Management accounting practices and organizational performance

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.

Working capital management plays a pivotal role in enhancing the operational efficiency of firms and their ultimate profitability. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the trends in working capital management and its impact on the financial performance of listed manufacturing firms on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). A panel data methodology was used with different regression estimators to analyze this relationship based on an unbalanced panel of 69 manufacturing firms listed during the period 2007–2016.
The findings revealed that the average collection period and the average payment period are negative and statistically significant for profitability, implying that firms which efficiently manage their accounts receivable and those that pay their creditors on time perform better than those that do not. Additionally, a positive statistically significant relationship between the number of days in inventory and profitability was supported suggesting that firms which stock-up and maintain their inventory levels suffer less from stock-outs and avoid challenges of securing financing when needed. This increases their operational efficiency and ensures profitability in the long run. It could not be ascertained whether a shorter or longer cash conversion cycle enhances firm profitability, since findings to support this premise were weak. However, it was observed that manufacturing firms are on average, carrying lot of debt in their capital structures.
The present study contributes to existing literature by presenting one of the very recent findings on this topic while simultaneously testing the validity of recent local and international methodologies, in order to inform policy change.

After restrictions on community activities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted, numerous businesses, including restaurants and cafes, have already resumed normal operations. Competition is also unavoidable. Thus, companies should motivate their managers to develop various operational strategies to increase customer satisfaction. This study aims to analyze the relationship between customer satisfaction and operational management activities, including layout, decoration, location, and cleanliness. In addition, it examines human resource management, food quality, and atmosphere as mediating variables. Data were obtained using an online questionnaire conducted between June and December 2021. A total of 1,068 clients of cafes and restaurants were selected as the participants using purposive random sampling. Data were evaluated using variance-based structural equation modeling. The results showed that operational management activities promote cafes and restaurants (p-value = 0.000). Furthermore, this study indicates the role of infrastructure elements, specifically human resource management, atmosphere, and food quality, as moderating variables on customer satisfaction (p-value = 0.000). Overall, the findings of this empirical study provide a theoretical contribution by emphasizing cafe and restaurant operational strategies that enhance customer satisfaction.