(c) Define ‘market risk’ for Mr Allejandra and explain why Gluck and Goodman’s market risk exposure is

increased by failing to have an effective audit committee. (5 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)

2 The risk committee at Southern Continents Company (SCC) met to discuss a report by its risk manager, Stephanie

Field. The report focused on a number of risks that applied to a chemicals factory recently acquired by SCC in another

country, Southland. She explained that the new risks related to the security of the factory in Southland in respect of

burglary, to the supply of one of the key raw materials that experienced fluctuations in world supply and also an

environmental risk. The environmental risk, Stephanie explained, was to do with the possibility of poisonous

emissions from the Southland factory.

The SCC chief executive, Choo Wang, who chaired the risk committee, said that the Southland factory was important

to him for two reasons. First, he said it was strategically important to the company. Second, it was important because

his own bonuses depended upon it. He said that because he had personally negotiated the purchase of the Southland

factory, the remunerations committee had included a performance bonus on his salary based on the success of the

Southland investment. He told Stephanie that a performance-related bonus was payable when and if the factory

achieved a certain level of output that Choo considered to be ambitious. ‘I don’t get any bonus at all until we reach

a high level of output from the factory,’ he said. ‘So I don’t care what the risks are, we will have to manage them.’

Stephanie explained that one of her main concerns arose because the employees at the factory in Southland were not

aware of the importance of risk management to SCC. She said that the former owner of the factory paid less attention

to risk issues and so the staff were not as aware of risk as Stephanie would like them to be. ‘I would like to get risk

awareness embedded in the culture at the Southland factory,’ she said.

Choo Wang said that he knew from Stephanie’s report what the risks were, but that he wanted somebody to explain

to him what strategies SCC could use to manage the risks.

Required:

(a) Describe four strategies that can be used to manage risk and identify, with reasons, an appropriate strategy

for each of the three risks mentioned in the case. (12 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)

(b) Explain the meaning of Stephanie’s comment: ‘I would like to get risk awareness embedded in the culture

at the Southland factory.’ (5 marks)

4 Hogg Products Company (HPC), based in a developing country, was recently wholly acquired by American Overseas

Investments (AOI), a North American holding company. The new owners took the opportunity to completely review

HPC’s management, culture and systems. One of the first things that AOI questioned was HPC’s longstanding

corporate code of ethics.

The board of AOI said that it had a general code of ethics that HPC, as an AOI subsidiary, should adopt. Simon Hogg,

the chief executive of HPC, disagreed however, and explained why HPC should retain its existing code. He said that

HPC had adopted its code of ethics in its home country which was often criticised for its unethical business behaviour.

Some other companies in the country were criticised for their ‘sweat shop’ conditions. HPC’s adoption of its code of

ethics, however, meant that it could always obtain orders from European customers on the guarantee that products

were made ethically and in compliance with its own highly regarded code of ethics. Mr Hogg explained that HPC had

an outstanding ethical reputation both locally and internationally and that reputation could be threatened if it was

forced to replace its existing code of ethics with AOI’s more general code.

When Ed Tanner, a senior director from AOI’s head office, visited Mr Hogg after the acquisition, he was shown HPC’s

operation in action. Mr Hogg pointed out that unlike some other employers in the industry, HPC didn’t employ child

labour. Mr Hogg explained that although it was allowed by law in the country, it was forbidden by HPC’s code of

ethics. Mr Hogg also explained that in his view, employing child labour was always ethically wrong. Mr Tanner asked

whether the money that children earned by working in the relatively safe conditions at HPC was an important source

of income for their families. Mr Hogg said that the money was important to them but even so, it was still wrong to

employ children, as it was exploitative and interfered with their education. He also said that it would alienate the

European customers who bought from HPC partly on the basis of the terms of its code of ethics.

Required:

(a) Describe the purposes and typical contents of a corporate code of ethics. (9 marks)

(ii) Explain why the disclosure of voluntary information in annual reports can enhance the company’s

accountability to equity investors. (4 marks)

(ii) Identify the points that must be confirmed and any action necessary in order for capital treatment to

apply to the transaction. (4 marks)

(b) Provide the directors of Acrux Ltd with a detailed explanation of the maximum rate of tax that will be suffered

on both the distributed and non-distributed profits of the non-UK resident investee companies where:

(1) there is a double tax treaty between the UK and the country in which the individual companies are

resident; and

(2) there is no such double tax treaty.

Note: you are not required to explain the position of the overseas resident branches. (6 marks)

6 Discuss how developments in each of the following areas has affected the scope of the audit and the audit work

undertaken:

(a) fair value accounting; (6 marks)