South Africa's democratic transition towards social and economic equality is under constant scrutiny, challenged by rising levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Since 1994 the African National Congress government has enacted various legislative interventions to change long-established racial distortions of economic opportunity and wealth accumulation, a number of which target business. The response and role of business in such an environment remains contested, both in literature and practice. There were (and are) calls for the role of businesses to evolve beyond narrow profit maximisation to play a more active part in economic and social transformation. Against this backdrop the Financial Sector Charter was collaboratively developed between the industry and its social partners in 2003 as a route map for such change. Employing a critical realism approach with a longitudinal perspective, this qualitative study explores the perspectives of key protagonists of the Financial Sector Charter on their experiences of developing and implementing the initiative: how it came into being, how it was applied and what could be done differently. Based upon semi-structured interviews with senior leaders from industry, government, black business, trade associations, labour and NGOs, the study reveals a number of issues: a deliberate attempt to leverage the capabilities and competitive forces in the industry to drive change; contestation within government over this approach; and a desire to use the capabilities of the industry to “reset” the country's current path of economic transformation. The significance of the study lies in the hitherto undocumented exposure it gives to the perspectives of the people involved in this unusual form of cross-sector social partnership and their efforts to catalyse positive social change not only in the Financial Services industry but in South Africa more broadly.

Financial exclusion remains a challenge in Malawi despite government efforts to increase financial inclusion through the development of policies and the implementation of financial inclusion strategies. Limited information exists on the contribution of these policies and strategies to the promotion financial inclusion. The overall purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which policies and strategies in Malawi promote financial inclusion. The specific objectives of the study were to identify the relevant policies and strategies, determine their objectives, design, strengths and weaknesses, and their contribution to promoting financial inclusion. The study used the Global Microscope 2019 tool on enabling environments for financial inclusion to assess the following policies and strategies: the microfinance policy, the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion – NSFI I (2010-2015), the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion – NSFI II (2016-2020), the National Agriculture Policy – NAP (2016), the National Agriculture Investment Plan – NAIP (2018-2023), the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy – MGDS III (2017-2022), and the National Multi-sector Nutritional Policy (2018-2022). Further, various conceptual frameworks were reviewed, which led to the development of a conceptual framework on the contribution of policies and strategies to financial inclusion. It was determined that the extent to which policies and strategies promote financial inclusion in Malawi varies from high to low. The study concluded that policies and strategies that promote financial inclusion had action plans that focused closely on infrastructure development and government coordination and support. Policies and strategies that lacked stability and integrity in implementation, including those that failed to define financial inclusion clearly and describe the target groups, did not promote financial inclusion. The study recommended that financial inclusion should be mainstreamed in other development policies and strategies to ensure holistic support to the same cause. Key Words: Financial Inclusion, National Financial Inclusion Strategy, policies and strategies, Malawi. / Dissertation (MAgric (Rural Development))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mastercard Foundation Scholarship Programme / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / MAgric (Rural Development) / Unrestricted

Wind farm operators utilize various financial agreements to generate revenue and mitigate risk. These agreements are often based on some estimate of the energy production from the wind farm. A power purchase agreement (PPAs), which is a long-term fixed volume fixed price arrangement, was the most common type of agreement for much of the growth of wind energy in the U.S. Recently, wind turbine power production estimations are relying less on fixed production volumes and PPAs as the basis for energy estimation in financial agreements and more on proxy generation, or an estimate of what the wind farm should make given a set of inflow conditions. These newer types of financial agreements are shifting the focus to when power is produced rather than just how much, and so it is imperative to understand and analyze the errors arising in proxy generation and how it may impact the financial agreements that use proxy generation. This work quantifies the errors in proxy generation and compares two methods of estimating power production, examining the financial impacts of both, for one wind project. These two methods are the nacelle transfer function (NTF) method and the reanalysis data method, which may be used if onsite data is unavailable. The different methods of estimating power production have varying impacts on the financial outcome of the project. Errors in power production estimates that coincide with large price events can result in significant financial impacts for the wind project, and this is more likely to occur with the reanalysis method compared to the NTF method. The results show that the Nacelle Transfer Function (NTF) method of estimating power production via onsite measurements has much less risk of being impacted by a price excursion than the reanalysis data method.

When filing for personal bankruptcy, an individual can, in almost all cases, claim an exemption for retirement assets.  Using the Survey of Consumer Finances from 2007 and 2010, we test the theory that highly educated or financially sophisticated households allocate more resources to retirement assets under conditions of higher probability of filing for personal bankruptcy.  This hypothesis stems from the concept of asset sheltering, in which an individual will demonstrate a preference for assets that are exempt from a particular risk. To address our hypothesis, we run a Heckman model on the Survey of Consumer Finances data.  Our results provide evidence to match our theory for only highly educated or financially sophisticated individuals, conditional on owning retirement assets.  That is, we observe highly educated and financially sophisticated households allocate more resources to retirement accounts when they are at higher risk for bankruptcy.  Other characteristic groups do not demonstrate a similarly strong relationship between the probability of filing for bankruptcy and the level of retirement assets. / Master of Science

Magister Commercii - MCom / Inequality in South Africa has long been recognised as one of the most salient features of our society. Despite many efforts by the government to reduce inequality since our democratic transition in 1994, progress has been limited. The historic patterns of accumulation and economic concentration have continued to feed into South Africa’s patterns of uneven and combined development. Moreover, financial markets in many countries are undeniably incomplete, segmented, and inefficient. This is largely attributed by high transaction costs for both institutions and clients as well as biases against certain parts of the market. Therefore, people will continue to transact outside the formal financial system if they lack easy access and use of formal financial institutions. Private resources are often used in formal areas that provide better access and higher return on investment for private institutions. As a result, the development of the poorest areas remains relatively neglected.

Master`s thesis analyses financial situation of the firm FABORY – CZ and views its financial health. The task of this master`s thesis is to propose solutions leading to the ensuring of financial stability of the company.

The first part of master`s thesis deals with proposal for providing a financial stability of a company. Second part is an application of the analysis to a particular company and designs with result in recovery of problematic spheres and improvement which should improve financial circumstances of the company

Recent studies have indicated that only 6% of South African citizens can maintain their standard of living during retirement. This is of great concern to both the government and individuals. In an attempt to counter this dilemma, the government has implemented several new tax exemptions and deductions to encourage taxpayers to increase their retirement savings. However, uncertainty exists regarding the effectiveness of these exemptions and deductions. For individuals to benefit from same, they will need to be informed on and understand the principles on which they are based. Above all, South African citizens need to grasp the importance of ensuring their financial security during retirement, which will hopefully create a culture of saving for that purpose. South Africans therefore need to increase their level of financial and tax literacy, either by informing themselves in that regard, or by consulting with professionals. This study was conducted from a South African perspective and focused on the probability of financial and tax literacy increasing financial independence during retirement. The data presented in this study was collected by means of two questionnaires, which were emailed to a selection of participants. The purpose of this study was first to determine the financial and tax literacy of South Africans with regard to retirement planning and second, to determine whether financial and tax literacy could increase financial independence during retirement. This study is an empirical study since primary data was collected specifically for this research project. Based on the data obtained by means of the questionnaires, it was concluded that the financial and tax literacy of the majority of South Africans is not sufficient to intentionally benefit from tax-beneficial retirement funds and investments. It was further concluded that although the majority of South Africans are not sufficiently financially literate to be able to optimise their retirement savings, they are willing to improve their level of financial and tax literacy and increase their savings towards retirement once they have been informed and have gained some understanding in this regard. Therefore, financial and tax literacy can potentially increase financial independence during retirement. / Mini Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Taxation / MCom / Unrestricted

Financial management is a very complex issue; at the dawn of democracy the full responsibility for the financial management in public schools was given to school governing bodies. The governing body usually asks the school principal to act as finance manager who executes the financial responsibilities on a daily basis. This puts the principal in a precarious position. The research investigates the role players' understanding of the public school principals' legal responsibilities regarding financial management in Limpopo province. It looks at how the school principals, finance officers and the departmental officials perceive the public school principals' understanding, interpretation and application pertaining to his or her legal responsibilities. It further looks at the knowledge of legislation, reporting of financial expenditure at school level, reporting of financial irregularity cases found in schools, as well as the legal responsibility of financial accountability. A predominantly qualitative research approach with nominal application of the quantitative approach, an interpretive paradigm and multiple case studies allowed the researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of how various role players view or perceive the public school principals' legal responsibilities regarding financial management. I interviewed six principals, six finance officers and six departmental officials about their understanding of the public school principals' legal responsibilities regarding financial management in Limpopo Province. A total of 53 principals, 22 finance officers and four departmental officials successfully completed a questionnaire about their understanding, perceptions and experiences of the public school principals' stipulated legal responsibilities regarding financial management. All these people were involved in the day-to-day management and administration of funds in public schools. Documents such as finance policies, finance files, minute books, school budgets and audited financial statements were analysed to build a clear picture of the state of financial management in the selected public schools. Findings from this study are that there are vast differences in how various role players understand and interpret the public school principals' legal responsibilities regarding financial management in Limpopo. The rationale for having the legislation is to make things uniform and give guidelines. There is a lack of implementation of legal responsibilities by principals who sometimes experience fear of intimidation and victimisation and threat from teacher unions defending their members, SGB and the community. There is lack of knowledge of legislation and sheer ignorance of the law. There are misconceptions that principals in South Africa are accounting officers for everything happening in their respective schools. I found misconceptions of the principals' responsibilities of reporting the financial expenditure and financial mismanagement cases which are not reported, but resolved in schools. There is a culture of non-accountability, non-adherence to prescripts as a result of limited knowledge of legislation, expertise and experience of the principal in financial management. The study has unearthed a number of challenges that are serious concerns for the role players such as the principals, finance officers and the departmental officials regarding financial management. These include issues such as limited understanding, interpretation and application of the law, inadequate knowledge of legislation and financial skills, ignorance of policy and legislation, lack of transparency and openness when dealing with public finances, signing of blank cheques, intimidation, threats and victimisation from victims, teacher unions' interference in the appointment of principals, a lack of proper monitoring and control of expenditure at school level by the principal as well as by departmental officials from circuit level up to provincial level characterise school financial management. Much work remains to be done to close the gaps identified and to make financial management in South African public schools even better. The findings of the study have led to recommendations to assist public school principals, finance officers, school governing body members and departmental officials to understand the legal responsibilities of the principal in this regard better. The recommendations include models for the understanding principals' legal responsibilities in financial management, internal financial control and monitoring in public schools by holding principals accountable for the use of every cent in the schools. Other recommendations include intensive training and capacitating, compliance with legislation and the centralisation of auditing of public school financial books. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

The idea behind the study was to answer the question: how costly is financial distress and what is an appropriate model in quantifying these costs for JSE listed entities? The objective was to find a sample of companies that were purely financially distressed on the bases of interest coverage and then to follow those through the resolution of the distress, to see what happened to them and to quantify how costly those factors were. The analysis was conducted through a robust regression exercise and a time series investigation. Quality control was done through outlier investigations and Benford law distribution to determine human influence on the financial statements. It was found that the average costs of financial distress for JSE listed companies is approximately 16.7% market value per annum. The South African appropriate model for JSE listed companies resulted in the cost of financial distress being inversely related to the change in investment policy, holding of liquid assets, size of an entity and Tobin’s Q ratio, but directly related to the economic effect, probability of financial distress and change in employment policy. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted