Firm closeness or comparability is an important concept to investors. Knowing that two firms have been historically close and observing an information announcement by one of the firms gives the investor cues as to the future performance of the other firm. Furthermore, from a methodological point of view, researchers commonly control for firm--group closeness by using industrial classification schemes such as the SIC. To the extent that these schemes group dissimilar firms, the advantage of using these schemes is undermined. This paper more formally examines the comparability concept and develops two new measures of firm--group accounting closeness. Both measures are based on the co--movement of accounting fundamentals. I provide insight regarding the extent to which the SIC and GIC schemes group similar firms. Furthermore, a trading strategy utilizing information in the measures is developed and tested. Results indicate that, when industry closeness is high enough, abnormal returns in the range of 1-3% over a 1-3 day window can be earned around leader information announcement dates. Finally, I contribute to the contagion/information transfer literature, most notably Gleason et al. (2008), by showing that the contagion effects of accounting information announcements are increasing in the closeness of the industry.

This research focuses on the measurement of the non-observed economic activities by sector of South Africa for the 2011 and 2016 calendar years. The purpose of the research is to determine whether the current GDP as estimated by Statistics South Africa is under- or overestimated when considering the non-observed economy. The research is based on the 2008 System of National Accounts as it determines the guidelines, definitions and characteristics of the “Non-observed economy (NOE)” sector and it allows national accountants to use/supplement the research in the estimates of the GDP. This research follows a quantitative methodology where several surveys of Statistics South Africa are used. Where lack of data exists, some administrative data is used regarding the illegal activities. The findings of the research is that the total economy of South Africa is underestimated when taking into account the NOE activities. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)