2010年ACCA12月份考試時間為12月6日-15日。為了方便廣大考生復習，正保會計網校ACCA試題中心將會為大家呈現ACCA歷年試題及答案。

　　2 （a） Explain ＆the public interest’

　　Public interest concerns the overall welfare of society as well as the sectional interest of the shareholders in a particular company. It is generally assumed，for example，that all professional actions，whether by medical，legal or accounting professionals，should be for the greater good rather than for sectional interest.

　　Accounting has a large potential impact and so the public interest ‘test’ is important. Mrs Yttria made specific reference to audit and assurance. In auditing and assurance，for example，the working of capital markets - and hence the value of tax revenues，pensions and investment - rests upon accountants＊ behaviour. In management accounting and financial management，the stability of business organisations - and hence the security of jobs and the supply of important products - also depends on the professional behaviour of accountants.

　　（b） Ethical threats

　　In its 2005 code of professional ethics，the International Federation of Accountants （IFAC） identified five types of ethical threat（s.110.10）.These are （quoted verbatim）：

　　（a）Self-interest threats，which may occur as a result of the financial or other interests of a professional accountant or of an immediate family member；

　　（b）Self-review threats，which may occur when a previous judgement needs to be re-evaluated by the professional accountant responsible for that judgement；

　　（c）Advocacy threats，which may occur when a professional accountant promotes a position or opinion to the point that subsequent objectivity may be compromised；

　　（d）Familiarity threats，which may occur when，because of a close relationship，a professional accountant becomes too sympathetic to the interests of others；and

　　（e）Intimidation threats，which may occur when a professional accountant may be deterred from acting objectively by threats，actual or perceived.

　　There are obvious familiarity threats in supplying multiple services to the same client in that the firm will possibly be less likely to be rigorous in the audit and may tend to give the client the benefit of the doubt in marginal cases to avoid upsetting them and risk losing the other services. The potential lack of impartiality may give rise to advocacy threats in that whilst acting as ‘referee’ in audit and assurance work，the firm may be lobbying for the client on other areas of work. The high degree of dependence that the firm has on the client opens it up to the threat of intimidation. The more dependent the firm becomes on the client for its revenues and profits， the more tempting it may become for the client to seek favourable audit judgements from the firm with the implied threat that the firm could lose other business if it was too harsh. A self-interest threat therefore arises as senior members of the accounting firm give precedence to the protection of their own financial position over the wider public interest of having an auditor partially captured by a client.

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