Thesis (Ph.D.)--Napier University Edinburgh, UK, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-313) and index.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 17, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. James A. Wall Jr. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Published Article / This paper synthesises, as its primary aim, through an integrative literature review, a new perspective on two major implications of the proposed legalisation of internet casinos in South Africa, which is: the effect on the auditor's business risk as well as the effect on audit risk. As its secondary aim the paper argues that legalisation of internet casinos in South Africa is imminent and that relative to other business, heavy reliance will be placed on the external auditor to ensure the internet casinos' compliance with various laws. The relevance and application of an integrative literature review is motivated. International perspectives are applied to the South African context. The paper demonstrates the relationship between the concepts of the auditor's business risk and audit risk by establishing that the auditor's business risk flows from possible accountability that may stem from significant audit risk that is not addressed during the audit engagement. The paper argues that the operational context of an internet casino in South Africa will be relatively unique and that three interrelating factors will create significant audit risk. The three significant factors are shown to be going concern, regulatory and information technology impacts. Failure by the auditor to recognise and respond appropriately to this audit risk may lead to serious consequences for the practitioner which may include regulatory intervention, reputational based losses or litigation. The impact of the International Standards on Auditing in this context is explored throughout and it is concluded that adherence to these standards will sufficiently mitigate significant audit risk as well as the auditor's business risk.

This research is motivated by interest in recent changes in the audit approaches of audit firms. The business risk audit approach has been adopted based on assertions about its benefits by administrators of large audit firms and academics linked with these firms and, more recently, has been legitimised by the issuance of international auditing standards that give recognition to this approach. Studies investigating the business risk audit approach have relied on the content of audit manuals of large audit firms and pointed to claimed benefits, such as providing consistency of worldwide audit practice, broadening auditors’ awareness of risks, increasing audit effectiveness and efficiency, and creating more value for audit clients. In investigating this recent change in audit approaches, this thesis is concerned with the application of the business risk audit approach within the non-Big-4 audit firms, with a focus on three countries: the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. The research focuses on the motivation for adopting this approach for non-Big-4 audit firms in the three countries, and the advantages, disadvantages and aftermath of applying this method. These issues are addressed through research methods comprising semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey. These methods are deemed appropriate to provide consideration of the contextual factors affecting the non-Big-4 audit firms and audit practice in the three countries examined. The findings show that non-Big-4 audit firms in the three countries adopted the business risk audit; their motivation was primarily to follow the standards in each country and to follow the general trend in the industry. The advantages were consistent with previous research; there was direct benefit to audit effectiveness and risk management. One major disadvantage of applying this method was the cost burden to both the audit firm and their clients. Some of the interviewees claimed that this method is better suited to large firms and large audits. Overall evidence from this research shows that this method helped auditors better understand their clients and assess the risk associated with the audit process. Auditors from non-Big-4 firms expressed their interest that the business risk audit should remain in use with some modification to fit small and medium audits. This study also contributes to the literature on the internationalisation of audit practice and the audit practice of small- and medium-sized audit firms, which is lacking in existing research related to this group.

Thesis (MTech (Internal Auditing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / Approximately 57% of the total population in South Africa lives under the poverty line. In this regard, Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) which provide microfinance play a vital role to provide access for poor households to banking-related financial services. This service can only be delivered sustainably through means of deploying effective management practices, especially in terms of risk management. The purpose of this research is to identify risks faced by microfinance SMMEs and to establish the effectiveness of the current risk management practices deployed by them. This study aims at increasing the knowledge base and understanding of risk management practices by conducting a comprehensive literature review and field research. In order to establish a theoretical basis, a comprehensive literature review was performed and prior studies on various aspects relating to microfinance risk management were investigated. This was followed by a field research which studied the risk management of microfinance providers in the Cape Metropole; large financial service providers like commercials banks were excluded. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire from microfinance providers in the Cape Metropole. These microfinance providers were drawn from a list of credit providers that was obtained from the National Credit Regulator (NCR) public domain. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants for this study. The information provided by participants is kept strictly confidential and anonymity of all respondents was guaranteed. This research noted that collaterals are absent in microfinance and instead, a close connection between microfinance SMMEs and their clients come into place. Risk management frameworks which provide an all-inclusive approach to risk management are largely absent in microfinance SMMEs. Much fewer microfinance SMMEs actively identify risks, categorise, prioritise and document them appropriately. The research further showed that the views on risk management depend on whether the respondent is an owner or a manager of the enterprise.

The objective of this thesis is to examine the impacts of changes in Canada’s AgriStability program on crop allocation, particularly the change in the payment trigger associated with the shift from Growing Forward (GF) to Growing Forward 2 (GF2). To examine whether this change could affect production decisions, and thereby potentially violate the WTO’s ‘green box’ criteria, farm management models are constructed for representative farms in six different Alberta regions. To incorporate risk and uncertainty into the farm model, I assume that, instead of maximizing overall gross margin, a farmer varies her crop activities to maximize expected utility subject to technological and market constraints. The models are calibrated using positive mathematical programming (PMP), which then facilitates their use for policy analysis; however, PMP is not straightforward in the case of expected utility maximization because a risk parameter also needs to be calibrated. Possible ways to address this issue are examined. Results indicate that the initial introduction of the AgriStability program tilted farmers’ planting decisions towards crops with higher returns and greater risk, but that a change in the AgriStability payout trigger (going from GF to GF2) would not further alter land-use decisions. However, the latter shift does reduce indemnities and farmers’ expected profits. Meanwhile, increases in farmers’ aversion to risk will lead to changes in crop allocations. / Graduate / 0503 / 0508 / sheriliu@uvic.ca

Globalization and growing economic integration within different geographic areas are the main factors having impact on increasing number of companies involved in international business. However, due to recent economic turbulences on the international markets during the last years, this trend is associated with higher level of risk. To ensure the stability on the international market, the knowledge of the risks is an obligation. This thesis consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical and focuses first on the principle risks associated with the international business operations. Afterwards it presents the scope of the risk management and explains the main techniques of the risk assessment. The second part is practical and its goal is to illustrate the application of the techniques explained in the theoretical part on the environment of Zodiac Aerospace group.

<p>During the past year it has been made possible to buy back a company’s outstanding stock. This is done in order to change the capital structure towards a situation with less equity. A change in capital structure means a change in the cost of capital for a company and by that a change in the value for the stockholder. This Master Thesis studies the relation between capital structure and business risk. Studying the debt to equity ratio in a company captures capital structure. Studying the volatility in return on assets over a certain time period captures business risk. The Master Thesis also includes a study of what factors have an impact on the business risk when looking at the day-to-day business. By conducting a study of the pulp and paper industry and its nine listed companies a picture is created of what factors have an impact on the relation between capital structure and business risk. The business risk is in a very high degree dependant on factors like economic development for the product, raw material prices, number of product groups and what segments the company penetrates. A positive relation between capital structure and business risk has been identified. The study also indicates that other factors than just the business risk should be hold responsible for a company’s capital structure.</p>

During the past year it has been made possible to buy back a company’s outstanding stock. This is done in order to change the capital structure towards a situation with less equity. A change in capital structure means a change in the cost of capital for a company and by that a change in the value for the stockholder. This Master Thesis studies the relation between capital structure and business risk. Studying the debt to equity ratio in a company captures capital structure. Studying the volatility in return on assets over a certain time period captures business risk. The Master Thesis also includes a study of what factors have an impact on the business risk when looking at the day-to-day business. By conducting a study of the pulp and paper industry and its nine listed companies a picture is created of what factors have an impact on the relation between capital structure and business risk. The business risk is in a very high degree dependant on factors like economic development for the product, raw material prices, number of product groups and what segments the company penetrates. A positive relation between capital structure and business risk has been identified. The study also indicates that other factors than just the business risk should be hold responsible for a company’s capital structure.

ABSTRACT Redirecting the inspection plan to place emphasis on high risk equipment items is not the only objective when implementing Risk Base Inspection (RBI). Rather it would be much more fruitful if company staff were educated to be equipped with the capability of identifying potential risks and were willing to actually put into real practice in eliminating all these potential threats to an enterprise. Since its release, the API-580 technology has seen growing acceptance and becomes a popular methodology in maintaining the mechanical integrity of pressure equipment and piping. In addition to U.S.A, many other country including European nations and Japan have also assimilated the same risk concepts into regulations that require plant operators to aim for practical performance of equipment management, not at the extent of obligations required by the government. Such a risk-based concept is not just incorporated in regulations, when utilized in close conjunction with plant maintenance and inspection, becomes a powerful tool in helping determine optimal inspection intervals of pressure equipment. In order for the equipment management system to perform effectively, fundamental tasks such as failure mechanisms identification and effectiveness of inspection methods are keys to a successful RBI program. Some might question Risk Base Inspection (RBI) to be a conservative, less aggressive approach that rather than opting for more aggressive managerial methods, it recommends to focus on the whole life cycle of plant equipment. Keywords: API-581¡BRBI¡Bbusiness risk¡Bbusiness administration¡Bquantitative analysis¡Bconsequence analysis¡Brisk base inspection