The escalation of commitment to a particular course of action has, in the past eleven years, become an increasingly popular area for research in the psychological aspects of decision making. The major question posed by this line of research is: "Does an individual become so committed to a particular course of action that he/she can no longer analyze the situation objectively and, consequently, makes irrational decisions to continue investing when such activity is no longer advisable?" Staw (1981) states that the escalation phenomenon can occur when an individual becomes overly committed to a chosen course of action. He adds that the underlying assumption of this line of research is "that individuals may go beyond the passive distortion of adverse consequences in an effort to rationalize a behavioral error" (p. 579). In other words, if an individual is committed to a particular course of action, then he/she may commit a greater amount of resources, following negative feedback, in order to "turn the situation around" and in an attempt to eventually appear competent.

The Municipal Manager is responsible for the overall financial management of the municipality as requirement of MFMA. However, section 79(1) of the MFMA makes a provision for the municipal manager to delegate the financial management to the senior manager. The legislative requires that all municipalities should appoint a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who must be a member of the Senior Management of the municipality. The act, furthermore, requires the municipality to establish the budget and treasury office to be headed by the CFO. In 2007, the Minister of Finance released guidelines for the minimum competency requirement regulation of CFOs implemented on the first day of July 2007. According to the literature review, the CFO should move away from being number crunchers to become more visible in strategic and leadership management. Generally, according to the literature review, financial management within local municipalities in Gauteng is not properly managed. This was revealed in the general report on the audit outcomes of local government for the financial year ended 30 June 2003, 2004 and 2005. The summary of these reports shows that the Auditor-General expressed disclaimer of opinion to 50% of the financial statements and 13.1% adverse opinion of the municipalities. The reports further revealed that most of the municipalities do not have effective internal risk management or internal audit departments, late submission of financial statements is rife, and failure to implement newly enacted legislation prevails. Therefore, the municipalities' overall financial management is not well managed. The data gathered from the municipalities by administering questionnaires show that the local municipalities' finances are properly managed and they have effective systems of internal control. The municipalities have internal audit or risk management departments, they have functional audit committees and lastly, they implement recommendations from the Auditor-General's office and internal audit diligently. Information from the Auditor-General's office contradicts the information received from municipalities. The researcher is biased towards accepting the Auditor-General's point of view since the Auditor-General has no reason to paint a good or bad picture about the municipalities. The problem presented is that the municipalities do not have welt-established governance structures in place, in the first place; secondly, the contradiction highlights the perceptions of the people involved with the day-to-day financial management about its effectiveness and the Auditor-General's opinion of it. To overcome the problems, municipalities are advised to include competency assessment in their job selection processes, develop their staff members, establish and implement succession planning, and adhere to the legislation and submission timeframes. It is further recommended that the municipalities should adhere to the policy framework and develop strategies that support enhanced service delivery, as well as to instill energy and thought to overcome loss of skill and expertise due to high staff turnover. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The Municipal Manager is responsible for the overall financial management of the municipality as requirement of MFMA. However, section 79(1) of the MFMA makes a provision for the municipal manager to delegate the financial management to the senior manager. The legislative requires that all municipalities should appoint a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who must be a member of the Senior Management of the municipality. The act, furthermore, requires the municipality to establish the budget and treasury office to be headed by the CFO. In 2007, the Minister of Finance released guidelines for the minimum competency requirement regulation of CFOs implemented on the first day of July 2007. According to the literature review, the CFO should move away from being number crunchers to become more visible in strategic and leadership management. Generally, according to the literature review, financial management within local municipalities in Gauteng is not properly managed. This was revealed in the general report on the audit outcomes of local government for the financial year ended 30 June 2003, 2004 and 2005. The summary of these reports shows that the Auditor-General expressed disclaimer of opinion to 50% of the financial statements and 13.1% adverse opinion of the municipalities. The reports further revealed that most of the municipalities do not have effective internal risk management or internal audit departments, late submission of financial statements is rife, and failure to implement newly enacted legislation prevails. Therefore, the municipalities' overall financial management is not well managed. The data gathered from the municipalities by administering questionnaires show that the local municipalities' finances are properly managed and they have effective systems of internal control. The municipalities have internal audit or risk management departments, they have functional audit committees and lastly, they implement recommendations from the Auditor-General's office and internal audit diligently. Information from the Auditor-General's office contradicts the information received from municipalities. The researcher is biased towards accepting the Auditor-General's point of view since the Auditor-General has no reason to paint a good or bad picture about the municipalities. The problem presented is that the municipalities do not have welt-established governance structures in place, in the first place; secondly, the contradiction highlights the perceptions of the people involved with the day-to-day financial management about its effectiveness and the Auditor-General's opinion of it. To overcome the problems, municipalities are advised to include competency assessment in their job selection processes, develop their staff members, establish and implement succession planning, and adhere to the legislation and submission timeframes. It is further recommended that the municipalities should adhere to the policy framework and develop strategies that support enhanced service delivery, as well as to instill energy and thought to overcome loss of skill and expertise due to high staff turnover. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Suite aux multiples crises économiques, le directeur financier est devenu un acteur majeur au sein de l'entreprise. Ses missions ont incontestablement évolué. Au départ, il exerçait des missions comptables garantissant une gestion financière efficace. Aujourd'hui, il occupe des fonctions stratégiques nécessaires au développement de l’entreprise. Cette diversité des compétences lui permet d'avoir une vision globale et transversale de l'entreprise. Malgré son rôle prépondérant, aucune étude n’a été menée concernant la détermination d’un statut juridique du directeur financier. Notre analyse a pour objectif de clarifier la fonction du directeur financier. A partir de l’observation de la réalité, l’étude statique de ses fonctions complétée par une analyse dynamique de leur exécution, nous a permis de dégager un statut juridique commun à l’ensemble des directeurs financiers. / Following multiple economic crises, the Chief Financial Officer has become a major player within the company. Its missions have unquestionably evolved. Initially, he performed accounting missions ensuring effective financial management. Today, it occupies the strategic functions necessary to the development of the company. This diversity of skills allows him to have a global and cross-enterprise vision. Despite its leading role, no study was conducted concerning the determination of the legal status of Chief Financial Officer. Our analysis is aimed, to clarify the function of Chief Financial Officer. From the observation of the reality, the static study of its functions supplemented by dynamic analysis of their execution, allowed us to identify a legal statute to all financial managers

This qualitative study investigated the personal descriptions and experiences of women in chief financial officer roles for Fortune 1000 companies, educational institutions, and private entities. Research on women in senior leadership roles is typically reflective of those in chief executive officer positions rather than chief financial officer positions. The literature is also limited on the ascension of women into chief financial officer roles and the influences of mentoring on career progression. The purpose of the study was to capture individual points of view from participants' lived experiences of leadership advancement, gender inequality, and mentoring in chief financial officer roles in order to discover meaning and understanding of the phenomenon. The interview questions for this study examined (a) the effect of the glass ceiling on career ascension, (b) the influence of mentoring as either a mentee or mentor, (c) the possibility of token management roles, (d) the impact of pay disparities, (e) the implications of leadership style, (f) the influence of gender discrimination, and (g) the organizational culture in limiting or promoting women in leadership roles. The theoretical framework of the study included social learning theory, feminist theory, role congruity theory, and relational-cultural theory. Data were collected via personal interviews with 10 participants, which were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded for themes. The results showed that although gender inequalities exist, there has been progress with the mentoring and promotion of women into chief financial officer positions. The study has the potential to effect social change by emphasizing the importance of mentoring programs for women that not only address professional aspirations and goals, but also create balance for personal accomplishments.

Dagens organisationer verkar i en komplex miljö. För att manövrera en framgångsrik organisation i denna miljö ställs det krav på att chefer ska skapa riktning gentemot de anställda. När anställda upplever svårigheter att förstå vad som förväntas av dem och åt vilket håll organisationen vill gå mot uppstår en problematik. Denna studie ämnar att undersöka hur Key Performance Indicators (KPI) utformas och används, samt vilken funktion det fyller för riktningsskapande inom organisationer. Studien är av kvalitativ form, där det empiriska underlaget insamlas genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Det empiriska underlaget utgör grunden till analysen, vilket indikerar att KPI:er är komplext men viktigt inom organisationer. Vidare belyser analysen att KPI:er behöver vara både välutformade och korrekt använda för att de ska kunna ha en positiv påverkan för riktningsskapandet, där kompetens och kommunikation är de mest framträdande faktorerna.

Offentliga företag har fått ett större intresse av att införa Business Intelligence-lösningar. Graden av framgång varierar mellan olika typer av industrier på grund av komplexa processer som är relaterade till höga kostnader. Syftet med studien var att identifiera de kritiska framgångsfaktorerna för att framgångsrikt införa en BI-lösning ur ett CFO-perspektiv. BI har en bred kategori av olika applikationer och teknologier som används för att samla in, lagra och analysera data för att sedan extrahera den. Denna data görs sedan tillgänglig för anställda i företaget för att hjälpa beslutsfattare att skapa professionella och informerade affärsbeslut. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys tillsammans med semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuer genomfördes med sju olika CFO:er för att få sina perspektiv angående vilka som är de kritiska framgångsfaktorer för att införa en BI-lösning. Innehållsanalysen genererade nio kategorier med flera underkategorier. Varje kategori och underkategori identifierar CSF ur ett CFO-perspektiv. De kategorier som identifierades var: Företagsledare med genomtänkta arbetslag, hållbar datakvalitet, slutanvändaren i fokus, extern hjälp bidrar med ett bredare perspektiv och kapacitet, mål och visioner, stöd från ledningen, iterativt tillvägagångssätt, affärsdriven expansion och agila tekniska ramar, och att ha rätt förutsättningar under hela implementeringen. Både studielitteraturen, CFO:erna och CFO:ernas rankning av CSF drar slutsatsen att alla framgångsfaktorer verkligen behövs för en framgångsrik BI-lösning. Alla CSF prioriteras däremot olika inom alla tre datakällor som fanns tillgängliga för studien. / Public companies have gotten a bigger interest in implementing Business Intelligence solutions. The level of success rate varies between various types of industries because of complex processes that are related to high costs. The aim of the study was to identify the critical success factors for implementing a BI-solution successfully from a Chief Financial Officers perspective. BI has a broad category of various applications and technologies that are used to collect, store and analyze data and then extract it and make the data available to employees in the company in order to help decision makers to create professional and informed business decisions. The study was conducted using a qualitative content analysis and semi-structured interviews making use of seven different CFO’s to follow up on their perspective on organizational critical successfactors for implementing a BI-solution. The content analysis generated nine categories with several sub-categories. Each category and sub-category defining CSF from a CFO’s point of view. The categories identified were: Business leaders with well-thought-out work teams, sustainable data quality, the end user in focus, external help contributes witha broader perspective and capacity, goals and visions, management support, iterative approach, business-driven expansion and agile technical framework, and having the right conditions through out the implementation. Both the study literature, respondents and the respondents’ ranking of the CSF conclude that all success factors are indeed CSF needed for a successful BI-implementation. However, the CSF were prioritized differently within all three data sources of material that were available for the study.

No description available.