Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-113). / An emerging valuation technique, real options analysis, has been found to provide insight on value in situations of high uncertainty. Based on financial options theory, it values options relating to real assets. For example, if a company has the option to delay the manufacture of a patented product until the demand for the product is know with greater certainty, this option enables the company to time the investment in order to maximise the returns to the product, and prevents a costly investment mistake should market demand not ever materialise. The option therefore represents a source of value to the company, the value being to retain flexibility in an uncertain environment. According to the real options approach, the uncertainties of climate change could represent sources of value for companies, depending on their ability to remain flexible and to identify, maintain and develop their options. This perspective has implications for both companies' strategic response to challenges arising from climate change and for the valuation of companies by the investor community. This thesis is aimed at answering the following research question: "Does the real options approach to valuation enhance the understanding of the impact of climate change on company value?"

This thesis presents Axone, a system that enables decentralized collaborative creation of digital products through interconnected digital content blocks. Axone provides the provenance of a digital product by storing its history since creation in an immutable Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) data structure. This history comprises digital content blocks used in its creation, including how they referenced each other in the development of the final digital product. Through referencing, credit attribution is achieved and royalty fees due to the referenced content block are recorded and enforced. Content creators can concurrently work on a succeeding content block to produce various versions of unique digital products from the same original content block. Axone focuses on written work enabling different authors to contribute to a book (the digital product) in the form of chapters (digital content blocks), until its completion. Axone uses blockchain technology and web monetization to provide provenance for each chapter and to stream payments to authors.

Financial sustainability remains a key concern for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Botswana. Their survival is dependent on the fading donor funding, illustrating a weak financial capacity and poor financial sustainability prospects. To continue operating, NGOs must adopt sound financial management practices to enhance their financially sustainability. The aim for this study is to find out if the financial management practices used by NGOs in Botswana can improve their financial sustainability, thus also determining their financial sustainability potential. The study employed a convergent parallel mixed method design, using structured surveys and face to face semi-structured interviews. A non-probability purposive sampling was adopted, drawing a sample of 20 participants for surveys representing 20 NGOs and 15 participants for face-to-face structured interviews representing 10 NGOs. The survey responses were analysed using spreadsheet (excel) while face to face interviews were analysed using NVivo Software, following Tech's (1990) process for data analysis. The study sought to answer questions centred around financial management, financial sustainability, sound financial management practices, sources of income and alternative funding for NGOs in Botswana. The main findings demonstrate a great understanding of financial management and financial sustainability. They also showed a strong practice of financial planning enhanced by strategic planning and budgeting. A strong financial recording process which includes the use of accounting process, systems, and tools. On the other hand, somewhat a weak financial monitoring process, with good use of audits but reluctancy in reviewing financial statements. Moreover, the results illustrate diverse but weak income sources, shown by a decline in local and international funding. Lastly the study shows the presence of an alternative funding approach which has ensured some income generation. On the same note NGOs have low financial reserves and survival ratios. The study recommends the strengthening of NGOs financial capacity, by NGOs, the private sector, and the government. NGOs should prioritise sound financial management and improve their financial capacity. The private sector and other stakeholders should promote sustainable financial support and partnerships with NGOs. The government should view NGOs as key partners and actively support their mandate. NGOs should prioritise financial management, train and enhance capacity of their members to ensure financial prudence.

In a 2016 comment letter, the SEC summarizes the ongoing debate regarding the usefulness of market risk disclosures and calls for additional discussion (SEC Concept Release 2016). In response to the SEC’s call, I investigate whether investors and firms benefit from market risk disclosures. Prior literature suggests that informative corporate disclosure is associated with improved liquidity and investment efficiency. I find that informative textual contents of market risk disclosures improve investors’ information environment, and as a result, are associated with higher liquidity level, lower liquidity uncertainty, and improved investment efficiency. My study is relevant to the ongoing debate regarding the usefulness of market risk disclosures, calls for more detailed regulatory guidance for market risk disclosures, and contributes to the literature on liquidity, investment efficiency, and risk factor disclosures. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / No abstract provided

The second financial reformation marked a new change of Taiwan politician and economic regime. Every financial reformation signified that the government had to resolve some hiding problems of interaction structure between government, enterprise, and financial sector (hereafter GEF). Therefore, this study tries to analysis the interactive structure of the second financial reformation. In this study, the Chap. 2 builds up a basic comparative analysis of GEF interaction structure of financial regime transformation after 1945 to 2002. Then, the Chap. 3 is about the background of policy setting in the first financial reformation. And the Chap.4 goes on discussing about the difference of interaction structure between the second financial reformation and the other financial reformations. In this chapter, the author will also points out the effects of globalization in the second financial reformation. The conclusion summarizes this study in three points. The first point refers to the GEF interaction structure of every main financial reformation in Taiwan after 1945 but earlier than the second financial reformation. And the second point refers to what the reasons were to motivate the second financial reformation. The last point indicates to the change of GEF interaction structure after the second reformation.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

The South African financial planning industry experienced a rapid growth from its generic beginnings in the 1970’s to the vast levels of specialisation taking place in the 21st century. Financial planning, akin to the medical profession, is arguably one of the most critical areas of influence in the personal lifestyle planning of individuals given the increasing longevity brought about by the medical profession. Early transgressions and irregularities, as in the case of most industries, brought about the introduction of the Financial Advisory and Iintermediary Services (FAIS) Act in 2004 to regulate, transform and restructure the industry. Since the introduction of the Act, compliance with the legislation and obtaining the appropriate qualifications have become a major focus for financial planners. This groundbreaking academic research involves an assessment of the educational needs of graduates in the financial planning industry including an evaluation of the relative importance of the subject fields, management competencies and skills required in the field of financial planning with specific reference to the financial planning programmes offered by the HEIs in South Africa. The purpose of this study can be phrased in a threefold manner: Firstly, to assess at programme level the theoretical and practical relevancy of the HEIs financial planning programme content relative to the present and immediate future normative requirements of the financial planning profession; Secondly, to assess whether the academic programmes address the critical skills shortage in financial planning by determining the appropriate qualification delivery in terms of academic and practical learning to develop the appropriate management competencies; and Thirdly, based on the findings of this research, to address any gaps pertaining to the financial planning programme content and management competency and skills levels, thereby contributing to the body of knowledge pertaining to financial planning education in order to be relevant and responsive in servicing the financial services sector. To give effect to the problem statement and to validate the research propositions, a mixed methods design within the pragmatic research paradigm was used. A relatively new and innovative mixed methods approach, namely Real-time Delphi (RTD) procedures of sourcing professional expert opinion enabled the collection of qualitative and quantitative data for data triangulation. The RTD methodology which seeks the pooled intelligence from a group of selected experts is also capable of determining future requirements rather than only the current practice. This is the first academic study of its kind in South Africa utilising the RTD methodology.

At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, China implemented several new asset write-down regulations. This study addresses the claim that these regulations significantly enhanced the usefulness of financial statements for investors in China. The effect of the regulations on usefulness of financial statements has implications for financial accountants, standard-setters, educators, and auditors. This study derives and tests some of the empirical implications of the claim. I operationalize usefulness of accounting information in terms of the valuerelevance framework, in which information usefulness is construed as a tradeoff between relevance and reliability. These two dimensions are the primary criteria underlying the FASB’s Conceptual Framework for choosing alternative accounting rules. Asset write-down, if correctly applied to over-stated assets, should increase the decision relevance to investors; however, measurement errors due to either unintentional mistakes involving professional judgment or intentional misrepresentations involving earnings management may decrease the reliability of reported amounts. While there is substantial value-relevance research, the role of reliability is generally absent. Reliability of regression estimates, also known as measurement error, is often implicitly assumed and not measured. Following nonnested model selection techniques and relative measurement error research, I explicitly measure the relative reliability of asset write-down accounting in various valuation models. Therefore, this study contributes to value-relevance research. First, I examine the incremental value relevance of asset write-down estimates through their associations with market values: the ability of asset write-down provisions to explain market value of equity; the ability of asset write-down gains and losses to explain annual market-adjusted return; and the ability of both the above provisions and earnings to explain market value of equity. All the models provide evidence for value relevance of asset write-down estimates, indicating an acceptable level of information usefulness with mixed effects of relevance and reliability. I apply my tests to a balanced panel sample of exchange-listed firms in China over the period 1998-2001. The sample is limited to A shares—the shares subject to the new rules. Next, the above three valuation models are applied again in a reliability analysis. Model appropriateness tests, i.e. non-nested model tests, are used to answer the question: did asset write-down practices improve reliability in the valuation models? I find that the asset write-down practices are approximately comparable in reliability to historical cost methods in the balance sheet valuation model but somewhat less reliable in the income statement valuation model. The results are ambiguous when both assets and earnings are included in a third valuation model. My relative measurement error tests yield similar results. I conclude that the asset write-down regulations in China have not improved the usefulness of financial statements to investors in terms of reliability. Because the asset write-down rules are subject to interpretation and judgment, I consider the motivation for write-downs in the final part of the study. The results support a relation between discretionary motivations and the amount of current or cumulative write down. A sub-sample analysis shows that asset write-down rules improve usefulness of financial information in the absence of discretionary motivations.