ICAEW BTF - Memory Recap exam | Questions
with 100% Correct Answers |Verified
What is cost leadership, differentiation, and focuses? - ✔✔Cost leadership simply about
producing at the lowest cost in the industry as a whole (note that not necessarily charging the
lowest prices
Differentiation about providing a product or service that the industry believes to be unique
Focus/niche means restricting activities to one section of the market (can have both a cost
focus niche and differentiation niche)
When would we use a SWOT analysis? - ✔✔At the corporate appraisal stage
What is risk exposure? - ✔✔Simply a measure of the way a business is faced by risks,
whether financial/business/etc.
What are the fundamental and enhancing qualitative characteristics of financial reporting? -
✔✔Fundamental: relevance and faithfulness of representation
Enhancing: understandability, comparability, verifiability and timeliness
What is tactical information? What about operational, strategic, and planning? - ✔✔Helps
deal with short-term issues and opportunities. Operational is to do with the day-to-day,
strategic information has longer term concerns, and planning information is explicitly to do with
plans.
,When would we like to use a management information system? - ✔✔To help us make
STRUCTURED decisions. These can be reduced to a series of rules which, if followed, will lead to
the correct decision being made.
What are the factors for a balanced scorecard model? What are some example metrics? -
✔✔Customer: satisfaction, returns rates, etc.
Internal business processes: product quality, failure rates, etc.
Innovation and learning: employee retention, time to market for new products, etc.
Financial: gross margin, net margin, etc.
What is a fundamental accounting principal with regards to assets and liabilities? - ✔✔When
in doubt, understate assets and overstate liabilities
What does integrity imply? - ✔✔Professional responsibility
Is anyone allowed to say they are an accountant and offer a full range of accountancy services?
- ✔✔No - while accountant is not a protected term, there are some things (like
insolvency/statutory audit) that require certification
What is the FRRP and what do they do? - ✔✔Financial reporting review panel - they
investigate departures from accounting standards by large companies such as those listed on
LSE
For the AGM of a public company, which committees must be represented by their respected
chairs?
,Can the chairman be a member of the remuneration committee? - ✔✔Audit, remuneration
and nomination
He may be a member, but cannot chair the committee
Who is responsible for reviewing arrangements about disclosures of wrongdoing in a company?
- ✔✔The audit committee
When should lead or reviewing audit partners be rotated according to the Sarbanes-Oxley act?
According to the act, where does responsibility for the company's internal financial controls lie?
- ✔✔Every 5 years. Responsibility lies with the CEO and CFO. If listed in the USA must comply
with the act
What is a mission, vision, goal, and plan? - ✔✔Mission lays out the purpose of an
organisation (create value for shareholders), as well as how they will do it and what their values
are
Vision involves some element of looking forward to a future state
Goal can be qualitative (aims) or operational and quantitative (objectives). Objectives should be
SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.
Plans state what should be done to achieve an operational objective, standards (targets) specify
a desired level of performance.
How does delegation work? - ✔✔You transfer the power, authority, and responsibility.
However, the accountability always lies with the delegater.
What are three management roles and examples, what about leadership styles? -
✔✔Informational role (minister/MP), interpersonal role (to do with charisma), decisional
role (more traditional management).
, Exercising authority (traditional power), autonomy (giving more freedom), leadership (inspiring
effort from others, more innate).
What are examples of different business cultures (Ray Quinn)? - ✔✔Human relations culture
(inward looking and flexible) - IT department
Internal process culture (inward looking and controlling) - call centre
Open systems culture (outward looking and flexible) - media company
Rational goal culture (outward looking and controlling) - supermarket
What are the implications of Taylorism for organisational management? - ✔✔Main
motivator is high wages
Managers job is just to tell people what to do
Workers jobs are to do what they are told and get paid
Essentially people are like machines!
What are Herzberg's motivating factors? How do they relate to the Maslow hierarchy of needs?
- ✔✔Hygiene factors are like at the bottom of the hierarchy, if they are absent they will
demotivate. Motivating factors are towards the top, these are required for positive motivation.
Hygiene factor is like health and safety, motivating factor is like a sense of achievement.
What are stages of group formation? - ✔✔Forming, storming, norming, performing
with 100% Correct Answers |Verified
What is cost leadership, differentiation, and focuses? - ✔✔Cost leadership simply about
producing at the lowest cost in the industry as a whole (note that not necessarily charging the
lowest prices
Differentiation about providing a product or service that the industry believes to be unique
Focus/niche means restricting activities to one section of the market (can have both a cost
focus niche and differentiation niche)
When would we use a SWOT analysis? - ✔✔At the corporate appraisal stage
What is risk exposure? - ✔✔Simply a measure of the way a business is faced by risks,
whether financial/business/etc.
What are the fundamental and enhancing qualitative characteristics of financial reporting? -
✔✔Fundamental: relevance and faithfulness of representation
Enhancing: understandability, comparability, verifiability and timeliness
What is tactical information? What about operational, strategic, and planning? - ✔✔Helps
deal with short-term issues and opportunities. Operational is to do with the day-to-day,
strategic information has longer term concerns, and planning information is explicitly to do with
plans.
,When would we like to use a management information system? - ✔✔To help us make
STRUCTURED decisions. These can be reduced to a series of rules which, if followed, will lead to
the correct decision being made.
What are the factors for a balanced scorecard model? What are some example metrics? -
✔✔Customer: satisfaction, returns rates, etc.
Internal business processes: product quality, failure rates, etc.
Innovation and learning: employee retention, time to market for new products, etc.
Financial: gross margin, net margin, etc.
What is a fundamental accounting principal with regards to assets and liabilities? - ✔✔When
in doubt, understate assets and overstate liabilities
What does integrity imply? - ✔✔Professional responsibility
Is anyone allowed to say they are an accountant and offer a full range of accountancy services?
- ✔✔No - while accountant is not a protected term, there are some things (like
insolvency/statutory audit) that require certification
What is the FRRP and what do they do? - ✔✔Financial reporting review panel - they
investigate departures from accounting standards by large companies such as those listed on
LSE
For the AGM of a public company, which committees must be represented by their respected
chairs?
,Can the chairman be a member of the remuneration committee? - ✔✔Audit, remuneration
and nomination
He may be a member, but cannot chair the committee
Who is responsible for reviewing arrangements about disclosures of wrongdoing in a company?
- ✔✔The audit committee
When should lead or reviewing audit partners be rotated according to the Sarbanes-Oxley act?
According to the act, where does responsibility for the company's internal financial controls lie?
- ✔✔Every 5 years. Responsibility lies with the CEO and CFO. If listed in the USA must comply
with the act
What is a mission, vision, goal, and plan? - ✔✔Mission lays out the purpose of an
organisation (create value for shareholders), as well as how they will do it and what their values
are
Vision involves some element of looking forward to a future state
Goal can be qualitative (aims) or operational and quantitative (objectives). Objectives should be
SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.
Plans state what should be done to achieve an operational objective, standards (targets) specify
a desired level of performance.
How does delegation work? - ✔✔You transfer the power, authority, and responsibility.
However, the accountability always lies with the delegater.
What are three management roles and examples, what about leadership styles? -
✔✔Informational role (minister/MP), interpersonal role (to do with charisma), decisional
role (more traditional management).
, Exercising authority (traditional power), autonomy (giving more freedom), leadership (inspiring
effort from others, more innate).
What are examples of different business cultures (Ray Quinn)? - ✔✔Human relations culture
(inward looking and flexible) - IT department
Internal process culture (inward looking and controlling) - call centre
Open systems culture (outward looking and flexible) - media company
Rational goal culture (outward looking and controlling) - supermarket
What are the implications of Taylorism for organisational management? - ✔✔Main
motivator is high wages
Managers job is just to tell people what to do
Workers jobs are to do what they are told and get paid
Essentially people are like machines!
What are Herzberg's motivating factors? How do they relate to the Maslow hierarchy of needs?
- ✔✔Hygiene factors are like at the bottom of the hierarchy, if they are absent they will
demotivate. Motivating factors are towards the top, these are required for positive motivation.
Hygiene factor is like health and safety, motivating factor is like a sense of achievement.
What are stages of group formation? - ✔✔Forming, storming, norming, performing
