Thesis (D. Comm.(Financial management sciences))-University of Pretoria, 2005. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-130). Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

This thesis aims to identify the status of management accounting practices in the Jordanian financial sector in terms of both its usage and sophistication level and to examine the contingency factors that influence that status. The main objectives of the research are: to obtain a broad overview of management accounting practices in general, including the extent of usage of management accounting practices; examine the sophistication level of management accounting practices and at which phase, based on the IF AC model, the Jordanian financial sector is currently placed; investigate the effect of the contingent variables upon both the extent of usage and the sophistication level of management accounting practices. To attain these objectives, a combination of research methods has been conducted, namely, questionnaire and semi-structured interview; 64 valid questionnaires were returned, giving a 67.3% response rate, followed by 14 interviews. Several statistical analyses were used to analyse the responses, namely, descriptive analysis, bivariate correlation analysis (KendalFs tau test and Kruskal-Wallis test), and multivariate statistical tests. The results of the life cycle stages revealed that 67.2% of the respondent companies are located in the first two stages. In terms of the usage of management accounting practices, the research reported that traditional practices are still widespread and highly used, rarely using the more sophisticated or advanced practices, and that there is a diversity of practices used in the financial sector context. In general, the research revealed that budgeting practices and financial measures are heavily used, and there is a lack of usage of decision making practices and strategic analysis practices. Concerning the sophistication level of management accounting practices, the research revealed that almost all of the Jordanian financial sector companies are located in the first stage by 64.1% and 29.7% of companies in the second stage based on the IF AC model, thus indicating the simplicity of information that they require. This, in turn, reflects the simplicity of practices that are used in the Jordanian financial sector. In terms of the association between each contingency variables and the extent of usage of management accounting practices, the research reveals that the age of the company (number of years since establishment), net sale growth, number of employees, sophistication of operations, professional certificates, life cycle stages, and business type have a significant impact on the extent of usage of management accounting practices. In addition, it reveals that the age of the company, sophistication of operations, attendance of training courses, professional certificates, life cycle stages, and business type are the main contingency variables that influence the sophistication level of management accounting practices. The research's findings provide a broad overview of management accounting practices in the Jordanian financial sector. This overview is vital in improving the understanding of management accounting practices, particularly contemporary practices within the Jordanian financial sector in order to encourage practitioners to adopt contemporary practices of management accounting. In addition, the research informs practitioners of the main variables that influence the usage and sophistication level of management accounting practices and of those variables that need to be taken into account when planning the adoption or development of management accounting systems. Finally, the research's findings attempt to fill the gap between theory and practice in management accounting in Jordan.

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / Managerial decision-making has always involved the use of numerous distinct information resources. Modern managerial decision-making processes require a wealth of information that is enhanced and transformed into knowledge in order to take effective action. Mobility in business is increasingly exercising influence on core business processes of organisations. The shift to wireless technologies coupled with the rapid growth of mobile devices in business has led to a new era in business computing. Mobile Business Intelligence (Mobile BI) is a system that has been conceived to assist, accelerate and to enhance the managerial decision-making processes. This thesis focuses on the e ect of Mobile BI on managerial decision-making. This thesis was able to answer the research question and to meet the research objectives through an extensive study of literature on the two most important spheres of influence i.e Business Intelligence and Managerial decision-making. Moreover, the objectives were met through the implementation of practical empirical research. The latter was carried out through a survey research design using questionnaire method of data collection. This research produced an number of ndings. The results indicated that Mobile BI played an important influencing role in the way managers make decisions. This study found that Mobile BI improved the quality of decisions made by managers used it for decision support subsequently improving performance of the organisation. Overall, four factors were found to be the predictors of Mobile BI for managerial decision making in organisations: Perceived Ease of Use of Mobile BI, Attitudes towards Use of Mobile BI, Perceived Value of Mobile BI with Behavioural Intention to Use of Mobile BI emerging as the most important predictors of Managerial Organisational decision-making.

Prior research shows returns are positive when firms meet or beat analysts’ consensus forecasts but negative when firms miss. Past studies also show managers frequently cut R&D expenses in order to meet the consensus forecast. Despite these findings, there is limited evidence about how the market responds when firms beat the forecast by cutting R&D. This study shows the stock market penalizes firms that use R&D cuts to manage earnings and exacts a discount to the market reward if beating the forecast requires cutting R&D. The discount is only partial and firms are still better off doing so in the short run. Furthermore, this study shows the R&D cuts used to manage earnings are concentrated in specific industries and are likely temporary, as firms tend to increase R&D spending in the subsequent period. Investors appear to recognize these short-term cuts and treat them similar to accruals. / 10000-01-01

abstract: This paper examines whether CEOs with general managerial skills are better at achieving the goals of external communication. Using the General Ability Index developed by Custodio, Ferreira, and Matos (2013) to measure CEOs' general managerial skills, I find that firms with generalist CEOs are more likely to obtain the desired outcomes of communication, including the smaller difference between analyst forecasts and management guidance, less dispersion in analyst forecasts, higher analyst following, and higher institutional ownership, after controlling for CEO talent and the impact of Regulation FD. Moreover, I provide direct evidence that general managerial skills are more important to external communication under poor information environments. I also investigate the characteristics of analysts who follow firms with generalists, and my findings suggest the private interaction with analysts is an important communication channel for generalists. Finally, I find that generalists are able to attract dedicated investors and gain long-term capital for their firms. Overall, I provide evidence on the growing importance of general managerial skills in external communication. This paper offers new insights into why CEOs with general skills are paid at a premium over those with specific skills, as documented in previous studies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Accountancy 2015

EVA® is a performance metric that calculates the creation of shareholder value and is a registered trademark of Stern Stuart, New York. EVA® has been widely adopted by management when making decisions to increase productivity, where to invest new capital and which underperforming assets to liquidate. EVA® is also widely used by investors and analysts as a measure of company performance when deciding on which shares to invest in. While extensive research was done on EVA® and share price performance internationally, the aim of this research was to determine whether a positive EVA® leads to growth in its share price, specifically for retail and banking shares listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). The banking and retail sector was selected as both these sectors experience favourable growth in terms of turnover during decreasing interest rate periods and unfavourable growth during increasing interest rate periods. Thus EVA® was selected as one of the better performance measures to use to show true operating performance. Statistical tests were done on turnover growth rates, EVA® growth rates, EVA® and Turnover, EVA® and Share Price growth and finally EVA® and other common performance measures. Common performance measures were limited to Price/Earnings, Earnings Per Share, Return On Assets and Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation. After analysis of the results, it was found that turnover growth rates were statistically similar for the banking sector during the period 1998 to 2007, but not for the retail sector. Leading on from that it was found that share price correlates well with EVA® for the banking sector however not for the retail sector. The study also further revealed that none of the common performance measures correlated well with EVA for both the banking and retail sector. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This paper investigates the rationale of using standard costing in modern manufacturing organisations. Researchers argue that standard costing does not easily fit in with the modern idea of continuous improvement. The benefits and limitations of standard costing and other modern alternative approaches in Eastern Cape manufacturing organisations are examined. Furthermore the factors affecting the accuracy of standards are investigated. Lastly, it is concluded that standard costing is used in Eastern Cape manufacturing organisations and those organisations using standard costing have considered the benefits and limitations.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the Balanced Scorecard provides guidance to managerial decision making in Company M. The impetus for this study came from the observations within Company M which is in the process of completing a restructuring programme. Several areas have already completed the transition. Performance measurement has become a crucial factor under the new structure and managers are making use of the Balanced Scorecard to evaluate performance, this begs the question: “ Does the Balanced Scorecard provide effective guidance to managerial decision making? “ To facilitate an objective and effective analysis of the proposed research an extensive literature review was conducted. The Balanced Scorecard is defined, the evolution of the Balanced Scorecard was observed and the preference for the uses of the Balanced Scorecard was examined in detail. This should provide a fair overview of the functionality of the Balanced Scorecard and the intended purpose it was designed to fulfil. However the literature review does not look at any specific company in detail therefore in order to investigate further from the findings of the literature review an empirical study was conducted. The research method used in the research design was a case study; the results were both structured and quantitative. The case study is purely focused on the management and operating activities of a single company (Company M). Therefore the results of the practical research should not be associated with any other company. From a theoretical perspective, the research was conducted in the form of a desktop analysis of literature content ranging from: case studies, existing research papers and published articles. For the empirical study a survey was used to gather information by the distribution and completion of a questionnaire to individuals at all levels of management within the company. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Financial Management / unrestricted

No description available.

This study will endeavor to point out, discuss, and objectify the more fundamental considerations basic to any investigation of the subject. In conjunction with the above aims, this study will include a description of the problems found in evaluating managerial positions and some of the ways these problems have been met.