Research in the field of impression management has presented evidence that suggests as a company's performance declines, the readability of its financial reports also declines in order to confound the user. In an attempt to determine whether similar impression management strategies are implemented amongst South African listed public companies, a mixed-effects linear regression model was applied to analyse data over the period 2016- 2018. Performance was regressed to the report readability measures over time, where readability was divided into the aspects of length (through the word count) and complexity (as quantified by the Gunning Fog Index). The findings indicate that as the financial performance of a South African company declines, the length of all its reports increases: including the annual financial statements, Integrated Report and the annual results market announcement. However, there is limited evidence of a relationship between complexity and performance. Therefore, when South African companies perform poorly, despite producing lengthier reports, the complexity therein is not impacted. These results thus caution users when faced with reports that are unusually lengthy in nature, because this trait could signal poor performance. Users are advised accordingly to critically analyse excessively lengthy reports in order to separate decision-useful information from the impression management related content elements. Lastly, this research contributes to the foundation of impression management research in the context of the South African capital market and puts forward several suggestions for important future research.

Much research has been performed on the quantitative amount of formal savings held by various racial and gender groups. Such research has often concluded that Black women are the least prepared for retirement. Therefore, a narrative of scarcity has been perpetuated without fully understanding the underlying reason “why”. These traditional accounts erase and reduce social phenomenon to simplistic representations without recognizing the vast complexities of retirement for Black amaXhosa women in South Africa. This research aims to address this gap by providing first-hand accounts of why Black amaXhosa women believe they are the least prepared for retirement, as well as the alternative ways in which Black amaXhosa women save. This research uses open-ended, face-to-face interviews to collect data. In analysing the interviews, the researcher used Thematic Analysis and the Theories of Intersectionality and Socialization to interpret and analyse the interview transcripts. The researcher specifically focused on the use of inductive, semantic analyzation. All interview participants understood the importance of having retirement savings and either have or had some form of retirement savings. However, low savings were often due to income covering the cost of living, the emergence of unexpected events, and Black Tax. Other themes that emerged are the distrust in the formal financial sector, lower levels of accumulated wealth, and the financial responsibility of motherhood. All participants, in some way, supplemented their savings through the use of informal savings. This research is the first of its kind as it aims to create a “conversation” around retirement savings. It offers an introduction into “why” Black women could be seen by previously reviewed literature to save less for retirement, as well as to identify the alternative ways in which Black amaXhosa women prepare themselves for retirement. This “why” can assist further research and policymakers to better understand the complexity with regard to saving for retirement.

This study analyses the possible effects of constructive lease capitalisation on all companies in four sectors of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) namely Industrial Transportation, Food and Drug Retailers, General Retailers and Travel and Leisure, in light of the impending adoption of IFRS 16.1 The capitalisation is performed using a model developed by Imhoff Jr., Lipe, & David, (1997) & Imhoff Jr., Lipe, & Wright, (1991) as well as further refinements in Dillon, (2014) & Fulbier, Silva, & Pferdehirt, (2006). The analysis looks at the effects of constructive capitalisation on key leverage and profitability ratios, and line items in the financial statements. The study also assesses the impact on disclosed loan covenants and whether constructive capitalisation will result in the breach of any covenants. The results show that the adoption of IFRS 16 has an impact on key ratios and line items specifically leverage ratios and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin. The sector most impacted is the Food and Drug Retailers. No loan covenants were breached as a result of constructive capitalisation, however the impact on the covenants was both positive and negative.

The overall objective of the study is to provide commentary on the extent to which the public sector audit process contributes to the strength of democracy in South Africa by enhancing accountability. By studying audit outcomes, the concerns of the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) around lack of accountability due to auditee non-responsiveness was confirmed. The amendments to the Public Audit Act which give the AGSA the power to sanction individuals is therefore considered necessary as a mechanism to change the culture of non-responsiveness amongst auditees and to therefore ensure accountability going forward. A comparative evaluation was conducted for the Ugandan public service where the Ugandan Auditor General has similar powers. This case study points to the necessity of supreme audit institutions in developing countries having enhanced powers to ensure accountability and thus enhance the quality of democracy, although there may be a trade off with the other dimensions of democracy, bringing in to question the overall quality of democracy. The study also outlines areas for future considerations which may impact on the strength of public financial accountability.

There is increasing evidence that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are the major cause for global warming. A changing external environment and societal pressure is driving companies to respond to climate change and to limit further contribution where possible. Despite carbon emissions still being largely unregulated and carbon disclosure not being mandatory, many companies in South Africa have voluntarily decided to reduce emissions and make disclosures to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Institutional, socio-political and economic voluntary disclosure theories all indicate that there is a pressure for companies to monitor their climate mitigation, evaluate the costs of disclosing and manage stakeholders’ pressures by producing voluntary climate change disclosure. The CDP scores the disclosure made by each company as a measure of the company’s progress towards environmental stewardship. The highest CDP score indicates that a company has leadership in its efforts to environmental stewardship and so addressed stakeholders’ concerns. This study aims to determine which factors, either company specific or individual company responses within the CDP questionnaire, influence a high CDP climate change score for South African companies. The top 100 South African companies were selected using a full Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listing as at 31 March 2017 and the climate change programme score and individual company responses to the climate change questionnaire were obtained from the CDP for the five-year period from 2013 to 2017. A random effect model was used to examine the determinants of voluntary disclosure of carbon information. The results indicate that while CDP scores have improved post the signing of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, providing incentives for managing climate change has also led to improvements in the CDP score which results in improved climate change disclosure. Furthermore, the longer the company assesses climate change risks and opportunities into the future, the better its CDP score. This research contributes a more thorough understanding of disclosure theories, as established from these results. In terms of institutional theories, institutional investors should call for incentives to motivate for climate change management because companies might then be more likely to receive a better CDP score. In terms of socio-political theories, this study’s findings indicate that managers should be made aware that the further into the future they consider climate change risk management the better because this practice will result in the company obtaining an improved CDP score, while simultaneously managing stakeholders’ perceptions of the company. Additionally, this study contributes by making recommendations for companies and policy makers.

In this study, the main focus was to investigate the relationship between listing suspensions and corporate governance mechanisms which are related to the board of directors. The study also examined the effectiveness of King III in improving corporate governance on companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange of South Africa (JSE). The matched pairs research design was utilised where a comparison of 56 suspended companies were selected for the study. The period covered by the study was 2006 to 2017. Control companies were selected to match all the relevant suspended companies. The matching was done in terms of time, industry and size (measured by total assets). The control company should not have been suspended in the year under consideration. With the use of the conditional logistic regression model to analyse the data, the study found that the practice of board performance evaluation significantly reduced the odds of suspension. Another key finding of the study was that the number of directors with shares in the company has a statistically significant negative correlation to the odds of suspension. A comparison of King II and King III regimes indicates a stronger corporate governance era during the King III phase. Board size, the proportion of non-executive directors, and the number of independent directors and board performance evaluations increased significantly during the King III phase. Additionally, the study notices a decrease in the number of JSE listing suspensions during the King III era as compared to King II which implies that King III brought in stronger governance measures to listed companies in South Africa. Corporate governance is a critical focal point in managing corporates, raising capital as well as performing valuations of entities. The governance aspects relating to the actions of directors appear to have a direct correlation in determining whether a company will be suspended or not from the JSE. Findings of the study have contributed to the body of literature in proving the presence of a correlation between corporate failure and the failure of corporate governance structures. The findings in this study have a significant impact on policymakers in South Africa as they continue to strengthen corporate governance.

Research in the field of financial literacy has found that black people and other minority groups, globally, underperform in financial literacy assessments, in comparison to their white counterparts. Multiple factors have been identified in literature, which try to explain the distribution of financial literacy results across demographic groups. However, none of these factors fully explain the disparity. Language has been identified as a potential factor, yet no studies have specifically explored this. A common characteristic among the underperforming group is that financial literacy assessments typically are not conducted in the participants' primary language. This paper aims to explore the impact of the language of assessment by testing whether assessing individuals in their primary language would improve their financial literacy scores. A quantitative research methodology was applied to surveys, which were disseminated in both English and isiXhosa (an African language). The survey performed is in line with existing financial literacy assessment however this study is made unique by controlling for language, to isolate its impact on the results. Statistical analysis of 240 respondents found that language was not the issue. Instead, in line with the findings of existing literature, self-efficacy and educational background are significant in determining financial literacy. These findings are key to financial literacy research and will help in the creation of financial literacy interventions. While there are no retrospective interventions for educational background, self-efficacy can be improved through targeted financial literacy intervention programmes designed to bridge the gap in financial literacy across racial groups.

The need for racial transformation within the accounting profession has been highlighted in recent years and consequently, efforts have been made by numerous players to further support accounting students pursuing the chartered accountant designation. This research focuses on an innovative postgraduate accounting programme, referred to as a Certificate in Theory of Accounting (CTA), offered by a private higher education institution, CA Connect. The research examines the factors associated with academic success in that programme as well as the subsequent initial professional board exam, known as the Initial Test of Competence (ITC). The variables considered are students' demographic details (age, gender and race), prior academic performance, prior tertiary institution, previous CTA attempts, time lapses between undergraduate and postgraduate study and class format selection. While this research repeats prior work done in public education contexts within the private higher education space, it is also novel, in that it extends prior research by examining several variables which have not been investigated before, neither in the South African context nor abroad. Three logistic regression models were developed, employing both forced entry and hierarchical regression methods. The findings confirm prior research which suggests that previous academic performance is strongly positively associated with future academic success and that race is a key determinant of success, most notably in CTA. Prior tertiary institution and attending fulltime, contact classes were also found to be associated with success at CTA level. However, adopting an after-hours, blended learning approach to CTA was found to be associated with success in the ITC. These findings provide further evidence of the need for continued grassroots interventions to allow scholars and students to build upon the strongest possible educational foundation and show a link between the innovations introduced by CA Connect and student success in the ITC.

The aim of this thesis is to explain the change in the debate about police accountability in Britain that took place in the 1980s. In seeking such an explanation in the reinvention of police accountability over this period, a four dimensional analysis of accountability is presented. This is used to examine, in turn, the history of police governance in London, the debates about police accountability that took place in the 1980s, and the implications of the growing influence of community policing that culminated in the introduction by the Metropolitan Police of a new style of ‘sector policing’. A series of questions about whether and how police accountability was reinvented in the 1980s are posed, and the implications of the reconceptualisation that took place are assessed in their historical and theoretical contexts. Use is also made of empirical data drawn from a study of the implementation of sector policing on an inner city police area in North London. It is argued that far-reaching changes took place in the conceptualisation of police accountability during the 1980s on all four of the dimensions identified, and that this reinvention of the relationship between police and people made policing in London neither more democratic nor more consensual.

This study examines the intellectual capital (IC) disclosure practices in the annual reports of 100 listed UK firms selected from sectors considered to be IC-intensive. It also investigates the possible determinants of such disclosure practices from the three perspectives of corporate governance structure, company characteristics and market factors. IC disclosures were captured using content analysis, and were measured by a disclosure index, supported by word count and percentage of word count metrics to assess the variety, volume and focus of IC disclosure respectively, at both overall and subcategory levels. The presentational formats and locations of IC disclosures were also recorded. The results indicate that the UK firms sampled provide considerable IC information in their annual reports, mainly in text form, with popular use of numerical information, while the use of graphs and pictures for many IC elements remains low. The distribution of IC disclosures, captured in three categories, varies by the three measures of disclosure applied. IC information was found in virtually all sections of the annual report and was most concentrated in the Operating and Financial Review section. IC terms typically used in the academic literature do not feature in the sampled annual reports. The results of the statistical analyses based on the three measures of IC disclosure indicate significant associations with a number of corporate governance factors (i.e. board composition, share concentration, audit committee size and frequency of meeting, board directors' shareholding, audit committee directors' shareholding, and board directors with cross-directorships), company characteristics (i.e. firm size, profitability, and listing age), and market factors (i.e. 'hidden value', share price volatility, share turnover, and multiple listing). These findings offer support for a number of theories, such as information asymmetry, agency and signalling theory. The influence of these explanatory factors on human, structural and relational capital disclosures, based on all three disclosure measure metrics, as well as on the format of IC disclosure, was also explored. The study also finds that its IC framework is more effective than a less detailed framework used in prior studies for the purpose of examining IC disclosure practice and its determinants. The study contributes to the further advancement of the state of knowledge in relation to IC disclosure both empirically and methodologically. It provides information users, preparers, regulatory bodies and academics with a state-of-the-art understanding of IC disclosure practices in the annual report. The transparent content analysis process enables future replication and comparison of results. The rigorous measurements of IC disclosure, the greater specificity of disclosure about the location and presentational format, and the more detailed IC research framework can be usefully applied by other studies. By examining the relationship between explanatory factors and IC disclosure, it helps shareholders and other groups of information users as well as the regulatory bodies to identify factors that may encourage IC disclosure in the annual report.