Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

This thesis proposes a theory of inefficient markets that uses limited rational choice as a central trait and I call it the theory of Homo comperiens. The theory limits the alternatives and states that the subjects are aware of and only allow them to have rational preference relations on the limited action set and state set, i.e. limited rationality is introduced. With limited rational choice, I drive a wedge between the market price and the intrinsic value and thus create an arbitrage market. In the theory, the subjects are allowed to gain knowledge about something that they previously were unaware of. As the discovery proceeds, the arbitrage opportunities disappear, and the market prices regress towards the intrinsic values. The theory is applied to firms and market-pricing models for a Homo comperiens environment is a result. The application of the theory to firms also leads to testable propositions that I test on a uniquely comprehensive Swedish accounting database that cover the years 1978—1994. Hypotheses are tested which argues that risk-adjusted residual rates-of-returns exist. The null hypotheses argue that risk-adjusted residual rates-of-returns do not exist (since they assume a no-arbitrage market). The null hypotheses are rejected in favor of their alternatives at a 0.0 percent significance level. The tests use approximately 22,200 observations. I also test hypotheses which argue that risk-adjusted residual rates-of-returns regress to zero with time. The null hypotheses are randomly walking risk-adjusted residual rates-of-returns, which are rejected in favor of the alternative hypotheses. The hypotheses are tested using panel regression models and goodness-of-fit tests. I reject the null hypotheses of random walk at a 0.0 percent significance level. Finally, the results are validated using out-of-sample predictions where my models compete with random-walk predictions. It finds that the absolute prediction errors from my models are between 12 to 24 percent less than the errors from the random walk model. These results are significant at a 0.0 percent significance level.

It is acknowledged that the primary objective of any company should be the creation of shareholder-value. However, it is also recognised that there are other stakeholders, with their own financial and/or non-financial objectives, which could impact on a company's overall financial performance. Management should therefore identify stakeholder-groups which could impact on the company and formulate a model in addressing their objectives. This study integrates elements from the theory of shareholder-value, the agency-theory, the theory of property rights and different stakeholder orientation-models to develop the approach of responsible stakeholder-management in the creation of shareholder-value. Stakeholders can be grouped into economic, social and environmental components. The concept of sustainable development has exploded in recent years. Three main elements of sustainable development were identified, namely economic, social and environmental development, referred to as "Triple Bottom Line (TBL)". Several organisations have started focussing on the concept of sustainability by guiding the development of sustainability policies. However, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has become the de facto global standard for reporting on sustainable development. The concept of TBL, and how the three elements of sustainability could contribute to the maximisation of shareholder-value, is discussed. The results of the empirical study, where the financial performance and shareholder-growth of companies listed on the JSE and which adopted and reported on the GRI-guidelines, were compared to a group of companies in the same index grouping of the JSE that had not formally adopted and reported on the guidelines, identified a clear trend that those reporting on their sustainability policies had had a much better growth in five of the six financial measures used than the comparative group. / Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The word expropriation is used in South Africa to describe the process whereby a public authority or institution takes property from a private person for public purposes against payment of compensation. The current Act regulating expropriations in South Africa is known as the Expropriation Act 63 of 1975. However, it has three primary inconsistencies with the Constitution. Firstly it predates the Constitution - therefore, it does not infuse the values of equality, human dignity and the achievement of freedom. Secondly it is not consistent with comparable modem statutes elsewhere in the world. The last issue is that this Act is inconsistent with the Constitution in the sense that the Act only provides for expropriation for public purposes and the Constitution provides for expropriation in the public interest as well as for a public purpose. For these reasons it is crucial to establish a new legislative framework. In an attempt to rectify the above difficulties, an expropriation policy and a draft Bill were introduced. The primary purpose of the Bill is to harmonise the considerable amount of legislation in South Africa on the subject of expropriation, and to fill the gaps of the current Act. However, the new proposed Bill was referred back to cabinet as it had various difficulties. According to newspaper commentators, one of these reasons was that market value would not be used when determining the amount of compensation. This is not true, as market value is one of the listed factors in section 25(3) of the Constitution, and it is provided for in the Bill. Another reason was that the role of the courts will also be restricted in the new Bill. Parties will no longer be able to refer disputes concerning the amount of compensation to court. Once again this is not true, the courts role is only restricted in the sense that it would no be able to determine the amount of compensation as provided for in the Constitution, but will only be allowed to approve or decline the amount the Minister determined. This is one of the aspects that may be debatable constitutionally. After an in-depth study of the proposed Bill, the author came to the conclusion that there are actually only three aspects that might be unconstitutional namely; the definition of public interest which is to be included that widens the capacity to expropriate; departure from the notice procedure; and the fact that the courts may no longer determine the amount of compensation, but only approve or decline. Expropriation is one of the most important tools to speed up land reform in South Africa, and it is, therefore, of the utmost importance that the procedure must take place in a fair, equitable and constitutional manner. The purpose of this study will be to identify the aspects which result in expropriations that is not done on this basis, to scrutinize them and to make recommendations to these aspects. / Thesis (LL.M. (Law)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The word expropriation is used in South Africa to describe the process whereby a public authority or institution takes property from a private person for public purposes against payment of compensation. The current Act regulating expropriations in South Africa is known as the Expropriation Act 63 of 1975. However, it has three primary inconsistencies with the Constitution. Firstly it predates the Constitution - therefore, it does not infuse the values of equality, human dignity and the achievement of freedom. Secondly it is not consistent with comparable modem statutes elsewhere in the world. The last issue is that this Act is inconsistent with the Constitution in the sense that the Act only provides for expropriation for public purposes and the Constitution provides for expropriation in the public interest as well as for a public purpose. For these reasons it is crucial to establish a new legislative framework. In an attempt to rectify the above difficulties, an expropriation policy and a draft Bill were introduced. The primary purpose of the Bill is to harmonise the considerable amount of legislation in South Africa on the subject of expropriation, and to fill the gaps of the current Act. However, the new proposed Bill was referred back to cabinet as it had various difficulties. According to newspaper commentators, one of these reasons was that market value would not be used when determining the amount of compensation. This is not true, as market value is one of the listed factors in section 25(3) of the Constitution, and it is provided for in the Bill. Another reason was that the role of the courts will also be restricted in the new Bill. Parties will no longer be able to refer disputes concerning the amount of compensation to court. Once again this is not true, the courts role is only restricted in the sense that it would no be able to determine the amount of compensation as provided for in the Constitution, but will only be allowed to approve or decline the amount the Minister determined. This is one of the aspects that may be debatable constitutionally. After an in-depth study of the proposed Bill, the author came to the conclusion that there are actually only three aspects that might be unconstitutional namely; the definition of public interest which is to be included that widens the capacity to expropriate; departure from the notice procedure; and the fact that the courts may no longer determine the amount of compensation, but only approve or decline. Expropriation is one of the most important tools to speed up land reform in South Africa, and it is, therefore, of the utmost importance that the procedure must take place in a fair, equitable and constitutional manner. The purpose of this study will be to identify the aspects which result in expropriations that is not done on this basis, to scrutinize them and to make recommendations to these aspects. / Thesis (LL.M. (Law)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

It is acknowledged that the primary objective of any company should be the creation of shareholder-value. However, it is also recognised that there are other stakeholders, with their own financial and/or non-financial objectives, which could impact on a company's overall financial performance. Management should therefore identify stakeholder-groups which could impact on the company and formulate a model in addressing their objectives. This study integrates elements from the theory of shareholder-value, the agency-theory, the theory of property rights and different stakeholder orientation-models to develop the approach of responsible stakeholder-management in the creation of shareholder-value. Stakeholders can be grouped into economic, social and environmental components. The concept of sustainable development has exploded in recent years. Three main elements of sustainable development were identified, namely economic, social and environmental development, referred to as "Triple Bottom Line (TBL)". Several organisations have started focussing on the concept of sustainability by guiding the development of sustainability policies. However, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has become the de facto global standard for reporting on sustainable development. The concept of TBL, and how the three elements of sustainability could contribute to the maximisation of shareholder-value, is discussed. The results of the empirical study, where the financial performance and shareholder-growth of companies listed on the JSE and which adopted and reported on the GRI-guidelines, were compared to a group of companies in the same index grouping of the JSE that had not formally adopted and reported on the guidelines, identified a clear trend that those reporting on their sustainability policies had had a much better growth in five of the six financial measures used than the comparative group. / Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

L’innovation technologique est considérée comme un élément clef dans la constitution des économies, dites du savoir, ou de la connaissance. Ce cadre économique stimule une forte croissance des investissements immatériels dans l’objectif de création de valeur et de construction d’un avantage compétitif défendable sur le long terme. Néanmoins, l’innovation est un processus continu qui requiert un horizon de long terme pour transformer l’ensemble des connaissances, et des efforts de Recherche et Développement (R&D) en un produit ayant de la valeur économique. La dimension temporelle de l’innovation technologique renforce son caractère risqué et augmente l’incertitude quant à sa réussite. De même, les problèmes d’asymétrie d’information créés par le processus d’innovation s’accentuent. Cette thèse s’intéresse à la relation entre le capital-connaissances et la performance financière des entreprises, dans un premier temps, pour se pencher ensuite sur la question de la valeur de marché de l’actif intangible. Pour ce faire, nous élaborons une base de données unique, à partir des brevets européens et proposons de nouvelles mesures qualitatives au capital intangible, basées sur les caractéristiques des brevets. Cette thèse mesure empiriquement la valeur économique du capital-connaissances représenté par sa « matière première », à savoir les dépenses R&D et par son « produit fini » à savoir les brevets. Nous construisons, également un indice composite de la qualité de l’innovation afin de mieux représenter la valeur privée de l’immatériel. Enfin, cette thèse s’intéresse à la question d’écart entre valeur comptable et valeur de marché des entreprises en présence d’investissements immatériels. Pour ce faire, elle contient une étude prévisionnelle et causale de la performance opérationnelle par les dépenses R&D et l’indice composite de qualité. Ce dernier est proposé en tant qu’outil non-financier d’analyse et de prévision de performance. / Technological innovation is considered as a key element in the knowledge-based economies, where the share of intangible assets continues to grow significantly. The development of innovation is enhanced mainly in the purpose of value creation and the obtaining of a competitive advantage. Nevertheless, innovating is a long process where the lag between the investments in Research and Development (R&D) activities, considered as its input, and the obtaining of a valuable output, often estimated by the patent application, is large. The long character is emphasized by the uncertainty and the riskiness of the process which are at the root of important problems of information asymmetry between investors and the insiders. This dissertation studies the impact of intangible investments on the financial performance of companies in Europe. Therefore, we use a unique database of European patents and suggest a set of qualitative measures to innovation, based on the patents’ attributes. Moreover, this thesis estimates the market value of intangibles as measured by the R&D expenses, the patent applications but also the qualitative attributes. In this framework, we construct a composite quality index of innovation in order to better estimate its private economic value. The increasing lag between financial and book values in the presence of R&D investments leads us to undertake a causal study of innovation on the financial performance of companies. We suggest our composite index as non-financial metric to predict the future earnings and examine the effect of R&D on the growth and volatility of future operating incomes.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:20:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 136776.pdf: 1359872 bytes, checksum: 41fdde01b9d823cdaaf0f0b1851b8f9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-02-25T00:00:00Z / This study examined empirically the ability to explain the stock return from a set of financial ratios used in valuation processes of traded companies in the BOVESPA. The financial ratios were selected considering criteria of information availability and calculation easiness. Thus, we used the available financial ratios of the Economática software, totalizing nine financial ratios derived from the financial statements accounts, and six market multiples derived from the combination of the financial statements accounts with the firm quotation or value. The results presented low correlations and low values for R 2 . However, financial ratios and their groups can be analyzed and classified according to the absolute information content (simple regressions) and the incremental information content (multiple regressions). The profitability ratios presented the best results for absolute information content and for incremental information content, primarily the ROA and the ROE, followed by the multiple of patrimony, Ppatrim. The capital structure ratio, Exi_Ati, comes in the 3 rd position of absolute information content and the earnings multiples, FVEbitda, FVLucro, Pebitda and Plucro, come in 4 th position. On the other hand, the incremental information content had the earning multiple, Plucro, in 3 rd position and the capital structure ratio in 4 th position. The financial cycle ratios, the sales multiple and the liquidity ratios come in 5 th , 6 th and 7 th positions for absolute information content and weren’t evaluated for the incremental information content due to their low performance. Summing up, the financial ratios and market multiples can and must be used to support the investment decision, but the investor must rely on other valuation methodologies as showed in this study. Obviously, the financial ratios always must be ranked according to their power to explain the stock return. / Este estudo examinou empiricamente a capacidade de explicar o retorno das ações a partir de um conjunto de indicadores utilizados em processos de avaliação de empresas negociadas na BOVESPA. Os indicadores foram selecionados considerando critérios de disponibilidade das informações e facilidade no cálculo. Desta forma, utilizaram-se indicadores disponibilizados pelo software da Economática, totalizando nove indicadores financeiros (derivados das contas dos demonstrativos financeiros), e seis múltiplos de mercado (derivados da combinação das contas dos demonstrativos financeiros com a cotação ou valor da firma). De modo geral, todos os resultados apresentaram baixas correlações e R2 reduzido. Porém, pode-se analisar os indicadores e seus grupos e classifica-los de acordo com seu conteúdo informacional absoluto (regressões simples) e de acordo com seu conteúdo informacional incremental (regressões múltiplas). Os indicadores de rentabilidade apresentaram os melhores resultados tanto para o conteúdo informacional absoluto quanto para o incremental, destacando- se o ROA e o ROE, seguidos pelo múltiplo de patrimônio, Ppatrim. Na 3a posição do conteúdo informacional absoluto, veio o indicador de estrutura de capital, Exi_Ati e na 4a, os múltiplos de lucro, FVEbitda, FVLucro, Pebitda e Plucro. De forma inversa, o conteúdo informacional incremental, teve o múltiplo de lucro, Plucro, na 3a posição e o indicador de estrutura de capital na 4a posição. Os indicadores de ciclo financeiro, o múltiplo de vendas e os indicadores de liquidez vieram na 5a, 6a e 7a posições para o conteúdo informacional absoluto e não foram avaliados para o conteúdo informacional incremental devido a sua baixa performance. Com base nos resultados obtidos, conclui-se que os indicadores financeiros e múltiplos de mercados podem e devem ser usados como suporte à decisão de investir ou não em uma ação, mas, não como forma única de avaliação. Obviamente, devem ser priorizados sempre os indicadores que tem um maior poder em explicar o comportamento do retorno das ações.

Text in Afrikaans / Summary in English / Until recently damages were only awarded in South African law for the loss of an object which was utilised for the generation of income. In Kellerman v South African Transport Services' damages were awarded for the first time for the loss of use of an object, which was used for non-business purposes. In this dissertation the writer aims to indicate that the personal loss that a plaintiff suffers by the loss of the object is so closely related to the physical possession through which it is served, that the Jaw should protect such personal interest. In such circumstances damages should be awarded in principle, irrespective of whether the plaintiff used the object for business purposes or whether he indeed hired a substitute or not. There is room in the South African law for development in the area of delictual damages for the Joss of the possibility to use a material object. / Private Law / LL.M.

The aim of diploma thesis is to evaluate selected company as a whole for its inner purpose. This purpose allocate category value, respectively determination of venture?s market value, which is most often defined as estimated amount for shift assets to the date of evaluation among optional and independent partners. Theoretical part of thesis qualify theoretical problem frame of company valuation. In this part of thesis essential key words, factors and value categories are defined. Part of the problem is also strategic and financial analysis and projection of future reports or financial plan. Last part deals with methods of valuation itself ? methods based on revenue analysis, market and assets. For evaluation purpose has been chosen company BRÁZDA-AUDIT, a. s., which deals with experts activities in field of economics.