A month has passed since you submitted the report requested by William Seaton, Director of Finance on the Board's proposals.
You have received the following email:
From: William Seaton, Director of Finance
To: Finance Manager
Subject: Shale oil
Hi,
One of the geologists made a presentation to the Board, proposing that we investigate the extraction of shale oil deposits. I have attached the slides that were used as the basis for this presentation.
I need you to work on a response to this document:
* Firstly, what risks do you envisage in our entry to the shale oil business?
* Secondly, what do you regard as the key factors that we should consider when deciding on proceeding with this proposal? Please justify your selection.
* Thirdly, what factors should we take into account when deciding on which country or countries to commence this side of the business?
* Finally, what are the challenges in creating a team of technical staff to lead our efforts in this area?
William
The presentation slides can be found by clicking on the Reference Materials button.

From: Jan Archibald, Group Chief Financial Officer, Fouce Oil
To: William Seaton, Director of Finance
Subject: Sale of oil fields
Dear William,
As you know, the Board of Fouce Oil is keen that you should operate in an autonomous manner. However, we believe that it is our duty to ask you to reconsider a key issue in Slide's approach to doing business.
Over the years you have been very successful indeed in finding significant oil fields and bringing those to production. We have been gratified to observe your efforts in doing so and we believe that all shareholders have benefitted from the wealth that you have created.
The Board of Fouce Oil believes that the time has come for Slide to stop giving the fruits of its labour away to other companies. We believe that Slide should retain any successful oil wells and start to earn revenues from the sale of the oil itself rather than the sale of the oil wells. We believe that the stock market would respond favourably to such a development, to the mutual benefit of all.
Best Wishes
Jan

Press clipping from today's Financial News:
Yesterday's announcement of yet another major oil find by Slide should keep everybody happy. Nobody will be happier than the directors of Fouce Oil, whose continuing ownership of one quarter of Slide's shares continues to confuse industry insiders. Perhaps there are hidden depths to the relationship between Slide and Fouce Oil.

Twelve hours have passed since you received the telephone call concerning the oil spillage.
You receive the following telephone call from William Seaton, Director of Finance:
"The press has got a hold of the story about the oil leak. Our share price has taken a major hit. Indeed, Slide's market capitalisation has fallen by a third since the stock exchange opened for business. There is a lot of loose talk in the press about the knock-on effect of this crisis for Slide. It has not escaped anybody's notice that there are news teams showing injured wildlife. There is also a great deal of footage being broadcast on the other sites around the world where we are revitalising oil wells using the same technology that was in use at AZ40.
Our experts have only just arrived at the spillage site. While they were on the corporate jet they emailed their initial thoughts, based on their understanding of what went wrong. Our engineers anticipate a major operation to block the leak by pumping cement into the bore hole at a low pressure. This will be expensive, but the cost will be less than one tenth of the reduction in our market capitalisation.
I need an email from you:
* Firstly, I need a clear explanation of the key risks that Slide now faces because of this crisis. I am only interested in those with a high risk and high consequence and I need you to justify those classifications because the Board will need to prioritise its responses.
* Secondly, two related issues: I need you to explain why Slide's share price has fallen to such an extent AND to recommend, with reasons, whether we should release our costings of the repair scheme at this time.
It goes without saying that I need this urgently."

Newsweb
Wodd and Darrell announce plans for restructuring
True to form, the ink was barely dry on the last contract before the corporate restructuring experts arrived to "counsel out" the staff who have become "surplus to requirements". Wodd and Darrell have still to agree on a new name for their merged entity, but they have already announced the need for "efficiency savings". The first redundancy notices have already been issued and many more are expected to follow over the next few weeks.