ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Internal control and management reporting
Zentra Foods plc's finance director receives a 60-page monthly management report containing every transaction-level variance across all divisions. Divisional managers say they rarely read it and often miss urgent problems. Which attribute of good information is MOST clearly lacking?
Relevance and conciseness are lacking. A 60-page report of every variance overloads managers and hides urgent matters. Good management reports focus on what the user needs, using summaries and exception reporting, rather than presenting all available data without prioritisation.
- AAccuracy, because the figures contain many errors
- BRelevance and conciseness, because the volume of detail obscures key issues for the userCorrect
- CTimeliness, because the report is issued monthly rather than daily
- DAuthority, because the report is not signed by the board
Explanation
The problem is information overload: users cannot find what matters. Good information should be relevant to the decision-maker and presented concisely, with exception reporting for significant items. Nothing in the case suggests the figures are wrong or that the source lacks authority.
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