Thesis (M.Com.(Financial Management Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Abstract in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

International accounting scandals around the world have triggered a wave of interest and discussion on the transparency and integrity of financial statements. Prior literature has stated that due to a variety of motivations and by using different techniques, the management of corporations might intend to influence the figures in financial reporting. The preferred term used in the accounting literature to describe this issue is 'earnings management', which is a very interesting and topical issue for researchers. Therefore, this research investigates the earnings management phenomenon in the Libyan environment. In this research, secondary data, which was accruals-based models, and primary data analysis, which included a questionnaire survey combined with semi-structured interviews, were used to achieve the objectives of this research, that are: to determine the existence and the direction of earnings management in the Libyan context; the motivations and techniques behind that; and the earnings management constraints, which include internal accounting standards, corporate governance mechanism and audit quality. The analysis of secondary data examined the existence and the direction of earnings management in Libyan companies. Accruals-based models were applied on a sample of state-owned and private companies. The results indicated that the majority of the companies that engaged in earnings management by using income-increasing policies accruals were state-owned companies. However, the majority of the companies that engaged in earnings management by using income-decreasing policies accruals were private companies. The above results indicated that there are linkages between the direction of earnings management and the nature of company ownership in the Libyan environment. Further, as regards the relationship between the direction of earnings management and company size, the results of the state-owned companies group indicated that company size was positively and significantly associated with discretionary total accruals. On the other hand, the results of the private companies group indicated that company size was negatively and significantly linked to discretionary total accruals. The primary data analysis was used to investigate three main issues: the motivations behind the practice of earnings management; the most frequently used techniques to practice earnings management; and the earnings management constraints, which include accounting standards, internal corporate governance mechanism and audit quality. These subjects were investigated by using a questionnaire survey administered to external auditors, financial managers and senior accountants, internal auditors, lenders, tax officers and accounting academics. Also, a series of semistructured interviews was combined with the questionnaire survey, which was conducted with selected respondents to the survey. Results indicated that the main incentives for practising earnings management in Libyan state-owned companies were: to mitigate the threat of displacement (i.e. safeguard job position) and/or enhance management reputation, to report profits, to increase the value of management compensation, and to meet regulatory objectives. On the other hand, the main incentives for the private companies were to decrease the amount of taxes and to enhance the chance of obtaining bank loans. Further, the results showed that manipulation of the value of inventory, improper assets revaluation, incorrect capitalising rather than expensing of expenditures, manipulation of accrual estimation, incorrect use of expenses on asset acquisition, and related-party transactions were the most frequently used techniques to practice earnings management in Libya. Finally, the results showed a consensus among respondents on the importance of accounting standard. internal corporate governance mechanisms, audit quality as policies to constraint earnings management in the Libya environment.

Previous applied empirical research is limited. This research builds a bridge between management accounting 'normative theory' and current practice, through the development of 'positive budgetary theory'. In order to achieve this a series of objectives were set, relating to: developing a statement of textbook 'normative' theory; identifying industry practice; analysing practice in relation to theory; critically reviewing the rationale for practice; and developing a model of 'positive' budgetary theory appropriate for UK hotel organizations. The methodological stance was interpretive and corpus based. Individual corpus (body of knowledge) were developed related to 'normative' theory and hospitality industry practice. An interpretative approach was used to interrogate the corpus in order to ascertain 'positive' theory, concerning budgeting in the hospitality industry. The methodological approach adopted required a multi-method approach, which allowed triangulation of results. Methods used were content analysis, postal census survey, semi-structured interviews and a qualitative questionnaire. The content analysis results identified aspects of budgeting that were 'normative', 'probably normative', 'probably not normative', and 'not normative' in textbooks. Of the sixteen aspects of budgeting reviewed ten were considered normative (at the primary coded level) but others such as zero base budgeting was probably not normative. Findings from industry research established aspects of practice in line with 'normative' theory. Positive theory developed was informed by practice, normative theory and the rationale for industry practice. No general 'theory/practice' gap was identified for budgeting. For many aspects such as the need for participation in the budgeting process, or the marginal reporting of zero base budgeting, there was agreement. However flexible budgeting was viewed has having little use in the industry, whilst it was normative in textbooks. The results also identify aspects that need to be reconsidered by industry, particularly participation at lower levels in the organization and the financial training needs of non-financial managers.

This study aimed to explore investment in accounting information system (AIS) in the commercial banks in Libya. It focuses on the extent and nature of AIS investment in the Libyan commercial banks, resultant changes in business processes and the significance of training and up-skilling of the workforce in delivering systems benefits. Following an initial literature review, the research reviewed AIS investment in all Libyan commercial banks and established top line profiles of nine of the thirteen existing banks (the other four being close to merger with, or acquisition by, other banks). Three banks were selected for detailed case study analysis, representing a cross-section in terms of size, staff, age profile, and ownership of the banks. Three methods were adopted to collect data - individual questionnaires with key bank personnel, semi-structured interviews and review and analysis of pertinent bank documents. The study researched and analysed the recent investment in advanced IT in the case study banks, where AIS packaged software and communications infrastructure had been implemented. The banks that use developed global systems have more efficient and effective systems than the banks that use local systems, and in general there are no adequate policies or plans in place for training and up-skilling of staff using these new systems. The study also found that investment in AIS and associated technological infrastructure had impacted on all main business processes, bringing about significant process improvement in some cases. Contributions to knowledge include a qualitative assessment of AIS in Libyan banks, which has not been done before, and the identification of some of the benefits and problems that result from major systems deployment. The study has also shown that models formulated for application in the developed world can be adapted and applied to assess information systems in a developing world commercial environment.

This study investigates the predictive ability of current and past cash flows with respect to the estimation of future cash flow, and compares this predictive ability with that of current and past earnings. Future cash flow is estimated in this study on the basis of a model hierarchy that initially incorporates aggregated predictors and then their disaggregated components, with the objective of improving on conventional research design with respect to the problematic issues surrounding missing values in source databases, extreme values in the sampled data and variability in fiscal year length. In determining whether the disaggregation of earnings into cash flow, accruals and their components adds to the predictive ability of cash flow, the present thesis also documents out-of-sample accuracy tests for the UK based on initial in-sample estimations, with accruals being computed using both the information in the Statement of Cash Flows and the information that may be derived from Balance Sheet changes. Using the information in the Statement of Cash Flows, the results of the in-sample estimation indicate that, whilst there is no notable difference between the ability of cash flow and aggregate earnings to predict future cash flow, the disaggregation of earnings into cash flow and accruals improves the prediction. The out-of-sample accuracy tests confirm the standard result that this disaggregated earnings model is a better predictor of future cash flow. In contrast, this thesis shows that, when using information in the Balance Sheet, by way of changes from one period to the next, the results of both the in-sample estimation and the out-of-sample accuracy tests show that disaggregated earnings is unable to outperform aggregate earnings in predicting future cash flow. Nevertheless, when the total accrual is further disaggregated into its deferral and accrual components, in-sample estimation reveals additional improvement in predictive ability, using each of the two sources of information to compute total accruals (the Statement of Cash Flows and Balance Sheet changes), although this is less evident with the out-of-sample tests. Whilst further analysis indicates that disaggregation is more informative when the firm size is large, the magnitude of accruals is low and the firm reports a positive CFO and EBIT, the thesis shows that the ability of the estimation models to predict future cash flow differs across industries in the UK, and that the findings are generally sensitive to the effect of database choice, the fiscal year length, and the identification and treatment of unrecorded data.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1934. / Vita. Published also without thesis note. Includes text and translation of two Zenon papyri in Columbia university library, P. Col. inv. no. 249 and P. Col. inv. no. 211, with explanatory notes (p. [24]-35). Bibliography: p. [ix]-xiii.

There are a number of audited companies in Libya which have gone into bankruptcy between 1995 and 2005. Therefore, there is a significant question about the audit quality situation in Libya. There is not itself much research about audit quality in Libya. In particular, there is not much research that has tried to measure audit quality in Libya. This study is an attempt to pursue further some of the issues around financial audit quality in Libya. Secondary data analysis presents observations of Libyan companies from 2006 to 2009 to measure discretionary accruals. It applies an appropriate type of statistical method, to identify accruals and then examine the type of audit opinion related to these statements. Findings indicate that there is earnings management in almost all financial statements. The findings divided all companies into 113 positive andl40 negative discretionary accruals. In addition, Findings indicate that auditors of the agency and auditors working for him/her self issued in general 85.7% unqualified (clean) audit opinion for financial statements that have earnings management, and 11% modified audit opinion. The results answer the first question in this study about the level of audit quality in Libya: audit quality level in Libya is low. The semi-structured interviews support finding of the secondary data analysis, that is the level of audit quality in Libya is low. Also findings indicate that in Libya there are some fundamental elements which themselves are insufficient to deal to develop audit quality. Furthermore, the Libyan audit context suffers from some obstacles and problems that prevent the development of audit quality.

This thesis concerns strategic profitability management. The emergence of strategic management accounting has created a growing need for companies to discover the key factors that affect profitability and then to understand how these factors should be managed. To fulfil strategic management accounting requirements necessitates the use of appropriate strategic management accounting techniques. However, the traditional profitability system is inappropriate to meet the task. In addition, there has also been a lack of attention paid by researchers to the study of the integration between the most important drivers affecting profitability (cost, assets, and revenue). Moreover, there has inadequate Investigation of the management of each driver using strategic management accounting techniques. Therefore, this study attempts to create a new model for managing profitability to fulfil the requirements of strategic management and to evaluate the perceptions of managers related to the influence of such a new proposed model on profitability. A broadly positivist View, which utilizes both deductive reasoning coupled with a quantitative approach, was employed to create the profitability model. The creation of profitability model is enacted through an exploratory study. In order to create the profitability model, this thesis proposes three models for managing the key profitability drivers (cost, assets and revenue). The building of these models is based on the determination of the most important factor (driver) and approach that affect profitability in each model's case. In the light of such determination, strategic management accounting techniques were proposed to manage each driver in each model. The comprehensive profitability model is also proposed using the measurement levels of the cost, assets and revenue models. Models were tested in the Egyptian communication and information technology sector. A self-administrated questionnaire delivered and collected by hand was used to examine the hypothesized relationships. A total of 190 valid responses were used for quantitative analysis. The hypotheses related to the components of all the proposed models were examined via non-parametric measure of association, Spearman's rho technique and ordinal regression technique. The study found that there is a positive association between each proposed driver in the cost, assets, and revenue and profitability models. It also found that there is a positive association between each proposed approach in the assets and revenue model, and profitability. The main conclusion of this thesis was that the profitability model, which contains the measurement levels of the cost, assets and revenue models, is the most appropriate model because its predictors are most strongly associated with the profitability. The findings of this study can be generalized to the Egyptian ICT sector's members. In addition, the generalization of findings beyond the Egyptian ICT sector should be made with caution.

This study demonstrates an original contribution to knowledge by providing a deeper understanding of management accounting practices in the context of service organisations. It explores a number of traditional and contemporary tools and their relationship to service organisations. The study focuses on the extent to which both traditional and contemporary tools are utilised in practice and also the underlying reasons why some tools become embedded in practice and the barriers and enablers of management accounting change in a service sector context. The study is explanatory in nature and uses a cross sectional survey to provide an understanding of what tools are used by service sector organisations and five in depth case studies to explore the nature of how the tools are used and the factors influencing the diffusion of new tools and the replication of existing tools. The analysis of the cases is done using Stones (2005) quadripartite framework which allows a sensitising of the data to provide insights into the external and internal structures which govern and are governed by the actions of the accountants. From the empirical research it was concluded that the management accounting practices of service sector organisations are similar to those of other organisational sectors and mainly rely upon the use of the traditional tools with limited use of the more contemporary tools. The exploration of the tools used in the case studies showed the internal structures in place which allowed the traditional tools to be embedded and replicated over time and also the external structures which when coupled with the internal structures resulted in barriers and enablers of change to the management accounting tools used. This thesis contributes to knowledge by providing a greater understanding of service sector management accounting and by the development of the strong structuration model to provide valuable insights into management accounting change and to demonstrate the continued theory practice gap in management accounting.

The purpose of the study is to illustrate to the management of entities and professionals who are against the application of IAS/IFRS in Azerbaijan why it is essential to adopt IAS/IFRS. The thesis aims to provide differences of current accounting policies and procedures applied by those entities from IAS/IFRS and justify the application of IAS/IFRS. The thesis provides benefits associated with the adoption of IFRS/IAS, and illustrates the problems that may be faced by the management of entities.