Sound financial management is a growing concept in the public sector, especially in local government. The South African government has put in place policies and mechanisms to create a conducive environment for municipalities to manage finances in an effective manner. The management of municipal finance is supported by a set of policies and regulations to strengthen the use of public money. Among the respective policy frameworks, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa expects the government entities to be transparent and accountable. Here in, these financial measures are also guided by the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 and the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 (as amended 29 of 1999). Measured transparency is critically important for management public funds. Accountability is an essential element in achieving institutional goals, especially where public funds are used. Accountability allows public institutions to provide assurance to the tax payers and to their principals. The Auditor General expects municipalities to be accountable for their financial activities through regular reporting. The Annual Report will therefore be compiled for reporting and it must include all required information. Audit Committee becomes very critical, as a structure established to guide the municipality on finances and ensure that the report is credible in every respect. Metsimaholo municipality has however been facing challenges as per the opinions of the Auditor General based on financial reporting, amongst other things. This study involves the extent to which financial reporting serves as a tool for promoting accountability. In order to test the hypothesis, literature was reviewed to analyse and evaluate financial reporting and accountability. Empirical research was conducted to test and analyse the existence of practices, procedures and policies that promote sound financial management and their effectiveness. Data was collected through questionnaires and face to face structured and unstructured interviews, with respondents from employees of Metsimaholo Local Municipality and community structures. This study found among others that: *Policies for financial reporting exist but are not fully complied with *There is a lack of follow up with and implementation of Auditor General’s recommendations *Audit Committee recommendations are not fully implemented *There are no clear lines of responsibilities between councillors and officials with regard to financial management The study concludes with recommendations to assist the municipality in committing themselves to adopt strategies towards financial reporting for improved accountability. / Thesis (M. Development and Management (Public Management and Government))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

The relevance and reliability of annual financial reports as a basis for making decisions about an organisation came in dispute after a series of corporate collapses. Sustainability reports have similarly suffered weaknesses and stakeholders are unable to form a comprehensive picture of an organisation’s performance and its ability to create and sustain value. Integrated reporting incorporates concise and material information from financial statements and the sustainability report and other sources to enable stakeholders to evaluate the organisation’s performance and to make an informed assessment about its ability to create and sustain value. The focus of this study was to investigate the opinion of employees as stakeholders of a South African bank and their perception of the relevance of the elements in an integrated report, if they had to assess the ability of an organisation to sustain value in the future. A literature study was conducted to address the concept of integrated reporting and the integrated report as well as relevant aspects. Based on the literature study, integrated reporting should enable stakeholders to assess the ability of the organisation to create and sustain value over the short-, medium- and long-term. Special attention has been given to the elements to be included in an integrated report as suggested by the IRC SA’s framework and employees as stakeholders of organisations. The latter has been used as basis of the empirical study that was conducted. The empirical study focused on the opinion of employees regarding the relevance of the eight elements in an integrated report as stakeholders of a South African bank and it was conducted by means of a self-completion questionnaire. The internal consistency and reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by calculating Cronbach alpha coefficients and it had acceptable reliability. Frequency distributions, mean values and standard deviations were calculated as well as independent t-tests and Anovas to determine the differences between the means of different groups within the selected demographic variables and the constructs. Furthermore, effect size values (d-values) were used to indicate if there were practical significant differences between any demographical variables regarding the constructs and individual questions. In the final chapter, conclusions were drawn based on the literature and empirical study. It was evident from the empirical study that most of the respondents found the elements to be either moderately or totally relevant to be included in a report, if the ability of an organisation has to be assessed to sustain value in the future. Recommendations were provided on three elements (business model, remuneration policies and analytical commentary) and the report was concluded by recommending possible future research that could be conducted based on this study. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

This study presents an examination of how institutional characteristics might influence a four-year institution of higher education’s achievement in sustainability, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS). Specifically, it examined the potential role Carnegie classification, sector, location, number of students, and number of tenuretrack faculty might play in an institution’s Education & Research, Operations, and Planning, Administration, & Engagement scores on the STARS instrument. Multivariate regression analysis and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) modeling were both administered to a data set of 204 U.S.-based four-year institutions. Results suggested that the number of tenuretrack faculty did have a significant, positive, influence on an institution’s Education & Research and Planning, Administration & Engagement scores. In addition, the CART analysis provided a number of organizational profiles that suggested the types of institutions that achieved significantly higher STARS scores, mainly those considered “liberal arts” and “research intensive”. A discussion on the role of faculty members in sustainability planning is provided as well as recommendations for campus sustainability leaders. / Department of Educational Studies

Sexual assault among college students in the US has prompted debate about how to prevent and punish such crimes. Under Title IX and the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter from the Office for Civil Rights, universities are required to undertake the prevention, investigation, and punishment of sexually violent offenses on college campuses. However, the vast majority of victims do not report their assaults, whether on campus or to the police. The current study investigated the effect of victim reporting on perceptions of sexual assault. Two undergraduate samples, one from a small liberal arts college (n = 197) and another recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 56), were randomly assigned to read a vignette of an alleged sexual assault including one of four reporting conditions: no reporting, reporting to on-campus administrators, reporting to law enforcement, or reporting both on campus and to law enforcement. Outcome measures included whether the participant believed an assault had taken place, measures of victim and perpetrator culpability, and scales measuring the extent to which the participant accepts rape myths (RMA) and believes in a just world (JWB). Results failed to demonstrate an effect of victim reporting type, but did find a significant effect of gender such that males blamed the victim more and were less likely to believe an assault had taken place than females. RMA also mediated this relationship, such that the effect of gender on perceptions was accounted for by differences in RMA. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

South African adolescents are at high risk of becoming victims of sexual abuse. However, research and experience by practising social workers show that adolescents are reluctant to report sexual abuse immediately. This could be due to the lack recognised guidelines available by which to report abuse and receive the necessary help. The purpose of the research was to investigate the reasons why adolescents fail to report sexual abuse in order to establish relevant guidelines. This would also determine the role of the forensic social worker in the report of sexual abuse by adolescent victims. The research followed a combined quantitative and qualitative approach. 220 adolescents from two high schools and six Welkom social workers were involved in the investigation. Both groups of participants completed questionnaires while the social workers were also involved in a focus group. Forensic social workers work is a new field of specialisation in the social work profession. There is a serious misconception about the role of the forensic social worker not only among other practising social workers, but also among the general public and adolescents in specific. The forensic social worker can play an important role in establishing guidelines for the report of sexual abuse by adolescent victims. The findings clearly showed that adolescents do not report sexual abuse within the family. The abused adolescent becomes a victim as South Africa does not yet have definite guidelines available for the report of sexual abuse. The study found that the forensic social worker has a definite role to play in the report of sexual abuse by adolescents. / Thesis (M.A. (MW Forensic))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Kinders bring ‘n groot gedeelte van hul tyd by die skool deur. Onderwysers is die enigste ander persone behalwe die gesin wat op ‘n daaglikse basis kontak het met kinders. Onderwysers kan ‘n groot invloed uitoefen op kinders. Indien kinders probleme ervaar by die huis, kan hulle moontlik ‘n onderwyser daarvan vertel. Kinders kan moontlik seksuele misbruik bekend maak aan onderwysers. Indien kinders nie seksuele misbruik bekend maak nie, toon hulle egter soms simptome wat as indikatore kan dien dat hulle seksueel misbruik word. Onderwysers moet egter oor die nodige kennisbasis beskik om hierdie indikatore te kan identifiseer. Indien kinders seksuele misbruik bekend maak, moet onderwysers weet hoe om te reageer op hierdie bekendmaking. Onderwysers het ‘n wetlike verpligting om seksuele misbruik aan te meld by die polisie. Om dit aan te meld, moet onderwysers egter kennis dra van hul wetlike verpligting en van die gevolge indien hulle dit nie sou aanmeld nie. Indien ‘n kind seksuele misbruik bekend maak, behoort daar ‘n prosedure in plek te wees by skole om die aanmelding van seksuele misbruik te fasiliteer. Die doelstelling van die navorsing was om die rol van die onderwyser ten opsigte van die aanmelding van seksuele misbruik te ondersoek. Daar is van die opname prosedure gebruik gemaak om kwalitatiewe data te bekom. ‘n Nie–waarskynlikheidssteekproef en meer spesifiek ‘n toevallige steekproef is getrek en agt deelnemers is in ‘n hoofonde rsoek betrek, waar ‘n self–gestruktureerde onderhoudskedule gebruik is om die kennisbasis van onderwysers van seksuele misbruik vas te stel. Hierdie onderhoudskedule is gedurende persoonlike onderhoude gebruik met die agt deelnemers. Dit is vanuit die bevindinge duidelik dat die kennisbasis van onderwysers ten opsigte van seksuele misbruik beperk is. Onderwysers weet nie hoe om die bekendmaking van seksuele misbruik te hanteer nie. Indien kinders seksuele misbruik bekend maak, is daar nie prosedures in plek om die aanmelding van seksuele misbruik te fasiliteer nie. Onderwysers benodig meer opleiding om seksuele misbruik te hanteer, sodat hulle beter toegerus kan word om die aanmeldings van seksuele misbruik te verwys. / Thesis (M.A. (MW Forensic))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The data delivery architectures in most enterprises are complex and under documented. Conceptual business models and business analytics applications are created to provide a simplified, and easy to navigate view of enterprise data for analysts. But the construction of such interfaces is tedious, manually intensive to build, requiring specialized technical expertise, and it is especially difficult to map exactly where data came from in the organization. In this paper we investigate how two aspects (lineage and requests for data i.e. semantics and new reports) can be addressed by tying metadata documentation to a systematic data delivery architecture in order to support business analytics applications. We propose a tool framework that includes a metadata repository for each step in the data delivery architecture, a web based interface to access and manage that repository and mapping tools that capture data lineage to support step by step automation of data delivery.

South African adolescents are at high risk of becoming victims of sexual abuse. However, research and experience by practising social workers show that adolescents are reluctant to report sexual abuse immediately. This could be due to the lack recognised guidelines available by which to report abuse and receive the necessary help. The purpose of the research was to investigate the reasons why adolescents fail to report sexual abuse in order to establish relevant guidelines. This would also determine the role of the forensic social worker in the report of sexual abuse by adolescent victims. The research followed a combined quantitative and qualitative approach. 220 adolescents from two high schools and six Welkom social workers were involved in the investigation. Both groups of participants completed questionnaires while the social workers were also involved in a focus group. Forensic social workers work is a new field of specialisation in the social work profession. There is a serious misconception about the role of the forensic social worker not only among other practising social workers, but also among the general public and adolescents in specific. The forensic social worker can play an important role in establishing guidelines for the report of sexual abuse by adolescent victims. The findings clearly showed that adolescents do not report sexual abuse within the family. The abused adolescent becomes a victim as South Africa does not yet have definite guidelines available for the report of sexual abuse. The study found that the forensic social worker has a definite role to play in the report of sexual abuse by adolescents. / Thesis (M.A. (MW Forensic))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Kinders bring ‘n groot gedeelte van hul tyd by die skool deur. Onderwysers is die enigste ander persone behalwe die gesin wat op ‘n daaglikse basis kontak het met kinders. Onderwysers kan ‘n groot invloed uitoefen op kinders. Indien kinders probleme ervaar by die huis, kan hulle moontlik ‘n onderwyser daarvan vertel. Kinders kan moontlik seksuele misbruik bekend maak aan onderwysers. Indien kinders nie seksuele misbruik bekend maak nie, toon hulle egter soms simptome wat as indikatore kan dien dat hulle seksueel misbruik word. Onderwysers moet egter oor die nodige kennisbasis beskik om hierdie indikatore te kan identifiseer. Indien kinders seksuele misbruik bekend maak, moet onderwysers weet hoe om te reageer op hierdie bekendmaking. Onderwysers het ‘n wetlike verpligting om seksuele misbruik aan te meld by die polisie. Om dit aan te meld, moet onderwysers egter kennis dra van hul wetlike verpligting en van die gevolge indien hulle dit nie sou aanmeld nie. Indien ‘n kind seksuele misbruik bekend maak, behoort daar ‘n prosedure in plek te wees by skole om die aanmelding van seksuele misbruik te fasiliteer. Die doelstelling van die navorsing was om die rol van die onderwyser ten opsigte van die aanmelding van seksuele misbruik te ondersoek. Daar is van die opname prosedure gebruik gemaak om kwalitatiewe data te bekom. ‘n Nie–waarskynlikheidssteekproef en meer spesifiek ‘n toevallige steekproef is getrek en agt deelnemers is in ‘n hoofonde rsoek betrek, waar ‘n self–gestruktureerde onderhoudskedule gebruik is om die kennisbasis van onderwysers van seksuele misbruik vas te stel. Hierdie onderhoudskedule is gedurende persoonlike onderhoude gebruik met die agt deelnemers. Dit is vanuit die bevindinge duidelik dat die kennisbasis van onderwysers ten opsigte van seksuele misbruik beperk is. Onderwysers weet nie hoe om die bekendmaking van seksuele misbruik te hanteer nie. Indien kinders seksuele misbruik bekend maak, is daar nie prosedures in plek om die aanmelding van seksuele misbruik te fasiliteer nie. Onderwysers benodig meer opleiding om seksuele misbruik te hanteer, sodat hulle beter toegerus kan word om die aanmeldings van seksuele misbruik te verwys. / Thesis (M.A. (MW Forensic))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The focus of this research is the disclosure of accounting information in interim reports. The main objective of the research is to assess disclosure of accounting information in interim reports of UK companies listed on the LSE and to investigate whether variations in interim disclosure can be explained by corporate attributes that differentiate companies. The secondary objective is to examine perceptions of investment analysts regarding the importance of information items disclosed in interim reports for investment decision-making. Employing a disclosure-index framework, a list of 113 information items that are and could be disclosed was compiled and a mail questionnaire forwarded to investment analysts to determine the importance of the items. A cross-sectional disclosure model was developed to examine the relationship between interim disclosure and companyspecific and corporate governance attributes. The primary findings show that (1) investment analysts perceive information disclosed in interim reports as important for their investment decision-making and that there exists agreement between what companies disclose and what investment analysts perceive as importance items of disclosure, and (2) there are variations in the extent of interim disclosure and that both company-specific and corporate governance variables help explain these variations. The findings indicate that the extent of interim disclosure is positively related to company size, listing status, external auditor involvement, acquisition transactions, payment of an interim dividend, techMARK listing, and substantial institutional investors. The results also show that interim disclosure is negatively related to liquidity ratio, CEO age and shareholding of audit committee members. This research contributes to the disclosure literature in a number of ways. First it examines variables previously associated with annual disclosures as possible explanatory factors of differences in interim disclosure. Second, it investigates the influence of corporate governance variables on interim disclosure, an area that has been neglected in previous studies. Furthermore, the research introduces two new variables (external auditor involvement and shareholding of audit committee members), which have not been examined in prior disclosure studies. These findings have implications for the development of interim reporting and for corporate governance policy formulation.