Public sector procurement staff are expected to work and offer their best to their employer, normal-

ly without additional reward for creating cost savings, which is part of their work; and they should

not receive rewards from suppliers.

This latter point takes us into the area of procurement ethics, which CIPS regards as being particu-

larly significant for procurement professionals.

The other answers shown are typical features of public sector procurement.

The base rate is often used as a basis for the calculation of other rates, some of which eg credit card

repayment rates, bear no resemblance to the base rate. Some longer-term, perhaps more

responsible, lending, uses changes in the base rate to determine a repayment rate for debt eg

mortgage rates. For credit card repayment rates and for late payments in business contracts there is

often a considerable amount of freedom to agree relevant rates, but government is often

encouraged to influence to try to ensure some level of sanity.

The answer which

procurement of a new 'instrument' is an attempt at humour, 'base' be-

ing a type of guitar.

The Act was introduced in 2010. Although this is a UK-centric QUESTION NO :, it is valid for several

rea-sons. Firstly, the UK was one of the first countries to introduce such a wide-ranging Act; secondly

the Act is so wide-ranging that all UK managers need to be familiar with it. People who live and work

outside the UK may wish to familiarise themselves with the content of the Act to have an idea of

what the impact of such legislation might be like.

Interestingly, in the UK, the Act has seldom been used 'in anger'.

Corporate Governance. Not to be confused with CSR.

Corporate identity relates to marketing and branding; corporate manslaughter is the concept of an

organisation being criminally accountable for the deaths of humans through some lack of care. An

example might be the deaths of rail company employees on the railway track, where the prosecution

would attempt to show that it was the employers' fault.

This a definition of liquidated damages. Calculated in advance of the event occurring ie pre-contract

and thus agreed by the parties in advance. Meaningful advance calculations (estimates) must be

available to enforce legally.

The term and the spirit of 'penalty clause' is discouraged in English law - damages should be aimed at

returning the damaged party back into the position they would have been in, had a wrong not been

done.

Unliquidated damages can only be awarded by a court after the event, and should not be relied up-

on.

An example of a quantum meruit award can be found in the British Steel v Cleveland Bridge (1984)

case - a rare occurrence, and again something which must not be relied upon.

It is about climate change. The other answers are simply made up.

We are now aware that the cost of externalities to society are considerable. A simple example would

be that proximity to flow of motor vehicles is likely to increase ill-health requiring state-funded

medical services where they exist, to treat at state (taxpayers') expense those who become ill. In the

UK the number of people affected this way is believed to be numbered in the tens of thousands an-

nually. Thus some businesses' cost structures do not reflect their true cost to society.

Another example would be the discharge of untreated waste into rivers or the sea, where the com-

panies undertaking these activities may not be contributing financially to the cleaning up required.

In future years there is likely to be much debate about this, as some people will attempt to find ways

to make companies pay the full cost of running their businesses.

Thank you for your visit.

Both customers and shareholders are core stakeholders of a private sector organisation, although this

fact appears to be somewhat diluted in the minds of some modern-day academics and commenta-

tors. The shareholders are the owners of the business - it is for them that everyone is working and

their objective is invariably profit. The profit is derived from religiously focusing on another core

stakeholder group - the customers. If either of these two stakeholder groups is ignored, it is unlikely

that happy times lie ahead.

This is true: the liability of shareholders is limited to their agreed financial commitment, not beyond

that.

This is true.

A limited company has its own legal identity.

(Your syllabus makes reference to 'unincorporated companies'. This is something of a contradiction -

the term 'company' implies incorporation. Although I have not been permitted to see your actual ex-

am QUESTION NO :s, it seems unlikely that you will be QUESTION NO :ed on this particular point).