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ACCA Strategic Professional · Advanced Performance Management · Management reports

Zentara Ltd's monthly management report to its board runs to 60 pages of detailed ledger extracts, with no summary and no comparison to targets. The board says it cannot see what needs action. Which improvement would best address the weakness?

An exception-based summary highlighting key variances against targets, with detail available on request, best fixes the report. It gives the board relevant, concise information that points to action, whereas more detail, less frequent reporting or dropping non-financial data worsens overload or timeliness.

  1. AAdd a further 20 pages of historical ledger detail so nothing is omitted
  2. BReplace the report with an exception-based summary that highlights key variances against targets, with detail available on requestCorrect
  3. CIssue the report quarterly instead of monthly to reduce the reading burden
  4. DRemove all non-financial information so that the report is purely numerical

Explanation

Senior users need concise, relevant information that directs attention to matters requiring decision. An exception-based summary with drill-down meets this. Adding more detail worsens information overload, and reducing frequency delays feedback and removes timeliness.

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