E1 Managing Finance in a Digital World Questions and Answers

Which one of the following structures primarily suits a nationwide business with three product lines; for example, soup, condiments and baby food?

Over the past year, JKL Company has found that its two largest competitors have taken some of their market share since opening online stores At the same time JKL has noticed that the capabilities of the new computing equipment that it has recently introduced are much greater than the ones that it had replaced.

JKL has decided to launch its own online store, to compliment its chain of high street stores, m a bid to win back the market share that it has lost Existing staff will be retrained to carry out the online operation.

Which TWO factors, associated with the contextual design of an organisation, are driving this decision?

Place the following categories typically found in a 'person specification' next to each job holder's requirements.

HKD is an online marketing company Its finance function is currently preparing budgets for the coming period.

At which stage of value creation is HKD's finance function currently playing a key role?

A company is charging a high price for a product to individuals who are prepared to pay a premium for a new, innovative product Whilst doing this they are facing high marketing costs

Which stage of the product lifecycle is this product at?

T Company has recently appointed J as Chief Data Officer

One of the responsibilities of the appointment is to ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in force in the jurisdiction

J's first action was to carry out an internal audit of GDPR compliance

Which THREE of the following audit findings are indicators that T Company is compliant with GDPR''

Which TWO of the following are activities associated with setting up a new IT system?

Which of the following defines key performance indicators (KPls)?

Which of the following is NOT a feature of a knowledge management system specific to a particular organisation?

Which of the following sources of data will have limited usefulness to finance professionals?

Which TWO of the following relate to corporate social responsibility (CSR) rather than corporate governance?

When involved in business decision making it is important to observe the concept of objectivity. Which THREE of the following are examples of an effective application of this concept?

An organisation has grown in size over the last 6 months and it wishes to improve communication with its employees. Examples of information to share include company policies, human resource information and notices to employees.

Which type of system should the company adopt?

AB Company is planning to implement a new IT system. The existing system runs all of the financial ledgers and is key to the running of the whole organisation. Which of the following will NOT be a suitable method for the changover of the system?

Information systems outsourcing involves purchasing the services required to perform business functions from outside the organisation.

Which of the following is an advantage to the organisation of outsourcing activities?

Company V is, and has always been, very focused on the importance of stakeholders to the business.

As a well known and very popular private fee-paying school, Company V has to take on board advice, feedback, complaints and queries from a great many different stakeholders, all of which have to be prioritised according to their impact and power over the operations of the company.

Listed below are some of the stakeholders that Company V deal with on a daily basis. Categorise each of these stakeholders according to whether they are internal, connected or external stakeholders.

M works for an organisation that adopts the principle of a total reward package for high achieving employees. The organsiation recognises that there are more things to motivate staff than cash remuneration alone. M is striving for promotion and has been promised a company car and prominent car parking space at the front of the office if he achieves it. Which of Maslow's needs is being identified in the scenario above?

Which of the following statements is correct in relation to a tall organisation?

Data science is increasingly important in the production of business focused data It consists mainly of experts with backgrounds in mathematics, programming and computer science

Which of the following best describes the attributes of a data scientist?

JFD is a pet supplies retailing business.

Using customer data to build the target customer profile. JFD plans to create personalised advertising and communications more specific to customers' wants and needs in its market It is hoped that this will create interaction and responses from these customers.

Which of the following is JFD using?

Which type of organisation is owned by its customers, strictly speaking is a not-for-profit organisation and is in the private sector?

AAA Hotel provides accommodation near a major airport. When considering capacity management the hotel needs to clarify the component measurements identified below.

Match each of the three measurements below with the correct capacity element.

Company X is a manufacturing company. It is implementing a new IT system within the accounts department.

Which of the following is the most appropriate organisational structure for this project?

The growth and success of virtual teams have been a result of which THREE developments becoming available to organisations?

One of the finance function's main stakeholders provides feedback on customer responses and reviews about the organisation's products and services. Which of the following will provide this feedback?

Which TWO of the following are the responsibility of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in achieving the desired organisational impact?

'A mam stakeholder of the finance function typically enquires about the prospects of the business, alongside overall performance and feedback on the leadership team'

Which of the following stakeholders is being discussed?'

The Sales Manager has called his usual monthly meeting with his sales team and presented the monthly sales budget broken down into weekly targets for each member of the team. What type of planning is this?

Inventory control, which maintains a low level of inventory, is important to ensure which of the following?

Barry has heard that the government is planning to tighten environmental regulations. He doesn't like the sound of this, as even though some businesses won't be affected that much, he will have to end up paying a lot

more to run his business.

Which of the following options would be most effective in preventing the government from imposing such regulation?

Select ALL that apply.

A new manufacturing firm has been growing very rapidly. Both its output and hired staff have increased dramatically, and it's looking like the business will have to physically expand sometime in the near future.

The company's managing director decides to outsource the payroll of the business to an external provider.

What are his likely reasons for making this decision?

Which of the following scenarios is an example of independence within the role of the finance function?

AB Company operates a capital intensive production process and cannot quickly add capacity. Which of the following best describes this production strategy?

It is important to assess the contribution made by the finance function. If a balanced scorecard approach is used, which of the following categories would utilise the measure of staff turnover?

The Finance Director has been asked to produce a cost saving plan for the organisation which is to come into effect immediately. His initial suggestion to enable quick savings is to cut the staff development and training budget by 50%. Before he publishes the plan he has asked you to review it and let him know what the effect of this may be in the short term.

Select ALL that apply. 

Which of the following is a benefit to the employer of remote working?

Mr W wants to replace the family car. The cost of repair is becoming prohibitive so he has agreed with his wife to buy a new vehicle.

Put the tokens below in the correct order to demonstrate the stages in the buying process, according to Lancaster and Withey.

Which of the following is a reason why businesses need to prepare statutory reports?

Which of the following is the component of Hadoop which is responsible for breaking down a task into chunks of work and allocating them?

SSS has adopted some outsourcing practices in order to improve efficiency of its operations. One of the managers has been made aware that the supplier is now also working for a competitor. Which TWO of the following should SSS be concerned with regarding the supplier's and ompetitor's new relationship?

An individual works for Organisation A. They are responsible for collating financial information from all the local County primary schools in order to report budgetary requirements for the next financial year.

An individual works for Organisation B. They are responsible for collating financial information from all the local charity shops in order to report donation items and items sold.

An individual works for Organisation C. They are responsible for counting and recording raw materials stock, work in progress and finished goods stock on a monthly basis for the managers to report on rates of stock wastage and pilferage at the monthly board meeting.

For each of the organisations above, match them with the relevant sector below.

Company A works closely with its customers, suppliers and other business partners. It securely shares part of its private network with this group of stakeholders

Which of the following best describes the type of network that Company A operates?

The finance function has an important role in the management of performance and the achievement of the organization’s plans and budgets.

Which of the key roles of the finance function does this best describe?

Which of the following best describes a digital mindset?

Company O has appointed a new CEO who is well known in the industry for making radical changes within the companies that she works for. After her first 9 months in the role, she announced some changes that she wanted to make, starting with the Finance Department. She stressed an intention to focus inwards on improvements to efficiencies and that she was not afraid to make fundamental changes if this is what is required to achieve those improvements. Which of the following is described above?

JKL is an online marketing agency and is currently developing its systems to improve efficiency in storing and retrieving data

P works in the finance function and is currently assisting the development of a technical map of rules and data structures to enable the data to be stored effectively in JKL's new databases.

At what level of the data modelling process is P working on?

Karl runs a factory. He wants his employs to feel that their role in the company has meaning.

Which of the following would help to make his employees feel this way?

Which of the following statements regarding Just-In-Time (JIT) are true?

1:The main aim of JIT it to ensure a business has a sufficient amount of leftover stock, just in case it's needed further down the line.

2:Although the benefits of JIT are many, its use can end up harming supplier relations.

3:JIT generally results in lower costs for the business using it.

More and more organisations are developing their supply chain networks by building closer links with suppliers. Which THREE of the following are considered to be features of this trend?

Strategic leadership by the finance function involves so-called level 1 activities.

These activities involve which of the following?

Which of the following are associated with the mission of an organisation?

Select  ALL that apply.

Accountants and finance professionals in the future will see the basic routine transactional work reduce with a shift to higher level skills

Which of the following best describes business acumen?

Which of the following is a disadvantage of virtual operations?

N is working on a project management team for the first time and is aware that there are distinct stages that follow on consecutively in the project management process However, N is unsure of the exact order of these stages

Which of the following indicate the project management stages in the correct order?

Cyber and physical systems becoming increasingly autonomous is part of which characteristic of the 4th industrial revolution?

Which of the following effects on tax is a benefit of the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies?

XY Company manufactures in a highly competitive environment and achieves competitive advantage by regularly monitoring all the activities in its value chain. Which of the following would be affected by problems in the outbound logistics function?

Which of the following is NOT a form of viral marketing?

R works in the finance function of TX Company, a large multinational vehicle manufacturer.

Most of R's work involves shaping how the company creates and preserves value by using effective controls.

Which of the following activities is R most likely to be involved with?

One of the roles of the finance function is to help deploy solutions. Which activity of the "information to impact" framework is this a part of?

Which of the following best defines Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)?

Which of the following is the main reason for the growing demand for Big Data by organisations?

Company E is renewing the IS within the organisation. This new system will enable all employees to access customer information, orders and credit control status to overcome the lack of integration between departments suffered with the previous system. Managers envisage some resistance to the change and want to try to make the transition as smooth as possible. To achieve this, all employees have been invited to share their ideas of what features the new system should include and how they would like the final interface to work. Which of Kotter, Schlesinger and Sache's methods of dealing with resistance is described above?

Which of the following are benefits of appraisals? Select ALL that apply.

A service level agreement will NOT normally include which of the following? 

Which of the following is an example of a formal relationship in which two organisations legally contract to co-operate in defined ways to achieve specific commercial objectives?

DTR is a publishing company specialising in the production of technical journals and product specifications

Because of the volumes of information required to run the business effectively, the finance function of the company is considering migrating to cloud based technologies.

Which of the following is most likely to be a benefit of such a move for the company?

JKL is a rapidly growing supermarket chain and is considering merging with a smaller competitor to continue its expansion plans

T works within the finance department and is assisting in the decision making process by preparing summary reports concerning the merger.

What level of decision making is T supporting?

In a new initiative, Company O has been putting a lot of emphasis on internal awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility and creating value for it's stakeholders. A huge part of this has been about focusing on recycling and making departments accountable.

In order to assist with the achievement of goals in this area, a process has been designed to give some structure to measuring value for each department. Each of the process elements are listed below. Place the steps against each of these to indicate the correct sequence.

B is a small company that offers translation services into another language. There are very few employees and a network of translators is kept on a database Customers ask for work to be carried out through a website and B finds a suitable translator, taking a fee from the overall charge. The website is maintained by a third party

What type of organisation is this?

Which of the following can facilitate innovation within an organisation?

Select ALL that apply.

When considering companies which focus on more than just commercial issues, which TWO of the following would be associated as a key element of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy?

XBY has recently started making use of big data analytics to assist in producing market predictions It is using software to process large data sets by utilising multiple servers simultaneously.

Which of the following best describes the term for this software?

The following statements are from which section of the UK Combined Code?

1:The board should disclose a balanced and understandable assessment of the company's position and prospects in the financial reports.

2:The board should maintain an appropriate relationship with the company's external auditor.

Which of the following best outlines the shift to higher level' skills anticipated to be fundamental to future accountants'?

AB Company has recently produced a very successful brand of washing powder which has achieved high market growth and a high market share. According to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix what is the product's next stage of development?

Which of the following is an example of sustainability impacting operations management?

A is developing a new mission statement. Which TWO of the following should NOT be included?

Lancaster and Withey (2003) identifies five steps in consumer decision making. Which THREE are valid?

There are several inter-related activities thought critical in implementing internal marketing.  Which THREE are valid?

During the past six months NVT has been undergoing a study, as part of a rationalisation programme to review the profitability of each of its retail stores.

As a result, 30 stores have been identified for closure T with a further 50 stores selected to receive an investment of funds in order to remain profitable going forward. Throughout this process NVTs finance function has worked alongside others in the organisation providing advice and guidance.

Which TWO of the following areas has the finance function most likely been involved with as part of the review?

Which of the following are advantages of outsourcing finance? Select ALL that apply.

Which of the following would work as Support Staff in Mintzberg's organisational structure?

Level one of the contemporary shape of the finance function involves strategic leadership of the finance team. The head of the finance function is.

The board of company B, a small company, is meeting to discuss the financial year end accounts following the first year of a consolidation of operations.

Of the results provided, select whether each set of information should be reported externally or internally.

Which THREE of the following are characteristics of undifferentiated marketing?

The structure of an organisation is likely to change as the organisation develops and grows. Which type of structure is associated with an organisation which is in its early days?

Which of the following describes a disadvantage of succession planning?

Arrange the stages of the product life-cycle in the correct order.

XY Company is a manufacturing company making a variety of products for sale in different markets. Which of the following is the most likely organisational structure that such a company will adopt?

L is employed within a startup organisation that has limited funds. The organisation is a firm of lawyers specialising in all legal fields, such as family law, property law, commercial law and litigation. Due to the relative infancy of the organisation, and restrictions on funds, they have to be prudent with their choice of information systems. They have all the IT they need for staff but the agreed best way to build the business has been to focus on building their client and prospective client base. Which of the following should the organisation invest in to help achieve this aim?

Company P has revised its corporate and marketing objectives following a recent expansion in the primary market within which it operates. The next step is to devise an appropriate marketing strategy. Company P has conducted primary and secondary market research and this information is in the process of being analysed to establish the needs of the subjects. At which stage of the marketing strategy process is Company P?

A company sells double glazed windows. It has traditionally adopted a sales orientation and used aggressive direct selling techniques. As part of a new initiative, it is exploring its options to update its business philosophy.

Which of the following would be the most effective orientation for this business?

Which of the following is a potential advantage of outsourcing?

Assessment centres can use a range of techniques to assess an applicant's competencies against pre-set criteria. Which document would set out the competencies required for them to compare against?

A main stakeholder of the finance function would typically provide feedback on the clarity and value of information used: in order to make better strategic decisions.

Which of the following would give this feedback?

A company offers life coaching and self-improvement training. As part of its promotion strategy, the company sends out free, heavily branded, daily motivational emails to all of its subscribers. It actively encourages its subscribers to forward its emails on to other contacts, provided the emails are not changed in any way. Which of the following marketing strategies is described above?