Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is an internationally accepted process of assessing non-formal learning with the intention of matching it to academic credits. This allows the candidate to earn either a full or partial qualification based on knowledge and/or skills acquired outside of the formal classroom. The South African insurance sector was faced with legislation requiring all financial advisers to earn academic credits before they could continue in the industry. The sector believed that the RPL process would suit their circumstances because most financial advisers had many years of workplace experience and had mostly attended many internal, but often unaccredited, product training programmes. However, there was no RPL implementation model to guide a workplace implementation of this nature as most RPL models followed the practices set by formal higher education providers and there was no consideration of the many variables that have an impact in the workplace. This research set out to design a logic model to guide the implementation of workplace RPL in the insurance sector. The data was collected during the evaluation of an RPL implementation programme that had good results but which used the more individualistically inspired RPL approach of formal education. The data was analysed using grounded theory data analysis techniques (Strauss & Corbin, 1998 and Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and the result was the identification of 18 broad categories. Further analysis reduced these to five categories, i.e. reaction to the circumstances requiring the RPL, personal mastery, team support, changing perceptions towards the RPL process, and perceived outcome of the RPL process. These categories were researched by looking at the most influential traditional and workplace learning theorists, as well as the most influential RPL theorists. Finally, a secondary data analysis was conducted on 18 workplace RPL case studies described by Dyson and Keating (2005). The results of this research were formulated into a logic model to guide RPL implementation in the insurance sector. Using this logic model as a guide, further recommendations were made to guide workplace RPL implementation in the future. / Prof. W.J. Coetsee Dr. L. Beekman

In my thesis I analyse the issue of the legal regulation of activities of financial advisors in the Czech Republic. Besides the applicable law, the work examines the legal literature, periodicals, as well as the case law of the Czech courts and decisions of the Czech national bank and other sources of information. The main contribution of this work lies in the evaluation of the current state of the regulation of activities of financial advisors in the Czech Republic, alongside a comprehensive review of the matter, resolution of issues of possible definitions of certain terms and removal of certain ambiguities associated with the interpretation of the legal norms entailing the regulation. Alongside the introduction and conclusion, the thesis contains six chapters, each focusing on a specific part of the regulation of activities. Second chapter is dedicated to the definition of the term of financial advisor, as there is no legal definition and the term is used with many meanings. Thereafter, the chapter focuses on the position of financial advisors on the financial market, the need of regulation and the purpose of state supervision. Third chapter addresses the definition of the activities of financial advisors as an entrepreneurship, and its possible divisions. The fourth chapter examines the...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-106).

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Thesis (Ed. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-106). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Duquesne University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-87) and index.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis investigates the role of financial advisors and their impact on their clients' short-term M&A deal performance. The examination of the extant literature on M&A advisors reveals a lack of focus on the target side of the equation. Therefore, the first topic is dedicated to the examination of the effects of target financial advisors' involvement and quality on their clients' short-term M&A deal outcomes. The findings reveal that targets that opt to hire an advisor are able to achieve better short-term deal performance, and that highly reputable target advisors are associated with higher premiums in all-cash deals. To add more clarity on the mechanisms through which target advisors contribute to the performance of M&A deals, I leverage a hand-collected dataset, from public targets' SEC filings, that covers the actual activities conducted by target advisors. The results of the analyses conducted show that target advisors add value through the provision of services relating to the evaluation of deals from a financial perspective, however, assigning them to the search/matching activities is associated with a negative effect on the premium achieved. Despite the abundant literature on the role of acquirers' financial advisors in M&A deals, findings on the impact of their involvement in such deals are rather inconclusive, and the bulk of research in this area is quite dated. Using the different ranking schemes developed, I re-examine this topic using a most recent dataset (2001 to 2017). I find that acquirers' financial advisors with stronger past performance are able to secure better short-term deal outcomes to their clients, and in line with Golubov et al. (2012), highly reputable acquirers' advisors deliver higher returns to their clients in public deals. The presence of an advisor (on the target or on the acquirer side) allows completing deals in a shorter period of time. This thesis covers, as well, the determinants of advisor hiring-related decisions regarding the reputation of the advisor selected. The findings reveal that, on the target side, there is a higher propensity to hire a highly-ranked financial advisor when the firm is being served by a Big-4 accounting firm, and in the presence of a larger institutional ownership base. On the acquirer side, firms are found to be more likely to hire a highly-ranked financial advisor if they face a higher litigation risk, if they are served by a Big-4 accounting company, and if they involve a higher institutional ownership base. The findings of this research project hold important implications both for businesses involved, through guiding their choice of advisor to assist them with their M&A deals, and for the academic research by offering a comprehensive analysis that incorporates a range of existing and newly developed proxies of quality, thus reconciling the inconclusive findings reached in the extant literature.

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