Odunayo Olarewaju

This study investigates the causal relationship between bank personnel ratio and the cost-income ratio based on performance in Nigeria for the period of 2004–2015. Secondary data collected on a cross section of 15 banks during this period was analyzed using panel unit root, cointegration and Granger causality techniques. A unit root test revealed that the variables are stationary at order one. The result further shows there is an equilibrium relationship or stability in the short and long run; furthermore, there is a bidirectional causal relationship between personnel ratio and cost-income ratio. Therefore, the study recommends that the apex bank should enforce policies in the banking sector that will minimize the unit cost of operation – even though they might hire more staff. This is to enhance the stability of the banks in Nigeria and to avoid any threat to their continuity.

This study focused on corporate governance and performance of selected Nigerian multinational firms from 2012 to 2016. Specifically, the study focused on the effect of board size, activism and committee activism on return on asset and firm growth rate. Secondary data collected from four multinational firms were analyzed via static panel estimation techniques. While board size and board activism exerted significant negative impact on return on asset, committee activism exerted insignificant impact. The results of the study further showed that board size and board activism exert insignificant negative impact on firm’s growth rate, while committee activism insignificantly spurs firm’s growth rate. Decisively, discoveries from this study reflect that corporate governance has significant negative impact on return on asset, but has insignificant influence on the growth rate of Nigerian multinational firms. Based on these findings, the authors recommended that corporate governance dynamics in firms world over should be reconsidered, such that it gives credence to more than just numbers of persons or meetings held, but the main reasons and deliberations in such meetings. It was also recommended that excessive increase in magnitude or frequency of meetings held by board of directors cum committee should be avoided.

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.

Access to finance and market has been described as a predominant challenge confronting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Hence, this paper seeks to evaluate access to finance, market access and viability of SMEs. A quantitative research method and a purposive sampling technique were used to select the participants for this study. Respondents from retail, manufacturing, construction and agricultural SMEs operating in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, were selected to complete the structured questionnaires. 310 questionnaires were returned out of 321 distributed. The study revealed a significant effect of access to finance (absolute value 0.425) and access to market (absolute vale 0.373) on SMEs’ viability with a 5% level of significance. Thus, it was concluded that access to finance uniquely accounted for the larger proportion of the variance in the regression model. Thus, this study suggests that owners of SMEs should pay greater attention to access to finance in running their businesses, and the Government should aid SMEs to market their products and keep their businesses viable. Public loans or the government supported loans should be made available for SMEs with soften requirements in order to stimulate economic growth.

The study examined the nexus between the financial ratio and book value of shares for Iraqi money transfer companies. The data used was extracted from the financial reports of selected money transfer companies listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange, and a descriptive, correlation and panel least square regression technique were adopted for the analysis. The result revealed that the financial ratio captured by earnings per share (EPS), return on investment (ROI) and return on assets (ROA) were positively related with the book value of shares (BVAL), while debt ratio (DER) was negatively related with BVAL. Also, EPS, ROA, ROI and DER positively influenced BVAL. Thus, the engagement of competent and qualified personnel to manage the assets and investments in order to ensure optimal returns is urgently required. There is also a need for proper issuing of shares by the management of money transfer companies to ensure free access to the stock market.