Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka. Strategic Level May 2013 Examination. Strategic Management Accounting (SMA / SL 1-401)

Transcription

1 Copyright Reserved Serial No Strategic Level May 2013 Examination Examination Date : 11 th May 2013 Number of Pages : 05 Examination Time: 9.30 a:m p:m. Number of Questions: 05 Instructions to Candidates 1. Time allowed is three (3) hours. 2. Total: 100 Marks. 3. Answer all questions in Part I and any three (3) questions from Part II. 4. The answers should be in English Language. PART I Subject Subject Code Strategic Management Accounting (SMA / SL 1-401) Answer all questions Question No. 01 (40 Marks) The Hospital Instruments Division of ABC plc manufactures a variety of electronic medical equipment. The principal product of the Hospital Instruments Division is a sophisticated instrument for measuring and graphically displaying a variety of medical phenomena, such as heart and respiration rates. The culture throughout the division was primarily engineering-oriented. One result of this culture was that the company s design engineers generally designed new products from scratch, rather than relying on modification of a current design. While this approach usually resulted in an elegant design from an engineering standpoint, it often resulted in the use of new or unique parts that were not already being used in the company s other products. The strategy of the Hospital Instruments Division s management was to position the division as a product differentiator and price leader, not as the industry s low-cost producer. This means that the division generally led the medical instruments market with new products that exhibited greater functionality than competing products and that the products were priced at a premium. The company s competitor then would emulate a new product, produce it at a lower cost, and undercut the ABC plc price. However, by then ABC plc had moved on to a new product with even greater functionality. This strategy had been quite successful until the Japanese entered the medical instruments market in a major way. ABC plc s new competitors were able to set product prices some 25% below those of ABC plc, while maintaining close to the same level of functionality. In order to compete, the Hospital Instruments Division had to lower its prices below its reported product costs. This resulted in significant losses for the division. To remedy the situation, the Hospitality Instruments Division s management began an extensive continuous improvement program. The division changed its production and inventory management system to a JIT system, ideas of total quality control were aggressively pursued, and management attempted to develop an empowered workforce. All of these efforts paid off dramatically. However, production costs were still relatively high for the industry, and cycle times were considered too long by management. The general feeling was that in order to remain competitive in the long run, the division would have to further lower its production costs and shorten its production cycle times. As management contemplated the high production costs, one problem that kept coming up was the division s part number proliferation. As the engineering-dominated company continued to introduce new products, the number of different parts and components that had to be stocked in inventory continued to increase. Some members of management felt the division s cost-reduction goals could be achieved by solving the problem of part number proliferation. 1

2 As management was pondering the division cost-reduction goal, the controller was contemplating the introduction of a new cost accounting system. The controller was thinking about introducing activity based costing and activity-based management in the Hospital Instruments Division. (a) Explain why the problem of part number proliferation could increase the division s production costs. (b) Explain how long production cycle time could increase the division s production costs. (c) How could an ABC system be used to help reduce costs by attacking the problem of part number proliferation? Allow yourself to contemplate an entirely new role of ABC that is quite different from the objective of more accurate product costs. You may include following in your answer (the division s strategy in the market place, How are price currently being determined? Does management really need more accurate product costs, given its strategy and reality of market-driven prices? What is the current goal of management? What is to blame for high production cost? Who is to blame for high production costs? How the ABC system helps to solve the problem and reduces production costs?). (16 Marks) (d) Following up your answer to (c), what cost drivers could be employed to help solve the problem of part number proliferation? (e) How could an ABC system help highlight and solve the problem of production cycle times that are too long? (Total 40 Marks) End of Part I Part II Answer any three (3) questions Question No. 02 (20 Marks) (a) Why strategic management accounting is relevant in public sector and non-for-profit sector if these organizations not manufacturing product and pursuing a profit? (10 Marks) (b) Discuss the impact that technological developments have had on strategic management accounting. (10 Marks) 2

3 Question No. 03 (20 Marks) Dammika Liyanage, a consultant with Deloitte and Young, has just begun an engagement at Olympic Airways (OA). The company has fallen on hard time of late despite record profits for the rest of the airline industry. Management is somewhat set in its ways and could probably use some new blood as the most recent hire to the firm s executive team was 12 years ago. In Dammika Liyanage s first meeting with the team, OA s chief executive officer commented that all that mattered in this industry were load factors- the percentage of seats sold on scheduled flights. If load factors were adequate, everything else would take care itself. Dammika Liyanage noted that while this measure was important, other, broader facets of operations were also significant. She asked if any of the management team had heard of the balanced scorecard and received dead silence as a response. Based on his experiences with other engagements, including two that involved airlines, Dammika Liyanage convinced that the balanced scorecard could provide benefits in helping to solve OA s woes. After a presentation about the philosophy of the balanced scorecard, OA s management team accepted her idea, feeling that a shift in operating philosophy was needed for survival. (a) What is a balanced scorecard (BSC), and what are its typical key elements? (03 Marks) (b) Dammika Liyanage wants to assemble a committee to prepare the airline s balance scorecard. List several of the company s functional areas (marketing) that should be represented to the committee. (c) Indentify a number of measures to evaluate the key elements that you specified in requirement (a). (08 Marks) (d) Did you see any problems with management s prior focus on only one measure (i.e. load factor)? Briefly explain. (03 Marks) Question No. 04 (20 Marks) AB plc has two division, namely, A and B. Division A manufactures a product called A and Division B manufactures a product called B. Each unit of Product B uses a single product A as a component. Division A is the only manufacturer of product A and supplies to both Division B and outside market. Estimated data for the coming period are as follows: Division A Division B Full Capacity in units 30,000 18,000 Fixed production overhead Rs. 5 million Rs. 12 million Fixed non production overhead Rs. 2.5 million Rs. 8 million Variable cost per unit ( excluding transfer price) Rs.280 Rs.590 3

4 Market research has indicated that demand schedule for AB plc products from outside market will be as follows for the coming period: Price (Rs.)- Product A Demand for Product A (units) 1, , ,000 Price (Rs.)- Product B Demand for Product B (units) 4, ,800 2,000 3,600 4,000 (a) Calculate the unit selling price of product B (accurate to the nearest Rs.) that will maximize AB plc s profit in the coming year. (b) Calculate the unit selling price of product B (accurate to the nearest Rs.) that is likely to emerge if the Divisional Managers of A and B both set the selling prices calculated to maximize Divisional Profit from sales to outside customers and the transfer price of A going from Division A to Division B is set at market selling price. (c) Explain why your answer to parts (a) and (b) are different, and propose changes to the system of transfer pricing in order to ensure that AB plc is charging its outside consumers at optimum prices. (08 Marks) Question No. 05 (20 Marks) (a) Life Cycle Costing normally refers to costs incurred by the user of major capital equipment over the whole of the useful equipment life. Explain the determination and calculation of these costs and the problems in their calculation. (10 Marks) (b) In the strategy and marketing literature there is continual discussion of the product life cycle and it has four stages, namely, start up, growth, maturity and harvest. Which system of product costing would be most useful for decision making and control and why? (10 Marks) End of Part II 4

5 Present value table Present value of 1.00 unit of currency, that is (1 + r) -n where r = interest rate; n = number of periods until payment or receipt. Periods (n) Interest rates (r) 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10% Periods (n) Interest rates (r) 11% 12% 13% 14% 15% 16% 17% 18% 19% 20% End of Question Paper 5