Purpose – The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how mandatory obligation to follow the International <IR> Framework while producing the corporate reports influence the intellectual capital disclosures in the reports. Research design – The study uses a disclosure scoreboard to score a selected sample of annual reports depending on whether it disclose intellectual capital information or not. The sample consists of companies listed in South Africa were it is mandatory to follow the integrated reporting framework and companies listen in Sweden where it is not mandatory to produce an integrated report. Empirical results and conclusion – The results of this thesis indicates that the mandatory use of the International <IR> Framework have an impact on the amount of intellectual capital disclosures. Further it concludes that higher level of compliance with the framework further increases the intellectual capital disclosure. Contribution – This study has been an early step towards concluding whether the use of integrated reporting has any effect on the amount of intellectual capital information disclosed in companies’ annual report.

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ABSTRACT South Africa had its first democratic elections in 1994. This give rise to a new dimension in social, economic, political and legal fraternities. As result, a number of new rules governing the extractive industry being introduced over the last ten years. The regulatory environment, which affects the public reporting of exploration information, mineral resources and mineral reserves, has undergone major changes. These include:- · The impact of the effects of globalization on the mining industry since many large and small operating mining companies have been listed in more than one country; · Increased regulations introduced by the local JSE as revised listing requirements for reporting and internal controls, not only over financial reporting, but also over the preparation of supplementary information, including mineral resources and mineral reserves statements; and · Development of new international definitions and standards for the estimation and reporting of exploration information, mineral resources and mineral reserves. This due to the international competition for mineral exploration and development projects by global mining companies, which have lead to proactive jurisdictions to establish regulatory regimes with common fabric.. Mineral resource and mineral reserve classification methods, standards and reporting have undergone many changes since the discovery and commercial exploration of minerals as early as the 18th century. To a certain extent, even today there is still ongoing debate regarding the classification systems, definitions and the public reporting of these assets for internal and external use. Over the years, different interpretation, understanding and classification has led to confusion and misunderstanding which resulted in world class reporting scandals including, but not limited to, Bre-X, Shell and Enron. These scandals have highlighted the necessity of standardising the definitions, classification and reporting of mineral assets. The regulators and investors in the mineral industry have also been awakened and have become biggest stakeholders in the development and implementation of these rules in the industry. The concept of “competent person” was introduced and accountability of reporting was moved to the individuals and directors that report these results into the public domain. In this research report the mineral resource and mineral reserve definitions and their developments, historical developments in the minerals industry, current standards and their use in the public reporting of exploration results and mineral assets in the South African context are considered and reviewed in some detail. Included in this report were also areas of possible misconception in the interpretation of categorisation of mineral assets. A practical case study on the Harmony proposal of a hostile take over bid on Goldfields was studied. Information in the public domain on this potential transaction was reviewed during the study, facts were then analysed and formed the basis of an independent opinion. It was concluded that the reporting of mineral assets held by Harmony did not comply with the general reporting principles; hence the report was considered misleading, confusing and materially inconsistent. Hence, in the author’s opinion, Harmony’s offer to Goldfields shareholders was unfair and unreasonable. Given that Goldfields held quality assets compared to Harmony, they should have offered a greater premium for these assets.To be clear and unambiguous, technical and financial information should be published on a comparable basis by all companies operating in the same industry sector, making the same basic assumptions. Public disclosure of mineral resources and mineral reserves is a logical step towards full disclosure of material information because:- 1) mineral resources and mineral reserves are material to all investors; 2) residency or nationality of an investor should not determine what information is disclosed by a company (need for internationally recognised standards); and 3) mineral resources and mineral reserves are required to be considered in impairment and purchase price allocation in accordance with IFRS. Lastly stakeholders in the mining industry should be reminded that the codes and rules are written for guidance of professionals in pursuit of their professional work and it was recommended that large mining firms should establish a mineral resource committee at board level to help and advise the board of directors in decision making.

This paper explores the distinction between ‘equity’ and ‘liabilities’ in financial reporting in order to assess the merits of the current system of accounting for share-based payment transactions. It applies an interpretive methodology. Data were collected from a series of interviews with purposefully selected experts. Criticisms of and support for the current accounting regime are interpretively analysed and used to identify key themes or principles for evaluating the merits of three models proposed in the academic literature: the strict liability, narrow equity and ownership-settlement models. The study finds that the strict liability approach remains supported on the grounds that it provides decisionuseful information with which users are familiar. The other models are rejected as they are perceived as diminishing the usefulness of financial reporting. The study also identifies support for an obligation-centric approach, not fully developed in the literature, which may require detailed consideration by standard-setters. Overall, these findings will be useful for both practitioners and academics grappling with the difficulty of defining ‘equity’ and ‘liabilities’. In addition, the research makes a valuable contribution by addressing the need for interpretive-inspired financial reporting research. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this thesis is also the first South African study to investigate the appropriate classification criteria for instruments such as share-based payments and provide normative recommendations for the International Accounting Standards Board.

by Cheung Hin-yu, Jimmy. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-68). / Chapter CHAPTER I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.2 / Definitions --- p.2 / A Brief Historical Account --- p.4 / The Contemporary Situation --- p.7 / The Local Scenario --- p.8 / Research Questions --- p.8 / Significance and Scope of the Study --- p.9 / Chapter CHAPTER II. --- PHOTOJOURNALISM AS A VISUAL MEDIUM OF NEWS REPORTAGE --- p.12 / Functions of Photojournalism --- p.12 / Photojournalism as an Agent Facilitating the Understanding of a News Event --- p.12 / Why can Photojournalism Facilitate the Understanding of a News Event? --- p.13 / How does Photojournalism Facilitate the Understanding of a News Event? --- p.20 / Counter-Arguments on the Notion of Understanding --- p.24 / Reconsidering the Notion of Understanding --- p.30 / Chapter CHAPTER III. --- THE CATEGORIES OF COMBINATIONS OF PHOTOS AND CUTLINES --- p.34 / The Importance of the Treatment of Photos and Cutlines --- p.34 / Categories of Combinations of Photos and Cutlines --- p.35 / Chapter 1. --- Photo-Dominant-Cutlines-Dominant --- p.35 / Chapter 2. --- Photo-Dominant-Cutlines-Supportive --- p.36 / Chapter 3. --- Photo-Supportive-Cutlines-Dominant --- p.36 / Chapter 4. --- Photo-Supportive-Cutlines-Supportive --- p.39 / Photo-Dominant-Cutline-Supportive as the Ideal Form of Photojournalism --- p.39 / Chapter CHAPTER IV. --- FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS AND METHODOLOGY --- p.43 / Chapter 1. --- Words-loaded News Photos --- p.43 / Chapter 2. --- Self-explanatory News Photos --- p.44 / Chapter 3. --- Conventionalised Portrayal and Cultural-specific News Photos --- p.44 / Hypotheses --- p.45 / Operationalisation of Key Variables --- p.46 / Methodology --- p.47 / Chapter CHAPTER V. --- FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS --- p.51 / Findings --- p.51 / Common Elements of Self-explanatory News Photos --- p.55 / Implications on the Formulation of Guiding Principles --- p.57 / Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research --- p.60 / Chapter CHAPTER VI. --- CONCLUSION --- p.62 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.64 / APPENDICES / Chapter I. --- Supplement on the Analysis of Cutlines --- p.69 / Chapter II. --- Diagram Summarising the Procedure of Doing the Experiment --- p.74 / Chapter III(A). --- Experimental Instrument of Words-loaded News Photos --- p.75 / Chapter III(B). --- Experimental Instrument of Self-explanatory News Photos --- p.80 / Chapter III(C). --- Experimental Instrument of Conventionalised Portrayal and Cultural-specific News Photos --- p.86 / Chapter IV. --- Guidelines for News Themes Identification --- p.91

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The purpose of this paper is to explore problems in current GAAP, including earnings management and illogical accounting practices. The paper then looks at proposed solutions to these problems, but shows how, from a creditor's perspective, these solutions fall short. My conclusion is that by creating two sets of GAAP, one for large publicly traded companies and one for smaller privately held companies, financial statements will be more representationally faithful for the creditors utilizing the financial statements.