This thesis examines the impact of policy-induced consolidation on banks' performance. The Nigerian bank consolidation of 2004/5 was one of the regulatory reforms initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to tackle the country's deteriorating and weak banking sector by increasing the equity capital of banks and with the aim of making the banks more robust and resilient to shocks. This study utilises Impact evaluation technique to measure the effect of the policy intervention in the banking market, using the data of the Nigeria banks and banking industry from 2000 to 2010. Banks' performance were analysed based on eight performance indicators that served as bench marks with which the degree of success of bank consolidation policy were measured. The eight indicators are thus tied to the policy objectives which primarily are to enhance the bank's profitability, efficiency and riskiness. The measure of change in bank performance post-policy provides some informative evidence about the impact of the policy intervention. Methods of assessment therefore measure the change in performance of the banks (broadly classified into 3 distinct groups based on their mode of consolidation) in the post-policy period and compare it with their pre-policy performance, examining the trends and changes and making inferences based on appropriate statistical tests. Our analysis provides evidence that the policy-induced consolidation through bank recapitalisation has significant impact on most of the banks' performances. We find that policy effect on banks' performance is mixed; while some outcomes are in accordance with the policy objectives of enhancing profitability, efficiency and riskiness of the banks, others are contrary to the objectives. Some results also suggest that the policy did not have significant effect on the banks' performance. The research findings underscore the importance of time in measuring 3 performance change, as well as mode of consolidation, as they influence bank performance and determine the extent to which possible gain from consolidation would be realised and by extension the policy objectives achieved. This is because, apart from mode of consolidation, the policy effects on bank's performances were found to be largely affected by time, that is, whether the assessment is short term or medium term. For instance, the effect of the policy in all the banking group's risk performance indicators within the first two years (short-term) post-policy, was found to be positive (improved), while the policy effect changed significantly and adversely when the measurement was extended to five years post-policy period (medium term). Similarly, our results indicate that the policy effects on the banking group's performances differ substantially. Other factors also shown to influence the policy effects on banks' performances include: bank ownership, size and the number of banking firms in a consolidated bank. However, we find strong evidence that contrary to the general notion that bank consolidation leads to concentration of market, Nigeria policy-induced bank consolidation did not result in concentrated market rather it lowered banking market concentration, because it created relatively equal-sized banks in the post-policy period. Also we are able to distinguish in our analysis between the changes in banks performance that were as a result of the policy from the changes that would have occurred anyway, by estimating the change in performance in the post-policy as a result of persistence of banks performance in the pre-policy period, and this was found to be positive and statistically significant especially for the standalone and the merged group's profit returns.

No description available.

No description available.

There have been the recent calls for additional research in order to enhance the understanding of the adoption of management accounting practices (MAPs) in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This, allied to an increasing importance of SMEs around the world especially in developing countries, is the motivation for this research. This research explores the uptake of a broad range of MAPs in Malaysian SMEs; identifies the roles of MAPs in the management of SMEs; determines factors that affect the extent of use of MAPs in SMEs and lastly examines the relationship between the use of MAPs and organizational performance of SMEs. A postal questionnaire was conducted to 1,000 Malaysian SMEs in manufacturing sector which elicited 160 useable responses. The results show that the majority of respondents have used the five management accounting areas identified. Use of the costing system, budgeting system and performance evaluation system are significantly higher than for the decision support system and strategic management accounting, which indicates that the uptake of traditional MAPs is greater than for sophisticated MAPs. The results indicate that medium sized firms make greater use of all MAPs as opposed to small sized enterprises. The most significant differences relate to the use of decision support system and strategic management accounting. The increased uptake of sophisticated MAPs by larger firms is in line with size being a contingent variable explaining the use of such practices. The results also suggest that MAPs were perceived as playing very important roles in the management of Malaysian SMEs. Performance evaluation and controlling activities were the major roles of MAPs in the management of SMEs. Overall the study suggests that MAPs are perceived by SMEs as relevant and useful in their management processes. Further, the study found that four out of five contingent factors; size of the firm, intensity of market competition; participation of the owner/manager in the development of MAPs in firm and advanced manufacturing technology have a positive and statistically significant relationship with the use of certain MAPs. The research however found weak support for the positive relationship between the use of MAPs and organizational performance of SMEs. This study enriches the existing body of knowledge of management accounting by providing information as to the use of MAPs in SMEs in Malaysia. The findings can be specifically informative for policy makers intent on developing management accounting skills among Malaysian SMEs. This research will provide valuable insights into the nature of MAPs in SMEs in a developing country and will promote interest among Malaysian researchers as well as researchers of other countries to make the SME sector a focus of interest in management accounting research.

This study investigates the corporate use of leasing in the UK, incorporating into the analysis advances in capital structure theory. Prior to the mid-1990s, research in the area largely adopted the approach set out by Modigliani and Miller [1963], the assumption being the validity of perfect capital markets with the existence of corporate taxes. Such an approach underlay the influential leasing models of Myers, Dill and Bautista [1976] and the tax-based rationales for long-term leasing finance. This analysis was developed on two main fronts: by utilising more comprehensive measures for the firm's tax liability; and, more fundamentally, by looking at issues arising from the environment in which leasing operates, in particular focusing on company and asset characteristics as determinants of the decision to use finance and operating leases. A core sample of non-financial companies taken from the FT-All Share Index for the period 1993-5 was used, together with a smaller sample of companies recording operating lease commitments and, via a series of univariate and multivariate analyses, utilised a number of variables proxying for asset and firm characteristics. The results highlight the multifaceted nature of the leasing decision in the UK today and are a reflection of the changing fiscal and legislative environment in which leasing operates. The traditional tax-based hypothesis of the use of finance leases was only marginally supported. The study also confirmed the substitutional relationship between finance leases and corporate debt finance. Finally, firm and asset characteristics such as the size, liquidity and profitability of a company, were also shown to be influential determinants of the use of finance leases. The use of operating leases, meanwhile appeared not to be influenced by a company's use of debt finance, nor of the lessee's tax position, appearing instead to be inversely related to size and liquidity.

This thesis first builds a framework to impose professional liability on Chinese auditors for misstatements and then tests the framework by field work. Auditor liability has been a recurring puzzle. This thesis intends to analyze the complex legal relationships among the players in typical auditing litigations, dissect the arguments from both the auditors and plaintiffs, and develop doctrines and check points that could help the litigation parties to evaluate the merits of their claims, to predict the litigation outcomes, and to mitigate litigation risks in the Chinese setting. The author adopts a utilitarianism perspective and utilizes the theory of “contract and status”. The main methodologies employed include: case report analysis, legal reasoning, interviews, and questionnaire survey. Comparison across jurisdictions and interdisciplinary perspectives have been utilized all through the thesis. In the first part, the author draws a portrait of the Chinese auditing profession, and then moves to synthesize the previous literature on audit liability from both accounting and legal perspectives. After this, a significant part of the thesis is devoted to analyzing the typical UK reported cases since the late 19th century including the Caparo case, Bannerman case and others to discover the UK laws regulating auditor liability. In the following chapter, the recent trends of legislation in the UK and the company law harmonization practice of the EU are reviewed. Then, based on a survey on current Chinese law and an analysis on the feasibility of transplanting the UK and EU practice into China, the author develops a proposed framework integrating doctrines and practical checking points about eligible plaintiffs, duty of care, wrongdoings, standards of care, and damage calculation and allocation in typical litigations. In the second part, the proposed framework is dissected into questions, which are examined through 38 interviews with auditors, regulators, financial statements preparers, and lawyers, and 470 survey questionnaires completed by auditors and members of the financial community, along with questions about responsibility and the technical abilities of auditors. The data from the field produces a cross-section picture of the perceptions of stakeholders on auditor liability. Statistical analysis shows there are significant differences between the auditor and non-auditor on the majority of the related issues, such as auditor’s responsibility, eligible plaintiff, and others. The empirical analysis gives general support for the proposed framework.

This thesis explores attitudes and perceptions of the Libyan managerial class to the internal audit function focusing on the oil and gas industries.

No description available.

This thesis investigates the factors that influence the magnitude of goodwill impairment losses as well as the value relevance of these losses using a sample of 2,466 companies, drawn from 17 countries in which IFRSs have been made mandatory for all their domestic listed companies. The study period is 2007-2013 and includes 14,898 firm-year observations. The results obtained from the Tobit regression analysis involving variables drawn from agency/positive accounting theory, Hofstede’s theory of culture, as well as different theoretical institutional models, reveal that goodwill-impairment amounts are not only driven by economic factors and managerial reporting incentives, but also by country-specific factors, such as cultural and institutional variables. The results also confirm that the strength of the equity market is still the single most influential factor contributing not only to differences in accounting practices but above all, to differences in institutional quality between countries. The results of a K-means cluster analysis reveal that there are two groups of countries, corresponding to strong equity-outsider and weaker equity-outsider clusters. By comparing the relative associations between goodwill-impairment amounts and economic factors and managerial reporting incentives across these two institutional clusters, estimation results reveal that firms in the strong equity-outsider cluster have recorded goodwill-impairment losses that are, on the one hand, strongly associated with economic factors, and on the other hand, weakly associated with managerial reporting incentives. Further analysis also showed that while results for the pooled sample did not indicate that goodwill impairment losses were value relevant this was not the case for firms in the strong equity-outsider cluster, which have recorded impairment losses that are, on average, more relevant and more timely than those recorded by firms in the weaker equity-outsider cluster.

This research aims to explore and identify empirically the perceptions of Libyan Commercial Banks’ (LCBs) stakeholders about earnings management and its impact on the quality of financial reporting. The study examines the occurrence of earnings management and the techniques that are used to manage LCBs’ earnings by first investigating the understanding of LCBs’ stakeholders about the term earnings management. The study also examines perceptions of the motivations behind LCBs’ managers being engaged in earnings management, as well as the perceived conditions that enable LCBs’ managers to manage their earnings. Finally the study examines stakeholders’ perceptions about the controls by which earnings management may be mitigated. The results of the study are interpreted through an accountability perspective. The study uses semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey with wide groups of stakeholders’ LCBs. The findings of this study reveal a range of views regarding the quality of financial reporting between different stakeholders groups, and also within the individual groups. This finding may refer to a serious problem within the accountability relationship of the LCBs. The results findings also reveal that the term ‘earnings management’ is not understood consistently by different stakeholders in Libya. The findings also suggest the existence of earnings management in LCBs’ financial reporting using various techniques e.g. especially the loan loss provision. The motivations of earnings management practices as revealed by the study findings are consistent with those reported in the literature. Earnings management is perceived as an unethical practice by most of the LCBs’ stakeholders but there are exceptions to this view. Earnings management could be reduced, according to the perceptions of LCBs’ stakeholders, by adopting IFRS, applying better corporate governance, and enhancing the role of the external auditor.