dam Project because of the potential negative publicity that
might result. Another bank said it would provide R&M with its early stage working capital needs on the understanding
that its involvement in financing R&M to undertake the Giant Dam Project was not disclosed. A press statement from
Stop-the-dam said that it would do all it could to discover R&M’s financial lenders and publicly expose them. Sally
told the R&M board that some debt financing would be essential until the first interim payments from the client
became available.
When it was announced that R&M had won the contract to build the Giant Dam Project, some of its institutional
shareholders contacted Richard Markovnikoff, the chairman. They wanted reassurance that the company had fully
taken the environmental issues and other risks into account. One fund manager asked if Mr Markovnikoff could
explain the sustainability implications of the project to assess whether R&M shares were still suitable for his
environmentally sensitive clients. Mr Markovnikoff said, through the company’s investor relations department, that he
intended to give a statement at the next annual general meeting (AGM) that he hoped would address these
environmental concerns. He would also, he said, make a statement on the importance of confidentiality in the
financing of the early stage working capital needs.
(a) Any large project such as the Giant Dam Project has a number of stakeholders.
Required:
(i) Define the terms ‘stakeholder’ and ‘stakeholder claim’, and identify from the case FOUR of R&M’s
external stakeholders as it carries out the Giant Dam Project; (6 marks)