Professional Documents
Culture Documents
F5 (PM)
Performance Management
QUESTIONS
MOCK B
FORMULAE
Learning curve
Y = axb
Where y = cumulative average time per unit to produce x units
a = the time taken for the first unit of output
x = the cumulative number of units produced
b = the index of learning (log LR/log 2)
LR = the learning rate as a decimal
Demand curve
P = a − bQ
Change in price
b=
Change in quantity
a = price when Q = 0
MR = a –2bQ
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AC C A P M : P E R FO RM AN C E MAN A GE ME N T
SECTION A
1 Target costing involves the calculation of a target cost, with a desired margin deducted
from a market price.
In service businesses in this context, which TWO of the following are true?
A Services often take place behind closed doors, and so understanding what is being
provided is more challenging. This makes setting a market price for target costing
more difficult.
B Margins vary so much with services, and this makes target costing impossible.
C All services cost bases are dominated by fixed costs. Therefore, calculating actual
costs as part of the target costing calculation is too heavily volume-driven to be
useful.
D Target costing is still relevant to service based businesses as a large cost gap could
indicate inefficiency.
2 Which TWO of the following actions would increase a product’s throughput accounting
ratio (TPAR) from one year to the next?
A Removing settlement discounts currently being offered to businesses that buy the
product
B Agreeing a less than expected annual pay rise for the factory staff
C Removing trade discounts being offered on the product
D Increasing the capacity of the business by working a longer day
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MOC K B Q UE S T ION S
4 A business is considering changing its fixed cost to variable cost mix (its operational
gearing), by encouraging some staff to agree to be paid for the hours they actually work,
rather than being fully employed on salaries. If they make this change the C/S ratio will
reduce from 0.6 to 0.45 but the fixed cost base will drop 20% to $720,000 in total.
What will be the effect on the breakeven point in revenue terms and the risk profile of
the business?
A The BEP will increase by $100,000 and the risk profile will worsen
B The BEP will increase by $100,000 and the risk profile will improve
C The BEP will reduce by $100,000 and the risk profile will worsen
D The BEP will reduce by $100,000 and the risk profile will improve
5 A correctly produced linear programming model has shown that the optimal point on the
graph of two products X and Y lies at the intersection of the following equations:
Skilled labour: 5X + 3Y = 16,000 Demand for X = 2,000
The contribution from an X is $6 and the contribution from a Y is $8.
What is the dual price of an hour of labour?
6 The optimal solution for a linear programming problem has been correctly calculated as
follows:
Product X: 2,200 units Product Y: 3,100 units
One of the non-critical resources was found to be the material, where a unit of X used 1.25
kg and a unit of Y used 1.75 kg of this material.
If there was 8,520 kg of this non-critical material available, but it could only be delivered
in 40 kg bags, how many bags could be cancelled without the material becoming critical?
7 A business has an objective to maximise profit through its pricing strategy. It has carried
out some analysis of past sales and prices. It concluded that for every $5 it increases prices,
the sales of a particular product reduces by 500 units. Last year, the sales of the product in
question were 45,000 units at an average selling price of $2,000 per unit. The variable costs
of making and selling the product are $800 per unit.
What is the marginal revenue function that would be used in a profit maximisation
calculation?
A MR = 2,450 – 0.01Q
B MR = 1,550 – 0.01Q
C MR = 2,450 – 0.02Q
D MR = 1,550 – 0.02Q
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AC C A P M : P E R FO RM AN C E MAN A GE ME N T
8 A business has an objective to maximise profit through its pricing strategy. It has carried
out some analysis of past sales and prices. It concluded that for every $5 it increases prices,
the sales of a particular product reduces by 500 units. Last year, the sales of the product in
question were 45,000 units at an average selling price of $2,000 per unit. The variable costs
of making and selling the product are $800 per unit.
What is the optimal selling price to be set in order to maximise profit?
A $1,625
B $2,075
C $800
D $3,275
10 A business is considering expanding its product range to include a more upmarket version
of its tablet PC. It has decided to build this new tablet in spare space within an existing
factory. The lease has 10 years yet to run and there is no break clause within the lease
contract. Depreciation is calculated at the rate of 4% on the capitalised value of the leased
asset.
Which TWO of the following statements are true?
A Given the tablet will be manufactured in spare space within the factory, there will be
no incremental factory costs at all.
B The lease cost is a committed cost, and should be excluded from the decision
variables for that reason.
C Incremental fixed costs are never included when they relate to a lease rather than an
outright purchase.
D Depreciation is not a cash flow, and should be excluded from the decision variables
for that reason.
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MOC K B Q UE S T ION S
11 A business is considering expanding its product range to include a more upmarket version
of its tablet PC. The labour required to make the tablet will come from two types of people,
programmers and engineers.
Programmers will be needed for 2,400 hours. There are 10 programmers working for the
business in contracts demanding 40 hours work per week for 48 weeks. The business feels
that 95% utilisation is acceptable and presently the programmers are operating at 93%.
Extra programmers are available from an agency at an hourly cost of $35/hr.
The engineers are fully utilised, and in short supply. The only way to source the 200 hours
needed to set up the production line is to divert existing engineers from another product.
Production of this other product will be delayed, meaning a penalty clause in a customer
contract will be triggered costing $4,000. Additionally, the engineers are paid $20/hr and
the contribution earned on the delayed products is $8,200.
What is the total relevant cash flow for the programmers and the engineers for this
project?
A $88,000
B $74,560
C $96,200
D $82,760
12 Printing Limited is trying to understand its cost base and has gathered some data covering
recent periods.
The business, in response to the extra work in February employed another technician
whose monthly salary was $2,000, he was employed for only 80% of February starting late
in the first full week of that month.
What is the average variable cost per job and fixed cost per month of the business in
January?
A VC = $49.23 and FC = $10,108
B VC = $80 and FC = $8,200
C VC = $80 and FC = $9,800
D VC = 49.23 and FC = $12,108
13 Skilled Limited works on technically difficult jobs, and as such experiences substantial
“learning”. In the past, it has been very unscientific in estimating the effect of the
learning, but is now keen to understand how much learning is taking place.
Consequently, it has gathered some basic data: the time taken for the first 20 units of a
new job was 80 hours but the next 10 units took only 30 hours and the 10 after that took
25 hours.
Estimate the learning effect using all the data at your disposal. Enter your answer here (to 3
%
decimal places)
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AC C A P M : P E R FO RM AN C E MAN A GE ME N T
14 A new system has been developed to provide a check to see whether a patent that already
exists would be breached by any new filing. The system will highlight similarities and will
even suggest which areas need to be changed to gain a successful filing. This quicker and
more accurate information should, it is thought, lead to better decisions on future filing
applications.
Which type of system is this best described as?
A Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERPS)
B Decision Support System (DSS)
C Expert system (ES)
D Management Information System (MIS)
15 A private school has grouped together with other schools to be able to gain volume
discounts on books and other supplies, and also invest in floating staff who teach part time
in a number of different schools. Grouping together has led to well-equipped classrooms
taught by good quality staff. The results have been encouraging too, with good attendance
and academic achievement. The head master feels that the extra investment in floating
staff members is worth the cost and has contributed to the above results.
Which of the following area(s) best describes ‘value for money’ in the context of the extra
investment in floating staff members?
A Economy
B Efficiency
C Effectiveness
D Efficiency and effectiveness
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MOC K B Q UE S T ION S
SECTION B
ALL 15 QUESTIONS ARE COMPULSORY AND MUST BE ATTEMPTED.
16 Assuming the MD has the final say, which type of van is likely to be chosen?
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AC C A P M : P E R FO RM AN C E MAN A GE ME N T
18 Assuming the OD’s preferences are met, what will be the average return gained per van?
A $11,930
B $12,460
C $9,600
D $13,300
19 What is the minimum return needed from the medium van at the activity level 1, to make
the silent partner indifferent between the types of van, assuming that the average return
for the small van is $11,930?
21 What is the combined cost of materials for one basic and one luxury hanger combined?
A $0.11
B $0.20
C $0.31
D $0.26
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MOC K B Q UE S T ION S
22 What would be the total labour cost of production in the next period?
23 If overheads are absorbed on a labour hours basis, how much overhead would be
allocated to each luxury hanger?
A $0.50
B $3.00
C $1.50
D $0.0015
24 If activity based costing is to be used, what will the overhead cost allocation be to
the luxury hanger?
A $0.40
B $0.004
C $1.40
D $0.0014
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AC C A P M : P E R FO RM AN C E MAN A GE ME N T
Small Large
$ $
Selling price/cup 3.80 6.60
Materials/cup 0.84 1.75
Labour costs are all fixed and these, along with other period costs, total $295,000.
27 Assuming that finishing is the bottleneck, what is the throughput accounting ratio (TPAR)
for the large product?
28 Assuming Coffee Cup wanted to improve its TPAR ratios and that finishing remained the
bottleneck, which two of the following tactics would be most effective and cost efficient?
A Invest in more forming capacity
B Double the number of shifts for all processes
C Double the number of shifts for the finishing process
D Negotiate a materials discount
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MOC K B Q UE S T ION S
29 If a TPAR fell to a positive value below the value of 1 which two of the following
statements could be made?
A Production of the product in question will cease
B The product is loss making
C The product is still making a contribution
D For a profitable company this is not possible
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AC C A P M : P E R FO RM AN C E MAN A GE ME N T
SECTION C
BOTH QUESTIONS ARE COMPULSORY AND MUST BE ATTEMPTED
31 Yummy Doughnuts Limited is attempting to dominate the doughnut market in its home
market of Seatown. In 20X6, Yummy sold an average of 8,000 doughnuts every week, at a
unit price of 60 cents. Its 20X7 budget was aggressive, predicting sales of 8,000 doughnuts
per week which it felt represented 20% of the doughnut market in the area. The budget
was in fact beaten, with actual sales of 8,500 doughnuts per week. The marketing director,
Mr Dumpling, a big fan of the doughnut himself, recently commented:
“This is an amazing result, particularly when one reflects on the fact that the overall market
for doughnuts is down by 5% since we did the budget, mainly due to the negative media
coverage that has hit this type of food. But I want everyone to know that our doughnuts are
‘Taste of the South Coast’ award winners and that in the marketing department, we are
doing everything we can to support the growth in sales”.
The 20X7 price charged on the doughnuts had to be reduced slightly, as there had been
negative media coverage about the fat content of most of the range. The price per
doughnut achieved was 5 cents less than the 60 cents budgeted, in order to gain a
sufficiently large share of the reduced market. This, somewhat inevitably, reduced the
budget contribution from its predicted level of 18 cents per doughnut.
Required:
(a) Calculate the price elasticity of the Yummy doughnut and comment briefly on your
results. (3 marks)
(b) Calculate the budget weekly revenue and related contribution. (2 marks)
(c) Calculate the weekly sales price and sales volume contribution variances.
(4 marks)
(d) Calculate the weekly sales market size and share variances and an estimate of the
actual market share achieved. (6 marks)
(e) Briefly discuss the sales performance of Yummy Doughnuts Limited. (5 marks)
(Total: 20 marks)
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MOC K B Q UE S T ION S
32 Armadillo Limited assesses its divisions using return on investment (ROI), with managers
being rewarded with a bonus of $500 per full percentage point above their target for a
given year.
The North division’s manager has been reviewing her prospects for bonus for this year and
the following year and is a little concerned about her short-term prospects for earnings.
She has worked hard and feels she should be rewarded accordingly.
The financial projections before any last-minute change of strategy are as follows:
20X8 20X9
$m $m
Turnover 260 285
Locally controlled costs –185 –205
Controllable profit 75 80
Head Office costs –42 –49
Taxation (allocation) –5 –6
Net profit 28 25
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AC C A P M : P E R FO RM AN C E MAN A GE ME N T
Required:
(a) Discuss the arguments for the treatment of head office costs and taxation as shown
above. Your answer should include a discussion as to:
• whether head office costs should be allocated
• how the allocation should be made
• whether allocated costs should be included in the ROI calculation
• the fairness of the taxation costs (no detailed knowledge of taxation rules is
expected). (10 marks)
(b) Calculate the North division’s ROI based on controllable profit for both years, and
the related bonus that could be expected. (4 marks)
(c) Briefly discuss the suggestion and consider the impact of the new project being
delayed for 3 months. You should consider performance metrics, potential
bonuses and any other relevant factor. Calculations are not required. (6 marks)
(Total: 20 marks)
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