In South Africa and many other countries, credit registers and credit scores are used to determine how much credit a person can get access to, as well as the interest rate which they will be charged. In addition to this, some companies (such as insurance companies and rental agencies), use this data as part of the process to vet potential clients before allowing them to sign a contract. Part of the problem with this approach is that only certain records are stored on these credit registers. This excludes a large number of individuals, specifically those who are unbanked, those who have not got access to credit from formal institutions or those who do not own property and therefore pay their landlord for utilities. The purpose of this research is to determine the feasibility of using blockchain to store payment histories from small businesses to give their clients access to a credit record. The case study for this research will look specifically at a business which offers insurance to individuals living in informal settlements. This could be extended to many other businesses who work within informal settlements which allow cash payments on a regular basis for services offered. Shops in informal marketplaces which allow people to take products on credit and only pay later could also be included. By storing these transactions on the blockchain, individuals who would not usually have access to a credit history will have access to records of transactions that they have made and will be able to use these to show their ability and willingness to meet their financial obligations. This paper provides insight into existing credit registers and the process followed to build an informal credit register on the blockchain. The research covers an investigation into the feasibility of the project and it was found that this could is feasible and could add a lot of value, especially to those who do not have a credit history. There are many considerations, such as speed, security and costs which need to be taken into account, but these are outweighed by the benefits of the blockchain.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The purpose of this study is to evaluate the financial impact of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) transaction announcements on shareholder value. The study investigated 49 BEE transactions (classified as 28 disposals, 9 acquisitions, 9 employee share schemes and 3 broad based schemes) over a testing period of 72 months between 2000 and 2008.

Includes bibliographical references. / The South African unit trust industry was found to display low levels of Active Share compared to international levels. A sample of unit trusts, representing approximately 58.2% of assets under management in the South African general equity fund industry, was selected based on the availability of the information necessary to perform this analysis. The average Active Share demonstrated by the sample of unit trusts has decreased from 60.85% in June 2007 to 55.65% in June 2013. A fund flow analysis confirmed that fund managers' portfolio decisions are highly affected by the risk of outflows and possibility of inflows. Managers faced with a high risk of outflows and low possibility of inflows adjusted their Active Share by approximately double that of managers with a moderate risk of outflows and inflows. A similar result was found when comparing managers experiencing a low risk of outflows and a high possibility of inflows, to managers experiencing a moderate risk of outflows and inflows. Under varying market conditions, unit trusts exhibiting the highest Active Share and tracking error (concentrated stock picker) earned a significantly higher alpha than unit trusts exhibiting the lowest Active Share and tracking error (closet indexer). During the financial crisis and in the subsequent bull market to previous highs, concentrated stock pickers earned a significantly higher alpha than closet indexers. In bull markets breaking through previous highs, concentrated stock pickers earned the lowest alpha. The alpha earned by unit trusts exhibiting the highest level of Active Share was significantly higher than the alpha earned by unit trusts exhibiting the lowest level of Active Share. The benefit of distinguishing between truly active (concentrated stock picker) unit trusts and closet indexer unit trusts is clear.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether abnormal returns are earned on insider trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The study first tests the strong form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis by investigating whether abnormal returns are earned by directors purchasing or selling their own firms' shares, and thereafter the semi-strong form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis by investigating the occurrence of abnormal returns earned by outsiders mimicking these director transactions once they are publically announced (which has to be within 48 hours). In addition, this study tests whether these abnormal returns are dependent on firm size, and secondly whether a firm's industry classification, as defined by the JSE, has an effect on the magnitude of abnormal returns earned by directors and outsiders mimicking these transactions. Event study methodology, in conjunction with the Market Model, is used to calculate the abnormal returns for a sample of 1,026 directors' trades made on the JSE between 2007 and 2012. The results indicate that directors in many of the subsamples tested earn statistically significant abnormal returns in the short term (defined as 20 days post the event date), when purchasing or selling shares in their own companies, although more so on sale trades. There is strong evidence of directors being able to time the market, and that outsiders can mimic directors' trades once these become public knowledge to also earn abnormal profits. These findings are inconsistent with both the strong and semi-strong forms of market efficiency. The study further finds a negative correlation between abnormal returns earned and firm size for both director share purchases and sales. This supports the theory that insiders in smaller companies, which are less exposed to market scrutiny than larger firms, possess greater private information than their counterparts in larger listed businesses. Finally, it is found that the highest insider abnormal returns were earned by director purchases in the Basic Materials and Oil & Gas sector, with the lowest abnormal returns earned in the Consumer Goods and Technology and Telecommunications sectors. The findings of this study have both theoretical implications in terms of the market efficiency of the JSE, as well as practical insights for investors looking for a profitable trading strategy based on director trades.

My thesis is going to focus on the development of a standalone, web based, machine learning educational platform. This platform will have a specific focus on neural networks. This tool will have the primary intention to provide a theoretical background to the mathematics of neural networks and thereafter to allow users to train their own networks on regression problems of their own creation. This is so as to provide the user with both theoretical, and first-hand, experience in the applications and functions of artificial intelligence. The primary success metric of this project will be how informative it is to the user. The key deliverable will be a fully functional prototype in additional to a written piece inclusive of a literature review and any other relevant findings and conclusions.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / Increased emphasis by professional bodies on fostering life-long learning has resulted in interest in student approaches to learning. The aim of this paper is to provide a preliminary investigation into the approaches to learning of accounting students in the context of a South African university by sampling students studying a professionally accredited post-graduate programme. A further aim is to investigate the potential differences in these approaches to learning between each of the four core subjects of this post-graduate programme, as well as differences between male and female students, and students achieving differing academic grades. The intention is to serve as a basis for further research within this context as well as provide insights for accounting educators into both student approaches to learning, and links to the learning environment. The Approaches to Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) was administered to a group of volunteer students all studying the Post-Graduate Diploma in Accounting (PGDA) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The applicability of the ASSIST survey was tested via confirmatory factor analysis and thereafter the data was analysed to measure the general tendencies of students to favour either a Deep, Surface or Strategic approach to learning. The findings of this study indicate the ASSIST survey is applicable within the context administered although inconsistencies in student responses for one of the four subjects warrants further research. In analysing the data, UCT PGDA students were found to favour a Strategic approach to study, which could be partially attributed to intensive workloads as well as pressure to pass final examinations – passing these exams would grant them eligibility to sit the first of two professional examinations. Generally, no statistically significant differences between student approaches to learning for each of the four core subjects could be observed, nor between student approaches to learning for each gender. However, academically stronger students were found to have less fear of failure; a greater achieving tendency, as well as feeling more comfortable in managing their time. The use of the ASSIST survey in this context is acceptable and initial indications suggest that UCT PGDA students feel discouraged from using a surface approach to learning – a step toward fostering competence in life-long learning.

Three prominent analytical approximations for pricing basket options,by Levy (1992), Ju (2002) and Deelstra et aI. (2004), are tested for performance and accuracy. Sensitivity analysis shows that all three have greater errors in high volatility and long maturity environments, while Deelstra has weaknesses with small correlation and baskets with few stocks. Deelstra and Levy show tendencies to underprice and overprice respectively, while Ju's errors are more consistently around the true price. A mathematical understanding of the three techniques is also developed.

Over time neighbourhoods have shown opposition to Government subsidized housing programmes being developed within their neighbourhoods. This is due to the perceived negative impacts that these housing developments have on the neighbourhood. Opposition has grown since implementation of the Housing Code of 2009. The Code aims to integrate low income households into more affluent areas, in order to provide these households with greater access to economic and social opportunities, which they were previously denied having been placed on the urban periphery. Opponents to subsidized housing developments have nevertheless expressed concerns with a possible decline in property values. These concerns are however based on perception, rather than factual evidence to this effect. There is a paucity of studies on the topic within the South African context. While there are a number of studies on the topic within other countries, the results cannot be generalized due to the difference in demographics, housing subsidy programmes and structure of the City of Cape Town. An analysis of the impact within the City of Cape Town context may thus be beneficial. This paper analysed the impacts of Residential Development Programme (RDP) housing and Social Housing (rental) projects, as these are the subsidized housing developments that have received the most opposition. The paper has thus used a Difference-in-Difference Hedonic Pricing Model analysis to determine the neighbourhood impacts of subsidized housing on the property values of surrounding neighbourhoods. RDP housing was estimated to have a negative effect on proximate property values, while Social Housing was estimated to have no effect. It is recommended that future developments are aesthetically appealing, have landscaping, are well maintained and are well integrated with the surrounding community. These efforts should also be well communicated to the host communities during the public participation events. Further analysis is required to determine the cause of the negative effects of the RDP development to ensure that these are mitigated in future RDP projects. These may allow the State to provide the much-needed housing opportunities, with limited opposition from the host communities.

For several decades equity-based compensation has been used as a tool to align the incentives of company executives and employees with those' of the company shareholders. For instance globally, during the 1990's, there was an explosion in the issuance of employee stock options. This served several purposes, namely - to motivate managers, in the pursuit to increase company value and achieve long-term goals as a retention tool for talented staff and also as a way for cash strapped young companies to reward employees without the need to divert cash from operating activities. The global financial crisis, accompanied by a multitude of very costly high profile bailouts, has led to significant shareholder and tax payer dissatisfaction, and has succeeded to highlight the inherent deficiencies of traditional share-based incentive schemes such as stock options. Increased scrutiny and calls for better corporate governance, together with evolving accounting and tax treatment, have ultimately led to a shift in share-based incentive schemes practices. Globally, several important developments have emerged. For instance, there has been a marked move away from simple stock option-type schemes towards less dilutive Share Appreciation Rights and also full quantum share schemes. In addition, performance conditions (relative as well as absolute) have become increasingly prevalent in terms of grant vesting (PWC, 2011). The objective of this study is to examine the current long-term share-based incentive schemes used by JSE listed companies based on data from 50 large and mid-cap companies. It aims to identify, trends in terms of prevalent scheme types, average scheme size relative to issued share capital, settlement methods, valuation models used, construction of model inputs and the use of performance conditions. These trends are framed in the context of South African tax legislation and IFRS2 accounting standards. The analysis indicates that in recent years South African listed companies have followed the global approach towards share-based incentives, namely: * Share Appreciation Rights are being used more frequently * Full quantum schemes are ,also becoming more popular * There is increased use of performance conditions embedded in grants * Companies are moving away from the 'one size fits all' approach and are starting to use combinations of schemes to simultaneously address issues such as staff retention, preventing excessive risk taking by managers and attaining short, medium and long term strategic targets.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-138). / This work investigates the modelling of non-stationary sample extremes using a roughness penalty approach, in which smoothed natural cubic splines are fitted to the location and scale parameters of the generalized extreme value distribution and the distribution of the r largest order statistics. Estimation is performed by implementing a Fisher scoring algorithm to maximize the penalized log-likelihood function. The approach provides a flexible framework for exploring smooth trends in sample extremes, with the benefit of balancing the trade-off between 'smoothness' and adherence to the underlying data by simply changing the smoothing parameter. To evaluate the overall performance of the extreme value theory methodology in smoothing extremes a simulation study was performed.