Thesis (MAcc) -- Stellenbosch University, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Due to a number of legislative changes, the tax treatment of pension interest at divorce has become a complicated issue, as it is not only affected by the Income Tax Act, but also by the Pension Funds Act as well as the Divorce Act. Because these changes are still fairly new to the industry, there are still a couple of technical issues on which the industry is not clear. In practice there are many articles and writers trying to give some form of guidance regarding the technical issues of pension interest at divorce. The study will refer to case law that affected the changes made to the Pension Funds Act, which led to the institution of the “clean-break” principle. Some of the technical issues with regard to a payment of an award made to a non-member spouse by a divorce order will be included along with a discussion on difficulties and uncertainties arising from the “clean-break” principle. The focus of the study will then be directed towards changes made to the Income Tax Act. Specific reference will be made to the tax on an award made to a non-member spouse by a divorce order. In some cases the tax on such an award will be recovered from the member spouse. The Income Tax Act does however provide for a right of recovery, which will be discussed. The payment of the tax from the member’s individual reserve however constitutes an additional accrual according to the Income Tax Act, which leads to a tax-on-tax issue. A discussion on GN33 will be included, as GN33 addresses the tax-on-tax issue. A chapter on preservation funds is included, as it is important to understand the working of these funds on when a non-member spouse has the option to transfer his/her pension interest to such a fund. The study will then look at an inequitable position in which the member finds him/herself when party to a divorce order made before 13 September 2007. Due to the changes made to the Income Tax Act, a situation arose where the member spouse looses out on all or part of his/her R300 000 tax free benefit as allowed by the Income Tax Act for withdrawals from his/her retirement funds. The study will include considerations for financial planning. The industry is placing more and more emphasis on sound financial planning, and it is therefore important to understand the key considerations, which an advisor or a party to a divorce should consider. The study will include a discussion on some of the outstanding issues, which the industry expects the legislature to address in the near future. As the changes to the Income Tax Act are ever changing and the discussion on pension interest at divorce is still a new topic under discussion, the industry is keeping an eye on the expected changes from the finance ministry and the legislature. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: As gevolg van ’n aantal veranderinge in wetgewing, het die belastinghantering van pensioenbelang by egskeiding ’n ingewikkelde kwessie geword, aangesien dit nie net deur die Inkomstebelastingwet beïnvloed word nie, maar ook deur die Pensioenfondswet sowel as die Egskeidingswet. Die studie sal verwys na regspraak wat aanleiding gegee het tot die veranderinge wat in die Pensioenfondswet gemaak is en wat gelei het tot die instelling van die “skoon-breuk”-beginsel. Sommige van die tegniese vrae wat betref die betaling van ’n toekenning aan ’n nie-lid-gade by ’n egskeidingsbevel sal ingesluit word saam met ’n bespreking van probleme en onsekerhede wat uit die “skoon-breuk”-beginsel voortspruit. Die fokus van die studie sal dan gerig word op veranderinge wat in die Inkomstebelastingwet aangebring is. As gevolg van veranderinge in wetgewing op spesifieke datums, word ’n toekenning wat aan ’n nie-lid-gade gemaak is in terme van ’n egskeidingsbevel belas onder drie verskillende belastingregimes, afhangende van die datum van die egskeidingsbevel. Daar sal spesifiek verwys word na die belasting op ’n toekenning aan ’n nie-lid-gade. In sommige gevalle sal die belasting op so ’n toekenning verhaal word van die lid-gade. Die Inkomstebelastingwet maak egter voorsiening vir ’n verhalingsreg wat ook bespreek sal word. Die betaling van die belasting vanuit die lid-gade se minimum individuele reserwe word egter erken as ’n addisionele toevalling in terme van die Inkomstebelastingwet wat lei tot ’n belasting-op-belasting kwessie. GN33 sal bespreek word aangesien hierdie algemene nota die kwessie aanspreek. ’n Hoofstuk oor bewaringsfondse word ingesluit, aangesien dit belangrik is om die werking van hierdie fondse te verstaan wanneer ’n nie-lid-gade die opsie het om sy/haar pensioenbelang na so ’n fonds oor te dra. Die studie sal dan kyk na ’n onbillike posisie waarin die lid hom/haarself bevind as hy/sy party was by ’n egskeiding voor 13 September 2007. As gevolg van die veranderinge wat in die Inkomstebelastingwet aangebring is, het ’n situasie ontstaan waar die lid eggenoot ’n gedeelte van sy/haar R300 000 belastingvrye voordeel vir onttrekkings van sy/haar aftreefonds, verloor. Die studie sal oorwegings vir finansiële beplanning insluit. Die bedryf plaas al meer klem op omvattende finansiële beplanning en dit is dus belangrik om die deurslaggewende oorwegings waarmee ’n adviseur of ’n party by ’n egskeiding moet rekening hou, te verstaan. Ten slotte sal die studie ’n bespreking insluit van sommige uitstaande kwessies wat die industrie verwag die wetgewer in die toekoms moet aanspreek.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Accountants agree that nonqualified stock options are compensatory. However, only a limited amount of remuneration cost is recognized on the date that such options are granted; frequently, there is no recognition. Hence, the income numbers reported by grantor firms may be over-stated owing to such lack of recognition. In this regard, the objective of this study is to estimate the value of compensation implied in grants of stock options, and to present evidence pertaining to the materiality of the impact these estimates have on income from continuing operations of selected firms. The Black and Scholes option pricing model was selected to estimate the value of a stock option. This formula provides a probabilistic point estimate of the market value of a call option. A restrictive set of assumptions underlie the derivation of this formula, but empirical studies indicate that alterations of the model to accommodate violations of these assumptions fail to impart greater predictive ability. The standard Black and Scholes formula was used to estimate the compensation implied in grants of stock options during 1978 for a non-random sample of 171 firms. These estimates were adjusted for amounts related to such grants that had already been recorded. Since most firms granted options having exercise prices equal to the market prices of the optioned shares, such adjustments were infrequent. The resulting incremental compensation estimate was divided by income from continuing operations, giving an option compensation index for each enterprise in the sample. Assuming 10 percent, 5 percent, and 3 percent materiality thresholds, income from continuing operations is materially reduced for 16 percent, 31 percent, and 47 percent of the sampled firms, respectively. A statistical analysis suggests systematic association between the magnitude of the compensation index and the classification of the industry in which the enterprise operates. Other statistical tests indicate that estimates of compensation implied in grants of stock options are material for large firms in the manufacturing and retail sectors, and for small firms in the manufacturing, retail, and banking-finance sectors. These statistical results must be interpreted circumspectly owing to the non-random sample. Nevertheless, this evidence supports a re-examination of the accounting methods for stock options.

Pension capital is the single largest block of capital in the global domain of finance and a transformative social force. However, the studies on pension fund capitalism have been geographically limited. Although vast pools of pension capital have been generated outside the Anglo-American institutional environments, we still have little knowledge on the social construction of pension fund capitalism outside that context. The purpose of the study is to develop theoretical-methodological tools for studying the institutional differences in pension fund investments with habitual institutionalist theory at the level of organisation fields, and to apply these tools in an empirical case study that has theoretical relevance concerning the recent financialisation of European pension provision. The case study is focussed on the field of Finnish pension insurance companies that execute the nationally mandatory partly funded TyEL pension scheme. The case study includes a single case analysis at the organisation field level with embedded case analyses on the investment processes in two companies. The study is based on multiple sources of textual and interview data gathered and analysed with content analysis. It is argued that the institutional life of Finnish pension insurance company investments illustrates divergence from the Anglo-American pension fund capitalism and has reinforced elastic institutional solutions especially in domains of governance and regulation even under Europe-wide financialisation pressures. The Finnish case shows that there are alternative institutional solutions for various domains of pension fund capitalism, but the strong Europe-wide trends have all characterised recent institutional change in the TyEL field as well. It is concluded that although the European shift towards pension fund capitalism with the generation of increasingly independent portfolio investors with increasingly principle-based regulation and risk-based supervision has not necessarily implied strong institutional convergence, the European pension investors are likely to share a number of common questions in the future.

Denna studie handlar om pension och pensionskunskap med inriktning tjänstepension i ett svenskt tjänsteproducerande företag. Undersökningen visar på att en komplexitet samt en kunskapsosäkerhet råder på det svenska pensionsområdet samt att intresset för ämnet överlag är lågt. Den här studien riktar in sig på att identifiera bakomliggande orsaksfaktorer till detta på undersökningsföretaget samt att även analysera ämnet utifrån ett HR-perspektiv. I studien används både en kvantitativ och kvalitativ metod i form av webbaserade enkäter samt fokusgruppsintervju för ökad trovärdighet och tillförlitlighet. Den teoretiska referensramen i undersökningen baseras på en sammanställd nulägesanalys av pensionsområdet i Sverige, definition av tjänstepension och faktorer som kan påverka pensionen, sedda bland annat ur perspektiv på mångfald och jämställdhet. Dessa faktorer ställs sedan mot det empiriska materialet för att sedan analyseras och diskuteras i förhållande mot de teoretiska utgångspunkterna i referensramen. HR-funktionens roll gentemot pensionskunskapen undersöks i denna studie samt även frågeställningen om att det finns ett samband mellan pensionsavgång vid viss pensionsålder och individens pensionskunskap. Detta diskuteras senare i studiens diskussionsdel både i förhållande till det erhållna resultatet och den ovannämnda teoretiska bakgrunden. Studien avslutas med en slutsats om HR-s roll som pensionsinformatör samt förslag till vidare forskning på pensionsområdet med bland annat fokus på ett bredare HR-fält. Även ett proaktivt förbättringsförslag presenteras för undersökningsföretagets räkning med fokus på att främja och sprida pensionskunskapen inom organisationen. / This study contains an analysis on pensions and pension knowledge with alignment on occupational pension in a Swedish service producing company. The survey shows that a complexity and knowledge insecurity takes place on the Swedish retirement area and the interest for the subject is low. This study aims to identify the terms that have an affection on that area and analyzes the subject from a HR-perspective in the research company. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in this study shaped as web-based survey and focus group interview for higher reliability and validity. The theoretical referred framework in this survey is based on summon situation analysis of the Swedish pension area, definition of the occupational pension and the terms which can affect the pension, for instance the diversity and equality in working life. These terms are later compared to the empirical data for analysis and discussion to the theoretical aspects in the referred framework. HR–s departmental role in relationship to pension knowledge is examined in this survey and so is the question about connection between the retirement during a certain retirement age and the individual pension knowledge. This is later discussed in the discussion section of this survey in a relationship to the empirical result and the theoretical referred background of this study. This survey ends with a conclusion about HR–s role as a pension–communicator and a suggestion to future investigations on the pension area including focus on a broader HR–field. A proactive improvement proposal is presented for the research company with focus on promoting and spreading the pension knowledge in the organization.

The thesis examines the political dynamics behind the contemporary trend towards pension privatization in Europe. Its aim is to develop a theoretical model that can explain not only why governments have increasingly replaced their public pay-as-you-go systems with private fully-funded schemes, but also why there is considerable diversity both in the extent and in the content of pension privatization. Private pension funds can indeed be governed by a variety of institutional arrangements and can have very different types of links with the financial system. They do not necessarily contribute to a financialization of the economy. The thesis takes issue with the idea that pension privatization would be primarily the result of a new pensions orthodoxy promoted by international organizations such as the World Bank or of an electoral strategy that consists in attracting the votes of the middle class. I argue that the driving force behind the more or less dramatic rise of funded pensions in Europe is a series of lobbying campaigns launched by the financial industry, and their varying influence. Financial firms have a vested interest in the development of a market in private pensions, which should profit them as an industry. However, pension reform is an issue that matters to voters and can therefore prove dangerous for party politicians. Moreover, it involves complex changes that directly affect key material interests of employers and workers. In this context, the success of financial firms’ campaign for pension privatization depends on their capacity to forge alliances with a variety of actors. This in turn contributes to limit the influence financiers can exert. The argument is tested using a comparative historical analysis of pension debates in the United Kingdom, France and Poland since the beginning of the 1980s.

Neste trabalho propomos a análise dos conjuntos habitacionais empreendidos pelos Institutos de Aposentadoria e Pensões entre os anos de 1930 e 1964 na então Grande São Paulo dentro da concepção de cidade moderna, ou seja, como projetos que, para além de moradias, sustentavam o caráter de projetos urbanísticos, inseridos no processo de urbanização paulistano. A partir da revisão e delimitação do marco teórico foi feita a caracterização de projetos de cidades modernas e projetos de habitações populares e, ainda, da urbanização da cidade de São Paulo. Foram realizadas visitas técnicas aos conjuntos habitacionais dos IAP, além de levantamentos em fontes primárias e secundárias a respeito destes empreendimentos. Consideramos, tomando nossos estudos, que é possível compreender que, no âmbito da produção dos IAP, a cidade que se construiu com a implantação destes conjuntos habitacionais foi (ou poderia ter sido) a cidade moderna. / In this work we propose the analysis of the housing undertaken by Institutos de Aposentadoria e Pensões between the years 1930 and 1964 in those days Greater São Paulo within the design of the modern city, in other words, as projects which beyond housing, sustained the nature of urban projects, embedded in the urbanization process of São Paulo. From the review and delimitation of the theory, modern cities projects and affordable housing projects were characterized, as well as the urbanization of the city of São Paulo. It was performed technical visits to the IAP housing, and also a survey on primary and secondary sources about these dwelling complexes. From this study we consider that under IAP\'s production, the city that was built from the implementation of such housing projects was (or could have been) the modern city.

Neste trabalho propomos a análise dos conjuntos habitacionais empreendidos pelos Institutos de Aposentadoria e Pensões entre os anos de 1930 e 1964 na então Grande São Paulo dentro da concepção de cidade moderna, ou seja, como projetos que, para além de moradias, sustentavam o caráter de projetos urbanísticos, inseridos no processo de urbanização paulistano. A partir da revisão e delimitação do marco teórico foi feita a caracterização de projetos de cidades modernas e projetos de habitações populares e, ainda, da urbanização da cidade de São Paulo. Foram realizadas visitas técnicas aos conjuntos habitacionais dos IAP, além de levantamentos em fontes primárias e secundárias a respeito destes empreendimentos. Consideramos, tomando nossos estudos, que é possível compreender que, no âmbito da produção dos IAP, a cidade que se construiu com a implantação destes conjuntos habitacionais foi (ou poderia ter sido) a cidade moderna. / In this work we propose the analysis of the housing undertaken by Institutos de Aposentadoria e Pensões between the years 1930 and 1964 in those days Greater São Paulo within the design of the modern city, in other words, as projects which beyond housing, sustained the nature of urban projects, embedded in the urbanization process of São Paulo. From the review and delimitation of the theory, modern cities projects and affordable housing projects were characterized, as well as the urbanization of the city of São Paulo. It was performed technical visits to the IAP housing, and also a survey on primary and secondary sources about these dwelling complexes. From this study we consider that under IAP\'s production, the city that was built from the implementation of such housing projects was (or could have been) the modern city.

This thesis consists of three self-contained papers on defined benefit (DB) pension provision in the United Kingdom (UK). In particular, in the first paper, I examine the effect that labour market incentives, managerial incentives and the adoption of FRS17 by UK firms, have on DB plan retention decisions. In this paper, I also examine the role of insider trustees, defined as trustees that are also company executives, on the firm’s decision to keep DB plans open. I find that firms for which human capital is especially important are more likely to retain their defined benefit plans. In addition, CEO and CFO membership in the same pension plan that is provided for other employees positively influences the retention of defined benefit pension plans. Additional analysis using a sub-sample for which data on pension plan trustees are available suggests that being a CEO and a trustee increases the probability of DB plan retentions. Moreover, being a CEO/CFO trustee and a member of the DB plan offered to all employees increases the likelihood of DB plan retention. However, I do not find any evidence that voluntary adoption of FRS 17 influences DB plan retention. In addition, I find that insider-trustees have a positive influence on the decision to maintain DB plans, especially when they are members of these plans. In the second paper, I look at the effect of DB plan retentions and executive membership in them, on corporate credit ratings and the investment and dividend decisions. Empirical findings suggest that firms which continue to sponsor DB plans are more likely to have lower credit ratings which are exacerbated when these plans are underfunded. Despite the above effect however, I find that if the CEO is a member of the DB plan, it positively affects credit ratings. In addition, I find some evidence that the participation of CEOs in the main DB plans in conjunction with overfunded pension plans, negatively affect investment decisions when these schemes remain open. I do not find any association between CEOs membership in the main DB plan and dividend payments which may be explained by the market signalling effects of dividends. Finally, in the third paper, I provide a thorough analysis of the pension buy-in and buy-out market in the UK, and I empirically examine the determinants of such transactions from a firm and plan perspective. I find that firms that implement buy-ins have larger and more funded pension plans, are more profitable and have higher union densities. Moreover, firms that complete buy-outs have larger pension plans and allocate less pension assets in equity. Moreover, the number of employees is negatively associated with both transactions implying it is costlier for firms to conduct either a buy-in or buy-out transaction. While union density is positively associated with buy-ins, it has a negative effect on the likelihood of buy-outs suggesting that unions support buy-in but not buy-out transactions. This may be potentially explained by the fact that the latter are associated with with plan winding-ups.

A presente dissertação tem como tema \"políticas públicas habitacionais\", tomando a capital norte-riograndense - Natal - como estudo de caso. O objeto de estudo conforma-se na relação entre a questão da habitação social no Brasil, as soluções dadas ao problema da habitação por órgãos estatais, os agentes financiadores, propulsores e construtores envolvidos neste processo e a construção e idealização da cidade de Natal. Sendo assim, a pesquisa objetiva entender quais as lógicas e objetivos que impulsionaram as ações estatais no campo da habitação social em Natal, entre 1889 e 1964, como também, o contexto ideológico, econômico e social imbuído nesse processo. A partir dessa análise, buscou-se especificar as origens e delimitar o processo de evolução da produção de moradias pelas administrações públicas, além de registrar e periodizar essa produção, dando especial atenção à atuação dos Institutos de Aposentadorias e Pensões (IAPs) na cidade. Posteriormente procedeu-se a interpretação e a análise das justificativas e discursos que basearam as ações estatais, considerando os diferentes agentes envolvidos no processo, além do estudo da configuração arquitetônica e urbanística dos conjuntos de moradias erguidos na capital no referido período. Para tanto, realizou-se principalmente o levantamento de dados primários em arquivos públicos e privados da cidade. A pesquisa se justifica pela insuficiência de historiografia local no que dizia respeito à política pública de habitação no período que antecede a criação do BNH, em 1964, pelo volume significativo de moradias erguidas pelo Estado e por órgãos associados a ele e pelas especificidades da política de habitação em Natal, como as parcerias realizadas pelo governo, inclusive com órgãos internacionais, e a construção e financiamento de casas de taipa. Nesse sentido, foi identificado um número significativo de moradias construída em taipa e inseridas nas ações imobiliárias dos IAPs em Natal, fosse por via de construção, de aquisição e de repasse, ou por meio de financiamentos para a realização de reformas. Tais moradias chegaram a corresponder a 20% dos financiamentos concedidos pela Carteira Predial do Instituto, como foi o caso IAP dos industriários. Os IAPs em conjunto com a Fundação da Casa Popular e com a Fundação da Habitação Popular do RN conceberam moradias à aproximadamente 3.100 famílias, entre os anos de 1946 e 1963, o que correspondeu a 8,12% da população da cidade em meados da década de 1960. Pretende-se nessa pesquisa contribuir para o conhecimento da história da moradia social no Brasil, através da análise das ações realizadas em Natal. / The subject of this dissertation is \"the public politics for habitation\", and it has as case of study, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte - Natal. The object of the study consists in the relation between the issues of social habitation in Brazil, the solutions given to the problem by the means of the state, the financial supporters, propelling and constructors involved on this process and the construction and he idealization of the city of Natal. Being thus, the research intend to understand which are the logics and the objectives that stimulated the State actions in the field of social habitation in Natal, from 1889 to 1964, and also, the ideological, economical and social contexts in this process. From this analysis, one searched to specify the origins and to delimit the production\'s evolution process of the social habitations, and also register and divide in periods that production, standing out the Retirement and Pension\'s Institute\'s (IAPs) actuation in the city. Later, the justifications and the speeches based on the State actions were interpreted and analyzed, considering the different agents involved in the process, beyond the study of the housing estate\'s architectonic and urban configuration, built in this period. Doing so, one realized the primary data survey at the city\'s public and private archives. The research is justified by the deficiency of local historiography on habitation\'s public politics in the period before the creation of the BNH, in 1964, by the significant number of houses built by the State and by associated organs and by the habitation\'s politic particularities in Natal, such as the government partnerships, including those with international organs, and the mud houses\' financing and construction. Considering this, it was identified as significant number of mud houses and inserted on IAP\'s real estate actions in Natal, by meanings of construction, acquisition and repass or by reform\'s financings. Such housings had arrived to correspond to 20% of financings granted by the Carteira Predial do Instituto, as the IAP dos industriários\' case. The IAPs in set with the Popular House Foundation and with the Popular Habitation Foundation had conceived housings to, approximately 3.100 families, between the years 1946 and 1963, which corresponds to 8,12% of the city\'s population in the middle of the decade of 1960. This research intends to contribute for the social habitation knowledge of the history in Brazil, through the actions\' analysis in Natal.