This dissertation studies the association between CEO ability and various aspects of corporate governance, specifically firm performance, executive compensation contracts and firm opacity. In the first essay of this dissertation (Chapter 2), I examine the effect of CEO ability on firm performance. My analysis uses a unique instrument of CEO ability that is based on a CEO's commitment decisions in US presidential elections. Intuitively, CEO ability is measured based on how well they forecast US presidential elections, one year prior to the race, relative to the candidates expected chances of winning. I find that this instrument of CEO ability is positively related to firm performance. Interestingly, I find that high ability CEOs have a greater impact on Tobin's q in small firms than in large firms. Yet, high ability CEOs have the greatest dollar impact on shareholder value in large firms. In addition, CEO ability appears to be quite important to outside shareholders in high growth firms. Lastly, I find that CEO ability is positively associated to merger announcement returns, which implies that higher ability CEOs engage in value-creating merger activities. The results are robust to industry and time controls, as well as various tests that consider an alternative explanation focusing on political influence. The second essay (Chapter 3) explores the effect of CEO ability on the structure and level of compensation contracts. I find that CEO ability is positively associated with total compensation level. CEOs in the highest quartile of the ability proxy earn almost $2.2 million more than CEOs in the lowest quartile of CEO ability. Further analysis indicates that CEO compensation structure differs markedly between the highest and lowest ability CEOs. Specifically, I find that the high ability CEOs receive 2.1% more stock based incentives than low ability CEOs. Thus, the low ability CEOs receive more of their pay in the form of cash compensation than do high ability CEOs. Further tests indicate that high ability CEOs have significantly greater variance in their pay than low ability CEOs, specifically due to the higher variance in stock based incentives. Overall, I provide evidence that CEO pay is associated with CEO ability and that CEO ability appears a key issue in designing CEO compensation contracts. In the third essay (Chapter 4), I examine whether CEO ability is related to corporate opacity. I argue that high-ability CEOs may seek to create greater transparency to convey their ability to the market. Simultaneously, low-ability CEOs may be signal-jamming the market's inferences about their talent by limiting the available information. An alternative aspect is that the results are driven by low-ability CEOs who seek to work in opaque firms. My analysis indicates that firms with high-ability CEOs are significantly less opaque than firms with low-ability CEOs. These findings are also robust to using a propensity score matched sample. Finally, I show that the deteriorating impact of corporate opacity on firm performance decreases when the decision belongs to a high-ability CEO, suggesting that opacity is not necessarily value-destructing decision for corporations. Overall, my analysis suggests that CEO ability is an important factor for corporate opacity. / Business Administration/Finance

Estate massing is one of the estate planning instruments used by estate planners, especially with regards to marriages in community of property; nonetheless any two people (or more) may mass their whole estates or a part thereof. Section 37 of the Administration of Estates Act describes massed estates and therefore it also supplies the requirements for estate massing and will be explored in this study. Estate massing gives rise to tax consequences that would not have arised normally. Due to estate massing there will be tax consequences for the predeceased testator and the surviving testator(s) and even in some cases there will be tax consequences for the heirs. In this study, attention is paid to the tax consequences of estate duty, donations tax, transfer duty, VAT and CGT. The purpose of this study is to determine the difference between the consequences of estate massing should it happen in accordance with the requirements of the Administration of Estates Act and should it not happen in accordance with the requirements of the Administration of Estates Act. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Estate massing is one of the estate planning instruments used by estate planners, especially with regards to marriages in community of property; nonetheless any two people (or more) may mass their whole estates or a part thereof. Section 37 of the Administration of Estates Act describes massed estates and therefore it also supplies the requirements for estate massing and will be explored in this study. Estate massing gives rise to tax consequences that would not have arised normally. Due to estate massing there will be tax consequences for the predeceased testator and the surviving testator(s) and even in some cases there will be tax consequences for the heirs. In this study, attention is paid to the tax consequences of estate duty, donations tax, transfer duty, VAT and CGT. The purpose of this study is to determine the difference between the consequences of estate massing should it happen in accordance with the requirements of the Administration of Estates Act and should it not happen in accordance with the requirements of the Administration of Estates Act. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka om människors intentioner att donera pengar påverkas av deskriptiva normer. Följande hypoteser användes: 1) Både sociala närhetsnormer (du agerar som personer du känner samhörighet med gör) och provinsiellas normer (du agerar efter de lokala normer som gäller för platsen du befinner dig på) ökar människors intentioner att donera till välgörande ändamål jämfört med ett standardförfarande där välgörenhetsorganisationen enbart signalerar altruistiska ideal och 2) Sociala närhetsnormer leder till starkare intentioner att donera jämfört med provinsiella normer. En kvantitativ metod har använts, instrumentet var ett självskattningsformulär. Etthundraåttio personer, deltog i studien och blev således tilldelade ett av experimentets tre villkor (social närhetsnorm, provinsiell norm, eller standard villkor). Den provinsiella normen bidrar till en högre frekvens av donationer än standardförfarandet och det sociala närhetsvillkoret. Slutsatsen är att välgörenhetsorganisationer kan ha nytta av att ta hänsyn till och använda sig av provinsiella normer vid insamlingar. / The aim of this study was to examine whether people´s intent to donate money is influenced by descriptive norms. Our hypotheses were as follows: 1) Both the social closeness norm (you behave as people close to you do) and the provincial norm (you behave as the local norms of the location where you are at prescribe) increase people´s self-reported intent to donate money to charity compared to the control group where the welfare organisation only try to activate your altruistic ideals and 2) Social closeness norms induce a stronger intent to donate money compared to provincial norms. A qualitative method has been used and the instrument was a self-report questionnaire. One hundred eighty people participated in the study and were thereby given one of the tree conditions (social closeness norm, provincial norm, or the standard condition). The use of provincial norms leads to a higher donation frequency than the standard condition and the social closeness condition.

La Croix-Rouge française est une association (loi 1901) et une entreprise à but non lucratif, reconnue d’utilité publique, et auxiliaire des pouvoirs publics. Engagée dans une « lutte contre toutes les souffrances humaines », depuis plus de 150 ans, la Croix-Rouge française œuvre dans quatre domaines d’intervention nationaux : le secours, la santé, la formation et les actions sociales, ainsi que dans un domaine international. La Croix-Rouge française fait aussi partie d’un réseau, le Mouvement international Croix-Rouge et Croissant-Rouge, composé du CICR, de la Fédération internationale et de Sociétés nationales, la Croix-Rouge française étant l’une d’elles. Les actions sociales Croix-Rouge française dispensées par les organes de proximité, les délégations locales, doivent parvenir à relever le défi humanitaire dans une conception d’aide d’urgence. Basé sur l’engagement bénévole, tout le système d’aide humanitaire repose sur le don. Ce qui fait vivre chaque délégation c’est à la fois les dons matériels reçus, notamment des particuliers et de l’Etat, les dons immatériels perçus, de temps, de compétences, des bénévoles et des volontaires, et enfin des dons transmis de l’association aux bénéficiaires tels que nourriture, vêtements, adresse postale... Le travail ethnologique présenté ici sous forme d’une monographie s’attache à étudier le système d’aide philanthropique développé par la délégation locale d’Orange (Vaucluse) dans sa dimension matérielle et symbolique. Pour cela l’étude va se centrer sur deux thèmes en particulier : l’aide alimentaire et les bénévoles, et proposer ainsi une analyse ethnologique du don alimentaire et de la dynamique relationnelle du bénévolat. / The French Red Cross is an association (law 1901) and a non-profit organization, recognized as a public benefit and a wellness and auxiliary to the government. Engaged in a "fight against all human suffering," for over 150 years, the French Red Cross works in four areas of national intervention: relief, health, education and social action, and in an international field. The French Red Cross is also part of a network, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, consisting of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent and in National Societies including the French Red Cross. Social actions of the French Red Cross provided by local bodies, local delegations, must complete the challenge to design a humanitarian emergency assistance. Based on the volunteer, all the humanitarian aid system is based on gifts. What keeps alive every delegation is both material donations received, from individuals and the state, intangible donations received such as time, expertise, volunteers, and finally donations passed from the association to beneficiaries such as food, clothing, mailing address ... The ethnological study presented here as a monograph seeks to examine the system of philanthropy developed by the local delegation of Orange (Vaucluse) in its material and symbolic dimension. Thus, the study will focus on two particular themes : food aid and volunteers, and offer an ethnological analysis, of the gift of food and the relational dynamics of volunteerism.

Background: Charity and other non-profit organizations have traditionally not been subject to any particular regulation enforced by Swedish law. Recently though, accounting standards have been altered which, through the new "Bokföringslagen" as of first of January 2001, have affected accounting standards for non- profit organizations. One of the implications which the new"bokföringslagen"has for non-profit organizations in Sweden is the link which it establishes with other accounting regulations enforced by the "Årsredovisningslagen". This link will, in turn, determine which rules that apply for any particular organization. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how accounting regulations are handled by Swedish non-profit organizations. Further, our aim is to disentangle how the new "Bokföringslagen" has affected the use of accounting in non-profit organizations. In addition to this we also attempt to establish clarity between relevant concepts and terms as we conduct a brief survey of how accounting standards are applied in non-profit organizations. Finally we suggest options and alternatives for sections of the accounting standards where change is needed. Delimitation: Only those non-profit organizations, which according to current legislation should set up a year closure or annual report (that is"large"non- profit organizations), will be studied in this essay. Further has a geographical delimitation of the selection been done, to the Swedish county of Östergötland. Realization: The collected information has been obtained through interviews with 15 large non-profit organizations. Conclusion: Accounting in large non-profit organizations in Sweden has not been affected to any larger extent by the new legislation. The handling of tangible assets has not changed. The conception net income is not relevant for non-profit organizations and donations are treated as gifts, which causes risk of confusion. The above shows that the advisory organization of "Bokföringsnämnden" ought to make a statement on how non-profit organizations ought to respond to the new "Bokföringslagen". / Bakgrund: Hjälporganisationer och andra ideella föreningar hör till en grupp juridiska personer i samhället som inte omfattas av någon särskild lagreglering. Nyligen har dock redovisningen i ideella föreningar kommit att omfattas av den nya bokföringslagen, vilken trädde i kraft den 1 januari 2001. Detta innebär att kraven har specificerats, vad gäller redovisning för ideella föreningar. Förändringar som den nya bokföringslagen för med sig innebär bland annat en koppling till årsredovisningslagen och att en mängd gränsbelopp och regler måste beaktas för att bestämma vilken redovisningsplikt som föreligger. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur vissa delar av redovisningen i ideella föreningar hanteras samt utreda hur den nya bokföringslagen har påverkat redovisningen. Vidare ämnar vi att göra en begreppsutredning samt undersöka i vilken utsträckning den nya bokföringslagen tillämpas och om det finns behov av förändrad reglering på området. Avgränsningar: Endast de ideella föreningar som enligt aktuell lagstiftning ska upprätta årsbokslut eller årsredovisning, det vill säga stora ideella föreningar, undersöks i denna studie. Vidare har en geografisk avgränsning av urvalet gjorts till Östergötland. Slutsatser: Redovisningen i stora ideella föreningar har inte påverkats i stor utsträckning av den nya lagstiftningen. Exempelvis har hanteringen av materiella anläggningstillgångar inte förändrats. Begreppet nettoomsättning är inte relevant för ideella föreningar och donationer behandlas som gåvor vilket medför risk för sammanblandning. Ovanstående visar på att bokföringsnämnden bör göra ett uttalande/ ge en rekommendation om hur ideella föreningar ska förhålla sig till den nya bokföringslagen samt årsredovisningslagen.

<p>Background: Charity and other non-profit organizations have traditionally not been subject to any particular regulation enforced by Swedish law. Recently though, accounting standards have been altered which, through the new "Bokföringslagen" as of first of January 2001, have affected accounting standards for non- profit organizations. One of the implications which the new"bokföringslagen"has for non-profit organizations in Sweden is the link which it establishes with other accounting regulations enforced by the "Årsredovisningslagen". This link will, in turn, determine which rules that apply for any particular organization. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how accounting regulations are handled by Swedish non-profit organizations. Further, our aim is to disentangle how the new "Bokföringslagen" has affected the use of accounting in non-profit organizations. In addition to this we also attempt to establish clarity between relevant concepts and terms as we conduct a brief survey of how accounting standards are applied in non-profit organizations. Finally we suggest options and alternatives for sections of the accounting standards where change is needed. </p><p>Delimitation: Only those non-profit organizations, which according to current legislation should set up a year closure or annual report (that is"large"non- profit organizations), will be studied in this essay. Further has a geographical delimitation of the selection been done, to the Swedish county of Östergötland. Realization: The collected information has been obtained through interviews with 15 large non-profit organizations. </p><p>Conclusion: Accounting in large non-profit organizations in Sweden has not been affected to any larger extent by the new legislation. The handling of tangible assets has not changed. The conception net income is not relevant for non-profit organizations and donations are treated as gifts, which causes risk of confusion. The above shows that the advisory organization of "Bokföringsnämnden" ought to make a statement on how non-profit organizations ought to respond to the new "Bokföringslagen".</p> / <p>Bakgrund: Hjälporganisationer och andra ideella föreningar hör till en grupp juridiska personer i samhället som inte omfattas av någon särskild lagreglering. Nyligen har dock redovisningen i ideella föreningar kommit att omfattas av den nya bokföringslagen, vilken trädde i kraft den 1 januari 2001. Detta innebär att kraven har specificerats, vad gäller redovisning för ideella föreningar. Förändringar som den nya bokföringslagen för med sig innebär bland annat en koppling till årsredovisningslagen och att en mängd gränsbelopp och regler måste beaktas för att bestämma vilken redovisningsplikt som föreligger. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur vissa delar av redovisningen i ideella föreningar hanteras samt utreda hur den nya bokföringslagen har påverkat redovisningen. Vidare ämnar vi att göra en begreppsutredning samt undersöka i vilken utsträckning den nya bokföringslagen tillämpas och om det finns behov av förändrad reglering på området. </p><p>Avgränsningar: Endast de ideella föreningar som enligt aktuell lagstiftning ska upprätta årsbokslut eller årsredovisning, det vill säga stora ideella föreningar, undersöks i denna studie. Vidare har en geografisk avgränsning av urvalet gjorts till Östergötland. </p><p>Slutsatser: Redovisningen i stora ideella föreningar har inte påverkats i stor utsträckning av den nya lagstiftningen. Exempelvis har hanteringen av materiella anläggningstillgångar inte förändrats. Begreppet nettoomsättning är inte relevant för ideella föreningar och donationer behandlas som gåvor vilket medför risk för sammanblandning. Ovanstående visar på att bokföringsnämnden bör göra ett uttalande/ ge en rekommendation om hur ideella föreningar ska förhålla sig till den nya bokföringslagen samt årsredovisningslagen.</p>

This dissertation is a collection of three essays in the fields of environmental and public economics. The first essay assesses the effect of government spending on charitable donations to environmental causes. Using a theoretical model, I solve for changes in private donations due to increased government spending and contrast this with changes due to direct grants to nonprofit organizations. Depending on the nonprofit’s fundraising response, government spending may result in the crowding out or in of private giving. I empirically investigate this topic using data from the tax returns of environmental charities as well as a panel survey data set on the philanthropic behavior of individuals. My results indicate that government expenditures on the environment actually crowd in private giving, partly due to the increased fundraising response by charities. The second essay examines the incidence of a pollution tax scheme in which tax revenue is returned to low-income workers. Using a general equilibrium model with both skilled and unskilled labor, a decomposition of the real net wage effects shows the effect of the tax rebate, the effect on the uses side of income (higher product prices), and the effect on the sources side of income (relative wage rates). Numerical examples show that returning the revenue to the low-skilled workers is still not enough to offset the effect of higher product prices; in almost all cases, the rebate does not prevent a reduction in the real net wage. The third essay studies the distributional effects of the SO2 allowance market. Even if low-income households do not have large budget shares for the polluting good, grandfathered permit systems may still be regressive since the permit rents accrue disproportionately to wealthy shareholders in the polluting industry. I estimate the burden imposed on different income groups under a grandfathered permit policy and compare this with the burden under an auctioned policy. Using Monte Carlo techniques, I calculate the 5th and 95th percentiles of the distribution of possible results. I find evidence of regressivity for grandfathered permits whereas an emissions tax/auctioned permit system can be progressive if the scarcity rents are distributed in lump sums. / text

In direct marketing, understanding the response behavior of consumers to marketing initiatives is a pre-requisite for marketers before implementing targeting strategies to reach potential as well as existing consumers in the future. Consumer response can either be in terms of the incidence or timing of purchases, category/ brand choice of purchases made as well as the volume or purchase amounts in each category. Direct marketers seek to explore how past consumer response behavior as well as their targeting actions affects current response patterns. However, considerable heterogeneity is also prevalent in consumer responses and the possible sources of this heterogeneity need to be investigated. With the knowledge of consumer response and the corresponding heterogeneity, direct marketers can devise targeting strategies to attract potential new consumers as well as retain existing consumers. In the first essay of my dissertation (Chapter 2), I model the response behavior of donors in non-profit charity fund-raising in terms of their timing and volume of donations. I show that past donations (both the incidence and volume) and solicitation for alternative causes by non-profits matter in donor responses and the heterogeneity in donation behavior can be explained in terms of individual and community level donor characteristics. I also provide a heuristic approach to target new donors by using a classification scheme for donors in terms of the frequency and amount of donations and then characterize each donor portfolio with corresponding donor characteristics. In the second essay (Chapter 3), I propose a more structural approach in the targeting of customers by direct marketers in the context of customized retail couponing. First I model customer purchase in a retail setting where brand choice decisions in a product category depend on pricing, in-store promotions, coupon targeting as well as the face values of those coupons. Then using a utility function specification for the retailer which implements a trade-off between net revenue (revenue – coupon face value) and information gain, I propose a Bayesian decision theoretic approach to determine optimal customized coupon face values. The optimization algorithm is sequential where past as well as future customer responses affect targeted coupon face values and the direct marketer tries to determine the trade-off through natural experimentation. / text

The tax world as we knew it was turned upside down on 13 September 2007 when the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) announced its decision to deem the right to use an interest-free loan as an amount that accrued to the taxpayers in the case Commissioner for South African Revenue Service v Brummeria Renaissance (Pty) Ltd and others 69 SATC 205. The findings of SCA brought about a “great deal of consternation in the business world” (Loubser, 2007:20). Due to the controversy as a result of this case, SARS drafted an Interpretation Note that illustrates the reasoning and tax treatment of an interest-free loan. On 30 June 2010, Interpretation Note No 58 was finally issued by SARS, providing guidance with regard to “an amount” that “accrues” to a taxpayer for the purposes of the gross income definition. This Interpretation Note will have a significant impact on a number of taxpayers. The purpose of this study is to understand the nature of an interest-free loan and identify its tax implications. The methodology followed in this study will be that of qualitative research. This will be conducted through analyzing the nature of a loan, specifically an interest-free loan, the gross income definition, including the value and timing of such amount, and whether a deduction may be claimed in respect of an interest-free loan. Notwithstanding the above, the study also includes an investigation of other taxes inter alia capital gains tax, donations tax, value-added tax, secondary tax on companies and newly proposed dividends tax. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tax))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.