Yes / The paper examines the level of financial development of initial twenty shortlisted smart cities in India. • Results of the study revealed high inter-state and intra-state inequality as the cities with high FSI values and those with low FSI values are both located in the developed western and southern states. • A similar mixed picture emerges even for the less developed low income states such as Madhya Pradesh. • The study also highlighted large inter-state variations across the smart cities in financial development. • For a holistic approach to smart city development, a vibrant and developed financial sector is required.

Yes

Thesis (PhD.(Economics) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2013

The USA's financial and economic crisis spilled over and resulted into a "global" financial crisis (GFC) that impacted several developed and developing countries. Regarding the latter, trade affairs have been identified as being a major growth component for the economies of developing countries. In particular, numerous studies have highlighted the importance and benefits of international trade on a country's path to promote economic growth rates. In lieu of the above, the main aim of this study is to assess the impact of this crisis on the South African steel trade industry, with special emphasis on the periods 'before', 'during' and 'after' the GFC. Through efficient targeting of a specific sector and its industry within the South African economy, government entities would be able to determine the extent that they could gain effective targeting and allocation of resources. Past research papers, relevant theoretical frameworks and data have been taken into consideration to form the basis of our analyses. In essence, we analysed the South African economy as a whole and tried to identify its relationship with the trade industry during this study period. Therefore, a composition of South Africa's economic activities and an economic profile was also determined and discussed. In addition. we implemented Porter's competitive strategy and diamond theory, to identify whether the South African steel trade industry has a competitive advantage. From the analyses we concluded that the steel trade industry of South Africa was adversely impacted in 2009. the 'during' period of the GFC and showed the 'after' period as the recovering period for the industry. Evidently, there is a positive correlation between the steel trade industry of South Africa and the country's economy ' before', during' and after' periods of the GFC. This positive correlation can be contributed to the trade sector's influence on the economy's overall state, as imports and exports have been identified as a key aspect to economic growth, and vice versa. Identified recommendations include the need for more research on the South African steel trade industry's competitors, in order to realize possible opportunities for the industry itself and realize increased growth patterns, as well as extensive promotion that could lead to amplifying trade flows benefiting the South African economy. / Thesis (M.Com. (Economics) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

There are many obstacles to survival and growth of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) dealing in services, one of which is the financial aspect. The current study evaluates how these four aspects fair with regard to SMMEs as well as how they contribute to performance. The findings from the literature review enabled the researcher identify the financial aspect as being composed of funding, financial planning, financial records maintenance, and working capital management. The findings from the primary study enabled the researcher identify working capital and funding as being the two aspects of financial aspect that contributed immensely to the performance of SMMEs in the services sector. Funding was also identified as being the biggest challenge to survival of SMMEs. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2010

This study extends previous work which attempted to describe why different managers use different accounting techniques (for financial reporting purposes only). The focus is accounting changes, specifically depreciation changes, both to and from accelerated methods. Seven hypotheses are proposed. Three of them predict a negative relationship between a manager's use of accelerated depreciation and (1) the firm's debt/equity ratio, (2) the existence of a bonus plan based on accounting income and (3) the potential impact of a depreciation change on earnings. These three hypotheses are referred to as H(D/E), H(BONUS) and H(IMPACT), respectively. The other four hypotheses predict a positive relationship between a manager's use of accelerated depreciation and (1) firm size, (2) the degree of voting control exercised by insiders, (3) the strength of current earnings relative to the preceding year's, and (4) industry-wide barriers to entry. These are referred to as H(SIZE), H(CTRL), H(EPS) and H(BTE), respectively. Designating accelerated as A and straight-line as S, the (tax/book) depreciation changes studied are the switch from S/S to A/A in 1954 and the switches from A/A to A/S in 1968 and 1969. All seven hypotheses were jointly tested with respect to the A/A to A/S changes in 1968 and 1969. The 1968 multivariate results indicate varying degrees of support for all the hypotheses except H(BTE), while the 1969 multivariate results support only H(D/E), H(BONUS) and H(SIZE). Only five hypotheses were jointly tested with respect to the change from S/S in 1954 (not H BONUS or H BTE ). Support is offered for H(SIZE), H(D/E) and H(CTRL), but not for H(EPS) or H(IMPACT). Further, the 1954 support is strongest when the 1968/1969 "switchback" firms are excluded from the analysis; that is, when the sample includes only firms which consistently used S as opposed to A for book purposes both before and after 1968-1969. Additional analyses used 1968 data for firms which switched from A/A to A/S in 1969. These "prior year" analyses reveal little new information except to suggest that the D/E ratio of the 1969 "switchers" rose significantly in 1969 from its 1968 level.

Victimisation at work is a problem able to cause mental illness and the victims often search for vindication, where different regulations can be actualized. The purpose of this essay is to examine the legal framework to show the possibilities to vindication and financial compensation, for an individual exposed for victimisation. Also female-dominated professions possibilities to vindication and financial compensation are examined, especially how it will be affected by the regulation Organizational and social work environment (AFS 2015:4). The method that has been used to fulfil the purposes of the essay is the method of jurisprudence. To fulfil the second purpose the sociology of law was also applied. The result of the essay showed that the regulations hold different possibilities to vindication and financial compensation. However the individual often meet with obstacles. The result also showed that the possibilities to vindicaition and financial compensation for female-dominated professions are effected by the new regulation Organizational and social work environment. The final conclusion is thus, that the legal framework does not provide any distinct way for vindication or financial compensation for victimisation.

This study examines whether financial reporting, in its present state, complies with the modern farmer's need for efficient financial management. Although decision making is the ultimate outcome, the emphasis in this study is on the way the presentation and interpretation of financial reporting assist that outcome. The following issues are addressed to establish the usefulness of agricultural financial statements: (1) the nature and quality of current financial statements in agriculture (2) the stakeholders in need of financial management information (3) the methods used to acquire financial information for management purposes (4) new trends in the presentation of financial statements The following are some interesting facts emanating from the study: (1) Farmers must realise that they are principal users of their financial reports. (2) Financial decision making can only be done if financial statements are presented timeously, and are accurate and comprehensible. (3) Farm managers need to keep up with the changing financial and technological environment in which they operate. / Auditing / M.Comm (Accounting))

This research identifies and quantifies horizontal and vertical inequities resulting from selected owner-occupied housing tax policies though micro-simulation. The simulations are spread sheet constructions underpinned by the respective UK and US tax systems. Within each country-specific simulation case families are established varying with regard to income levels and investment choices. The specific tax policies analysed are the acquisition taxes, property taxes, elements specific to housing affecting income taxes (i.e. mortgage interest relief) and capital gains taxes. In addition to the specific tax policies, the overall tax obligations (the sum of the four specific taxes) are considered. The time frame of the study is a twenty-year period from 1990 through 2009. A recurring theme in the literature is that homeowners ought to be taxed as investors in rental properties to ensure tenure neutrality or, alternatively, taxed as any other investor to ensure tax neutrality. This research considers the corresponding effects on horizontal and vertical equity by modifying the UK and US tax systems for increased levels of neutrality through further micro-simulation analysis. Finally, the respective owner-occupied housing tax policy changes and reforms that occurred within the twenty-year period studied are evaluated in terms of enhancements to or hindrances of horizontal and vertical equity. This is accomplished by simulating sixteen five-year periods within the twenty-year time frame and evaluating horizontal and vertical equity on a within-country and a cross- country basis. What appears to be lacking in the literature is an extensive comparative analysis of the specific owner-occupied housing tax policies and their interrelationship with respect to the complex overall tax system in which they are present. The aim of this research is to contribute to the middle/high range of comparative analytical work. The research is set within a comprehensive theoretical framework and systematically ii compares the two countries’ specific tax policies and their overall impact on the respective tax systems. The methodology used is consistent between the two countries, ensuring a robust dual-nation comparison. The US specific tax policies relevant to homeownership and the overall tax system were found to have greater inherent horizontal inequities when compared with the UK tax policies and tax system. Both countries’ specific tax systems were found to have varying inherent vertical inequities. The UK homeowner occupiers experience more vertical equity (progressivity) in the acquisition tax system when compared with the US investors. Conversely, the US homeowner occupiers experience more vertical equity (progressivity) in the property tax, income tax and capital gains tax systems. Overall, the US investors experience a more progressive tax system when compared directly with the UK investors. The abolition of the UK Mortgage Interest Relief at Source (MIRAS) resulted in a less progressive income tax system for homeowner occupiers but one that is more horizontally equitable with other investors. The erosion of the benefits realised from the US mortgage interest and real estate tax deductions has resulted in a more vertically and horizontally equitable income tax system for all but the most wealthy. Vertical equity was improved by the adoption of the UK council tax in that it is a less regressive form of property taxation when compared with its predecessor. The recent reforms to the UK stamp duty (land tax) have made the system of acquisition taxation more vertically equitable but have exacerbated the horizontal inequity of the system with respect to other capital investors. The US capital gains tax system as it relates to the homeowner occupier changed significantly with the Tax Reform Act of 1997, resulting in a simpler but less equitable system depending on circumstances. With regard to the equity of the overall tax systems of the two countries, the UK’s progressivity has decreased while the horizontal equity has improved during the twenty-year period, whereas the progressivity of the US system has remained relatively flat with an improvement in horizontal equity. iii The author concludes with a call for the gradual repeal of the mortgage interest relief in the US, a subsidy shown to be extremely vertically inequitable in this study and one that was estimated to cost the exchequer $79 million in lost tax revenue in 2010 by the US Office for Management and Budget. While a taxable imputed rental income may be theoretically optimal, the well-recognised administrative and compliance issues associated with such tax reform make it untenable. Therefore, the second best option and the one adopted by the UK and most other developed nations, is not to allow a deduction for a cost in generating untaxed income. This research contributes a unique synthesis of methodological techniques to the housing equity literature. The combined analyses of horizontal equity under the classical definition with the chosen structural and distributional techniques in evaluating vertical equity have never been done before. The analysis of the overall tax system comprising four specific tax systems is also original in this area of research and employs the Suits (1977) method for determining overall progressivity. There is an attempt within this research to replicate the results derived from the Suits indices by similarly extending the structural indices, thus testing the transferability of the methodology established by Suits. This is the first attempt to extend the structural indices established decades earlier to researcher’s knowledge. The results from two of the three structural measures are inconsistent with each other and the results from the Suits indices and therefore not believed to be informative. However, the results from the extended Liability Progression of both countries are indeed consistent with the results of Suits indices. This is an interesting research observation and may be indicative of the transferability of the Suits methodology. This area of research continues to be discussed by academics and policymakers given the conflicting underpinning theories and continued fiscal favouritism in many developed countries. This research area has become even more topical in the last few years given the recent financial crisis. The multi-layered, comparative micro-simulation technique employed within this research provides a solid platform from which to appraise conventional wisdoms and proposals for future policy with regard to owner-occupied housing taxation and beyond.

Does the way people earn money affect their economic decisions? The main contribution of this thesis is to provide new evidence that the way people earn money affects their decision-making. Standard economic theory generally assumes that money is fungible – that is, each unit of money is a perfect substitute for another. Fungibility thus predicts that source of income should have no influence on individual decision-making. On the other hand, Prospect theory determines the value of same prospect as gain or loss relative to the reference point. Prospect theory predicts a significant source of income on individual decision-making if source of income shifts the reference point. This thesis has focused on investigating whether source of income affects (a) individual risk-preference, which governs individual decision-making under risk; and (b) individual time-preference, which governs individual intertemporal decision-making. From a series of real-effort laboratory experiments, I find that subjects are more risk-averse and more patient concerning hard-earned money than with easily earned money consistent with Prospect theory and loss aversion.