BUSINESS COMMUNICATION FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES – STAGE-I

ISQ EXAMINATION (WINTER 2009)

Q.1 (A) Please write the alphabet of selected answer in the given space:

Q.1 (B) Complete the definitions with items given below:

A) Skills B) Inventory C) Staffing Levels

D) Overheads E) Cash Flow F) Premises
G) Investment H) Staff Input
I) Promotional Expenditure

BEATING A RECESSION

Here are a few tips for small business managers to follow during economic downturns.

1. __________________ Monitor your company’s financial health, and make

monthly forecasts to ensure that expenses and planned expenditures are in line
with accounts receivable. Be able to project where you will stand three months
in advance.

2. __________________ Examine your capital spending. Consider delaying the

purchase of high cost items, upgrading equipment, and expansion plans that
will take a long time to pay off.

3. __________________ Consider reducing stock of slow-moving products.

Observe the results, and look out for products that should be eliminated from
your stock .This way if sales plummet, less of your cash is secured in
unproductive assets.

4. ___________________ Many businesses reduce advertising during hard

times. However, increasing ad outlays during slowdowns helps a business to
get ahead of rivals who cut back.

5. __________________ You could generate extra income by subletting excess

office space.

6. __________________ A business can save huge amounts of money by buying

recycled printer cartridges and used computer equipment, copiers, and office
furniture.

7. ___________________ Organisation often cut back on training during

recessions. However, slow periods are the optional time to conduct training,
especially low-cost, on-the-job instruction.
 8. ___________________ Do not compromise service by being understaffed. If
full-time employees are stretching your budget, take on freelancers. During a
slowdown, taking on part-time staff is easy due to layoffs in other
organizations.

9. ____________________ Meet with staff regularly to exchange ideas on

boosting productivity and other issues. Create an incentive scheme for good
suggestions, and encourage team spirit for survival.

Q.1 (C) Use the words in the box to complete the text.

A) security B) moneylender C) interest

D) extortionate E) collateral F assets
G) apply H) secured

In the developed world, you can go to a bank to (1) _________ for a loan to start a
small business. The bank will ask you about your (2) _______: for example your
house or other valuable possessions. They will ask for these as (3) __________ or, in
American English, (4) ___________. In other words, the loan is (5) __________ on
your property, and if you can’t repay it, the bank will have the right to take your
assets and sell them in order to get its money back.

But if you are a poor person in the developing world and you ask for a loan, you may
have nothing to offer as security – your house may be worth very little, or its
ownership may not be clear. Traditional banks will not be interested. You might go to
a (6) ______________, but the (7) _____________ on the loan, the percentage
amount per month, year, etc., that you pay, may be (8) ____________: so high, in
fact, that it is difficult or impossible to repay.

Q.2 (A) Match the idioms (1 – 10) with their meaning (A – J).

(Answer)

1 to go with the flow

2 to get past first base

3 to have a bumpy ride

4 to take the market by storm

to be on a level playing field (usually used in the

5
negative)
 6 to be back on track

7 to go against the flow

8 to have an inside track

9 to punch above your weight

10 to be in the driving seat

A) to recover from a bad situation and to start making progress again

B) to be suddenly extremely successful
C) to have an unfair advantage over others
D) to have a situation where things are equal and fair for all parties (or unequal and
unfair)
E) to reach the first stage
F) to compete at a higher level than your size suggests will be possible
G) to do the opposite of what most people are doing
H) to experience a very difficult time in a project
I) to do what other people are doing because it’s the easiest thing to do
J) to be in charge or in control of things

Q.2 (B) Complete the following sentences with the correct form of either MAKE
or DO, and one of the words given below:

REPAIRS DECISION MISTAKE

MONEY BUSINESS

1. I can’t tell you now, but we expect to ______________ a ______________

early next week.

2. We spent three days _______________ ________________ to the warehouse

roof after the storm last week.

3. We _______________ a lot of _____________ in Japan, and since the profit

margin is high, we ____________ a lot of _____________.

4. I checked the figures last night and found that I’d _________________ a lot
of _____________________.
Q.2 (C) Fill in the blanks using the correct word for growth:

A) fertile B) sprouted C) grew D) ploughing

E) blossoming F) fruit G) sowing H) green
I) reap J) branches

(1) Throughout the recession, politicians talked about the ___________ shoots of
recovery.
(2) Business is __________________ in the industrial South of the country.
(3) Financial instruments seem to be a very __________________ area.
(4) In the continuing hot weather, sales of electric fans are ________________
(5) Our success is the _________________ of many years of careful planning.
(6) Small electronics shops suddenly ___________________ All over the town.
(7) The entire company _________________ from one simple idea.
(8) We believe that we have ________________ the seeds of profitable activities
in the future.
(9) We expect to _________________ very substantial rewards within five years.
(10) We are ________________Most of the profits back into the business.

Q.3 Join these sentences using the words given in brackets.

1. We won’t be able to meet the deadline. We’ll work very hard. (however
hard).

2. You can pay him a high salary. He won’t work harder. (no matter how).

3. He made a good keynote speech. The shareholders voted him off the board.
(despite his)

4. Interest rates are falling. Consumer demand is not increasing. (even though)

5. He may ask you anything. Don’t reveal our commercial plans. (whatever)

6. We run excellent psychometric tests. We never manage to recruit the ideal

candidate. (in spite of)

7. We have a very small budget. However, the project will go ahead. (however
small)

8. Our model won an innovation award. Sales never really took off. (despite)
Q.4 Here are some useful phrases for writing business letters. In each sentence, put
the verb in brackets into the correct form. You may have to put it into a tense,
active or passive, an infinitive, verb + -ing form or + -ed form, or add a modal
verb (may, could, might, etc).

Starting a letter

1) Thank you for your letter of 28th January, in which you ____________
(enquire) about our insurance rates.

2) I am writing to apply for the post of economist as ____________ (advertise)

in the Financial Times of 16th November.

3) With reference to our telephone call this morning, I am writing to confirm the
schedule of meetings we ______________________ (arrange) for you during
your visit.

4) We are a manufacturer of equipment for fish farms ______________ (base)

in Helensburgh, Scotland, and would like some information on your range of
machines for moulding plastics.

Bad news

5) We regret to inform you that the goods were ___________ (delay) owing to
the air-traffic controllers’ strike.

6) I am sorry to inform you that we are unable to offer you the position of
economist which you ____________ (apply) for.

7) I am afraid that we are unable to grant you the 10 percent discount you
____________ (request).

Enclosures

8) Please ______________ (find) enclosed/attached a copy of the following

documents:

9) _____________ (enclose) our latest catalogue.

Good news

10) We are writing ___________ (inform) you that your order no. 234 for 15
laptop computers has been dispatched.

11) We are pleased to announce that our prices _________________ (cut) by 10

percent.
 12) I am writing to invite you to our conference which ___________ (hold) at the
Grand Hotel on 21st April, Brighton.
Q.5 Read the meeting extracts and write a summary of each using the words in
brackets to help you.

1. Jon First of all, I’d like to hear your views on this.

(Jon/open/meeting/invite/comments/group)

2. Anna I don’t think this training programme is necessary.

Niels Neither do I.
(Anna/question/need/training programme.
Niels/be/same opinion)

3. Anna And what about the training budget for this?

Jon I haven’t made up my mind about that yet.
(Anna/raise/issue/training budget. Jon/reply/
not come/decision)

4. Niels So the board’s OK about this?

Jon Absolutely.
(Jon/confirm/project/give/go-ahead).

5. Jon How about bringing in consultants?

Anna I don’t think that’s a good idea.
(Jon/wonder/if/be/good idea/bring in consultants.
Anna/be/against)

6. Niels Anna and I think the situation should be reviewed.

(both Anna/Niels/recommend/review/situation)

7. Niels Well, I’m very much against these spending cuts.

Jon But they won’t affect your department, Niels,
Anna Jon’s right. These cuts won’t affect us.
(there/be/some initial opposition/spending cuts)

8. Anna So, you see, Niels, the new system will actually be an improvement.
Niels Hm, well, on reflection, I suppose you’re right.
Jon So do I take it we’re now in agreement on this?
(issue/finally/resolve)

9. Jon I think this is an excellent proposal.

Anna So do I.
Niels Me too.
(there/be/unanimous agreement/proposal).
Q.6 Give meaning to the following idiomatic terms:

Sl. # Idiomatic Terms Meaning

1 acid test

2 drop a line

3 for a song

4 get cracking

5 go by the book

6 pull strings

7 rat race

8 pigeon holes

9 grease the palm

10 nest egg

Q.7 Assuming you are the Finance Manager of a leading Manufacturing Company,
write a Fax message to your Bank Manager informing him of all the documents
you are sending, required to process your loan application.

Q.8 Assuming you are the Chief Information Officer, write a memo to all members of
the staff, informing about the permissible and inappropriate use of information
resources.
Q.9 The following letter is too long, rewrite the letter by omitting redundant words
and sentences:

Dear Sami:Thank you so very much for meeting with Jaleel, Saima and myself
yesterday at our office. Between the three of us, we learned a great deal per your
product which we feel is truly practicable and may be used by us here at FBL.

We believe that your the one that has the true facts re this matter based on your
past experience. Before we proceed to sign a contract with you, we’d like to
pursue further some of the innumerable opportunities which you presented to us.
We hope you will be able to come up with an ingenuous solution to solve our
quality control problem which needs immediate fixing.

Per the above, if you have any questions, please feel free to call me here at my
office, or if you’d rather, we could meet again in the near future to discuss the
matter in person. Thank you again for meeting with us.

Yours very sincerely,

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