This paper identifies the statistically significant determinants for audit fees in the South African market by regressing audit fees against a selected set of determinant variables. This study is not the first investigating the South African market and so broadens the existing body of research both within the country as well as the global body of research. Determinant variables identified in prior research across the globe were used to establish the existence of a relationship in the local market. This study further extended the local body of research by considering the implication of audit timing and location on the audit fee as well as using more recent data. A positive statistically significant relationship was found between audit fees, asset value, proportion of assets held as inventory and accounts receivables and the number of subsidiaries. In contrast to prior local research, results showed that a large audit firm fee premium did not exist. This was shown to be due to the commoditisation of auditing, cost pressures from companies and increased competition within the audit market. Audits within the Gauteng region were priced at a premium to other provinces whilst the timing of the audit has a statistically significant impact on the audit fee. The validity of the model has improved in comparison to prior South African studies as a result of audit fees being further driven by audit complexity than by size of the auditee.

The disparity in remuneration between company CEOs and other employees is a topical and highly controversial issue globally. Theoretically, there are two explanations for this pay disparity - tournament theory and behavioural theory. Tournament theory says that employees are more motivated to compete with a larger pay gap, while the behavioural theories say that employees feel inadequate and thus demotivated in the presence of a larger pay gap, resulting in poorer performance. In response to growing concerns about the pay gap, new legislation in the USA has required companies to disclose their pay ratios1 in their financial statements, which is also likely to come to South Africa. As a means to explore CEO pay ratios in a South African context, a study of the determinants and performance effects of companies' CEO pay ratios was conducted in the Consumer Goods and Consumer Services subsectors on the JSE. Data was collected on companies for the period 2006 to 2014 and pay ratios were estimated for each company where the data allowed. Due to the complexity of CEO remuneration, three different pay ratios were calculated, which differed in how long-term incentive payments were treated in each case. Using the same method as Shin, Kang, Hyun, & Kim (2015) used in their South Korean study, three different analyses were conducted. Firstly, the factors determining pay ratios were analysed in a regression analysis, which found CEO tenure, companies' future investment opportunities and company size to be key determinants of pay ratios. Secondly, the deviations from companies' expected pay ratios were regressed against subsequent company performance to see whether CEOs being paid the, "wrong," amount relative to employees affects company performance. It was found that deviations from the expected pay ratio negatively affected company performance, and there was no difference in performance between under- and over-paying CEOs relative to employees. Finally, as a means to test whether tournament theory or behavioural theories better explain the CEO pay ratio in South Africa, subsequent company performance was regressed against the three different pay ratios calculated. It was found that there is little evidence of a relationship between subsequent company performance and the pay ratio, except in the case where performance is measured by return on assets, and the pay ratio is measured such that it excludes long-term incentives completely. The relationship in this case was found to be positive, indicating that tournament theory better explained the relationship between pay ratios and company performance. One of the limitations of this study was the limited availability of data, which gives rise to self-selection bias.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves107-113). / Extensive research has been conducted in a variety of countries investigating the extent of underpricing of initially listed companies. In addition, various studies have been conducted in an attempt to try and establish the relationship between disclosure and underpricing. Underpricing remains a vexing issue that continues to stimulate rigorous debate within economic and accounting research. This study seeks to remedy the omission of recent South African research on this subject. The study looks to establish whether underpricing has occurred on the Alternative Exchange of South Africa, (AltX). The AltX was launched on 27 October 2003, as the junior exchange to the larger Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The study follows the methodology of a previous South African study, by Barlow and Sparks (1986), which looked at the underpricing of shares on the JSE between the periods 1972 to 1986. This study looks at establishing underpricing on the AltX, during the periods October 2003 to March 2007.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-41). / My research question is: "An investigation into the use of derivatives by the 2nd 100 largest listed companies in South Africa" as this is where I have been positioned in the group that is undertaking this research. I will endeavor through this research report to establish not only which companies are using derivatives but through a review of the Annual Financial Statements "AFS" also the reason for the use of derivatives whether only to hedge against for example market risk or whether the companies are using derivatives to speculate. I will also compare the use of derivatives by this subset of South African companies with other studies including those with medium or large companies. I will review the current accounting standards to understand and outline the requirements for these companies. I will also summarise a sample of the previously published papers internationally which delved into a similar topic.

Includes bibliographical references / There is a plethora of academic literature on the relationship between a collective investment scheme's (or mutual fund) size and its risk-adjusted performance but the research has produced contradictory results with no apparent consensus. Data from a sample size of 100 (one hundred) collective investment schemes in the Association for Savings and Investments (South Africa) ("ASISA"), SA Equity General Fund classification group over a 10 (ten) year period was analysed using regression techniques and ranking analysis to examine whether there was any prime facie relationship between the fund size and the risk-adjusted performance of South African collective investment schemes. The regression analysis found no statistically significant correlation between fund size and risk-adjusted performance. However, the results of the ranking analysis suggested a possible inverted U-Shape relationship between collective investment scheme fund size and risk-adjusted performance. This therefore presents an argument for an optimal fund size range of between R912,267,649.3 and R1,930,696,676 (about 1 - 2 billion Rand) in assets under management to maximise risk-adjusted performance.

This research paper investigates whether or not the Price-to-Book/ Return on Equity ratio is constant across the banking, retail, pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors. The study makes use of statistical tests to determine if the ratio is constant. In addition, the research paper investigates the explicatory powers of the DuPont model, the Federal interest rate, and Consumer price inflation of the Price-to-Book/ Return on Equity ratio. This research documents evidence that the Price-to-Book/Return on Equity ratio is not constant across sectors and that the explicatory powers of the DuPont model differ from sector to sector. The implications of these findings are that investors cannot apply the same Price-to-Book/ Return on Equity ratio across sectors when evaluating stocks relative to each other.

This study analyses earnings forecast accuracy and bias, and the determinants of earnings forecast accuracy, for firms listed on the Alternative Exchange (AltX) in South Africa.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This paper pays special attention to banking the unbanked population in the developing markets through branchless banking. This form of banking is defined as the delivery of financial services outside conventional bank branches using information and communications technologies and nonbank retail agents. The services offered take a variety of forms including long-distance remittances, micropayments, and informal airtime bartering schemes for example: mobile banking, mobile transfers, and mobile payments. Using Kenya’s M-PESA as the lead case study, the impact of combining the use of mobile network operators and banks has proved to be effective.

New evidence suggests that share returns are cross-sectionally predictable in that shares which appear to be inexpensive relative to the company's underlying values (value shares), out-perform those shares that are perceived to provide substantial growth in the long run (growth shares). The magnitude of the return premium suggests that these returns are induced by factors other than risk or perhaps suggests that our measures of risk are incorrect. There now seems to be little doubt that the new evidence indicates that the cross-section of average returns are predictable and that abnormal returns can be obtained by holding value shares. This is the value-growth phenomenon. The existence of this phenomenon casts doubt on the two major paradigms of modem finance, the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Efficient Market Hypothesis. There has been limited empirical testing in South Africa as to the existence of this internationally observed phenomenon. This study's objective is to investigate whether or not this value-growth phenomenon exists on the JSE. The study examined monthly excess returns on portfolios of value and growth shares over the period 1987 to 1996. The ratio of a company's market value to its book value of common equity was used as the measure of value and growth. The conclusions of this research study indicate that a value-growth phenomenon does exist on the JSE and that the existence of superior returns by value shares is especially marked in the period post 1992 when South Africa returned to the international financial arena.

Includes bibliographical references. / This study considers the completeness of Ferreira and Otley's (2009) evaluative framework, designed to identify the performance management and management control issues in organisations. There is growing criticism in the literature that Ferreira and Otley's (2009) framework is essentially technocratic in nature, ignores socio-ideological controls such as organisational culture and clans, and needs to be combined with a social science perspective. Consequently, this study reviews the literature pertaining to certain socioideological controls, using a multi-disciplinary approach which focuses particularly on the social sciences. Combining insights obtained from the literature, the study then applies Ferreira and Otley's (2009) framework in an empirical case study setting, assessing the extent to which the framework can identify the performance management and control issues in a small South African knowledge-intensive company. Findings from the study suggest that Ferreira and Otley's (2009) framework is indeed deficient in that it is not able to identify cultural controls, clan controls and personnel controls. The possible implications of the cultural paradigm for control system design, contingency theory, and the general management control framework are also discussed.