Issue #1 (cont.) (Volume 13 2016)

This paper examines the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the financial performance of the Nigerian market after consolidation. The authors use data from all Nigerian banks that survived the consolidation between 2001 and 2009. Logistic regression models are structured to determine the influence of M&A activities on the financial performance of the Nigerian market. Also, the authors critically evaluate the findings by shedding the light on the lessons other developing nations can learn from the Nigerian market. The results show that M&A have a positive influence on the financial performance of the Nigerian market. Still, M&A are not enough to achieve the wider objectives of banking sector reform. Towards this end, corporate governance reform must take place vis-à-vis consolidation exercises especially when these M&A are regulatory based rather than market based. The investigation uses a novel approach by comparing pre- and post- M&A results performance of merged banks as well as comparing these results with non-merged banks. Finally, the paper puts the results in context of wider reforms and considers the effectiveness of the M&A as a tool for banking sector reform in developing countries. The investigation offers insights into the policy of banking consolidation which can be useful for policy makers in Nigeria and other similar economies

Environmental issues are of increasing concern to a variety of stakeholders in most countries all around the world. There is a growing consensus that conventional accounting practices simply do not provide adequate information to support decision-making in order to manage the environment. Environmental management accounting (EMA) is a combined approach that provides for the transition of data from financial accounting, cost accounting and mass balances to increase material efficiency, reduce environmental impacts and risks and, ultimately, lead to the reduction of environmental costs. This paper investigates the practise of EMA in the chemical industry. A questionnaire was administrated to a selected group of participants who are employees in the chemical industry in South Africa. Different functional roles from different types of chemical companies were identified to participate. The findings of this paper indicate that there is a good level of awareness of EMA in the South African chemical industry. Most organizations are applying sound environmental practices and are adopting environmental strategies and tools to improve their current status. Different levels of awareness exist between the different functional roles in the respective organizations. Operational and capital environmental information are disclosed and organizations do generate and record information on physical and monetary environmental management accounting

The impact of the Greek political elections on the return and volatility of the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) is investigated using both the standard event study methodology and various univariate GARCH models. The empirical results reveal positive pre- and post-election abnormal returns, but negative on the day of the election. Strong evidence is also found that suggests that the election outcome significantly affects the ASE return; however, the evidence is rather limited for the ASE volatility. The empirical findings raise doubts about the efficiency of the Greek stock market and might have important implications for investors with respect to decisions regarding entering and/or exiting the market or investment strategies around time periods where political elections are going to take place

This study assesses from a macroeconomic perspective the determinants of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) financing by the banking sector in Nigeria between 1992 and 2014. The empirical model specifies commercial banks’ lending to SMEs as a function of selected macroeconomic indicators which include commercial banks’ total deposits, financial deepening, interest rate spread, lending rate, monetary policy rate, commercial banks’ total assets and inflation rate. The 2SLS estimation results show that only commercial banks’ deposit mobilization, depth of the financial sector and size of the banking sector act as determinants of SMEs financing by commercial banks

This paper investigates the association between the Remuneration Committee (RC) on firm performance. The research uses a data span of 63 financial institutions for a period of 12 years. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Random Effects (RE) regression estimations are used.
The ascertained empirical results indicate that the establishment of remuneration committee by the board is positively correlated to its performance, as measured by its Return on Assets (ROA), and is also statistically significant on the Market Value (MV) of the firm. Subsequent tests conducted show that presence of an RC had a positive and statistically significant correlation during the pre/post global financial crisis on the ROA of the firm. The MV measure during the pre-crisis indicates a positive and statistically significant impact, but only positive during the post-crisis. The findings are robust across econometric models that control for different types of endogeneity.
The outcome indicates that the establishment of an RC by the board assisted in achieving a positive impact on the profitability of UK financial institutions

This study examines the market reactions to share repurchase announcements made by companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from the years 2003 to 2012. The authors use an event study methodology and the Capital Asset Pricing Model to determine if there was an announcement effect when a share repurchase announcement is made. The analyses reveal that consistent with signalling theory and the announcement effect, share repurchase announcements are associated with positive abnormal returns. The average abnormal return and cumulative average abnormal return noted was 0.46% and 3.81%, respectively, for the event period (t-20, t+20). There was an observable trend of declining share prices before the share repurchase announcement. The authors also found no significant evidence that repurchasing firms have market timing ability when executing a share repurchase announcement. From a value investor’s perspective, a share repurchase program conveys a very strong signal of a healthy company

Purpose: The goal of the paper is to analyze the motives that determine the propensity of companies in both developed and developing countries to engage in earnings management on the basis of accounting treatment of R&D costs.
Methodology: The final sample analyzed in the paper is 47 Russian companies and 74 German companies for the period 2012-2013.
Findings: The results of the research show that managers of companies in Russia and in Germany are engaged in earnings management practices using R&D costs, although the incentives for these actions are different. In the case of Russian companies, managers enjoy discretion in accounting choices when trying to meet debt covenants by adopting those methods that increase financial results. German managers are focused more on the other type of earnings management incentives – earnings smoothing. There is evidence that the amount of capitalized R&D costs in German companies increases when financial results vary more.
Value: There is some evidence in favor of the presence of earnings management incentives in the decision to capitalize R&D costs in developed markets. However, this problem has rarely been studied in developing markets, and there is no comparison between the practices of developed and developing countries in the field. In this paper authors attempt to test the assumption that the contextual factors in developed and developing markets can differ, and thus they may provide different incentives for earnings management on the basis of R&D costs

This paper aims to examine the relationship of four critical demographic factors, namely, Father’s occupation, Gender, Experience and Level of education on the entrepreneurial intention of Omani university students. The study uses a structured questionnaire to conduct a survey which is administered to the students of Dhofar University. The data collected are analyzed and it is found that there is a high level of intentions among students to start entrepreneurial ventures. Moreover, demographic factors are found to be influencing the entrepreneurial intention. Among the demographic factors experience is found to have the maximum influence on the entrepreneurial interest. The results suggest a need to provide students with on job training for gaining experience along with their educational programs. As an increase in experience will lead to a higher entrepreneurial intention of students and thus the likelyhood of a student becoming an entrepreneur will increase. Furthermore, universities and government should promote entrepreneurship training programs taking into account the Father’s occupation, Gender, Experience and Education Levels of students

The financing of entrepreneurial ventures has been at the forefront of academic debate as well as policy-making discussion for almost a century. In general, there seems to be an agreement that the risks associated with business start-ups are higher than for mature firms, hence, these ventures will have to pay a higher interest rate than more mature and large firms. In this paper the authors analyze the role of a relatively new form of financing for entrepreneurial ventures – crowdfunding – and how this form of financing is similar and different from traditional sources of finance. The authors are also presenting different forms and models of crowdfunding available on the market together with illustrations from the crowdfunding industry in Sweden. The analysis indicates that the positive effects with crowdfunding are numerous but that the size of the crowdfunding sector is relatively small in comparison with the banking and venture capital industry

The aim of this research article is to investigate the cash management practices of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the Cape Metropolis, in South Africa. Data are collected from a sample of 200 SMMEs by means of a closed-ended questionnaire survey. The findings of the study revealed that most of the sampled SMMEs manage their cash effectively. However, only a minority of these entities hold cash for speculative purposes or even invest their surplus cash gainfully, thus, they fail to optimize on their scarce cash resources. Likewise, only a minority of the SMMEs employ computers for managing their cash, which is rather surprising given the proliferation of computers at a low cost in South Africa