Current management accounting techniques have not been widely accepted as a means to develop a competitive advantage. The information obtained from the literature reviewed and the results from an empirical study that involved a sample of forty respondents from Equity Bank found that the modern management accounting practices provide very important skills and techniques in building competitiveness. The practices play an important role in the planning, developing, implementing and evaluating strategic competitive policies that result in a competitive advantage. The study outlines the importance of management accounting practices in providing strategies that lead to the creation of a competitive advantage in an organisation. However, the conclusions are drawn on a conceptual level and a future empirical investigation is needed to substantiate these claims further. The study also sets a foundation for more focused research into the importance of modern management accounting practices in developing a competitive advantage especially in the banking sector. / Management Accounting / M.Comm. (Accounting)

Many organisations today are still not making use of Management Accounting tools to assist in providing sustainability information for decision-making and the influence this can have on the financial performance of an organisation. This may have a negative impact on the financial performance of organisations, the result of the number of errors and miscalculations that can occur, including obsolete cost drivers; miscalculated business decisions, inaccurate information and human errors. Without applying Management Accounting tools, managers of organisations may find it difficult to improve the day-to-day operations and to take decisions to enhance the financial performance of their business. In this study, information was collected from interviews to determine whether Management Accounting tools could provide sustainability information for decision-making, and how this would influence the financial performance of an organisation. The research was carried out in organisations listed on the JSE. This study found that Management Accounting tools are important in providing sustainability information for decision-making and in determining how this information influences the financial performance of JSE listed organisations. Furthermore, Management Accounting tools provide strategies that influence decision-making and performance, although decision-making is the responsibility of executives or directors of the organisations. The study also found that Management Accounting tasks are performed by financial managers who focus solely on financial statements and reporting. Hence future research should focus on the importance of devolving Management Accounting roles to financial accountants or managers to enable the organisation to focus on different reports for different outcomes. / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Management Accounting)

Purpose: This thesis aims to explore the complex phenomenon of leadership at the apex of democratically elected local authority in England. It makes sense of the social construction of leadership as perceived and enacted by senior appointed officers (hereinafter officers), elected members (hereinafter members) and key stakeholders – the voices from the apex and their understandings and interpretations. Design/methodology/approach: The thesis examines leadership literature through the paradigm of constructivism-interpretivism, making sense of transcripts of the semi-structured interviews with officers, members and stakeholders engaged in local authority work. Dominant/mainstream theories of leadership offer limited help to understanding the relational, processual constructions of leadership and is critiqued. One way forward is to rethink conceptualisation of leadership in terms of the empirical evidence through interviews. This research has explored how leadership is situated, shared and occasioned, processed and deployed as narratives between officers and members. Findings: The constructivist-interpretivist findings of the research challenges the dominant essentialist hegemony of existing leadership theories, where heroic leaders and their skills and competencies can be replaced by less individualistic and more critical constructs through the four lenses which draw together in the fractal of leadership. This moving, forming and reforming, dynamic model highlights: i) the context in which leadership is situated and performs, ii) the shared and relational nature of leadership in interactions and continuous happenings, and the web of roles and relationships between powerful actors, which are perpetually evolving and contextualising, iii) the doing of leadership with its focus on interactive processes and practices, and iv) the narratives of leadership including the language games, the rhetoric, the metaphors and symbols which can challenge as well as reinforce the existing patterns of leadership as they emerge and mould and are moulded in diverse patterns. Research limitations/implications: Though the findings themselves cannot always be generalised to other contexts, the four frames of the fractal provide theoretical perspectives for studying leadership in other contexts. Originality/value: By challenging the dominating mainstream and public leadership theories, the four theme leadership framework allows for the incorporation of dynamic lenses to study the complex social phenomena of leadership. The analogy with a kaleidoscopic fractal enables a rich understanding of leadership rooted in a specific context yet with endless possibilities of leadership built from the permutations and combinations of the four themes. This thesis makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the questions of the how, why and what of organisational leadership, both in a broad sense and in the specific context of the public sector and local authority in particular.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to investigate the term executive (managerial) derailment. Special reference was given to various research done in the USA at the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL). Managerial derailment was analysed and the persons most likely to derail identified. Typical indicators for derailment were investigated. The cause for derailment, with special focus on six classical flaws and their intercorrelation, were studied. Preventative measures to combat the phenomenon of derailment were investigated on both individual and organisational levels. Some preventative recommendations were suggested. The state of derailment internationally was studied to ascertain if any time movement occurred. Derailment is still present today, while some of the reasons causing derailment is fading, others increases in strength. Cultural differences between European and North American managers were studied, and no differences were found. This were compared with a survey conducted by the author on 47 modular South African MBA students to determine the state of derailment amongst the respondents. The survey respondents positively confirmed the presence of managerial derailment. Derailment results recorded amongst the pilot group were similar to that documented in literature. Further in-depth study needs to be done to validate the existence of managerial derailment amongst South African managers. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die deel van hierdie studie was om die term bestuursontsporing (managerial derailment) te ondersoek. Spesiale aandag is gegee aan verskeie navorsing gedoen by die Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) in die VSA. Persone met 'n hoe ontsporingspotensiaal is geidentifiseer tydens die ontleding van die term bestuursontsporing. Tipiese aanwysings vir ontsporing is ondersoek. Ses klassieke oorsake vir ontsporing is nagevors met veral verwysing na interkorrolasies tussen hierdie oorsake. Voorkomende ontsporingsmaatreels met betrekking tot die individu en die organisasie is bestudeer. Veranderinge oor tyd in internasionale bestuursontsporingsnavorsing is ondersoek. Resultate dui, ten spyte van 'n verandering in die redes vir ontsporing, aan dat bestuursontsporing steeds plaasvind. Feitlik geen verskille wat aan kultuur toegeskryf kan word, word in die literatuur vermeld nie. In 'n meningspeiling onder 47 Suid-Afrikaanse modulere MBA studente het die outeur soortgelyke resultate verkry. Bestuursontsporing blyk teenwoordig te wees onder die studiegroep. Die oorsake vir bestuursontsporing van die respondente is bykans dieselfde as wat deur internasionale navorsing aangetoon word. Voordat die gevolgtrekking dat bestuursontsporing teenwoordig is onder Suid-Afrikaanse bestuurders gemaak kan word, word verdere in diepte studie vereis.

Bakgrund Det diskuteras mycket idag om ersättningar till verkställande direktörer (Vd) och storleken på dessa. Många har synpunkter på den enligt dem väldigt höga ersättningen och framförallt är många kritiska till de stora bonusar som tilldelas till företagsledare. Samtidigt är det ägarna som genom representation i styrelse och på bolagstämma bestämmer ersättningen. Syfte Syftet med studien är att undersöka om det föreligger ett samband mellan ägarbilden och andel rörlig lön till den verkställande direktören. Metod I studien tillämpas en deduktiv forskningsansats där vi utgått från existerande teorier och tidigare empirisk forskning för att skapa en hypotes som sedan kan bekräftas eller förkastas. Hypotesen testas genom en kvantitativ metod där data samlats in över 56 stycken svenska bolag för att sedan testas med statistisk regressionsanalys. Slutsats Undersökningen visar att det finns ett negativt samband mellan ett större ägande och andel rörlig ersättning till verkställande direktör.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa's education and training policy legislates that in order to be formally accredited all South African education and training programmes should be outcomesbased. The design and implementation of outcomes-based programmes can be a complex process and there are few exemplars. This study examines the design and implementation of the Ready for Business programme. The Ready for Business programme was designed to assist Grade 11 and Grade 12 learners from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain the necessary knowledge, skills and values to succeed in higher education business studies. The programme was piloted by the Siyabona Education Trust as a Delta Foundation project from 1997-2000. This study outlines the move towards outcomes-based education within a South African context. It specifically focuses on Spady's (1994) theory of transformational outcomesbased education and how this can be translated into practice within a South African education and training context. This study applies a programme evaluation approach within a constructivist-interpretive paradigm to assess the effectiveness of the design of the Ready for Business programme and its implementation by the Siyabona Education Trust. Essentially, the evaluation follows the principles of fourth generation evaluation. Data is gathered from the programme stakeholders through individual interviews, group interviews and questionnaires. A final group interview with stakeholders provides the foundation for further refinement of the programme. The researcher makes recommendations for improvement of the design and implementation of the programme based on the findings of the study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid Afrika se onderwys- en opleidingsbeleid vereis dat aile onderwys- en opleidings programme uitkomsgebaseerd moet wees ten einde formeel geakkrediteer te word. Die ontwerp en implementering van uitkomsgebaseerde programme kan 'n komplekse proses wees. Daar bestaan egter min nasionale modelle. Die Ready for Business model is on twerp om Graad 11 en Graad 12 Ieerders, van voorhen agtergeblewe gemeenskappe te ondersteen om hulle in staat te stel om die nodige kennis, vaardighede en waarders aan te leer ten einde suksesvol te wees in hcer onderwys besigheidstudies. Hierdie model is tussen 1997 en 2000 geloods deur die Siyabona Education Trust as deel van 'n projek van die Delta Stigting. Hierdie studie skets die beweging tot uitkomsgebaseerde onderwys binne 'n Suid Afrikaanse konteks. Dit fokus spesifiek op Spady (1994) se teorie van transfonnatoriese uitkomsgebaseerde onderwys en hoe dit geimplernenteer kan word binne die Suid Afrikaanse onderwys- en opleidingsbeleid. Die studie pas 'n evalueringsprogram binne 'n konstruktivistiese paradigma toe om die effektiwiteit van die Ready for Business program en die implementering daarvan te bepaal soos geloods deur die Siyabona Education Trust. Die evaluering geskied primer volgens die beginsels en vierde generasie evaluering. Data is bekom deur beide individuele en groeponderhoude, asook deur vraelyste. 'n Finale groeponderhoud met die rolspelers le 'n verdere verfyning van die program ten grondslag. Gebaseer op die bevindinge van die studie, maak die navorser gevolglik voorstelle vir die verbetering van die ontwerp en implementering van die program. IV

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how the economic return of a software investment can be assessed and managed. This topic has been studied in research and has been a concern for firms making software investments. In order to study this we need a model of the underlying factors affecting the economic return. Assessing and managing the return of a software investment is been argued to be difficult due to specific economic characteristics of a software investment, i.e. high degree of intangible consequences and uncertainty about the total investment cost. Given these characteristics it is has been concluded that it is difficult to derive a return function. In this dissertation we question this conclusion and propose a comprehensive model to assess and manage the intangibles and the underlying uncertainty. The model is deduced from general assumptions of the economic behavior of the firm. To develop the model we analyze the relevance of intangibles in relation to the economic purpose of making a software investment. Based on this a new way of deriving a cash flow function for a software investments is defined. Further it is analyzed how the underlying uncertainty of a software investment can be managed. The analysis uses a quantitative approach and methods from financial economics. It includes how the application of a real option and portfolio approach can reduce the uncertainty in a software investment and the role of efficient software platforms. The relation between software platforms and the opportunity to create different types of real options for future development is inferred from empirical studies. The studies in this dissertation show how a managerial view on a software investment corresponds with the overall economic goal of the firm. They also show how a strategic value of a software investment can be created, assessed and managed.

No description available.

A central consideration in constructing a theory of the firm is the divergent preferences of managers and investors. Managers have incentives to take actions (shirk, consume perquisites) not in the best interests of the firm. Accounting reports are a primary method by which managers make assertions about their actions or the results of their actions. Auditing is a mechanism by which managers can purchase external verification of their disclosures. This dissertation develops the demand for auditing in two multiperiod environments. The first environment allows the manager to disclose with impunity. In such a case the manager's demand for auditing depends on the ability of the manager to obtain the cooperative solution without auditing. The second environment permits the investors to bring suit against a manager suspected of issuing fraudulent disclosures. In that environment, a cooperative solution can be obtained without auditing. The results of 16 experiments designed to test the analytical assertions suggests that there is a demand for auditing, regardless of whether or not legal recourse is present. Both the availability of auditing and the availability of legal recourse induces a higher level of managerial effort. The highest level of managerial effort was seen when both auditing and legal recourse were available, despite the prediction that the presence of a legal system would make auditing useless. The investors tended to overbid and the markets with auditing reduced that tendency. Truthful disclosures were generally only seen when legal recourse was available.