Practice Exam Paper 1
Based on Seal’s Management Accounting for Business Decisions
2 hours
Answer all four questions. Each question is worth 25 marks
Question 1
Explain the various roles that budgeting plays in the management process. Are these various roles always compatible with each other?
25 marks
Question 2
Wine Box Ltd retails quality wines by mail order, which it advertises widely in the Sunday supplements. The company buys six different types of wine in cases of 12 bottles each, direct from the vineyards. It ‘breaks-up’ the cases and sells to customers in a selection pack (half case) containing six bottles, one bottle of each type of wine. The company plans to sell 2,200 cases per month.
Wine Box is charged the following wholesale price for each ‘label ’charged by its suppliers: per case of 12 bottles (e.g. It costs Wine Box £2.75 per bottle of Chateau de Brussac)
Selling price per selection of six bottles is £39.99. Wine Box incurs distribution costs of £5.27 per selection pack. This distribution cost is based on the average cost per selection pack extracted from the management accounts, and includes the van drivers’ wages and van running costs.
The fixed costs of Wine Box for the month are:
Advertising(Sunday Supplements) / £18,000Storage/Rent and handling costs and administration costs / £5,600
a) (i) What is the annual break-even level in terms of sales revenue and selection pack sales for Wine Box?
(5 marks)
(ii) If Wine Box was able to sell 2,200 selection packs per month, what would be the net profit level for the month? What would be the current margin of safety?
(5 marks)
(iii) Wine Box believes that if it increases its advertising spend from £18,000 to £21,600 it would achieve a monthly sales level of 2500 selection packs. Would you regard such proposed additional advertising spending as being worthwhile?
(5 marks)
b) Using the original information, the Sales Administrator has offered to forgo his weekly salary of £400 (which is reflected in the figure for storage and handling costs) in return for a £1.00 commission on each sale of selection packs. Should Wine Box accept his offer? At what level of sales would Wine Box be indifferent between the weekly fixed wage and the commission of £1.00 on each sale?
(5 marks)
c) Assuming that Wine Box’s share capital is £1,000 000 and the required Return on Capital is 15% per annum and that it expects to sell 2,200 selection packs per month, what price per selection pack must Wine Box charge? Assume the additional advertising spend is undertaken and it is not deemed sufficiently price elastic to influence the sales volume.
(5 marks)
25 marks
Question 3
A manufacturing business produces three products. The following figures have been extracted from the budgets for the forthcoming year.
A B C
£000s £000s £000s
Materials at £10 per kg 100 240 70
Labour at £8 per hour 160 192 224 Total variable cost 260 432 294
Total fixed cost (£750) 250 250 250
Total cost 510 682 544
Total sales revenue 600 640 630 Profit (Loss) 90 (42) 86
The unit selling price of each product is: A £60 B £80 C £90
a) Calculate the production volume that will optimise the utilisation of resources if the limiting factor is the availability of the materials and only 30,000 kg are available.
(8 marks)
b) Calculate the production volume that will optimise use of resources if the limiting factor is labour and only 50,000 hours are available, assuming there is no limitation on the availability of the materials.
(7 marks)
c) Consider whether production of loss-making product B should cease.
(6 marks)
d) Are fixed costs ever relevant in the decision-making process?
(4 marks)
25 marks
Question 4
Eurosun Limited is a small charter airline carrier whose routes are principally the Mediterranean coast and its islands. Two ageing Boeing 737s from its fleet are at the end of their operational lives unless extensive and expensive refurbishment programmes are undertaken, which would take them out of operational use for a considerable period. Eurosun is therefore considering two alternative investment proposals:
Proposal 1: Trade in the two old Boeing 737s and replace with two second-hand but newer ones at a net cost of ₤18m (after the trade-in of ₤2m).
Proposal 2: Purchase a second-hand Boeing 747 for ₤25m, net of the ₤2m trade-in value of the 737’s.
Net cash inflows from the two alternative investment proposals are
estimated as follows:
Proposal 1 Proposal 2
2012 ₤7m ₤7m
2013 ₤7m ₤8m
2014 ₤7m ₤9m
2015 ₤7m ₤9m
2016 ₤7m ₤8m
At the end of 2016 the residual value of the two 737’s is estimated at ₤5m in total.
The estimated residual value of the Boeing 747 at the end of 2016 is £7m.
Addititonal information:
1. The project commencement date is January 2012 when the trade-in and cash purchase of the new aircraft would take place.
2. Eurosun expects investment projects to be financially viable within five years, although it does not set specific targets.
3. Eurosun’s cost of capital (discount rate to be applied) is 10% per annum.
4. The depreciation charge on the 737’s is ₤3m per annum (in total) and ₤4m per annum on the 747.
a) Calculate the payback period for each proposal, based on the actual (pre trade-in) price of the aircraft assuming cash flows arise evenly throughout the year.
(5 marks)
b) Calculate the accounting rate of return on each proposal based upon the actual (pre-trade-in) price of the aircraft.
(5 marks)
c) Calculate the net present value of each proposal and the profitability index, based on the pre trade-in price assuming that the aircraft will be sold at their residual values after 5 years. Assume that cash flows from operations arise at the end of the year.
(10 marks)
d) Which of the two proposals would you recommend to the directors of Eurosun Limited? Give full reasons for your decision, including non-financial ones and identify any limitation of your confidence in it based on the limitations of the methods applied.
(5 marks)
25 marks
Table A: Present value factors: The table gives the present value of a single payment of £1is received in n years in the future discounted at x% per year.Year / 6% / 7% / 8% / 9% / 10% / 11% / 12% / 13% / 14%
1 / 0.943 / 0.935 / 0.926 / 0.917 / 0.909 / 0.901 / 0.893 / 0.885 / 0.877
2 / 0.890 / 0.873 / 0.857 / 0.842 / 0.826 / 0.812 / 0.797 / 0.783 / 0.769
3 / 0.840 / 0.816 / 0.794 / 0.772 / 0.751 / 0.731 / 0.712 / 0.693 / 0.675
4 / 0.792 / 0.763 / 0.735 / 0.708 / 0.683 / 0.659 / 0.636 / 0.613 / 0.592
5 / 0.747 / 0.713 / 0.681 / 0.650 / 0.621 / 0.593 / 0.567 / 0.543 / 0.519
6 / 0.705 / 0.666 / 0.630 / 0.596 / 0.564 / 0.535 / 0.507 / 0.480 / 0.456
7 / 0.665 / 0.623 / 0.583 / 0.547 / 0.513 / 0.482 / 0.452 / 0.425 / 0.400
8 / 0.627 / 0.582 / 0.540 / 0.502 / 0.467 / 0.434 / 0.404 / 0.376 / 0.351
9 / 0.592 / 0.544 / 0.500 / 0.460 / 0.424 / 0.391 / 0.361 / 0.333 / 0.308
10 / 0.558 / 0.508 / 0.463 / 0.422 / 0.386 / 0.352 / 0.322 / 0.295 / 0.270
Table B: Cumulative present value factors: The table gives the present value of n annual payments of £1 received the next n years with a constant discount of x% per year.
Year / 6% / 7% / 8% / 9% / 10% / 11% / 12% / 13% / 14%
1 / 0.94 / 0.93 / 0.93 / 0.92 / 0.91 / 0.90 / 0.89 / 0.88 / 0.88
2 / 1.83 / 1.81 / 1.78 / 1.76 / 1.74 / 1.71 / 1.69 / 1.67 / 1.65
3 / 2.67 / 2.62 / 2.58 / 2.53 / 2.49 / 2.44 / 2.40 / 2.36 / 2.32
4 / 3.47 / 3.39 / 3.31 / 3.24 / 3.17 / 3.10 / 3.04 / 2.97 / 2.91
5 / 4.21 / 4.10 / 3.99 / 3.89 / 3.79 / 3.70 / 3.60 / 3.52 / 3.43
6 / 4.92 / 4.77 / 4.62 / 4.49 / 4.36 / 4.23 / 4.11 / 4.00 / 3.89
7 / 5.58 / 5.39 / 5.21 / 5.03 / 4.87 / 4.71 / 4.56 / 4.42 / 4.29
8 / 6.21 / 5.97 / 5.75 / 5.53 / 5.33 / 5.15 / 4.97 / 4.80 / 4.64
9 / 6.80 / 6.52 / 6.25 / 6.00 / 5.76 / 5.54 / 5.33 / 5.13 / 4.95
10 / 7.36 / 7.02 / 6.71 / 6.42 / 6.14 / 5.89 / 5.65 / 5.43 / 5.22