The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) requires a number of accounting estimates for the preparation of financial statements. The purpose of this study is to establish the effect of estimates in financial statements. The possible increases in required accounting estimates in the IFRSs are examined by comparing the IFRSs of 2003 to 2006. With this comparison it is established that the requirements of the IFRSs for fair value accounting is mainly responsible for the increases in allowed accounting estimates. The IFRSs of 2006 is examined to establish the frequency of use of estimates in financial statements. In order to get a better picture of the frequency of use of accounting estimates in financial statements, a list of allowed accounting estimates for each of the components on the Balance Sheet (also referred to as the âstatement of financial positionâ) has been compiled. It is concluded that the components on the balance sheet are to a significant extent influenced by accounting estimates. The literature on earnings management and creative accounting are examined to determine if there is any risk that accounting estimates could be used to manipulate financial statements. This gives an indication of the reliability of accounting estimates within financial statements. It is concluded that the difference between fair presentation and creative accounting seems to be the intention of management which is difficult to assess. The âcorporate reporting supply chainâ has some responsibilities to prevent and detect creative accounting practices and fraud. These responsibilities can limit the risk that accounting estimates may be used in creative accounting and financial statement fraud. In the wake of some financial disasters, these checks and balances should restore public trust in financial reporting. An empirical study is performed on five companies that form part of the Construction and Materials sector of the JSE to establish the effect of estimates on their financial statements. The study indicated that: ⢠the average percentages of assets, including cash and cash equivalents, of the five companies affected by accounting estimates are 60% for 2004, 60% for 2005 and 59% for 2006. If cash and cash equivalents are excluded from the calculation of assets affected by accounting estimates, the average percentages are 72% for 2004, 77% for 2005 and 76% for 2006; ⢠there is an increase in the number of âestimateâ hits from 2004 to 2006 in the financial statements of the five companies in the empirical group; and ⢠the disclosure provided on key sources of estimation uncertainty is however, limited. A number of recommendations are made to limit the risk that accounting estimates could be used for creative accounting purposes. The negative effect of the use of accounting estimates in financial statements is a loss of reliability. The positive effect of the use of accounting estimates in financial statements is that of relevance.

This dissertation explores the concept of the Learning Organisation and its relevance to the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA). In evaluating the relevance of the Learning Organisation concept, the AGSA?s problems will be highlighted and how the concept may possibly assist the AGSA in dealing with its problems. For example, one of the major problems facing the AGSA is the attraction and retention of appropriately qualified and experienced personnel. There is a scarcity of auditing personnel in South Africa. The adoption of the Learning Organisation concept may enable the AGSA to attract and retain the desired personnel, as inherent in the concept are characteristics such as employees being encouraged to learn, that appeal to progressive personnel. The dissertation will also explore the concept of the Learning Organisation as an enabler that may assist the AGSA to cope with change that pervades the AGSA's internal and external environment, which include the high incidence of fraud and corruption that is often found in public sector organisations in South Africa. The dissertation also seeks to explore whether the Learning Organisation concept will enable the AGSA to deal with complexity, which is created by an ever changing, dynamic world and stay relevant and cost efficient. All of these objectives can be collectively termed possible benefits that may flow to the AGSA should the AGSA adopt the Learning Organisation concept at a mature level. The purpose of this dissertation is not to develop a model of the Learning Organisation for the AGSA, but rather to obtain a sense of how the concept could possibly assist the AGSA in overcoming the challenges it faces. The dissertation will give an initial perspective of the theory (and some theoretical developments), introduce the reader to the AGSA, identify the major problems that the AGSA is facing, estimate the level of maturity that the AGSA is as a Learning Organisation and understand how the Learning Organisation concept may assist the AGSA in overcoming its problems if adopted at a mature level. The dissertation will be conducted based on research of academic literature, research of AGSA literature, observations, semi-structured interviews and structured questionnaires. Key disciplines that may enable the AGSA to grow into a mature Learning Organisation will be highlighted. Some possible disciplines that may be relevant are as follows: Systems thinking, Groups and teams, Shared vision, Leadership style, Communication. The dissertation will highlight some practical difficulties and obstacles that may impact on the Learning Organisation concept being adopted by the AGSA and areas for further research. Initial research has highlighted two important fundamental principles, which will be referred to later, as follows: 1. It is very difficult to change people?s minds, and therefore adoption and implementation of the Learning Organisation concept will be challenging 2. Organisational Learning is never a finite process; it is on-going and never completed. Bearing these two fundamental principles in mind, the dissertation will be approached with the intention that it will add value to the AGSA and other organisations. / Thesis (MA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2009.

This study examines the causes, nature and consequences of deficiencies in Kuwait accounting; evaluates the accounting guidelines introduced in January 1987; and recommends a new approach for regulating accounting in Kuwait, to remedy the present deficiencies. After reviewing the theory related to accounting standardsetting, we examine in detail the laws affecting the Kuwaiti accounting profession, and the accounting practices currently employed. It is shown that inadequate, piecemeal regulation, a weak profession, and the lack of a sound theoretical base founded on the characteristics and needs of the local environment, have resulted in ambiguity, and diverse practices. The information provided is therefore not sufficiently reliable and comparable to meet users' needs. These assertions are supported by presentation and statistical analysis of the findings from an empirical survey of the views of users and preparers of financial information. A number of hypotheses are tested, related to the objectives and nature of financial information, and ways of improving the system. We recommend greater uniformity in Kuwaiti accounting, and submit detailed proposal for reorganisation of the profession, including the creation of a new independent regulatory body.

Existing literature and research findings indicated that cost monitoring and control of construction projects by contractors at the level of site operations has remained ineffective largely due to inability of existing control systems to accurately predict when, to what extent and why an on-going operation or project is to overrun its planned duration and cost. In most cases the information that would enable such advance detection becomes available to decision makers after the affected operation or project is completed. It is then hoped that the information could be used to 'control' future similar situations which in the case of construction projects hardly arise, at least never under identical circumstances. The existing cost control systems also fail to enable rational corrective decisions to be formulated. This resulted in total reliance on previous experience and personal intuition to make a guess of corrective measures. Most research efforts have focussed mainly on various aspects of project modelling and cost control using traditional accounting approaches that consistently fail to meet the requirements and schedule of timely cost control. This research identified, from empirical evidence, construction and management science literature, the essential criteria and features of an effective cost monitoring and control approach for construction projects. The evidence from these three sources led to the formulation of an alternative approach based on quantitative analysis of cost data from construction projects. The cost monitoring and control process carried out on sites was formulated as a problem whose solution process is implemented using multiple regression and goal programming models and techniques that enable timely evaluation and prediction of costs and a rational computation of corrective decisions. This allowed cost deviations to be detected and optimum corrective measures calculated while the affected operation or project was still in progress.

This study examines the decision-usefulness of financial information produced in the external financial reports from the implementation of the International Accounting Standards (IAS) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to equity investors of the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) in their investment decision-making process. The study employs mixed method research that uses quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative research methodology employs archival financial data from the ASE using inferential statistics to investigate the association between share market prices and a well known model, the residual earnings model, derived from (Preinreich 1938, Ohlson (1995) Feltham and Olson (1995)). Data is collected from companies listed on the ASE for the period before implementation of the IAS/IFRS, 1980-1989, and for the period after implementation, 1991-2009. In general, the results indicate a statistical association between share market prices and book value per share (BVPS) and residual earnings per share (REPS) with the BVPS robust to share market prices. The second quantitative method employs questionnaires administered to individual and institutional equity investors of the ASE. Key findings indicate that equity investors believe the implementation of the IAS/IFRS produces decision-useful financial information, that the accounting information has the useful qualitative characteristics proposed by the International Accounting Standards Board and that the price-to-book ratio, the dividend discount model and the price-earnings multiple are very useful models as inputs into their investment decision-making process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to accounting, auditing and ASE experts in Jordan. Prevalent findings indicate that developments within the ASE and accounting profession have influenced the decision-usefulness of financial information. Few believed that Jordan should develop its own accounting standards. This research contributes to knowledge, being the first comprehensive study that employs a mixed method research using archival financial data for a 29-year study period from the ASE and primary data to evaluate the decision-usefulness of financial information produced from implementing the IAS/IFRS. Furthermore, this research fills a gap in the literature by examining the period before IAS/IFRS implementation and the period after implementation in Jordan to determine if IAS/IFRS implementation resulted in decision-useful financial information. The main implication of this research is that reported financial information has greater decision-usefulness after the implementation of the IAS/IFRS than before, implying positive effects of accounting standard-setting in an emerging economy.

Bakgrund: Revideringen av IAS 19 har nu trätt i kraft och denna har betytt att ett antal förändringar har skett i företagens redovisning av förmånsbestämda pensionsplaner. Den del av revideringen som främst varit under debatt är borttagandet av den så kallade korridormetoden. Denna har inneburit att aktuariella vinster och förluster kunnat redovisas endast till en viss del, något som nu inte är möjligt. Nya IAS 19 har redan börjat verka och påverka svenska företag som redovisar enligt IASBs standarder. Men hur vilka effekter och samband går att finna mellan de tidigare metoder som funnits tillgängliga och eget kapital, pensionsskuld och viktiga aktuariella antaganden? Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka på vilket sätt tidigare års val av metod vid redovisning av förmånsbestämda pensionsplaner påverkat företagens egna kapital i förhållande till dess pensionsskuld, och hur detta påverkats av revideringen av IAS 19. Syftet är vidare att redogöra för hur de undersökta parametrarna utvecklats över tid, inom företagen. Metod: Studien har använt sig av en kvantitativ metod, och insamling av de data som legat till grund för analys och slutsats skedde genom årsredovisningar för de företag som studien omfattade. Slutsats: Det är möjligt att utläsa ett antal trender och tendenser i företagens redovisningar, både före och efter revideringen av IAS 19. Trots detta går inga statistiskt säkerställda samband går att finna mellan de valda parametrarna.

In a context of compelling evidence from both the US and UK suggesting that R&D investment is positively related to operating and/or market performance, at a first stance this PhD Thesis examines the relation between R&D investment and persistence in operating and market performance using a large dataset of UK companies during the period 1990-2003. The findings confirm the relation between R&D intensity and consistent growth in sales and gross income but only when taking the industry sector in which a firm operates into account. Moreover, the evidence found indicates a positive relation between R&D intensity and subsequent risk-adjusted excess stock returns among firms that engage in R&D. There is also shown that R&D intensity improves persistence in excess stock returns: the highest R&D intensity firms are found to earn higher risk-adjusted excess returns than the sample median return more consistently, compared to lower R&D intensity firms, as well as firms with no R&D. The weight of the evidence is consistent with some form of mispricing related to the market's slow adjustment to the emerging evidence of significant enhancement in operating performance following recent R&D investment. The Thesis also examines whether R&D plays a role in the relationship between dispersion in analysts' earnings forecasts and returns, given that R&D has been testified empirically in prior literature as an influencing factor for both forecast dispersion and stock returns separately, and forecast dispersion on its own has been identified as a factor with an impact on returns. In addition, in the context of existing evidence on R&D being positively related with greater analyst forecast errors, the Thesis goes one step further and examines the impact of R&D, intensity on forecast revisions. The hypothesis is in favour of a positive association between R&D and the magnitude of revisions, due to the inherent uncertainty of the R&D investment. These topics are examined again for UK listed firms in the period 1990-2003 and there is testified that R&D intensity is a contributing factor for analyst forecast dispersion for the UK, confirming prior findings for the US. There is confirmed a negative relationship between forecast dispersion and returns, which is found to hold even after controlling for the impact of R&D on returns. After decomposing dispersion in analysts' forecasts into analyst forecast uncertainty and a pure differences in opinion part, there is also found that as R&D intensity increases, the ability of R&D to influence returns also increases for high dispersion and high forecast uncertainty firms, but the ability of R&D to influence returns is getting very week for high divergence of opinion firms. This finding implies that in the presence of high R&D intensity, dispersion has an impact on returns mainly through the forecast uncertainty component of forecast dispersion, and not through the divergence of opinion component. Finally, there is generally found a positive relationship between R&D intensity and forecast errors and revisions, which is most times statistically significant though only in the case of revisions, when there exists a reasonable amount of time between the initial and the revised analyst forecast, after controlling for other factors.

My research explores the notion of creativity in the context of informal work. Existing literature on the subject has primarily focused on identifying the factors which enhance or constrain creativity in the organisational or work context. Most research has been developed and implemented in western contexts such as the United States or Europe, and there is limited explanation available of creativity in non-western contexts. There is also no research explicitly directed at explaining creativity in the informal sector, which presents a gap in the literature. I have therefore sought to enrich this literature by constructing a conceptual perspective that explains creative engagement in informal work, a methodology to explore this concept, and stories that illustrate how this occurs. I have constructed my conceptual perspective of creativity by drawing on de Certeau's (1988/1984) notion of creative tactics. I propose that creativity is the tactical subversion of space within an order, where a person uses constraints to their advantage, to take action. This involves the ability to engage in plurality, use what one has at hand, and take advantage of chance opportunities that arise. In order to explore my conceptual perspective, I carried out my research during the post-2000 crisis in Zimbabwe because there was a high prevalence of informal work during this time. I have developed my methodology - focused narrative ethnography - to capture the perspectives and dynamic engagement of people working in the informal sector, and intensively collected data in the form of narratives, observations, and visual material. In addition, I have written a series of stories to illustrate the different ways in which this occurs. These reflect changing attitudes and practices of work, as well as artistic and communal engagement in informal work. My findings reflect three main perspectives. First, informal work is a space that enables creative action. Second, creative engagement is a complex process that occurs in moments of creative action, wherein a person tactically uses their constraints to their advantage. Third, these moments shift and change in relation to the ongoing and changing nature of constraint that is inherent in many contexts of lnformal work. A further finding is that several parallels can be drawn between the literature referring to survival during difficult situations and my explanation of creativity, so it may be a useful addition to the vocabulary of work-related creativity literature. My findings are important because I highlight at the most basic level what people go through to identify opportunity, and my perspective of creativity may thus provide fresh insights into other areas linked to creativity, such as innovation or entrepreneurship.

No description available.

<p> This study uses an institutional theory perspective to examine whether significant changes to the audit work and engagement practices required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) lead to improved audit quality in nonprofit hospitals. Unlike their for-profit counterparts, nonprofit organizations have been subject to audits of internal controls over financial reporting and program compliance for decades under Circular A-133 of the Single Audit Act of 1984, as amended. Circular A-133 audits represent the primary accountability tool over the billions of grant dollars awarded annually by the federal government. Despite the enormity of these awards and the substantial informational effect of the audit reports, prior empirical research suggests that the quality of these audits is problematic. </p><p> Using the archival data of nonprofit hospital Circular A-133 audits and related hand-collected financial data from IRS Form 990s, bivariate and multivariate analyses are conducted on a cross-sectional sample of 875 audits for 141 nonprofit hospitals with audits during both pre-SOX (2001-2004) and post-SOX (2008-2011) periods. Audit quality is inferred from discretionary accruals (Modified Jones model) and auditor-reported internal control deficiencies (reportable conditions and material weaknesses). </p><p> The results indicate support for improved audit quality from the pre- to the post-SOX period for all measures of audit quality. The results are different for the measures of audit quality used to examine the association between audit firm size and audit quality. Non-Big 4 audit firms experienced a significant improvement in audit quality when discretionary accruals are used as a proxy for audit quality. Conversely, Big 4 audit firms experienced a significant improvement in audit quality when internal control deficiencies are proxies for audit quality. In the post-SOX period audit firms provide approximately the same level of audit quality regardless of firm size when discretionary accruals or material weaknesses are the proxy for audit quality. When reportable conditions are the proxy, non-Big 4 firms have higher audit quality than Big 4 firms post-SOX. Client characteristics, specifically hospital size and the interaction of leverage and risk, are attributable to differences in post-SOX audit quality. Finally, the study fails to support the hypothesis that large audit firms self-select low risk clients.</p>