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The high scale of acquisition and merger's activity has produced great interest among academic and policy makers alike, resulting in the development of a considerable amount of research on the advantages and disadvantages of A&Ms. Previous literature however, focused on the A&Ms' activity in advanced capitalist countries, specifically the USA and UK. Studies of A&Ms in developing countries are rare; this research attempts to fill part of this gap by investigating reasons for and effects of A&Ms in Saudi Arabia. Three main causes are behind the transfers of corporate assets within industry in the Anglo-American nations and some developed countries; managerial, disciplinary and economical. This study, however, suggests that the only group of causes behind A&Ms in S.A., among these three groups, is economical. Recently, the literature described A&Ms' decisions not as comprehensively rational choices but as outcomes of processes governed by several influences. This group of reasons was also tested in this study and gained its support. With regard to A&Ms' effects on firms' profitability as well as on the economic conditions, the research finds that A&Ms in S.A. are expected to improve merging firms' abilities to compete and to improve their profitability. Moreover, favourable effects on economic welfare was accepted. A reasonable step in A&Ms activity is to determine whether there are particular characteristics of A&Ms which are systematically linked to positive or negative effects on the performance. The current research finds that determinants of success could be predictive if analysed with a relationship to the type and cause of A&Ms. This study suggests that the type of A&M (consolidation or acquisition) and causes for A&Ms (synergy or assets stripping) affects the factors of A&Ms' success and failure. These findings were based on a survey of the top 500 Saudi Arabian companies, of whom 124 companies responded to the questionnaire as well as on seven personal interviews with seven executives, who experienced A&Ms before and who answered the questionnaire and accepted to meet the researcher.

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This dissertation examines the accessing of finance by entrepreneurs in the Beijing area of China using a bespoke survey of 452 entrepreneurs which was gathered by the researcher. Human capital theory along with theories of finance such as the pecking order theory, and agency theory provide the theoretical contextualisation of the research. Within human capital theory, innovation is the key variable which is investigated. Innovations in: (i) products, (ii) processes, (iii) work practices or workforce organisation, (iv) supply and supplier relations, (v) markets and marketing, (vi) administration and office systems, and (vii) product distribution are investigated which allows a comprehensive study which is more faithful to Schumpeter’s earlier writings. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the research. Chapters 2 will provide the theories of entrepreneurship. The companion chapter 3 will provide a review of the theories of finance and empirical studies of access to finance by small businesses. Chapter 4 completes the triumvirate and overviews credit rationing and constraints. Chapter 5 details the methodology used in the rest of the dissertation and the data set which was gathered by the researcher. The empirical contribution of the dissertation is presented in chapters 6 to 8. In each of the three empirical chapters the key focus of attention is upon seeing whether innovators fair worse, and are disadvantaged in comparison to their non-innovating counterparts. This analysis includes bivariate analysis and then multivariate regression techniques which allow innovation to be investigated in models which simultaneously controls for the characteristics of the businesses and the entrepreneurs. Chapter 6 investigates the use of sources of finance at the start-up stage of the businesses. Chapter 7 investigates the applications for external finance, whether or not the finance was successfully accessed, and also the levels of awareness of sources of finance. Chapter 8 investigates the amount of external finance sought, the amount of external finance received and the ratio of sought to received external finance. Chapter 9 concludes the dissertation on the access to finance in Beijing. In this chapter a summary of the dissertation findings will be presented. Additionally, the chapter will provide a series of discussions on the implications of the empirical results for theory, practitioners, government, policy and the entrepreneurial and small business community in Beijing, China, and beyond.

The main objective of this study is to explain how the management accounting information system of a privatised Brazilian electricity distribution company was shaped by both inter and intra organisational factors. As a consequence, this thesis seeks to explore the key factors that influenced the dynamics of management accounting change in the privatised company. In so doing, there is a great interest in understanding the complex interaction of both intra-organisational factors (e.g. organisational culture and power relations within the company) and interorganisational factors (e.g. the electricity sector regulation system) which influenced the process of change in management accounting practices. This study adopts an interpretive case study as research method to analyse the changes in management accounting that occurred in the case company over a period of 8 years, that is, from 2000 (the privatisation year) to 2007. Face-to-face interviews semi-structured in design constitute the primary method of data collection in this study. For its theoretical framework the study draws upon institutional theory and its extensions, as well as structuration theory to explain the process of management accounting change in the case study organisation. More specifically, this study uses three theoretical frameworks that explain changes in organisations, namely: Dillard et al (2004); Seo and Creed (2002) and Bums and Scapens (2000). By combining these three frameworks, this thesis provides a new theoretical framework to understand the process of management accounting change. The analysis of this case indicates that there were profound changes in the case company's management accounting systems after the process of privatisation. In particular changes were evident in the budgetary system; the performance measurement system; and in the way that managers use the management accounting information. It was also identified that the Balanced Scorecard system played a ceremonial role in the organisation. This study also explores the regulator's role in the process of management accounting change in the case company as a source of coercive isomorphism.

External audit has a long history and used to be one of many inspection activities performed on local authorities. It has been used to provide assurance concerning the reliability of the accounts of an authority and on the legality of the underlying transactions. However, since the 1980s, it has been used in a variety of contexts which include new and intense accountgiving and verification requirements. Governments resort to auditing to secure local authority accountability to their various stakeholders. External auditors' work for local authorities in England is extended beyond certification audit to cover the Use of Resources assessment, a component included in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) regime. The inspection activities were performed by auditors even though the coverage of inspection goes beyond traditional definitions of auditing. The assessment regime of UoR gone through various changes and alterations every year since it was first introduced in 2002 and subject to greater alterations for assessment in 2009. Many researchers have highlighted the issues of extensive and high cost external audit but not many have attempted to discover what is going on in the field. This study fills the gaps found in literatures, exploring what is going on at local authorities and their perception on the external audit performed on them. Published data were analysed before developing structured interview questions. Responses were received from the Director/Head of Finance from 20 local authorities in Yorkshire and The Humber region and 19 were interviewed. This research contributes to the understanding and designing of assessment process covered in external audit practice at local authorities. It helps analyse the impact, perceptions and expectations of local authorities as to how much the external audit has helped and in what ways it could be improved. Different views were shared among the local authorities on the benefit of external audit and how it could be better performed. To conclude, the extensive assessment bears some positive drivers for improvement but should be more carefully designed to include feedback from the auditees and provide a longer time period for one assessment regime to help local authorities to fully respond and adapt its processes. These would help local authorities to reflect the improvement at their organisation rather than in numbers alone.