Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / This paper evaluated the relationship between the Chief Executive Officer’s gender and firm performance. This study was conducted by evaluating the differential effect of CEO’s gender and sales turnover, share price and net profit. The study was deemed necessary because related researches in South Africa did not address the relationship between gender and variables such as turnover, share price and net profit. Hence this research focuses on the evaluation of the differential effect between CEO's gender and the corporate turnover, share price and net profit. The methodological approach used in this study was the quantitative approach. Data were collected from the archives of Socially Responsible Investing Index companies in the JSE. The T-test of difference was applied for data analysis of sixteen (16) selected companies. Three specific objectives were examined as follows: (1) To evaluate the relationship between the CEO's gender and company turnover (2) To assess the relationship, the CEO's gender and share price (3) To examine the relationship between the CEO's gender and net profit. Findings from the statistical analysis revealed that there is no significant relationship between CEO gender and sales turnover. It was further identified that no relationship exists between CEO gender and share price. It was also discovered that there is no differential effect between CEO gender and net profit. Findings from statistical analysis revealed that P-Value was greater than 5 percent indicating that there was no significant relationship between CEO gender and sales turnover, share price and net profit. This means that within the companies examined, CEO gender had no influence on sales turnover, share price and net profit. Based on the findings above, women CEOs can perform as well as the men CEOs. Therefore, women should be afforded the CEO’s positions as their presence have no negative effect on firm performance. Key words: CEO gender, firm performance, sales turnover, share price, net profit, JSE listed companies, corporate profitability, shareholder value and gender stereotyping.

Thesis (MScEng (Industrial Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Several studies have shown that abnormal returns can be generated simply by buying past winning stocks and selling past losing stocks. Being able to predict future price behaviour by past price movements represents a direct challenge to the Efficient Market Hypothesis, a centrepiece of contemporary finance. Fund managers have attempted to exploit this effect, but reliable footage of the performance of such funds is very limited. Several academic studies have documented the presence of the momentum effect across different markets and between different periods. These studies employ trading rules that might be helpful to establish whether the momentum effect is present in a market or not, but have limited practical value as they ignore several practical constraints. The number of shares in the portfolios formed by academic studies is often impractical. Some studies (e.g. Conrad & Kaul, 1998) require holding a certain percentage of every share in the selection universe, resulting in an extremely large number of shares in the portfolios. Others create portfolios with as little as three shares (e.g. Rey & Schmid, 2005) resulting in portfolios that are insufficiently diversified. All academic studies implicitly require extremely high portfolio turnover rates that could cause transaction costs to dissipate momentum profits and lead the returns of such strategies to be taxed at an investor’s income tax rate rather than her capital gains tax rate. Depending on the tax jurisdiction within which the investor resides these tax ramifications could represent a tax difference of more than 10 percent, an amount that is unlikely to be recovered by any investment strategy. Critics of studies documenting positive alpha argue that momentum returns may be due to statistical biases such as data mining or due to risk factors not effectively captured by the standard CAPM. The empirical tests conducted in this study were therefore carefully designed to avoid every factor that could compromise the results and hinder a meaningful interpretation of the results. For example, small-caps were excluded to avoid the small firm effect from influencing the results and the tests were conducted on two different samples to avoid data mining from being a possible driver. Previous momentum studies generally used long/short strategies. It was found, however, that momentum strategies generally picked short positions in volatile and illiquid stocks, making it difficult to effectively estimate the transaction costs involved with holding such positions. For this reason it was chosen to test a long-only strategy. Three different strategies were tested on a sample of JSE mid-and large-caps on a replicated S&P500 index between January 2000 and September 2009. All strategies yielded positive abnormal returns and the null hypothesis that feasible momentum strategies cannot generate statistically significant abnormal returns could be rejected at the 5 percent level of significance for all three strategies on the JSE sample. However, further analysis showed that the momentum profits were far more pronounced in “up” markets than in “down” markets, leaving macroeconomic risk as a possible explanation for the vast returns generated by the strategy. There was ample evidence for the January anomaly being a possible driver behind the momentum returns derived from the S&P500 sample. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Verskillende studies het gewys dat abnormale winste geskep kan word deur eenvoudig voormalige wenner aandele te koop en voormalige verloorder aandele te verkoop. Die moontlikheid om toekomstige prysgedrag te voorspel deur na prysbewegings uit die verlede te kyk is ‘n direkte uitdaging teen die “Efficient Market Hypothesis”, wat ’n kernstuk van hedendaagse finansies is. Fondsbestuurders het gepoog om hierdie effek te benut, maar akademiese ondersteuning vir die gedrag van sulke fondse is uiters beperk. Verskeie akademiese studies het die teenwoordigheid van die momentum effek in verskillende markte en oor verskillende periodes uitgewys. Hierdie akademiese studies benut handelsreëls wat gebruik kan word om te bepaal of die momentum effek wel in die mark teenwordig is al dan nie, maar is van beperkte waarde aangesien hulle verskeie praktiese beperkings ignoreer. Sommige studies (Conrad & Kaul, 1998) vereis dat 'n sekere persentasie van elke aandeel in die seleksie-universum gehou moet word, wat in oormatige groot aantal aandele in die portefeulle tot gevolg het. Ander skep portefeuljes met so min as drie aandele (Rey & Schmid, 2005), wat resulteer in onvoldoende gediversifiseerde portefeuljes. Die hooftekortkoming van alle akademiese studies is dat hulle portefeulleomsetverhoudings van hoër as 100% vereis wat daartoe sal lei dat winste uit sulke strategieë teen die belegger se inkomstebelastingskoers belas sal word in plaas van haar kapitaalaanwinskoers. Afhangende van die belastingsjurisdiksie waaronder die belegger val, kan hierdie belastingseffek meer as 10% beloop, wat nie maklik deur enige belegginsstrategie herwin kan word nie. Kritici van studies wat abnormale winste dokumenteer beweer dat sulke winste ‘n gevolg kan wees van statistiese bevooroordeling soos die myn van data, of as gevolg van risikofaktore wat nie effektief deur die standaard CAPM bepaal word nie. Die empiriese toetse is dus sorgvuldig ontwerp om enige faktor uit te skakel wat die resultate van hierdie studie sal kan bevraagteken en ‘n betekenisvolle interpretasie van die resultate kan verhinder. Die toetse sluit byvoorbeeld sogenaamde “small-caps” uit om die klein firma effek uit te skakel, en die toetse is verder op twee verskillende monsters uitgevoer om myn van data as ‘n moontlke dryfveer vir die resultate uit te skakel. Normaalweg toets akademiese studies lang/ kort nulkostestrategieë. Dit is gevind dat momentum strategieë oor die algemeen kort posisies kies in vlugtige en nie-likiede aandele, wat dit moeilik maak om die geassosieerde transaksiekoste effektief te bepaal. Daar is dus besluit om ’n “lang-alleenlik” strategie te toets. Drie verskillende strategieë is getoets op ‘n steekproef van JSE “mid-caps” en “large-caps” en op ‘n gerepliseerde S&P500 index tussen Januarie 2000 en September 2009. Alle strategieë het positiewe abnormale winste opgelewer, en die nul hipotese dat momentum strategieë geen statisties beduidende abnormale winste kan oplewer kon op die 5% vlak van beduidendheid vir al drie strategieë van die JSE monster verwerp word. Verdere analiese het wel getoon dat momentumwinste baie meer opvallend vertoon het in opwaartse markte as in afwaartse markte, wat tot die gevolgtrekking kan lei dat makro-ekonomiese risiko ‘n moontlike verklaring kan wees. Daar was genoegsaam bewyse vir die Januarie effek as ‘n moontlike dryfveer agter die momentum-winste in die S&P500 monster.

Enterprise risk management (ERM) has emerged as a distinct model for managing a sophisticated portfolio of corporate risks. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of ERM on firm value for companies on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. The sample comprised forty-five firms from different industries over the period 2000-2016. Most studies used five or ten-year periods, using data derived from only one industry. Tobin’s Q was used as a proxy for firm value. Multivariate regression analysis was employed to determine statistical relationships. The findings indicate a significant correlation between ERM and Tobin’s Q, indicating that ERM significantly contributes to firm value. These findings may be used to develop and shape ERM policy frameworks for firms and countries. The study provides new insights, from an African emerging market context on the value effects of ERM. Larger and international samples may improve future studies. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Magister Commercii - MCom / Diversification is one of the more familiar concepts in finance because of its ability to curtail risk towards investors. However, for diversification to be efficient, the assets combined should have inversely related price movements. In the same light, previous research done on international portfolio diversification has consistently found that having investments diversified across different global markets that have low to medium correlations helps to get as close to an optimal portfolio as possible. However, previous research also indicates that both global financial integration and exogenous shocks increase correlations among international markets, hence negating the benefits of international portfolio diversification to an extent. Therefore, with global integration on the rise, coupled with economic and political instability in some BRICS nations, the research examines these factors and gauges the current viability of international portfolio diversification from the perspective of a South African investor.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The value added statement is published by about 200 of the 400 companies listed in the industrial sector on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. This is the highest incidence of publication of such statements reported to date. It appears from a literature review that the usefulness of the statement has never been tested in depth from the perspective of the users. The importance of this study stems from the increased incidence of publication of the statement in South Africa and the lack of evidence substantiating its usefulness. The study aims to investigate the usefulness of the value added statement in South Africa from the perspective of all the different users of external financial information. The literature review revealed that, although the value added statement is based on the theory of value added and was aimed at broadening the scope of financial reporting, it did not develop to the point of being governed by statutory requirements. This resulted in diverse accounting treatment in the statement and the resultant loss of consistency and comparability, which gave an early indication from the literature that value added statements might not be very useful. The usefulness of the value added statement was evidenced by users actually using the statement and the explanatory and predictive power of value added information. No reliable evidence of users actually using the statement was found in the literature. Evidence was found that value added information had greater predictive and explanatory power than earnings, but these findings were found to be inconclusive. A questionnaire survey among users representing the South African users of external financial reports revealed little evidence of actual use of the value added statement. The general usage trend from past to present, was to use the statement less rather than more. More than fifty percent of the respondents do not intend to use the statement in future, even if the shortcomings experienced could be overcome. The major reason for this lack of support for the value added statement seems to be the shortcomings experienced by the users when publishing and using the statement, which stems mainly from the lack of statutory requirements. Another reason is that the value added statement introduces very little information that is not already available from the other financial statements. The predictive and explanatory power of value added information was examined by doing statistical analysis on empirical data of South African listed companies. This analysis indicated that value added information did not have additional explanatory and predictive power when compared to earnings and that the high inter-correlation between value added and earnings prevented value added from being used in prediction models in combination with earnings. The predictive and explanatory power of value added information is therefore limited. This research study could not find sufficient evidence of the usefulness of value added statements to justify their continued publication, neither could it find significant support for future use. It is therefore suggested that the publication of the statement be discontinued and that additional information be included in the income statement disclosures to accommodate this.

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of the research is to compare the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies with the profitability and size of the top 100 companies over a four year period. The research is limited to the availability of quality information on employees in the financial statements of companies. A literature study is followed by an emperical inquiry into a comparison of the reporting on employees with the profitability and size of companies. The results reflect the following: * the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies does not inevitably show an increase; * a significant relationship exist between the size and profitability of companies; * the role of reporting on the employees of companies is significant with regards to profit determination; and * some of the companies performed uniquely with regards to the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies. / Accounting / M.Comm.(Accounting)

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of the research is to compare the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies with the profitability and size of the top 100 companies over a four year period. The research is limited to the availability of quality information on employees in the financial statements of companies. A literature study is followed by an emperical inquiry into a comparison of the reporting on employees with the profitability and size of companies. The results reflect the following: * the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies does not inevitably show an increase; * a significant relationship exist between the size and profitability of companies; * the role of reporting on the employees of companies is significant with regards to profit determination; and * some of the companies performed uniquely with regards to the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies. / Accounting / M.Comm.(Accounting)

This dissertation reflects the results of a study during which the 2006 annual reports of the top-40 JSE listed companies, were assessed for their disclosure of the required corporate governance statements. Content analysis was used to identify the information. The results obtained indicate that the majority of the JSE's top-40 listed companies adhere to good corporate governance disclosure practices. However, there are areas in which the non-disclosure of information was prevalent. These include the disclosure of information on the selection of external auditors and whistle blowing. Future research, employing sources such as SENS announcements, press releases, trading updates, cautionary announcements and websites together with annual reports should be conducted. / Financial Accounting / M.Com. (Accounting)

In South Africa, over-the-counter (OTC) bond options may be used in order to either hedge or speculate. However, since 2001, this market deteriorated significantly. The current research assessed the role of the local bond option market, reasons for the deterioration of the South African OTC bond option market, and how this bond option market could possibly be restored as a primary hedging instrument. The opinions of individuals operating in this market were obtained using a questionnaire. In the opinion of the respondents, wide bid–offer spreads, regulatory interferences and poor participation within this market caused market deterioration. The market could be restored as a hedging instrument if effective market integration exists, interbank trading regularly takes place, liquidity was enhanced, transparency increased and investor knowledge improved. Future research could focus on regulatory transformation, the types of derivatives used for hedging, and an assessment of appropriate continuous professional development interventions for investors. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / For the last 40 years, academics advocated the use of the traditional Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) techniques but these suggestions were ignored by practitioners for a long time. The Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Present Value Payback Period (PVPP) are now some of the more widely used traditional DCF-based techniques, especially among large firms. However, academics are now criticising these techniques as they are based on rigid assumptions that ignore the management of flexibility in projects. The Real Option Valuation (ROV) is suggested as an alternative technique because it implicitly incorporates this flexibility in project valuation. With ROV, opportunities in projects are treated as real options and are therefore valued using financial option principles. Real options give the firm the opportunity to act on an investment project (invest, abandon, rescale) at a later date, when more information is available. As with the traditional DCF-based techniques in the past, few firms seem to have adopted ROV despite academics’ recommendations. This study is thus aimed at determining through a survey, whether the largest firms in South Africa, specifically those included in the JSE/FTSE Top 40 index, are using ROV. Based on the results of the survey, it is concluded that firms generally do not use ROV as only nine percent of the respondents were found to be using it. This is largely attributed to managers being unaware of the technique, and to some extent, to the technique’s complexity. On the other hand, managers were generally found to recognise the flexibility despite not using ROV, although it was not confirmed whether they quantify this flexibility.