A Markov regime switching approach to estimating the volatility of Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) returns

Working capital plays a vital role in shareholders’ wealth creation, yet there is a dearth of empirical studies on the relationship between working capital management and firm value in the South African economic environment. This study attempts to fill this gap by using Richards and Laughlin’s (1980) Cash Conversion Cycle theory to investigate the impact of working capital management efficiency and its separate components on firm value of South African firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Panel data regression methodology was used to analyze accounting data obtained from I-Net Bridge/BFA McGregor for 75 firms for the 10 year period, 2003 to 2012, to determine the nexus between WCM and profitability (proxied by return on assets). The key findings of the study are as follows: 1) there exists a significant positive relationship between firm value and both inventory conversion period and receivables conversion period; 2) the relationship between the cash conversion cycle and firm value is positive but insignificant; 3) there is a significant positive relationship between accounts payable deferral period (PDP) and profitability; 4) firm size and firm value are significantly positively related, and 5) there is a significant negative relationship between leverage and firm value.

The inflation accounting technique allows a business to show or have a sensible picture of their gains due to present cost coordinates with present revenues. Thus, the effects of inflation accounting on organizational decisions and financial performance of Kwa-Zulu Natal retail stores were evaluated in this study. The study used a quantitative research method. A total of 161 completed questionnaires were received from respondents in the selected 20 listed stores in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Thus, the Exploratory Factor Analysis and linear regressions were employed in this study. The empirical study reveals how inflation accounting significantly impacts organizational decisions and financial performance of the retail business with such coefficients (F (1, 159) = 49.269, p < .0005; F (1, 159) = 28.959, p < .0005). The findings of this study highlighted positive relationships between the variables that were used. Thus, the study recommends that retail stores always consider inflation changes and apply inflation accounting techniques to make adjustments to produce more accurate results in their financial statements. Heated discussions now surround the basis of financial performance measurement via historical cost accounting. This influences their decision making and financial performance positively.

This study examines the static and dynamic correlations in the ASEAN equity markets. The importance of this research appears from the fact that practitioners can get the benefit if their investments yield the same or higher returns given lower or the same risk in their portfolio. Firstly, this advantage comes from including the assets that decrease volatility of the portfolio. Hence, the correlation between the ASEAN markets should be examined. Secondly, co-movements in market realizations may increase global financial instability. Its existence is important for international investors, financial institutions, and policy makers. The study locates the relationship between ASEAN and its major trading partners, including Japanese, US, and UK markets, in order to find more rational results. This study utilizes alternative multivariate GARCH forms to provide useful information on the dynamic evolution and implications of return volatilities. The results show that the volatilities of all the equity markets under study are persistent over time. The estimates from VEC model indicate that the movements of the US and UK equity market returns have some degree of influence on several of the ASEAN equity markets. The results imply that, first, most of the developing ASEAN equity markets work by its own information with small relation to the developed world. Second, it is still convincing to state that investing in ASEAN equity markets should provide investors a better mean-variance portfolio. And, third, buy-and-hold strategy seems to be more beneficial than readjusting the ASEAN equities portfolio.