The software division expects to __________ its sales targets this year.

The Biscuits division (Division B) and the Cakes division (Division C) are two divisions of a large, manufacturing company. Whilst both divisions operate in almost identical markets, each division operates separately as an investment centre. Each month, operating statements must be prepared by each division and these are used as a basis for performance measurement for the divisions.

Last month, senior management decided to recharge head office costs to the divisions. Consequently, each division is now going to be required to deduct a share of head office costs in its operating statement before arriving at ‘net profit’, which is then used to calculate return on investment (ROI). Prior to this, ROI has been calculated using controllable profit only. The company’s target ROI, however, remains unchanged at 20% per annum. For each of the last three months, Divisions B and C have maintained ROIs of 22% per annum and 23% per annum respectively, resulting in healthy bonuses being awarded to staff. The company has a cost of capital of 10%.

The budgeted operating statement for the month of July is shown below:

Required

(a) Calculate the expected annualised Return on Investment (ROI) using the new method as preferred by senior management, based on the above budgeted operating statements, for each of the divisions. (2 marks)

(b) The divisional managing directors are unhappy about the results produced by your calculations in (a) and have heard that a performance measure called ‘residual income’ may provide more information. Calculate the annualised residual income (RI) for each of the divisions, based on the net profit figures for the month of July. (3 marks)

(c) Discuss the expected performance of each of the two divisions, using both ROI and RI, and making any additional calculations deemed necessary. Conclude as to whether, in your opinion, the two divisions have performed well. (6 marks)

(d) Division B has now been offered an immediate opportunity to invest in new machinery at a cost of $2·12 million. The machinery is expected to have a useful economic life of four years, after which it could be sold for $200,000. Division B’s policy is to depreciate all of its machinery on a straight-line basis over the life of the asset. The machinery would be expected to expand Division B’s production capacity, resulting in an 8·5% increase in contribution per month.

Recalculate Division B’s expected annualised ROI and annualised RI, based on July’s budgeted operating statement after adjusting for the investment. State whether the managing director will be making a decision that is in the best interests of the company as a whole if ROI is used as the basis of the decision. (5 marks)

(e) Explain any behavioural problems that will result if the company’s senior management insist on using solely ROI, based on net profit rather than controllable profit, to assess divisional performance and reward staff. (4 marks)

听力原文： Animals do many different, amazing things to get through the winter. Some of them travel to other places where the weather is warmer or they can find food. Many birds travel in the fall. (32) Because the trip can be dangerous, some travel in large flocks. For example, geese fly in noisy, "V"-shaped groups. Other kinds of birds fly alone. (33) How do they know when it is time to leave for the winter? Scientists are still studying this. Many see transference as part of a yearly cycle of changes that a bird goes through. The cycle is controlled by changes in the amount of daylight and the weather. Most birds transfer shorter distances. But how do they find their way to the same place each year? (34) Birds seem to navigate like sailors once did, using the sun, moon and stars for direction. They also seem to have a compass in their brain for using the Earth's magnetic field. Other animals transfer, too. (35) There are a few mammals, like some bats, and whales that travel in search of food each winter. Many fish transfer. They may swim south, or move into deeper, warmer water. Insects also transfer. Some butterflies and moths fly very long distances. For example, Monarch butterflies spend the summer in Canada and the Northern U. S. They transfer as far south as Merico for the winter. Most insects go much shorter distances. Many, like white ants and Japanese beetles, move downward into the soil. Earthworms also move down, some as far as six feet below the surface.

(33)

A．Because the destination is very far.

B．Because they can keep warm.

C．Because the trip is very dangerous.

D．Because the trip is very lonely.

Yoga, the ancient practice of postures, breathing and meditation, is gaining a lot of attention from the material world that its serious practitioners are trying to escape. Yoga practitioners are trying to keep themselves away from the material world. And no wonder Americans who practice yoga are often well-educated, have higher-than-average household income and are willing to spend a bit more on so-called "green" purchases seen as benefiting the environment or society. "Its kind of growing out of the crunchy stage of yoga to the Starbucks stage," said Bill Harper, publisher of Yoga Journal. "From the videos and the clothes and the toe socks--people are pursuing this market with a vengeance." A glance through recent issues of his monthly magazine, whose readership has doubled in the past four years to 325,000, illustrates the point. There are four-color ads from the likes of Asics athletic shoes, Eileen fisher apparel and Ford Motor Co. Yoga Journal is now licensing a Russian edition and preparing to expand in other international markets. Americans spend some $ 2.95 billion a year on yoga classes, equipment, clothing, holidays, videos and more, according to a study commissioned by the magazine, fuelled in part by ageing baby boomers seeking less aggressive ways to stay fit. Roughly 16.5 million people were practising yoga in the United States early last year, in studios, gyms or at home, up 43 percent from 2002, the study found. Established sellers of yoga gear such as Hugger Mugger and Gaiam have been flooded with competition in the market for yoga mats, incense, clothing and fancy accoutrements ranging from designer yoga bags to eye pillows. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Lululemon Athletica, for one, has seen sales of its yoga apparel rise to $ 100 million since Canadian entrepreneur Chip Wilson founded the company in 1998. Customers are snapping up its trendy pants and tops to wear to class and, increasingly, to the supermarket or out to dinner. Another expanding business, Exhale, markets itself as a "mindbodyspa", with tony locations in Los Angeles, New York and other urban areas that combine yoga classes with facials, massage and alternative treatments such as acupuncture. Some question how all the consumption is changing a discipline with a strong spiritual foundation. "Weve taken this ancient tradition, science, and art of yoga out of a culture and a religion and world view and weve tried to transplant to the other side of the planet," said Judith Hanson Lasater, a longtime yoga instructor and author who holds a doctorate in East-West psychology. "I believe theres not a complete match-up." Even so, several entrepreneurs stressed that they are able to adhere to yogas healing principles while also turning a profit.

Use three words to describe the practice of yoga.

Cillian Shepard is to announce a review of examination standards today as controversy surrounding university entrance procedures brings criticism over Britain's educational performance.

The Education and Employment Secretary is worried that continuing uncertainty over a levels in particular will undermine the Government's drive to meet ambitious targets for improvement. She postponed an announcement until this year's candidates had received their results, but is now determined to clear the air.

Mrs. Shepard's main advisers on schools have already asked her to sanction a 100,000 research project, comparing papers over the past 20 years. But she is expected to go further.

Reports of universities admitting A-level failures to foundation courses will be referred to officials carrying out a review of higher education. Further research will focus on school examinations.

Mrs. Shepard returned {mm holiday last week to find critics chiming that a seventh successive rise in pass rates indicated falling standards at A level, while new vocational equivalents had an alarming drop-out rate. Since then, she has become embroiled in controversy over higher education admissions, insisting that it was not the role of universities to prepare students for degree courses.

Yesterday a retired mathematics lecturer said he had been ordered to admit students to a foundation course after rejecting: them for a degree, David Smalley, who teaches part-time at Brunel University in west London, said many of the students who were accepted subsequently would never be capable of degree-level mathematics.

Mr. Smalley said a course for those without the necessary grades to study science had been set up earlier than planned when undergraduate recruitment dried up. He had been told to approach potential students from a pile of rejected applications.

A university spokeswoman said students entering Brunel's foundation courses in science and engineering had an average of two Cs at A level, enough to win a place on many degree courses. Half of the first in take in engineering secured upper second class degrees alter passing the foundation year.

But Mr. Smalley said he was convinced standards had plummeted since the introduction of pre-degree courses. "We have had one or two success stories on them, but others could not add fractions. Some of the work would make your hair curl".

Ian Wood, who set up Brunel's first foundation course, m engineering, said some older lecturers found it difficult to adapt to teaching less able students. He added: "This year 26 students out of 60 got through a foundation year and one ended up with a first-class degree. I am sure there are spurious courses elsewhere put on just to bump up numbers, but our standards are high".

The Higher Education Funding Council for England said it had no reason to question standards on foundation courses.

Who is Gillian Shepard?

A．She is an official.

B．She is president of a university.

C．She is an educator.

D．She is president of a country.

Part A

Directions: Read the following three texts. Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

Trees are useful to man in three very important ways: they supply him with wood and other products ;they give him shade; and they help to prevent droughts and floods.

Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important. In his eagerness to draw quick profit from the trees, he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. 2 000 years ago a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire. It gained the empire but, without its trees, its soil became hard and poor. When the empire fell to pieces, the home country found itself faced floods and starvation.

Even if a government realizes the importance of adequate supply of trees, it is difficult for it to persuade the villager to see this. The villager wants wood to cook his food with; and he can earn money by producing charcoal or selling wood to the townsman. He is usually too lazy or too careless to plant and take care of new trees. So, unless the government has a good control system, or can educate the people, the forests will slowly disappear.

This does not only mean that the villager's sons and grandsons have fewer trees. The results are even more serious: for where there are trees their roots break the soil up -- allowing the rain to sink in -- and also bind the soil, thus preventing its being washed away easily; but where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away from the surface, causing floods and carrying away with it the rich topsoil , in which crops grow so well. When all the top soil is gone, nothing remains but a useless desert.

What is the most important function of trees?

A．Providing fuel.

B．Offering shade.

C．Preventing natural disasters.

D．Providing charcoal.

The ambitious target of WHO in reducing the incidence of TB in the Western Pacific region is to

A．reduce the incidence of TB by 38% in less than ten years in the region.

B．reduce the incidence of TB by 50% in ten years in the region.

C．eliminate TB in ten years in the region.

D．fund a project in 13 of China's 31 provinces to fight ＴＢ.

  Something destructive could happen to a star that gets too close to a black hole. Which of the following destructive statements is NOT mentioned in the passage？

A.The black hole could tear apart the star.

B.The black hole could trigger a nuclear explosion in the star.

C.The black hole could dwindle its size considerably.

D.The black hole could devour the star.