Corporate finance researchers have long been puzzled by low corporate debt ratios given debt's corporate tax advantage. What makes the capital structure debate especially intriguing is that the different theories represent such different, and in some ways almost diametrically opposed, decision-making processes.

China's different economic environment, government infrastructure, and legal system might cause different management buyout procedures and results from management buyout procedures in the United States. Management buyout was originally created to increase efficiency and reduce agency cost in the United States in the 1960s; but management buyout in China is merely a tool to provide incentive programs for current management teams and reduce state-owned corporate shares.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering, 2016 / The purpose of this research is to identify and outline the sustainable funding models for BEE transactions in the South African mining industry. It is proposed that from the early 2000s to 2014 the sustainability of BEE funding models was driven by regulatory pressure. In the absence of regulatory pressure, there would be a need to develop alternative funding models. The study uses a quantitative research methodology by examining the frequency of use of various funding models, the impact of regulatory interventions and use of various funding sources on the sustainability of funding models, regression analysis and significance testing. The research results show that the percentage of third party finance in funding structures has a negative correlation with the success of BEE transactions. Vendor finance shows a positive correlation with the sustainability of transactions, more so above 60% in the funding structures. Equity finance has a positive impact on the success of transactions from as low as 20% in the funding structures. An ideal funding structure would consist of the following funding sources:  Third party: Vendor: Equity = 40%: 20%: 40%, in the case of a BEE company that has equity available and  Third party: Vendor = <40%: > 60%, where no equity is available to BEE entrepreneurs. In the absence of BEE laws third party finance will dominate funding of empowerment transactions. Funding models based on third party finance must rely more on cash flow based payments rather than dividend payments to service debt.

It is in the area of the regulation of a company's share capital and distributions to shareholders that the inherent conflict between creditors and shareholders, and the fragile balance among shareholders internally, intersect. The share capital of a company underlies its corporate structure and represents not only its initial own funds from which creditors can be paid, but also the relative equity interests of the shareholders. The balance between shareholders can be disturbed by capital reorganisations through increase, reduction or variation of share capital or through disproportionate contributions by, or distributions to, shareholders. Share repurchases are particularly risky in this regard. Creditor interests are affected when their prior right to payment is endangered by distributions to shareholders. This study analyses the South African Law relating to share capital and distributions against the background of a comparative study of the laws of England, New Zealand, Delaware and California, as well as the provisions of the American Model Business Corporations Act. Two main approaches to creditor protection are evident. The capital maintenance doctrine, which is followed in England and Delaware, protects creditors by emphasising the notional share capital of the company as a limit on distributions. In contrast, the solvency and liquidity approach focuses on the net assets of the company and on its ability to pay its debts. New Zealand, California and the Model Business Corporations Act represent this approach. Regulatory responses to shareholder protection range from insistence on compliance with procedural requirements to minimal statutory intervention in the internal affairs of companies, instead relying on general principles of fairness and good faith. There is little correlation between a particular system's approach to creditor protection on the one hand, and to shareholder protection on the other. England, New Zealand and South Africa prescribe specific formalities, while the American approach is more relaxed. South Africa is a hybrid system. Its transition from capital maintenance to solvency and liquidity has been incomplete and its protection of equity interests is relatively unsophisticated. A number of recommendations are made for an effective and coherent approach that will safeguard the interests of creditors and shareholders alike. / School: Law / LL.D.

It is in the area of the regulation of a company's share capital and distributions to shareholders that the inherent conflict between creditors and shareholders, and the fragile balance among shareholders internally, intersect. The share capital of a company underlies its corporate structure and represents not only its initial own funds from which creditors can be paid, but also the relative equity interests of the shareholders. The balance between shareholders can be disturbed by capital reorganisations through increase, reduction or variation of share capital or through disproportionate contributions by, or distributions to, shareholders. Share repurchases are particularly risky in this regard. Creditor interests are affected when their prior right to payment is endangered by distributions to shareholders. This study analyses the South African Law relating to share capital and distributions against the background of a comparative study of the laws of England, New Zealand, Delaware and California, as well as the provisions of the American Model Business Corporations Act. Two main approaches to creditor protection are evident. The capital maintenance doctrine, which is followed in England and Delaware, protects creditors by emphasising the notional share capital of the company as a limit on distributions. In contrast, the solvency and liquidity approach focuses on the net assets of the company and on its ability to pay its debts. New Zealand, California and the Model Business Corporations Act represent this approach. Regulatory responses to shareholder protection range from insistence on compliance with procedural requirements to minimal statutory intervention in the internal affairs of companies, instead relying on general principles of fairness and good faith. There is little correlation between a particular system's approach to creditor protection on the one hand, and to shareholder protection on the other. England, New Zealand and South Africa prescribe specific formalities, while the American approach is more relaxed. South Africa is a hybrid system. Its transition from capital maintenance to solvency and liquidity has been incomplete and its protection of equity interests is relatively unsophisticated. A number of recommendations are made for an effective and coherent approach that will safeguard the interests of creditors and shareholders alike. / School: Law / LL.D.

The implementation of International Accounting Standard 32 Financial Instruments: Disclosure and Presentation (lAS 32), International Accounting Standard 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement (lAS 39) and International Financial Reporting Standard 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures (IFRS 7) by developing countries has been met with mixed reactions largely due to the extensive use of the fair value concept by the three accounting standards. The use of the fair value concept in developing countries has proved to be a significant challenge due to either a Jack of formal capital market systems or very thinly traded capital markets. This study investigates the obstacles to determining fair values of equity share investments, government bonds and corporate bonds, treasury bills and loan advances in Mozambique. The study was done through a combination of literature review and empirical research using a questionnaire. The trading statistics of the financial instruments on the Mozambique Stock Exchange and the prospectuses of bonds were used. The empirical research was carried out using a type of non-probability sampling technique called purposive sampling. A subcategory of purposive sampling called expert sampling was used to select the eventual sample which was composed of people with specialised knowledge on the capital market system in Mozambique. The results of the empirical research were analysed using pie charts to summarise the responses. The research concluded that the Mozambique Stock Exchange is an inactive market for financial instruments characterised by thin trading in both equity shares and bonds. The estimation of fair values evidenced by observable market transactions is therefore impossible. The absence of credit rating agencies in Mozambique presents a significant challenge in assigning credit risk and pricing financial instruments such as bonds. The research also noted that significant volatility of the main economic indicators such as treasury bills interest rates and inflation made it difficult to determine fair values of financial instruments using financial modelling techniques. Due to the above obstacles to determining fair values of certain financial instruments in Mozambique, the best alternatives are to value these financial instruments at either cost or amortised cost. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

This study examined the nature and extent of relations between Management of Technology [MOT] and cost management. It explores the roles of competencies and competency measurement in these relations and its associations with company performance. The problem statement asks how the MOT community deals with cost management, whether MOT-based cost management competencies can be isolated and measured, whether a tool for measurement can be created, tested and validated and indeed whether it can be used to assess relations between MOT-based cost management competencies and company performance. To answer these questions, a MOT-based cost management competency index is formulated, consisting of problem statements representing MOT-based cost management insights, knowledge and practices. Designed in the format of a typical research survey, the index is used to source data from sampled companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange [JSE]. Although too small a sample to generalise about the population, sufficient data is collected and processed with statistical software programs. A second set of variables, about financial performance of the responding companies, consists of Asset Turnover [ATO] and Return on Assets Managed [ROAM]. Data for these variables is sourced from their annual financial statements and processed into ATO and ROAM indicators. The combined research data set is used to critically describe statistical qualities of variables such as ATO, ROAM, MOT-based cost management competencies of company executives, their education and exposure to the executive management teams in their respective organizations. The research data is subsequently subjected to correlation analysis, as foundation for hypothesis testing. Among the relationships described by correlation analysis and warranting further examination with regression analysis, are associations between MOT-based cost management competencies and ATO and between Education and MOT-based cost management competencies. The former association is found to be not significant, having the research hypothesis rejected. A significant association between Education and MOT-based cost management competencies is indeed found. Utilizing regression equations yielded by the analyses, the predictive capacity of regression analysis is used to demonstrate results of interventions in those associations postulated in the research hypotheses. The study concludes that it achieved a qualified success in its first objective, which was to formulate a MOT-based cost management competency index, and to demonstrate its application as measurement and management tool on executive managers of JSE-listed companies. The study failed in its second objective, which was to demonstrate a significant association between MOT-based cost management competencies and financial performance of sampled companies. Critical perspectives on the data and the associations tested reveal important shortcomings in the research. These perspectives do though create opportunities for refinement of the MOT-based cost management competency index as measurement and management tool, validation of its status, and indeed demonstration of its business value to the MOT and business community in particular. In closure, the study was meant as a contribution to the discourse on a credo for MOT and the MOT body of knowledge, and it subjects itself to critical analysis by the research community so as to establish whether it succeeded in indeed making such a contribution. / Business Management / M.Tech. (Business Administration)

Die studie ondersoek die inligtingswaarde van dividende as 'n moontlike verldaring van die waargenome aandeleprysreaksie op dividendaankondigings. Twee algemene hipoteses is getoets, naamlik dat 'n betekenisvolle verandering in 'n maatskappy se dividendbeleid inligting oor daardie maatskappy se toekomstige verdienste per aandeel bevat, en tweedens dat hierdie inligting in die reaksie van aandelepryse na die aankondiging van die verandering gereflekteer word. Die belangrikste bevindinge is soos volg: • Die inligting vervat in huidige dividendaankondigings kan nie deur beleggers gebruik word om die volgende jaar se verdienste per aandeel van 'n maatskappy te voorspel nie. Die aandeleprysreaksie op positiewe, negatiewe en neutrale nuus is statisties beduidend, maar vind hoofsaaklik in dieselfde rigting plaas. Beleggers sou dus nie die inligting vervat in dividendaankondigings kan gebruik om bogemiddelde opbrengskoerse te genereer nie. • Die inligtingswaarde van dividende is dus 'n onwaarskynlike verldaring van die invloed van 'n maatskappy se dividendbeleid op die waarde van sy gewone aandele. / This research investigates the information content of dividends as a possible explanation for the observed share price reaction to dividend announcements. Two hypotheses were tested, namely that a significant change in a company's dividend policy contains information on that company's future earnings per share, and secondly, that this information is reflected in the share price reaction after the announcement of the change. The most important findings are as follows: • Investors cannot use the information contained in current dividend announcements to predict a company's earnings per share for the next year. • Share price reactions to positive, negative and neutral news are statistically significant, but will be in the same direction. Hence investors cannot use this information to generate above-normal returns. The information content of dividends is therefore an unlikely explanation of the influence a company's dividend policy has on the value of its ordinary shares. / Business Management / MCom (Sakebestuur)

The share of corporate saving in total saving in South Africa has increased during the past four decades. In this dissertation various economic theories are examined in order to try to explain this change and to determine the possible implications of this change. The conclusion is that the relationship between the investment decision of companies and their savings decision is governed by the determinants of the financing choice of firms. These include cost, risk, control and availability. If, because of these factors, firms prefer to finance investment with retained earnings, there is a relationship between investment and the level of corporate saving. The degree to which the investment decision is dependent on the availability of internal financing will determine the importance of the level of corporate saving in a country. / Oor die afgelope vier dekades het die aandeel van maatskapybesparing in die totale besparing in Suid-Afika toegeneem. In hiersie vehandeling word veskillende ekonomiese teoriee ondersoek ten einde hierdie verandering te probeer veklaar en te probeer vasstel wat die implikasies van hierdie veandering is. Die gevolgtrekking waartoe gekom word, is dat die verband tussen die investeringsbeleid en die maatskappye se besparingsbesluit bepaal word deur faktore wat die finansieringskeuse van die firmas beinvloed, naamlik koste, risiko, beheer en beskikbaarheid. Indien hierdie faktore daartoe lei dat die maatskapye verkies om investering met terruggehoue bespaaring the finansier, is daar 'n verband tussen investering en die vlak van maatskappybesparing. Die mate waarin die investeringsbesluit afhanklik is van die beskikbaarheid van interne finansiering, sal bepaal hoe belangrik die vlak van maatskappybesparing in 'n land is. / Economics and Management Sciences / M.Com.

by Fok Yin-mei and Leung Suk-yee. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 17-19). / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.viii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.ix / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Background of the Study --- p.1 / Objectives of the Study --- p.8 / Chapter II. --- RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMPANIES AND THEIR BANKS： FURTHER REMARKS AND LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.9 / Dynamics in the Management of Corporate Banking Relationships --- p.9 / Companies' Bank Selection Behaviors --- p.12 / Bibliography --- p.17 / Books --- p.17 / Periodicals --- p.17 / Chapter III. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.20 / Qualitative Study --- p.20 / Quantitative Study --- p.21 / Questionnaire Design --- p.21 / Population and Sampling --- p.22 / Data Processing --- p.23 / Chapter IV. --- FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS: QUALITATIVE STUDY --- p.24 / Initial Screening --- p.24 / Credit Analysis --- p.25 / Granting Credit --- p.28 / Credit Monitoring and Control --- p.29 / How Do Banks Develop and Maintain Relationships with Clients? --- p.30 / Chapter V. --- FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS: QUANTITATIVE STUDY --- p.33 / The Research Sample --- p.33 / Bank Selection --- p.34 / Bank Usage --- p.35 / Split Banking --- p.37 / Bank Switching --- p.38 / Perceived Importance of Bank Attributes in Major Bank Selection --- p.39 / Basic Bank Attributes --- p.39 / Bank's Image --- p.40 / Lending Policy --- p.41 / Product Quality --- p.41 / Account Officers --- p.42 / Pricing Factors --- p.43 / Usage of Financial Institutions Other Than Banks --- p.43 / Other Findings --- p.44 / Chapter VI. --- RECOMMENDATIONS --- p.47 / Product Development --- p.47 / Improving the Performance of Account Officers --- p.48 / Marketing Strategies --- p.49 / Bank's Image --- p.51 / Pricing Strategies --- p.52 / Accountant's Role in the Banking Relationships --- p.53 / Chapter VII. --- CONCLUSION --- p.56 / APPENDICES / Chapter 1. --- QUESTIONNAIRE FOR BANKERS --- p.57 / Chapter 2. --- QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CLIENT COMPANIES --- p.58 / Chapter 3. --- COVERING LETTER --- p.63 / Chapter 4. --- COMPANIES' HEADQUARTERS --- p.64 / Chapter 5. --- INDUSTRIES IN WHICH COMPANIES WERE PRINCIPALLY ENGAGED --- p.65 / Chapter 6. --- COMPANIES' NUMBER OF PERMANENT EMPLOYEES --- p.66 / Chapter 7. --- COMPANIES' YEARS OF ESTABLISHMENT --- p.67 / Chapter 8. --- COMPANIES' FORM OF OWNERSHIP --- p.68 / Chapter 9. --- THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SELECTING THE MAJOR BANK IS --- p.69 / Chapter 10. --- WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SELECTING THE MAJOR BANK? --- p.70 / Chapter 11. --- INFORMATION SOURCES USED IN SELECTING THE MAJOR BANK --- p.71 / Chapter 12. --- BANKS EMPLOYED BY COMPANIES --- p.72 / Chapter 13. --- NUMBER OF BANKS USED BY COMPANIES --- p.73 / Chapter 14. --- REASONS FOR USING MORE THAN ONE BANK --- p.74 / Chapter 15. --- HOW LONG COMPANIES HAVE WORKED WITH THEIR MAJOR BANK? --- p.75 / Chapter 16. --- FACTORS FOR SWITCHING THE MAJOR BANK --- p.76 / Chapter 17. --- IMPORTANCE OF BANK ATTRIBUTES IN MAJOR BANK SELECTION --- p.77 / Chapter 18. --- FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OTHER THAN BANKS USED BY COMPANIES --- p.79 / Chapter 19. --- CROSS TABULATION: LOCATION OF HEADQUARTERS BY WHO SELECT THE MAJOR BANK --- p.80 / Chapter 20. --- CROSS TABULATION: LOCATION OF HEADQUARTERS BY MAJOR BANK --- p.81