IntroductionThe Institute of Administrative Accountants (IAA) has a professional scheme of examinations leading to certifi cation. The scheme consists of six examinations (three foundation and three advanced) all of which are currently assessed using conventional paper-based, written examinations. The majority of the candidates are at the foundation level and they currently account for 70% of the IAA’s venue and invigilation costs.There are two examination sittings per year and these sittings are held in 320 centres all over the world. Each centre is administered by a paid invigilation team who give out the examination paper, monitor the conduct of the examination and take in completed scripts at the end. Invigilators are also responsible for validating the identity of candidates who must bring along appropriate identifi cation documents. At over half of the centres there are usually less than ten candidates taking the foundation level examination and no candidates at all at the advanced level. However, the IAA strives to be a world-wide examination body and so continues to run examinations at these centres, even though they make a fi nancial loss at these centres by doing so.Recent increases in invigilation costs have made the situation even worse. However, the principles of equality and access are important to the IAA and the IAA would like to increase the availability of their examinations, not reduce it. Furthermore, the IAA is under increased fi nancial pressure. The twice-yearly examination schedule creates peaks and troughs in cash fl ow which the Institute fi nds increasingly hard to manage. The Institute uses its $5m loan and overdraft facility for at least four months every year and incurred bank charges of $350,000 in the last financial year.ExaminationsAll examinations are set in English by contracted examiners who are paid for each examination they write. All examinations are three-hour, closed-book examinations marked by contracted markers at $10 per script. Invigilators send completed scripts directly to markers by courier. Once scripts have been marked they are sent (again by courier) to a centralised IAA checking team who check the arithmetic accuracy of the marking. Any marking errors are resolved by the examiner. Once all marks have been verifi ed, the examination results are released. This usually takes place 16 weeks after the examination date and candidates are critical of this long delay. The arithmetic checking of scripts and the production of examination results places signifi cant demands on IAA full-time administrative staff, with many being asked to work unpaid overtime. The IAA also employs a signifi cant number of temporary staff during the results processing period.E-assessmentThe new head of education at the IAA has suggested e-assessment initiatives at both the foundation and advanced levels.He has suggested that all foundation level examinations should be assessed by multiple-choice examinations delivered over the Internet. They can be sat anytime, anyday, anywhere. ‘Candidates can sit these examinations at home or at college. Anywhere where there is a personal computer and a reliable broadband connection.’Advanced-level examinations will continue to be held twice-yearly at designated examination centres. However, candidates will be provided with personal computers which they will use to type in their answers. These answers will then be electronically sent to markers who will use online marking software to mark these answers on the screen. The software also has arithmetic checking facilities that mean that marks are automatically totalled for each question. ‘100% arithmetic accuracy of marking is guaranteed.’He has also suggested that there is no need to make a formal business case for the adoption of the new technology. ‘Its justifi cation is so self-evident that defi ning a business case, managing benefi ts and undertaking benefi ts realisation would just be a pointless exercise. It would slow us down at a time when we need to speed up.’Required:
(a) Evaluate the perceived benefi ts and costs of adopting e-assessment at the IAA. (15 marks)
参考答案：Benefi tsReduction in venue and invigilation costsApproximately G0% of these costs are associated with the foundation level examinations. Using internet-based assessment (anytime, anyday, anywhere) the IAA will reduce costs which the scenario suggests are currently increasing. This is particularly signifi cant for smaller centres which only offer foundation level examinations. These smaller centres have long been acknowledged to be uneconomic and have only been retained because of the IAA’s accessibility objective.Reduction in fi nancing costsThe accessibility of foundation level examinations throughout the year should help address the cash fl ow problems associated with two large diets of examinations. The scenario suggests that the association uses its $Em loans and overdraft facility for at least four months of the year, incurring bank charges of $CE0,000 in the last fi nancial year.Reduction in marking costsMoving the foundation examinations to on-line multiple choice assessment will eliminate marking costs completely for examinations at this level. The candidate’s answers are automatically marked and the result presented within seconds of the paper being completed.Elimination of checking costsThese are eliminated completely at both foundation and advanced levels. At the foundation level, multiple-choice examination answers require no checking at all. At the advanced level, on-line marking software accurately totals the marks allocated to each question, so no manual checking process is required.Reduction in central administrative costsIn the current system, temporary administrative employees are employed in peak periods to help with processing results. Using on-line multiple choice examinations for the foundation level examinations should reduce the need for temporary staff.Elimination of courier costsCourier costs (from invigilator to marker and from marker to IAA central checking) will be eliminated completely, delivering considerable savings.The benefi ts identifi ed above have all been concerned with cost reduction and should be relatively easy to quantify. There may also be benefi ts associated with the following.Increased fee incomeThe anytime, anyday, anywhere principle of the foundation examinations may lead to more students registering all over the world.The ability to process results quickly may tempt students to study with the IAA, rather than competitors. This may again lead to increased income.CostsSecurity costsThe removal of formal twice-yearly foundation level examinations creates signifi cant security issues. It is not clear if the head of education has yet recognised these issues and it may not be technically feasible to address them. They are listed here as costs, because if the problems can be solved it will be at a cost. Three immediate problems to overcome are:– Ensuring that the specifi ed candidate has taken the examination and that they have not employed a more able substitute to take their place. At present, the invigilator checks the validity of the identifi cation presented. It will be costly for the IAA to guarantee that personal identifi cation checks are in place in all places and at all times when examinations are being sat.– Ensuring that the candidate does not consult books and texts during the examination. Again it will be costly to ensure that candidates are checked for the presence of such materials whenever and wherever these examinations are taken.– Ensuring that all centres used for on-demand examinations can be trusted not to assist candidates, many of whom may be students who are being taught at the venue, or employees whose employers want them to pass so that they qualify sooner.Hardware costsThis is the cost of the computers that will be used for the advanced examinations. It is likely that these will be rented. Appropriate word processing software will have to be available on these computers. Support will have to be provided during the examination.Software licence costsSoftware licence costs will be associated with the software for delivering the multiple-choice examinations and for the on-line marking of the advanced examinations. There will be initial purchase costs and continuing support costs for both of these applications.Increased setting costsThere is likely to be a signifi cant one-off cost in producing a large enough bank of multiple-choice questions for the foundation examinations. These questions will also need continuing review and renewal.On-line support costsAnything relying on technology requires back-up and support teams that can react when that technology fails, particularly during an assessment session. The provision of support incurs a continuing cost.Redundancy costs There may be redundancy costs associated with reducing the number of internal IAA staff required for checking.Some of the costs incurred above are capital costs which have to be incurred to launch the e-assessment process. The IAA is not cash rich and so the launch of e-assessment will incur signifi cant initial fi nancing costs.
