Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-153).

Despite advances in the application of analytics in business functions such as marketing and finance, and a significant degree of interest in the topic of Human Resource analytics, its usage is still nowhere near where it could be. This study’s primary aim was to measure the levels of usage of HR analytics among South African organisations, an exercise that has not been done before. This qualitative, exploratory study was conducted among 16 senior Human Resource practitioners from large organisations in South Africa. Being qualitative, a limitation of this study is that it is not representative and therefore the results cannot be generalised. Further opportunities therefore exist for quantitative, longitudinal research in this field to objectively ascertain the extent of usage of HR analytics. It was found that South African organisations’ usage of HR analytics is still in its infancy and that the concept and its implications are little understood. It also found that there is consensus regarding the importance for HR analytics in organisations and that the HR analytical skills challenge is the main hindrance to implementation. Importantly, the study demonstrated and that the overall outlook for HR analytics is positive. The research makes recommendations and proposes a model that should enable organisations, the HR profession and the academic world to implement HR analytics. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

In this thesis, we explore the hidden risks in a firm’s real operating process and the financial adjustments made as the risk changes. We investigate the risks associated with a firm’s vertical channel (chapter 2 and 3) and geographic location (chapter 4), and analyze what financial consequences these risks bring. We firstly show strong evidence that a firm’s cost of equity decreases as supplier immobility translates into a decrease in operating leverage and systematic risk. Next, we show that as the specificity of customers induces more cash flow instability, the firm’s idiosyncratic risk increases with customer specificity. As a result, firms with more specific customers choose more conservative dividend payout policies to adjust for the risk changes. In the third essay, we examine the information risk from firm’s geographic location. We find that this information risk affects a firm’s capital structure choice and that centrally located firms have lower leverage ratios than do remotely located ones. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-29 22:12:43.675

O objetivo desta dissertação foi investigar se a Rentabilidade sobre o Patrimônio Líquido (ROE) do setor bancário privado atuante no Brasil foi maior do que a dos setores não-financeiros privados no período de 1997 a 2004. Partiu-se de uma comparação geral para comparações mais detalhadas a fim de se chegar a respostas mais consistentes e verificar se o que vale para o todo vale para as partes que o compõem. Considerou-se tanto o ROE legal quanto o ROE ajustado pelos efeitos da inflação. Analisou-se também a rentabilidade dos cinco maiores bancos privados brasileiros comparativamente a seus pares de países desenvolvidos selecionados. Por fim, foi analisado se a rentabilidade auferida pelo setor bancário privado foi maior do que seu custo de capital próprio, ou seja, se seu spread econômico foi positivo.Utilizou-se, como medida para comparação, a média dos ROE’s e o seu desvio padrão. Para estimação do custo do capital próprio foi utilizado o CAPM tendo como benchmark as taxas dos EUA adaptadas ao risco Brasil. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciaram que, na média, a rentabilidade do setor bancário privado foi maior do que a dos setores não-financeiros privados e apresentou menor volatilidade, tanto pelo ROE legal quanto pelo ROE ajustado pelos efeitos da inflação, neste caso, no entanto, as diferenças foram menores. Na comparação com os maiores bancos de países selecionados, evidenciou-se que o ROE médio dos maiores Bancos Privados brasileiros não destoa de seus pares de países desenvolvidos. Quanto à questão do spread econômico, considerou-se o ROE ajustado tanto pelo IGP-M quanto pelo IPCA. Em ambos os casos, o spread econômico do setor bancário privado só foi positivo em 1999. No período de 1997 a 2004, o spread econômico foi de –6,4%, quando se utilizou o IGP-M, e de -4,6%, quando se utilizou o IPCA. Concluindo, embora o setor bancário privado, na média, tenha apresentado Rentabilidade sobre o Patrimônio Líquido maior do que os setores privados não-financeiros privados, essa rentabilidade não foi suficiente para cobrir o custo do capital próprio. Dessa forma, na média, os Bancos não têm conseguido criar valor para os acionistas. / The objective of this thesis was to investigate if the return on equity (ROE) from the private banking sector that operates in Brazil was bigger than the non-financial private sectors in the period from 1997 to 2004. It began from a general comparison and evolved to more specific comparisons in order to reach more consistent answers and to analyze if what is true for the whole is true for the parts that complete it. It was considered both the legal ROE and the adjusted ROE by the inflation effects. It was also analyzed the ROE of the five largest Brazilian private banks comparatively to theirs peers from developed countries selected. At last, it was analyzed if the ROE of the private banking sector was bigger than its own capital cost, that is, if its economic spread was positive. It was used, as comparison measure, the average of the ROE’s and its standard deviation. The CAPM having as benchmark the USA rates adapted to the Brazil´s risk was used for estimating the cost of own capital. The results of the research showed that, on the average, the ROE of the private banking sector was bigger than the non-financial sectors and presented less volatility, as for the legal ROE as for the adjusted ROE by the inflation effects, in this case, however, the differences were lower. In the comparison with the biggest banks from selected countries, it was showed that the average ROE of the biggest Brazilian private banks wasn’t different from their developed countries peers. Regarding economic spread, it was considered as the ROE adjusted by the IGP-M as by the IPCA. In both cases the private banking sector economic spread was positive only in 1999. In the period from 1997 to 2004, the economic spread was –6,4%, when IGP-M was used, and –4,6%, when IPCA was used. To sum up, although the private banking sector, on the average, showed ROE bigger than the non-financial private sectors, this ROE was not enough to cover the own capital cost. In this way, on average, the banks have not created value for their stockholders.

A diminuição do custo do capital das empresas por meio de um maior nível de transparência na divulgação de informações é apoiada pela literatura em duas correntes teóricas. A primeira afirma que um maior disclousure aumenta a liquidez das ações no mercado e, assim, reduz o custo de capital da organização pela redução dos custos de transação ou pelo aumento na demanda por títulos da empresa. A segunda corrente de pensamento sugere que maior transparência pode reduzir o custo de capital pela redução do risco não diversificável de estimativa. Com base nisso, o objetivo desta pesquisa é verificar a existência de relação entre o nível de transparência das empresas que compunham o índice BOVESPA na data base de 29 de dezembro de 2005 e o custo de capital próprio dessas empresas. Além das variáveis custo de capital próprio e transparência, foram usadas como variáveis de controle, o tamanho da empresa, o grau de endividamento e a relação entre o preço da ação e o valor patrimonial da empresa. Para testar a relação entre transparência e custo de capital próprio no mercado brasileiro, foi utilizada uma regressão múltipla do tipo seção transversal entre a variável dependente custo de capital e a variável independente transparência. O R-múltiplo foi de 0,3969, indicando que as variáveis do modelo são positivamente correlacionadas. No entanto, a análise do R-Quadrado mostra que apenas 15,75% da variação do custo do capital deve-se às variações das variáveis independentes utilizadas no modelo de regressão. Em linhas gerais, os resultados desse trabalho não permitem afirmar que um maior grau de transparência implica em uma redução significativa do custo de capital das empresas brasileiras no período estudado, corroborando o resultado de algumas pesquisas nacionais e internacionais levantadas na revisão bibliográfica. / The reduction of the costs of the companies´ capital by means of a bigger level of transparency in the spreading of information is supported by literature in two theoretical chains. The first one affirms that a greater disclosure increases the liquidity of stocks in the market and, thus, reduces the cost of the organization´s capital by the transaction costs reduction or by the increase in the demand for equities of the company. The second theoretical chain suggests that bigger transparency can reduce the cost of capital by the reduction of the estimated not diversifiable risk. Based on this, the objective of this research is to verify the relation between the level of transparency of the companies of which were part of the index of the São Paulo stock exchange (BOVESPA) more specifically on December 29th of 2005 and the cost of these companies´ capital. Other control variables were used; besides the cost of the companies own capital and transparency, the size of the company, the degree of liabilities and the relation between the price of shares and the equity value of the company. To test the relation between transparency and cost of the companies own capital in the Brazilian market, capital cost was used in a multiple transversal section regression between a variable dependable capital cost and the variable independent transparency. The R-multiple was of 0,3969, indicating that the model´s variable are positively correlated. However, the analysis of R-Square shows that only 15.75% of the variation of the cost of the capital was a result of variations of the used independent variables in the regression model. As a whole, the results of this research do not enable to affirm that a bigger degree of transparency implies in a significant reduction of the cost of capital of the Brazilian companies in the studied period, confirming the result of some national and international research in the bibliographical revision.

O objetivo desta dissertação foi investigar se a Rentabilidade sobre o Patrimônio Líquido (ROE) do setor bancário privado atuante no Brasil foi maior do que a dos setores não-financeiros privados no período de 1997 a 2004. Partiu-se de uma comparação geral para comparações mais detalhadas a fim de se chegar a respostas mais consistentes e verificar se o que vale para o todo vale para as partes que o compõem. Considerou-se tanto o ROE legal quanto o ROE ajustado pelos efeitos da inflação. Analisou-se também a rentabilidade dos cinco maiores bancos privados brasileiros comparativamente a seus pares de países desenvolvidos selecionados. Por fim, foi analisado se a rentabilidade auferida pelo setor bancário privado foi maior do que seu custo de capital próprio, ou seja, se seu spread econômico foi positivo.Utilizou-se, como medida para comparação, a média dos ROE’s e o seu desvio padrão. Para estimação do custo do capital próprio foi utilizado o CAPM tendo como benchmark as taxas dos EUA adaptadas ao risco Brasil. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciaram que, na média, a rentabilidade do setor bancário privado foi maior do que a dos setores não-financeiros privados e apresentou menor volatilidade, tanto pelo ROE legal quanto pelo ROE ajustado pelos efeitos da inflação, neste caso, no entanto, as diferenças foram menores. Na comparação com os maiores bancos de países selecionados, evidenciou-se que o ROE médio dos maiores Bancos Privados brasileiros não destoa de seus pares de países desenvolvidos. Quanto à questão do spread econômico, considerou-se o ROE ajustado tanto pelo IGP-M quanto pelo IPCA. Em ambos os casos, o spread econômico do setor bancário privado só foi positivo em 1999. No período de 1997 a 2004, o spread econômico foi de –6,4%, quando se utilizou o IGP-M, e de -4,6%, quando se utilizou o IPCA. Concluindo, embora o setor bancário privado, na média, tenha apresentado Rentabilidade sobre o Patrimônio Líquido maior do que os setores privados não-financeiros privados, essa rentabilidade não foi suficiente para cobrir o custo do capital próprio. Dessa forma, na média, os Bancos não têm conseguido criar valor para os acionistas. / The objective of this thesis was to investigate if the return on equity (ROE) from the private banking sector that operates in Brazil was bigger than the non-financial private sectors in the period from 1997 to 2004. It began from a general comparison and evolved to more specific comparisons in order to reach more consistent answers and to analyze if what is true for the whole is true for the parts that complete it. It was considered both the legal ROE and the adjusted ROE by the inflation effects. It was also analyzed the ROE of the five largest Brazilian private banks comparatively to theirs peers from developed countries selected. At last, it was analyzed if the ROE of the private banking sector was bigger than its own capital cost, that is, if its economic spread was positive. It was used, as comparison measure, the average of the ROE’s and its standard deviation. The CAPM having as benchmark the USA rates adapted to the Brazil´s risk was used for estimating the cost of own capital. The results of the research showed that, on the average, the ROE of the private banking sector was bigger than the non-financial sectors and presented less volatility, as for the legal ROE as for the adjusted ROE by the inflation effects, in this case, however, the differences were lower. In the comparison with the biggest banks from selected countries, it was showed that the average ROE of the biggest Brazilian private banks wasn’t different from their developed countries peers. Regarding economic spread, it was considered as the ROE adjusted by the IGP-M as by the IPCA. In both cases the private banking sector economic spread was positive only in 1999. In the period from 1997 to 2004, the economic spread was –6,4%, when IGP-M was used, and –4,6%, when IPCA was used. To sum up, although the private banking sector, on the average, showed ROE bigger than the non-financial private sectors, this ROE was not enough to cover the own capital cost. In this way, on average, the banks have not created value for their stockholders.

IFRS standards are getting acceptance day by day rapidly in all over the world. It is because IFRSs are the global and common language, which are more transparent and comparable for the investors and users residing in different nations. IFRSs are mandatory for all companies listed in capital market within EU from the beginning of 2005. As a member state of EU, Swedish banks also adopted mandatory IFRS from 1 January 2005. However, the banks were already implementing IFRS to some extent as most of the standards in SGAAP (Swedish Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) were already directly translated from IAS. After mandatory period, the banks adopted all new, updated and revised standards in accordance with EU recommendations. Nevertheless, there are little or no material effects of adoption of IFRS standards except some particular standards. Such particular standards are: IFRS3, IAS39, IAS27, EU Occupational Pension Directive, IAS32, and Deferred Acquisition Cost. And the main differences between IFRS and SGAAP are IAS1, IFRS3, financial assets, financial instruments, intangible assets, hedge accounting and tax driven. But, the Swedish GAAP no longer exists now for the companies listed in capital market as mandatory IFRS is into force. Furthermore, I examined transparency & accounting quality, information environment, and cost of equity capital of four sample banks after mandatory IFRS adoption. But, I find the level of transparency and financial reporting quality has not been increased over the years. Regarding accounting quality, I also examined earning management, loss recognition, and value relevance. I find little evidence of less earning management, and find unclear evidence regarding loss recognition and value relevance. In other word, I find little evidence of increased accounting quality, although Sweden is a country with strong regulatory enforcements. Moreover, I also find little evidence of improved information environment but find information cost increased; although I find lower information risks after mandatory IFRS adoption. I, however, find lower cost of equity capital after mandatory IFRS adoption because for banks it will be easy to reach wider investors communities residing in different nations. Nevertheless, the evident advantage of IFRS is that the capital market can use information based on common rules.

The optimum configuration of rotor-to-generator size for wind turbines is dependent upon the wind resource and is the configuration that produces the most electrical energy at a fixed capital cost. This optimization study held the combined cost of the rotor plus generator constant, but varied the respective sizes of the rotor and generator within this constraint. Total annual electrical energy was computed for each configuration at a series of wind resources each defined by a different Weibull probability distribution. In each case the configuration that produced the most electrical energy was determined to be the optimum. The fixed capital cost was also varied to see the effect on the optimum at each wind resource. It was found that the optimal rotor-to-generator size decreased as the average wind speed at a resource increased, and increased as Weibull shape parameter k increased. The optimal rotor-to-generator size decreased at a constant wind resource as the fixed capital cost increased. In each case there was a corresponding optimal capacity factor which never exceeded 0.5. Capacity factors above this optimum resulted in less electrical energy being produced for the same capital cost. The final product of the study is a series of graphs showing the optimum rotor size for a given generator size at a series of wind resources.

A diminuição do custo do capital das empresas por meio de um maior nível de transparência na divulgação de informações é apoiada pela literatura em duas correntes teóricas. A primeira afirma que um maior disclousure aumenta a liquidez das ações no mercado e, assim, reduz o custo de capital da organização pela redução dos custos de transação ou pelo aumento na demanda por títulos da empresa. A segunda corrente de pensamento sugere que maior transparência pode reduzir o custo de capital pela redução do risco não diversificável de estimativa. Com base nisso, o objetivo desta pesquisa é verificar a existência de relação entre o nível de transparência das empresas que compunham o índice BOVESPA na data base de 29 de dezembro de 2005 e o custo de capital próprio dessas empresas. Além das variáveis custo de capital próprio e transparência, foram usadas como variáveis de controle, o tamanho da empresa, o grau de endividamento e a relação entre o preço da ação e o valor patrimonial da empresa. Para testar a relação entre transparência e custo de capital próprio no mercado brasileiro, foi utilizada uma regressão múltipla do tipo seção transversal entre a variável dependente custo de capital e a variável independente transparência. O R-múltiplo foi de 0,3969, indicando que as variáveis do modelo são positivamente correlacionadas. No entanto, a análise do R-Quadrado mostra que apenas 15,75% da variação do custo do capital deve-se às variações das variáveis independentes utilizadas no modelo de regressão. Em linhas gerais, os resultados desse trabalho não permitem afirmar que um maior grau de transparência implica em uma redução significativa do custo de capital das empresas brasileiras no período estudado, corroborando o resultado de algumas pesquisas nacionais e internacionais levantadas na revisão bibliográfica. / The reduction of the costs of the companies´ capital by means of a bigger level of transparency in the spreading of information is supported by literature in two theoretical chains. The first one affirms that a greater disclosure increases the liquidity of stocks in the market and, thus, reduces the cost of the organization´s capital by the transaction costs reduction or by the increase in the demand for equities of the company. The second theoretical chain suggests that bigger transparency can reduce the cost of capital by the reduction of the estimated not diversifiable risk. Based on this, the objective of this research is to verify the relation between the level of transparency of the companies of which were part of the index of the São Paulo stock exchange (BOVESPA) more specifically on December 29th of 2005 and the cost of these companies´ capital. Other control variables were used; besides the cost of the companies own capital and transparency, the size of the company, the degree of liabilities and the relation between the price of shares and the equity value of the company. To test the relation between transparency and cost of the companies own capital in the Brazilian market, capital cost was used in a multiple transversal section regression between a variable dependable capital cost and the variable independent transparency. The R-multiple was of 0,3969, indicating that the model´s variable are positively correlated. However, the analysis of R-Square shows that only 15.75% of the variation of the cost of the capital was a result of variations of the used independent variables in the regression model. As a whole, the results of this research do not enable to affirm that a bigger degree of transparency implies in a significant reduction of the cost of capital of the Brazilian companies in the studied period, confirming the result of some national and international research in the bibliographical revision.

The purpose of the study was to critically analyse sections 15 and 36 of the South African Income Tax Act which deals with capital allowances for mining taxpayers from an alluvial diamond miners’ perspective. The South African analysis was also compared to that of Canada and Namibia. In the analysis it was found that the ring fencing provisos in section 36 is unfair towards the alluvial diamond mine due to the potential loss of capital cost allowances and that there are grey areas in this proviso that may lead to disputes between SARS and the taxpayer. It was also found that the cross over from prospecting to mining activities in relation to alluvial diamond mining presents a grey area which might lead to disputes between the tax payer and SARS. It was also found that there is no case law, SARS interpretation notes or practise notes on the application of these sections to provide certainty as to the tax payers’ position. It was recommended that SARS and treasury evaluate and address the identified grey areas and short comings in the current legislation and practises to ensure a fair and equitable tax dispensation for the alluvial diamond miners. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Taxation / unrestricted