The objective of this study was mainly to describe, analyse and evaluate the determinants of the phenomenon of whistle blowing that influences the protection of employees making authorised and/or unauthorised disclosures. It was also a purpose of the study to evaluate the specific role of the Protected Disclosures Act 2000 (Act 26 of 2000) (PDA) in fulfilling its mandate to protect authorised disclosures on wrongdoing in public and private sector organisations. The PDA seeks to combat crime and corruption through the disclosing of wrongdoing. The intention is to create a culture which will facilitate the disclosure of information by employees relating to criminal and other irregular conduct in the workplace in a responsible manner, by providing comprehensive statutory guidelines through the PDA for the disclosure of such information, and protection against any retaliation as a result of such disclosures. An important aspect that this study dealt with was the provision, as a prerequisite to the PDA to be implemented successfully, that individual members of the private and public sectors have to act responsibly and in good faith in making disclosures in order to be protected by the PDA. In order to provide clarity on the conceptualisation of whistle blowing, the study explored the conceptual knowledge of the variables influencing the determinants of whistle blowing and the whistle blower through the application of a literature study of the concept and theories of ethics, values, morals, loyalty, trust and whistle blowing, in order to describe and analyse the variables influencing the whistle blower, the whistle blowing process, the characteristics of whistle blowers and the strategies and procedures employed to blow the whistle in an organisation. The study explored the organisational determinants influencing a whistle blower's decision to blow the whistle in the social context of an organisation in order to determine the influence of organisational culture and organisational trust as internal social factors that may facilitate the effective management of whistle blowing resulting in no whistle blowing taking place. The study objectives, appropriate conclusions and proposals are addressed based on the role that the PDA, the ethical determinants of the work environment, the determinants influencing the individual whistle blower and the organisational determinants influencing effective whistle blowing, can fulfil, in order to serve as a mechanism to combat corruption. / Public Administration and Management / D. Litt. et Phil. (Public Administration)

This dissertation reflects the results of a study during which the 2006 annual reports of the top-40 JSE listed companies, were assessed for their disclosure of the required corporate governance statements. Content analysis was used to identify the information. The results obtained indicate that the majority of the JSE's top-40 listed companies adhere to good corporate governance disclosure practices. However, there are areas in which the non-disclosure of information was prevalent. These include the disclosure of information on the selection of external auditors and whistle blowing. Future research, employing sources such as SENS announcements, press releases, trading updates, cautionary announcements and websites together with annual reports should be conducted. / Financial Accounting / M.Com. (Accounting)

The focus of this research was on the Management of Whistle-Blowing at the University of South Africa (UNISA). This study investigated the perception of UNISA staff on the issue of whistle-blowing. Using a quantitative approach, a questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information from permanent employees of UNISA, at all campuses and regions, regarding the issue of whistle-blowing. This study highlights the attitudes and opinions of permanent employees of UNISA regarding the issue of whistle-blowing, and whether or not these attitude and opinions can influence the effectiveness of whistle-blowing, as a crime and unethical conduct deterrent and detection mechanism. Several issues were investigated in this study, as whistle-blowing if implemented and managed correctly, can be a valuable source of intelligence on crime and unethical conduct in the workplace. / CRIMINOLOGY / MA (POLICE SCIENCE)

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of U.S. firms’ geographic location, whether urban or rural, on their corporate disclosure and governance practices. An “urban” firm is one that is headquartered in a large metropolitan area; whereas, a “rural” firm is one that is headquartered some distance from any metropolitan area. Specifically, the study examines whether there are different stock market reactions to urban and rural firms around key event dates relative to the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) on July 30, 2002. Also, the readability and linguistic style in the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of public company’s annual reports (Form 10-K) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are investigated to determine whether urban and rural firms communicate information differently to investors.

This dissertation documents the quality of financial accounting information in a transition economy, the Czech Republic. High quality accounting information decreases the risks for investors, promotes investment activities and increases the ability of companies to raise funds at a reasonable cost of capital. Countries with high quality accounting information have a comparative advantage in attracting financial capital. Transition economies - i.e. countries switching from centrally planned to market economies - are typically in need of capital. Therefore a new accounting regulation had to be developed that would satisfy the needs of new private investors. The quality of financial accounting information depends on accounting quality (an outcome of applied accounting principles) and disclosure quality (an outcome of the amount and characteristics of information provided in the financial statements). Accounting quality is measured as the value relevance of accounting numbers and certain attributes of earnings which promote the value relevance. Disclosure quality is measured in terms of mandatory disclosure requirements, actual disclosures of companies (i.e. the level of compliance with legislation) and additional information provided voluntarily by the companies. Sweden is used as a benchmark for well-developed market economy and the quality of financial accounting information in the Czech Republic is systematically compared to the quality of Swedish financial accounting information throughout the dissertation. The results show that both accounting and disclosure quality in the Czech Republic were inferior in the beginning of the transition period. Over time, the value relevance of accounting numbers has however improved. The change in the value relevance may be attributed in particular to improvements in disclosure quality. The key factors behind the development were improved accounting legislation and control mechanisms, accompanied by changes in the business climate including higher sophistication of both the producers and users of the financial information. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009

I januari år 2013 införde IASB en ny standard (IFRS 13) med syftet att ge vägledning i hur verkligt värde bör beräknas och redovisas. Förvaltningsfastigheter är ett tillgångsslag som skall redovisas till verkligt värde antingen i värderingssyfte eller i upplysningssyfte. Förvaltningsfastigheter är fastigheter som innehas av ägaren för att generera hyresinkomster och/eller värdestegring. Den här studien syftar till att undersöka hur IFRS 13 har påverkat både värderingen och redovisningen av förvaltningsfastigheter hos svenska fastighetsbolag noterade på OMX Stockholm, Mid & Large Cap. I studien undersöks räkenskapsåren 2011–2014 för att försöka fånga utvecklingen och de förändringar som implementeringen av standarden givit upphov till. Syftet med IASB:s arbete är att harmonisera redovisningen globalt och därmed underlätta jämförelse av och förståelse för redovisning från olika delar av världen. Resultatet från vår studie indikerar att IFRS 13 inte har haft någon större inverkan på redovisningen av förvaltningsfastigheter samt att värderingstekniker och tillvägagångssätt vid värdering inte påverkats överhuvudtaget. Ett tydligt mönster som kan skönjas i studien är att fastighetsbolagen gärna väljer att värdera sina fastigheter baserat på en kassaflödesmodell som bygger på icke observerbara data i form av uppskattningar och egna antaganden. Detta trots att man i första hand skall använda information från tidigare transaktioner från likartade objekt när man uppskattar en förvaltningsfastighets värde. Icke observerbara data är något som bör undvikas i största möjliga utsträckning vid värdering till verkligt värde då det tillhör den lägsta nivån i den värderingshierarki som finns för verkligt värde i IFRS 13. Anledningen till detta är att data på de högre nivåerna (nivå 1&2) bygger på faktiska händelser och transaktioner. Icke observerbara data (nivå 3) bygger på bästa tillgängliga information då marknadsuppgifter från tidigare händelser och transaktioner saknas. För att undersöka hur bolagen har efterföljt IFRS 13 har ett par av upplysningskraven i standarden valts ut. Fastighetsbolagens årsredovisningar har sedan studerats och analyserats med dessa upplysningskrav som utgångspunkt. För att genomföra studien har all väsentlig information från bolagens årsredovisningar för samtliga räkenskapsår (2011-2014) sammanställts och jämförts. Därefter har insamlat material analyserats med hjälp av den teoretiska referensram som ligger till grund för studien. IFRS 13 är principbaserat vilket gör att standarden är öppen för tolkning. Det har medfört att den data som samlats in från fastighetsbolagens årsredovisningar också är öppen för tolkning. Enligt vår mening är det inte alltid en självklarhet exakt vad som krävs för att uppfylla kraven i en principbaserad standard. Enligt vår bedömning följer alla bolag som ingår i studien de upplysningskrav som finns att tillgå i IFRS 13. Hur standarden följs skiljer sig dock en del mellan bolagen. Den största skillnaden sedan införandet av standarden är att bolagen generellt lämnar mer information som rör värdering till verkligt värde. Studien har bidragit till insikt både i vad som påverkar värdering av förvaltningsfastigheter och hur varierande tolkningen av principbaserade standarder kan vara. En standard kan enligt vår studie uppfyllas på fler än ett sätt. / In January 2013 IASB introduced a new standard (IFRS 13) with the intention to give guidance on how to account for and calculate fair value. Investment property is an asset class that must be reported at fair value either for valuation purposes or for disclosure purposes. Investment properties are estates held by the owner to generate rental income and/or increase in value. This study aims at investigate how IFRS 13 has affected both the valuation and accounting of investment properties of Swedish real estate companies listed on OMX Stockholm, Mid & Large Cap. The study examines the fiscal years 2011-2014 in order to try to capture the development and the changes that the implementation of the standard has given rise to. The purpose of the IASB's work is to harmonize the financial reporting globally and thus facilitate comparison of understanding of accounting from different parts of the world. The results of our study indicate that IFRS 13 has not had a major impact on the reporting of investment properties and that valuation techniques and valuation procedures have not been affected at all. An obvious pattern that can be seen in the study is that real estate companies prefer to value their investment properties based on a cash flow model based on unobservable inputs like estimates and own assumptions. This in spite of the fact that information from previous transactions from similar items should be used primarily when estimating the value of an investment property. Unobservable inputs should be avoided to the greatest extent possible when fair value are calculated because it belongs to the lowest level in the hierarchy for fair value in IFRS 13. The reason for this is that data on the higher levels (levels 1&2) are based on actual events and transactions. Unobservable data (Level 3) are based on best available information as market data from past events and transactions are missing. To investigate how companies have applied IFRS 13, a pair of disclosure requirements in the standard have been sorted out. The real estate companies’ annual reports have been studied and analyzed with these disclosure requirements as a root. To complete the study, all essential information from the company's annual reports for all fiscal years (2011–2014) has been compiled and compared. Afterwards, collected material has been analyzed using the theoretical reference frame on which the study is based. Subseque IFRS 13 is principle based, which makes the standard open to interpretation. As a result, the data collected from the annual reports are also open to interpretation. In our opinion, it is not always clear exactly what is required to meet the requirements of a principle-based standard. According to our assessment, all companies included in the study follows the disclosure requirements in IFRS 13. However, the compliance of the standard differs between the companies. The main IV difference since the introduction of the standard is that the companies generally provide more information about fair value measurement. The study has provided insight into both what factors affecting valuation of investment properties and how different interpretation of principle-based standards can be. According to our study, a standard can be met in more than one way.

This dissertation reflects the results of a study during which the 2006 annual reports of the top-40 JSE listed companies, were assessed for their disclosure of the required corporate governance statements. Content analysis was used to identify the information. The results obtained indicate that the majority of the JSE's top-40 listed companies adhere to good corporate governance disclosure practices. However, there are areas in which the non-disclosure of information was prevalent. These include the disclosure of information on the selection of external auditors and whistle blowing. Future research, employing sources such as SENS announcements, press releases, trading updates, cautionary announcements and websites together with annual reports should be conducted. / Financial Accounting / M.Com. (Accounting)

The focus of this research was on the Management of Whistle-Blowing at the University of South Africa (UNISA). This study investigated the perception of UNISA staff on the issue of whistle-blowing. Using a quantitative approach, a questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information from permanent employees of UNISA, at all campuses and regions, regarding the issue of whistle-blowing. This study highlights the attitudes and opinions of permanent employees of UNISA regarding the issue of whistle-blowing, and whether or not these attitude and opinions can influence the effectiveness of whistle-blowing, as a crime and unethical conduct deterrent and detection mechanism. Several issues were investigated in this study, as whistle-blowing if implemented and managed correctly, can be a valuable source of intelligence on crime and unethical conduct in the workplace. / CRIMINOLOGY / MA (POLICE SCIENCE)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T13:42:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Krauss Serrano.pdf: 1564474 bytes, checksum: 60351ac85983d55077adee196bddc250 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) stands out worldwide in order to minimize perceived quality problems in Sustainability Reports. One of GRI s initiatives is the development of environmental indicators. In the context of growing concern about environmental impacts of human activity, and considering environmental disclosure tool relevance for users depends on their relevance perception on the information it contains, the purpose of this study is: to analyze the perceived relevance by environmentalists non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Espírito Santo (Brazilian state) on the essential environmental indicators in GRI s third version. Questionnaires were sent to 52 NGOs, resulting in 24 responses. Indicators and respondents were analyzed according to their responses profiles. It was found that all the environmental indicators considered essential by GRI were mostly indicated as being of significant importance, by respondents, what means GRI has the ability to meet this segment of Brazilian society s expectations. The results signalize the GRI essential environmental indicators importance on sustainability reports, and that disclosure standards internationalization for basic global issues related to the environment does not diminish its importance to users, in specific locations / A iniciativa da ONG internacional Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) se destaca mundialmente, no intuito de minimizar problemas percebidos na qualidade das informações divulgadas em Relatórios de Sustentabilidade. Dentre as iniciativas da GRI, tem-se a elaboração de indicadores relacionados a aspectos ambientais. No contexto de crescente preocupação em relação aos impactos da atividade humana no meio ambiente, e considerando que a relevância dessa ferramenta de evidenciação ambiental depende da percepção por parte dos usuários da relevância das informações nela contidas, o objetivo deste trabalho é: analisar a percepção de organizações não governamentais (ONGs) ambientalistas atuantes no Espírito Santo acerca da relevância dos indicadores ambientais essenciais na terceira versão do modelo GRI. Para tanto, um questionário foi encaminhado a 52 ONGs, obtendo-se 24 respostas. Indicadores e respondentes foram analisados de acordo com os perfis de respostas atribuídas. Verificou-se que todos os indicadores ambientais considerados essenciais pela GRI foram julgados, majoritariamente, como de significativa relevância, pelas ONGs respondentes, ou seja, o modelo GRI tem capacidade de atender a anseios desse segmento da sociedade, atuante no Espírito Santo. Os resultados sinalizam a importância dos indicadores ambientais essenciais da GRI nos relatórios de sustentabilidade, e que a crescente internacionalização de padrões para evidenciação de aspectos relacionados a problemáticas globais relativas ao meio ambiente não diminui, necessariamente, a sua relevância para usuários em localidades específicas

Intäkter är en väsentlig del av redovisningen och används för att fastställa de finansiella resultaten. Det är även ett betydelsefullt mått för intressenter som använder intäktsredovisningen för att bedöma företags finansiella prestation. År 2002 påbörjade IASB ett projekt för att utveckla en ny internationell intäktsstandard. Anledningen till detta var att öka jämförbarheten mellan olika företag och länder samt att utveckla ett mer konsekvent ramverk för intäktsredovisning. Svenska onoterade företag som klassificeras som större företag ska tillämpa det svenska regelverket K3, men har även möjlighet att följa det internationella regelverket IFRS genom att tillämpa den svenska rekommendationen RFR 2. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om skillnader uppstår mellan regelverken RFR 2/IFRS 15 och K3 vid redovisning av intäkter när hänsyn tas till inkomstbeskattning, utdelningsmöjligheter och nyckeltal. Syftet i studien är även att visa vilket regelverk som är mer fördelaktigt ur ett intressentperspektiv. Intressenterna som avses är användarna av finansiella rapporter vilka nämns i IASBs föreställningsram. För att uppnå syftet har tre typfall konstruerats med utgångspunkt i tre olika branscher som förväntas påverkas av den nya intäktsstandarden. Typfallen har därefter analyserats utifrån tillämpning av regelverken RFR 2/IFRS 15 och K3. Metoden som tillämpas i denna studie är av abduktiv karaktär och inom ramen för kvalitativ forskning. Resultatet av studien visar att det förekommer skillnader mellan RFR 2/IFRS 15 och K3. I typfallen uppstår skillnader i tidpunkten och fördelningen vid redovisning av intäkter vilket får effekter på inkomstbeskattning utdelning och nyckeltal. Det är dock svårt att utifrån dessa typfall och faktorer konstatera vilket regelverk som är mer fördelaktigt ur ett intressentperspektiv. När hänsyn tas till att RFR 2/IFRS 15 är mer omfattande och detaljrik än K3 kan däremot RFR 2/IFRS 15 anses vara det regelverk som är mer gynnsamt för intressenterna av den anledningen att det förser intressenterna med mer användbar och utförlig information. / Revenue recognition is an essential part of accounting theory and is used for determining financial performance. It is also a meaningful measure for stakeholders that use revenue recognition to estimate companies’ financial performance. In 2002 the IASB started a project to develop a new international revenue recognition standard. The reason for this was to increase the comparability across companies and countries as well as develop a more consistent framework for revenue recognition. Unlisted Swedish companies which classifies as larger companies should apply the Swedish regulation K3, but they also have the opportunity to practise the international IFRS regulation by applying the Swedish recommendation RFR 2. The purpose of this study is to examine possible differences that may arise between the revenue recognition of RFR 2/IFRS 15 and K3 regarding income tax, dividends and financial ratios. The study will also show which regulation is most beneficial from a stakeholder perspective. The stakeholders referred to are the users of the financial statements in IASB’s conceptual framework. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, three hypothetical examples have been designed based on three different industries that are expected to be the most affected of the new revenue recognition standard. The hypothetical examples have then been analyzed based on the application of RFR 2/IFRS 15 and K3. The method for this study is an abductive character and within the frames of qualitative research. The findings of this study indicate that differences appear between RFR 2/IFRS 15 and K3. The hypothetical examples show that differences occur in the timing and allocation of revenue recognition which have an effect on income tax, dividends and financial ratios. Even though differences occur it is difficult to conclude which regulation is the most beneficial from a stakeholder perspective, based on these hypothetical examples and elements. However, considering RFR 2/IFRS 15 being more comprehensive and detailed than K3, RFR 2/IFRS 15 may be considered more beneficial to stakeholders as it provides stakeholders with more useful and extensive information.