APM Mar 2020
试题精讲
Mind set
To ensure you select and use the relevant information in the case study scenario for each individual requirement, you should follow these steps:
1st:Reading
In your exam, before reading the case study scenario, you first need to read the requirements（问题）. This will give you a clear focus when reading the scenario.（先大概扫一遍案例题干和问题，带着问题去阅读理解以便更好理解问题）
2nd:Plan Writing（读完别急着写，规划下怎么写，列个提纲）
It is useful to break down the requirements. Typically, each question requirement includes:
- The topic of the question: what topic does the question cover?
- The focus: which specific part of the topic is this requirement about?
- The instruction verb: what do you need to do?
（写答案时按照上述三个内容展开答案）

Question
Section A – This ONE question is compulsory and MUST be attempted
1 Company information
Achilty Retail （Achilty） is a stock exchange listed business which sells a range of clothes from a website to consumers in Beeland. Achilty started as a chain of clothing shops but has slowly transitioned（转型） into a website only business, and sold its last physical shop（实体店） recently.
Achilty’s mission is ‘to deliver long-term returns to shareholders through a combination of sustainable growth in earnings per share and payment of cash dividends’. This mission will be achieved by the following subsidiary objectives:
– Improving product ranges;
– Increasing the number of customers and their individual spend;
– Focusing on customer service; and
– Improving profitability by efficient cost control in purchasing and inventory management.
The board feels that while performance has been good compared to other retailers in general, it is lagging behind（落后） the growth of the online retail clothing sector. It is felt that many of the systems and processes have yet to adjust to the new reality of web-only business. As a result, the chief executive officer （CEO） has been reviewing the business in order to identify areas for improvement. She has focused on current performance reporting and the more effective use of the data which Achilty collects.

Current performance reporting
At a recent board meeting, there was a debate（讨论） as to whether performance towards this mission and its subsidiary objectives are being usefully measured. The director raising the concern believed that any fault might lie in the board’s performance report for annual strategic review, although the CEO is fairly happy with the report.
Therefore, the CEO wants a full evaluation of the current performance report （see Appendix 1 for the most recent example） in light of（根据） this debate and also, more generally, in terms of the best practice for reporting performance. There is no need to suggest new indicators.
Other proposed performance indicators
At this board meeting and as a result of the disagreement about performance reporting, a number of new performance indicators were discussed. The CEO wants an assessment of these indicators, including their calculation if that is possible from the information supplied, and also, whether and how they link to the mission and subsidiary objectives. The indicators and additional information are given in Appendix 2.

Role of the management accountant
The CEO recently introduced a new enterprise resource planning system （ERPS）. This system will provide a single
database, operating across the whole organisation, to replace systems which have been built up（建立） in each function around Achilty’s basic website.
The functions, for example, purchasing, warehousing and fulfilment, and sales and marketing, will now all work on a common（共享的） technology platform. Her plan is to move more decision making to individual managers of cross-functional teams who will work on all aspects of a given selection of product lines, such as women’s or sports clothing.
For example, purchasing will now liaise more closely with sales and marketing in order to ensure that the best possible and most profitable product range is available. It is hoped that this will reduce the number of senior managers and so flatten the organisational hierarchy.
The CEO has been reading about the work of Burns and Scapens. She would like you to explain how you see the role of the management accountant changing in the current business environment both broadly and with specific application of the three drivers of change identified by Burns and Scapens to Achilty.

Data warehouse
In order to catch up with the rest of the online retail sector, the CEO believes that the key step will be to effectively use the vast amount of customer data which the website collects.
In a further step forward in the use of information technology at Achilty, she plans to create a data warehouse（数据仓库） and use its information to help to achieve the objectives of Achilty. The data warehouse will collect data from customer activities on the website and also, from social media. Given the $50m cost, she wants an assessment of the opportunities and risks which such an expensive system would present.

Required:
It is now 1 September 20X5.
Write a report to the chief executive officer （CEO） of Achilty to respond to her instructions for work on the following areas:
（i） Current performance reporting. （15 marks）
（ii） Other proposed performance indicators. （8 marks）
（iii） The changing role of the management accountant. （12 marks）
（iv） The opportunities and risks of introducing a new data warehouse. （11 marks）
Professional marks will be awarded for the format, style and structure of the discussion of your answer. （4 marks）
（50 marks）
（现在考试的问题部分都表述的简略，因为对于问题的要求题干写的详细了，所以一定要回到题干弄清完整的问题）

Question
Appendix 1
Strategic performance report for Achilty for year ended 30 June 20X5
Financial performance by product area

Commentary:
Overall performance is satisfactory as the business has maintained its earnings per share and dividend.
Revenue is up by 10·4% on the previous year.
The number of customer accounts and average spend per purchase have increased in the year.
Deliveries to customers continue to be made within promised deadlines to a significant extent.

Appendix 2
Other proposed performance indicators:
1. Return on capital employed （ROCE）
2. Total shareholder return （TSR）, which comes from share price change and dividend yield
3. Inventory days
4. Receivables days

Supplementary information for Achilty:

Answer
Mind set
1
To: The CEO of Achilty Retail （Achilty）
From: An Accountant
Date: Sep 20X5
Subject: Performance reporting and management issues at Achilty
（写的时候注意结构）
This report evaluates the current performance report used by the board for strategic review. Next, certain proposed performance indicators are evaluated by calculation and for their fitness in measuring the achievement of the company’s objectives. Third, given the new information system proposed, the factors driving change in the role of the management accountant are considered. Finally, the opportunities and risks associated with the introduction of a data warehouse system are assessed.（Introduction很重要，不光写给考官看，也写给自己看）

（i） Current performance reporting
The current report has a number of strengths and weaknesses. These will be discussed according to whether the report:
– addresses the objectives of the business;
– contains appropriate information for decision-making; and
– is well-presented.
The mission of Achilty can be broken down into a main aim with supporting objectives. The primary aim is to deliver long-term returns to shareholders through a combination of sustainable growth in earnings per share and payment of cash dividends.
This is to be achieved by:
– Improving product ranges;
– Increasing the number of customers and their individual spend;
– Focusing on customer service; and
– Improving profitability by efficient cost control in purchasing and inventory management.
The report does provide much information which is useful to assess the achievement of the company’s objectives. However, it is not complete or always clear on all objectives.

1. Information on the primary objective is presented as the growth figures for EPS and dividends. However, the sustainability of these is not clear from the report. A percentage measure of the return on capital for shareholders may give them a simpler and clearer view of the overall performance （see later discussion on return on capital employed and total shareholder return）. However, without forecast figures it is difficult to give a view of whether these are ‘long term’ returns.

2. The first subsidiary objective on improving product ranges can be inferred from revenue growth and other measures relating to the customer perspective such as number of active customer accounts and their average spend. However, these measures are not precise as they are also affected by service levels.
3. The second subsidiary objective is clearly measured under the customer response heading. However, rather than seeking to only increase the number of accounts, it would be more useful to measure the active accounts otherwise resources may be poured into account holders who never purchase.

4. The third subsidiary objective is indirectly measured through revenue growth and the measures noted in point 2. It is specifically addressed in meeting of delivery deadlines. However, there is no indicator for the website experience, for example, relating to its ease of use. As this is the primary contact point with customers, it should receive more attention.
5. The final objective is partially measured through gross margin for purchasing. There are no inventory control indicators offered, such as relating to obsolescence or write-offs.