In the US, regulations on the writing of “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” (MD&A) are being strengthened after the eruption of numerous financial scandals (e.g. Enron). For this reason, the traditional backward-looking reporting model gave way to a forward-looking one that is more reader-oriented. In this study, an investigation of the lexico-grammatical features used by organizations of different financial capabilities to present prospective information in the MD&A was conducted. Using Bhatia’s (2004) Critical Genre Analysis and an adapted legitimation taxonomy based on Castello and Lozano’s (2011) and Beattie, McInnes, and Fearnley’s (2004) studies, the lexical verbs, tenses, and aspect used by the top three (Exxon Mobil, Walmart, Chevron) and bottom three (Nash-Finch, KeyCorp, Molina Healthcare) companies on the 2012 Fortune 500 list were compared. The quantitative and qualitative findings showed that the linguistic practices of the top-performers and bottom-performers were largely similar. In terms of rhetoric types, strategic rhetoric dominated the corpora while dialectic and institutional rhetoric came in second and last respectively. As for lexical verbs, activity, existence, and occurrence verbs were found to be consistently used across rhetoric types and temporal spaces. With regard to tense and aspect, it was found that constructions that are typically used to refer to the present, such as the simple present and present progressive tenses, were more commonly used to express futurity rather than the simple future tense, modals, or conditionals. Although resembling features were shared by both groups, a few findings from the top-performers’ corpus did suggest that the top-performers were more assertive in their creation of possible futures. 2 / published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Financial literacy Financial illiteracy among the population is a painful problem, probably in every country in the world, including Czech Republic. The first part of this work intends to define financial literacy as a subject of andragogy. The next parts are concerned with various researches regarding financial literacy, mostly from the United States and from the Czech Republic. Then, many projects, that shall improve financial literacy among Czech population, are going to be observed and compared. We will see how the main three sectors (the state, commercial subjects and the NGO's) are cooperating in order to achieve the common goals in spreading the financial literacy. The last part of this work is about dividing the population into various groups on the basis of their financial literacy level.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D.Com.(Financial Management))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-204).

Thesis (M Ed)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Joyce Herbeck. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-50).

M.Com. (Financial Management) / Economically active individuals are frequently faced with the responsibility of making financial decisions which may dramatically impact their financial wellbeing. In today’s world of complex financial products and individuals increasingly being responsible for their own financial wellbeing, higher levels of financial literacy are of the utmost importance. The main aim of this study will be to determine whether students who study towards a diploma in a finance-related field have higher financial literacy levels than those studying towards a diploma in field of study that is not finance-related. A quantitative research methodology will be employed to the study in the form of a survey. The population includes all the diplomas presented on the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Bunting Road campus, and the sample consists of one finance-related diploma and two non-finance-related diplomas. Although the results of the study, in line with previous research, indicated that the finance group performed better than the non-finance group, the margin was smaller than expected and the average financial literacy score of both groups was low. Students performed the worst in the savings and borrowings and the best in the basic concepts content area. Many of the demographic and background characteristics identified by previous research to influence financial literacy could not be analysed as there was not enough variation or adequate representation within the total sample. In contrast to previous research many of the remaining demographic and background characteristics that could be analysed did not influence financial literacy. Only language (Sotho) and funding (NSFAS and my parents and/or family paid) were found to influence financial literacy levels. As this study indicates that the financial literacy levels of final year diploma students in South Africa are low, higher education might have to consider introducing a financial curriculum to increase financial literacy.

Magister Commercii - MCom / In this thesis I explored the teaching of debt literacy, a sub-topic of Financial Literacy Education. To do this, I used an arts-based framework to experiment with teaching debt literacy using poetry. Prior to the main poetry intervention, I explored several arts-based approaches such as frozen scenes, image theatre and drama-based pedagogies but I eventually settled on using poetry. Poetry as an arts-based approach to research within the field of financial literacy education is the research design. These two poems are produced as knowledge artefacts that can be used in further research studies or even by current students as teaching aids.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008 / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-139).

This thesis argues that consumer financial literacy is not a solution but a tool that mystifies and supports the very problems it could help solve: exploitation, economic crises, the spread of neoliberalism, alienation and the further disempowerment of the citizen. The characterization and implementation of financial literacy programs influence the resources and subjectivities that we use to act, see, reflect, create the world and create ourselves, resources and subjectivities that should support our free actions and enable us to do more than conform to the dictates of capital and be more than neoliberal entrepreneurial consumers. In the place of consumer financial literacy, we need a critical financial literacy that supports active citizens. The citizen is not the alienated investor or consumer who can only choose what the market provides; instead, he or she can assist in altering or abolishing the market to create a new economic system that offers better choices. A critical financial literacy would encourage citizens to reflect on and transform the social relations of production in order to create a world, free from capital’s dictates, in which individuals are as free from necessity as possible and better able to develop their human capacities to the fullest.