Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Taxation of financial sector'

There has been some concern that the pace of expectations being built up regarding the transfer of ownership of the economy into the hands of the previously disadvantaged was not allowing for the due diligence and analysis of the implications of such transactions. Tax legislation relating to the transfer of assets is also not seen to be consistently conducive to this process. The focus of this thesis is taxation and a critical analysis of how the current tax legislation affects most of the transactions which usually form the basis of black economic empowerment. It is argued that tax policy is one of the fundamental instruments available to government to encourage the process of black economic empowerment. It is therefore important to assess whether or not current tax legislation is supportive of the process of black economic empowerment and to suggest ways in which it can be amended to serve this purpose. By means of a literature review and a case study of a Black Economic Empowerment deal in the financial sector, the thesis examines various sections of the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962, which may have a bearing on black economic empowerment transactions and structures, including corporate restructuring rules, the taxation of trusts, inter-company loans, the use of hybrid financial instruments, the taxation of small business corporations, employee share incentive schemes, connected persons rules and value-shifting arrangements, the general deduction formula and the deductibility of interest incurred on amounts raised to acquire shares. It appears that although some aspects of the current tax legislation lend themselves to assisting black economic empowerment transactions, there are still areas where much improvement is required.<br>KMBT_363

This thesis presents changes proposed in the European Union as a reaction to financial crisis. The aim of this thesis is to provide a summary and comment of changes both in organisation of supervision and banking regulation, especially concentrating on Basel III and taxation. The first part contains a description of the structure of supervision both in the Czech Republic and in the European Union. The description includes development in the Czech Republic in last five years. The second part contains a description of causes and development of the global financial crisis, defines systemic risk and financial stability and the ways to measure it. The third part describes new structure of supervision in the EU and impact of the change. It also includes a description of Basel III and CRD IV and its impact, discussion of options of taxation in the financial market. The end of this part is a brief summary of changes applied in the USA and its comparison to changes in the EU. The last chapter contains the CNB's position to these changes.

Section 24JB of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 was introduced with effect from 1 January 2014 in order to govern the taxation of financial instruments of a covered person as defined. Section 24JB represents a significant departure from the standard tax principles for financial instruments and will therefore directly affect the timing of the imposition of tax on gains and losses on these financial instruments, resulting in a significant adverse cash flow effect for the taxpayer. The main purpose of the research is to investigate the meaning of the wording in section 24JB through a critical analysis of the domestic tax legislation in the context of practical examples of specific financial assets and liabilities. The research includes an analysis of the scope of section 24JB by examining the definition of a “covered person” as well as the specific financial instruments to which the section applies, with reference to the International Financial Reporting Standards classifications and terms. The interaction of section 24JB with the rest of the Act is examined and whether this section overrides all the other provisions, specifically with reference to the taxation of dividends and the general and specific anti-avoidance provisions contained elsewhere in the Act. The study aims to highlight anomalies and possible unintended tax consequences arising from the current drafting of section 24JB using practical examples, highlighting the major areas of concern and issues of interpretation of section 24JB. Recommendations are made for amendments to the Act or the provision of guidance in the form of an Explanatory Memorandum or Interpretation Note to be issued by SARS.

The purpose of this paper was to assess the impact of a modification and or repeal of section 1031 in the U.S. Tax code. Specifically, this paper focused on a "revenue-neutral" repeal effect in which the additional proceeds from the repeal of section 1031 would go towards decreasing the corporate income tax rate. Overall, the treasury would remain neutral. The implications of this potential repeal were wide. The macroeconomic effect on the economy appeared to be negative, all other things being equal. GDP is predicted to fall by .11% each year. Additionally, Investment will be negatively affected with the decreased liquidity of "exchangeable" assets due to longer holding periods of these assets. Investors should expect to hold these assets longer to decrease their effective tax rate over the life of the investment. Investment is predicted to decline by $7 billion. Real Estate will be the industry that will ultimately be affected the most by a repeal situation as the real estate sector uses like-kind exchanges more frequently than in any other industry. Overall, we can expect to see small declines in macroeconomic factors due to the repeal of this provision that has been benefiting investors for decades.

This thesis examines the impact of taxation on small businesses in Canada. It reviews the relevant economic and taxation literature from a historical perspective to provide appropriate background for policy analysis. Other nations' tax systems are also considered. The key elements of the existing system are examined in order to define the present status and to identify the strengths and weaknesses. The learned proposals of various academics, professionals and other parties are reviewed in order to seek new ideas, comments and criticism on the system. The final chapter defines the author's perceived objectives for small business tax policy and identifies some impediments to tax reform. Finally, general and specific recommendations are detailed. The author proposes that the tax definition of "small" be narrowed and that "medium-sized" businesses be given recognition in tax policy. Small business tax policy should recognize as its prime purpose the providing of financial assistance to counteract the natural prejudices that small businesses encounter in the capital markets. To achieve this, the small business tax rate should be lowered and loss provisions should remain liberal. The concept of integration with the personal tax system should attain greater integrity by changing the calculation of Part Two Tax on distributions. Various small business tax measures extant should be scrapped because they are ineffective. Temporary or specific tax incentives should be used sparingly.<br>Business, Sauder School of<br>Graduate

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2002.<br>"June 2002."<br>Includes bibliographical references.<br>This thesis is a collection of three essays analyzing the economic effects of taxation, market structure, and the regulatory environment on financial markets, focusing in particular on financial intermediaries such as banks and mutual funds. The first chapter uses the unprecedented changes in the degree of competition in local banking markets that occurred between 1980 and 1994 to estimate the impact of market competition on the risk profile of commercial bank lending. There is evidence that increasing bank market power has been associated with reductions in the flow of bank capital to construction and land development loans, which are the highest-risk category of commercial bank loans. The magnitude of this effect is large: an increase in market concentration from the 25th to the 75th percentile is associated with a 20 percent drop in the share of bank lending going to construction loans. Robustness to a variety of control and instrumental variables strategies supports a causal interpretation of this empirical relationship. The second chapter focuses again on the role of market structure in commercial banking markets, this time focusing on the relationship between market structure and consumer borrowing. This chapter uses data from the 1983 Survey of Consumer Finances to test empirically the relationship between banking market concentration and households' self-reported measures of credit rationing and constraint. There is strong evidence that more concentrated markets have fewer constrained borrowers, a result consistent with the Petersen-Rajan (1995) model of credit markets. The third chapter, co-authored with Professor James Poterba, explores the relationship between the after-tax returns that taxable investors earn on equity mutual funds and the subsequent cash inflows to these funds.<br>(cont.) Previous studies have documented that funds with high pretax returns attract greater inflows. This chapter presents evidence, based on a large sample of retail equity mutual funds over the period 1993 to 1999, that after-tax returns have more explanatory power than pretax returns in explaining inflows. In addition, funds with large overhangs of unrealized capital gains experience smaller inflows, all else equal, than funds without such unrealized gains.<br>by Daniel Baird Bergstresser.<br>Ph.D.

This thesis consists of three separate chapters that explore issues at the intersection of taxation and financial accounting. The unifying theme is corporate tax avoidance and the consequences of increased transparency of tax practices on firm behaviour and financial reporting. Chapter 1 (co-authored with Chris Evans and Youngdeok Lim) examines the impact of changes to a full dividend imputation system on corporate tax avoidance. We exploit an exogenous shock to the Australian dividend imputation system which became effective on 1 July 2000 and allows shareholders to claim all imputation credits attached to dividends, even if it propels them into a tax refund position. This enhancement to shareholder’s after-tax positions likely provides stronger incentives for firms to minimise tax avoidance activities to generate valuable imputation credits for distribution to shareholders. We implement a difference-in-differences research design to examine the impact of the legislative change on tax avoidance for a variety of treatment and control groups after the change. Consistent with our expectations, we find evidence of an increase in cash effective tax rates (decrease in tax avoidance) for domestic dividend-paying firms relative to domestic non-dividend-paying firms. This finding is even more pronounced for firms paying fully-franked dividends, and the decreases in tax avoidance are economically significant. Our results are consistent with the notion that firms undertake less tax avoidance in the post 1 July 2000 period given the presence of stronger incentives for them to pay corporate tax. In Chapter 2 (solo-authored), I exploit the availability of new data to examine the impact of mandatory public country-by-country disclosures on the tax aggressiveness of European Union (EU) banks. In response to growing public and political backlash against tax avoidance, the European Parliament introduced new rules in 2013 requiring the public disclosure, on a country-by-country basis, of certain tax-related information by credit and investment firms operating in the EU. Enhanced transparency via public country-by-country-reporting (CBCR) allows greater scrutiny by stakeholders and is considered one way of increasing pressure on EU banks to pay corporate taxes that reflect their true economic presence in each country they operate in. I conduct a range of empirical tests using cash and book effective tax rates to proxy for tax avoidance and based on a hand-collected sample of 72 banks, I do not find any evidence of a reduction in tax avoidance in response to increased transparency. A similar result is found when a differences-in-differences research design is employed to test for any change in tax avoidance of EU banks relative to a control group of 39 multinational EU insurers exempt from CBCR rules. In fact, in some tests, I find that, on average, EU banks increased their tax avoidance relative to EU insurers despite increased disclosure levels. I also find that tax haven use, calculated as the proportion of turnover, profit before tax, and subsidiaries/branches disclosed in tax havens, remains largely unchanged despite increased transparency. The results suggest that mandatory public CBCR has not altered the cost-benefit equilibrium of tax avoidance sufficiently to encourage EU banks to curtail their tax avoidance practices. Chapter 3 (co-authored with Bjorn Jorgensen and Peter Pope) investigates the interplay between mandatory public CBCR, geographic segment reporting, and tax haven use. We examine whether the availability of country-level financial information impacts geographic segment reporting and the extent to which firms aggregate geographic segments. Based on a hand-collected sample of 70 banks operating in the EU, we document the location of their operations and the extent to which they operate in tax havens. We find that, on average, banks with tax haven operations enjoy significantly higher profit margins, turnover per employee, and profit per employee, and lower book effective tax rates, in these jurisdictions relative to non-tax havens. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we find no significant change in the number of geographic segments, country segments, or line items per geographic segment, disclosed in segment reporting notes after the introduction of CBCR relative to a control sample of 39 multinational EU insurers exempt from CBCR. Furthermore, we find a positive association between tax haven intensity and geographic segment aggregation consistent with the notion that EU banks may aggregate geographic segments to obfuscate tax haven activities. This early empirical evidence suggests that mandatory public CBCR has limited impact on geographic segment reporting. In sum, the three chapters of this thesis contribute to the emerging literature on the determinants and consequences of corporate tax avoidance. The findings should inform global regulators and policy makers interested in the extent of corporate tax avoidance and especially, EU policy makers currently considering the extension of public CBCR to all industries.

Uncertainty is an important determinant of economic developments at both micro and macroeconomic levels. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the effects of economic and model uncertainty, paying close attention to financial factors as a key mechanism that propagates and amplifies business cycle movements. The first part of the thesis studies the impact of uncertainty on bank assets portfolios allocation. In chapter 1 I do this empirically by estimating a set of vector autoregression models. I show that a positive shock to uncertainty leads to reallocation of portfolios by commercial banks: they reduce issuance of business loans, while increasing the stock of safe assets - cash and Treasury and agency securities. I also demonstrate that when risk, uncertainty and balance sheet factors are controlled for, business loans decrease after monetary tightening, what allows to resolve the puzzle raised by den Haan et al. (2007) that business loans increase following monetary contraction. In chapter 2 I examine the relationship between economic uncertainty and asset portfolio allocation of banks in a theoretical model. The model incorporates a portfolio-optimizing banking sector facing non-diversifiable credit risk, where banks’ attitude to risk and expected profitability help to explain the endogenous movements of the risk premium. The premium charged by risk-averse banks provides self-insurance from profitability reduction brought about by heightened uncertainty about entrepreneurial productivity. Financial accelerator mechanism amplifies the portfolio reallocation effect of uncertainty shock. In the second part of the thesis I study how financial frictions affect robustness of monetary policy rules in New Keynesian models in case of model uncertainty. I demonstrate that when there is uncertainty about what type of financial frictions is at work, a policymaker exposes economy to risks of significant welfare losses by using a reference model without frictions as an economy representation.

The purpose of the study was threefold: (a) to determine the amount of student financial aid received by undergraduate students in targeted groups to see who benefits, (b) to identify a limited number of variables that account for a significant portion of differences in aid distribution, and (c) to examine alternative models that might clarify suspicions of substantive bias in aid distribution. The research questions addressed the variability among aid recipients in amount of student financial aid, the variables most closely related to aid differences, and the extent to which these variables are included in financial aid formulas. This study employed data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, which collected enrollment and financial aid information for 59,886 postsecondary education students in Fall, 1986. In this study, several samples of aided undergraduate students from public and private, non-profit, institutions were used. Methods included: 1. A large number of variables, selected because of their close association with aid distribution, were reduced through factor analysis to support descriptive analysis. 2. The resulting factors and variables were used to create competing models to predict variability in aid distribution. 3. Regression models were tested using SAS regression procedures. 4. Significant variables were used to aggregate the amounts of aid received by each class of recipient. The major finding was that the amount of aid appeared to be primarily a function of institutional price/control. Income was related to the amount of aid, as were type of institution and attendance pattern, but these variables played a lesser role in accounting for aid differences. Student demographic variables, such as race and sex, accounted for little of the differences in the regression models. Yet differences were apparent when descriptive profiles were drawn. It was shown in the profiles that minorities and males generally received higher amounts of aid. Students at four-year institutions and at private institutions appeared to have a smaller percentage of their costs met by aid. Although aid was being distributed to need-based recipients largely in the manner intended by the Higher Education Act, some inequities in distribution were observed.<br>Ed. D.

Companies form the backbone of the South African economy and contribute significantly to the tax revenue of the country through both direct and indirect taxes. As a result of the 2007/2008 financial crisis businesses, especially private companies, have been under increasing financial pressure with many companies finally being liquidated as a result of these financial pressures. In 2011, as a means to aid financially distressed companies, the government introduced the concept of Business Rescue ("BR") into law through Chapter 6 of the Companies Act, No 71. of 2008 ("Companies Act"). Despite this attempt by government to provide companies with a means of financial relief BR has been relatively unsuccessful in SA with very few companies managing to be rescued. Companies due to their very nature are subject to many laws and regulations. It is for this reason that, when trying to consider the effectiveness of a particular law or regulation, one must look not only at the primary law but also consider the impact of any auxiliary laws and regulations that work in conjunction with the primary law. This dissertation therefore seeks to understand the financial impact of direct and indirect taxes ("Tax Laws") on a company in BR in order to determine whether these laws support or hinder BR. In this dissertation an overall understanding of BR is obtained by considering the development of BR in SA, the BR process as detailed in the Companies Act and the application of BR in SA including various statistics relating to BR. Thereafter we obtain an overall understanding of the Tax Laws that have been introduced in to SA law since the introduction of BR in SA law as well as some existing provisions of the Tax Laws that are applicable to companies in BR. From the understanding of these two laws we develop a financial evaluation criterion that is used to assess the financial impact of various tax strategies on a company in BR. For the final assessment of the financial impact of the Tax Laws an assessment is performed on the deductibility of BR expenditure in terms of S11(a) and 23(g) of the Income Tax Act, No. 58 of 1962 ("ITA"). Ultimately a conclusion is reached on the financial impact that the Tax Laws have on a company in BR and, at a high level, additional considerations that may improve the success rate of rehabilitating companies in BR.

This thesis considers the impact of taxation on two problems in the theory of financial markets. The first paper deals with the optimal choice of debt made by value-maximising firms. We consider a one-period world with personal and corporate taxation and distinguish between the repayment of principal and the payment of interest on corporate debt. It is shown that at optimum, a value-maximising firm may choose to issue multiple debt contracts with differing seniorities. In addition, the impact of a change in the tax rates (corporate or personal) on the optimum level of debt is seen to be ambiguous. Unambiguous statements can, however, be made about the impact of a change in the corporate tax rate on firm value, the value of the equity and on the required rate of return on risky corporate debt. The analysis borrows heavily on a framework that we develop early in the paper which permits us to visualise the value-maximising firm's choice of an optimal capital structure, graphically. The second essay examines the impact that taxes have on the pricing of call options on corporate stock. It is demonstrated that the process of replication can be influenced by the basis of the stocks used for the replication process as a result of the capital gains taxes involved. Consequently, the equilibrium price for an option is some average of the various costs of replication that different investors face. We find that the equilibrium price for the option can be influenced by investor preferences and by the history of the stock price. The empirical findings of an apparently unpredictable strike-price bias that have been observed in the past literature is examined and duplicated numerically. In addition, one explanation is given for the rationale behind covered option positions that consist of an option position and the corresponding hedge.<br>Business, Sauder School of<br>Graduate

Customer satisfaction has become an increasingly important factor over the years and companies are starting to realize how important it is to satisfy their customers. This study aims to investigate which the most influential factors behind customer satisfaction are. This led to the creation of the following research question:  Which are the most influential factors that affect customer satisfaction in Swedish banks?  The research question was answered by the statistical testing of nine hypothesizes. The statistical analysis was done using multiple regression analysis as well as an independent t- test. The data for the analysis was collected through the distribution of 175 surveys, which were handed out to students at Umeå University in Sweden.  The result of the data analysis showed that 59.7 % of the variance in customer satisfaction was explained by four variables. These variables were: appearance, competence, trust and word of mouth. These four variables were found to significantly affect customer satisfaction. The study also showed that there were no differences between genders regarding customer satisfaction.  This study contributes to the area of research by identifying the variables that are the most influential on customer satisfaction in Swedish banking. The methodology and the results of this study could also be of help to other researchers who wants replicate the study in order to identify the factors behind customer satisfaction in their own respective countries.

Thesis (PhD (School of Public Management and Planning ))—University of Stellenbosch, 2006.<br>Using an investigative approach the study starts by outlining the governance quandary that exists within the public sector, with observations made over the past decade by scholars and active role players in the governance arena both in the private sector and in the public sector. It continues to show a growing need for good governance in the public sector, especially in the developing economies of emerging democracies. It uses South Africa as an example in this regard, although the discussion can just as well be applied to other countries finding themselves in a similar situation. It places the governance debate in perspective and provides the background for the development of the Public Sector Integrated Financial Governance Framework (IFGF). A brief look is taken at the reasons for the growing focus on governance in general, governance in the private and public sector, the need for governance, the basic dynamics of governance, stakeholder relationships, the regulatory framework and the role of the judiciary. It then places this understanding of governance – from a financial perspective – within the South African context. Using the South African context the study discusses the need for an IFGF, the basic requirements for such an IFGF and then as a response proceeds to discuss the role of values and principles, functional application areas and governance-related activities in an IFGF. It develops a financial governance universe, which provides an overview of the various subsections within these aspects. From this basis the study proceeds to develop the IFGF by identifying specific principles and values applicable to South Africa, followed by a description of functional application areas consisting of leadership, management and control practices required as a minimum to ensure healthy public sector financial governance. It continues to develop governance-related activities based on existing frameworks recognised by public sector agencies globally and in some instance, designed for the private sector. The study proceeds to develop these areas to enable employees in the public sector to discharge their duties in a manner that can form the cornerstone in governance excellence. Having used a deductive approach during the first few chapters to develop the IFGF, the study then proceed using an inductive process to construct the conditions and the related activities required by the IFGF. It develops detailed information on specific activities that must be in place for the IFGF to be functional. These activities provide the “how” and are grouped together based on a recognised framework. Governance effectiveness depends on a situation where all areas are considered. Lastly the study focuses on the conclusions regarding the IFGF outcomes and therefore discusses the implementation of the IFGF and the impact on the accounting system, measuring governance and keeping the IFGF updated with developments internally and externally. The study shows the growing importance for developing countries and emerging economies to demonstrate healthy governance processes and practices. However, no consensus yet exists on the approach or methodology, particularly with regard to building national ownership of and political commitment to governance (Landell-Mills, 2003:369). Fortunately similar initiatives have been forthcoming from a number of countries and, although they are each focussed differently, they provide a base for developing a public sector IFGF for South Africa in particular, but can also be used as a guideline for other emerging democracies. Developing the governance universe facilitates the process of keeping track of a multitude of possibilities that are relevant in day-to-day management. The study determined the applicable criteria that an IFGF must satisfy to attract attention when funding is required from the donor community and to provide assurance to stakeholders with limited skills and knowledge that objectives are achieved effectively and efficiently in an ethical environment. The benefit of this framework is that it has passed the first scrutiny in South Africa namely that of the Provincial Treasury of the Provincial Government Western Cape (PGWC) public sector audit committees in the public sector (PGWC) and is currently being subjected to a four-year implementation process, starting with an awareness phase in all Departments of the PGWC. During this process the senior management of all the departments are being exposed to the principles contained in the IFGF and their practical observations and suggestions will be applied towards formulating an updated version of the Governance Framework of PGWC (Draft version 2.20e). This is significant, because it represents a healthy interaction between academic research and practical application, a process that is more often than not balanced, but appears to be in favour of either the one or the other.

My dissertation investigates financial sector development, economic growth and stability through the analysis of Chinese and international evidence. My first chapter is the introduction. The second chapter investigates the effects of Chinese financial and fiscal policies on the Chinese economic recovery in the 2008 economic stimulus Plan, covering the period from the Great Recession to 2014. This chapter explores the effects of the increase in bank credit growth with significant strain of banking health on firm-level output, employment and investment. The results demonstrate that the increase in government expenditure due to the fiscal policies has the significant effects on the very same firm-level indicators. The effects of such policies are shown to depend on firm characteristics such as size, liability ratio, profitability, ownership and industry. Regarding the dynamic effects of the policies, it is documented that the roles of Chinese financial and fiscal policies are effective but temporary on the Chinese economic recovery within about 2 years. In the third chapter, I investigate the effects of financial sector development on the growth volatility by using the data of 50 countries. The empirical results show that the aggregate growth volatility declines from 1997 to 2014 in the global perspective while the advanced countries have much smaller growth volatility than the developing countries. Using the dynamic panel threshold model, I find that financial sector development significantly reduces growth volatility, especially in its lower regime. Financial sector development magnifies the shock of inflation volatility towards growth volatility in its higher regime. My results reveal the importance of keeping financial sector development at an optimal level, which is beneficial to reduce aggregate fluctuations and dampen the inflation shocks. The fourth chapter examines the asymmetric roles of bank credit on the business cycle by using international evidence. The empirical results present that bank credit is pro-cyclical and amplifies the business cycle. This effect is larger in the economic peak and trough, which forms a U-shaped curve. The U-shaped influences are robust for alternative financial factors, including M2 supply and stock price. This paper contributes to explore the distinct roles of bank credit on the economy in different business cycle phases.

This thesis contributes to the understanding of systemic risk in the financial sector and its interrelation to the macroeconomy. The first chapter documents that misallocation of resources increased in the German manufacturing sector during the economic crisis in 2009 and that productivity would have been up to 4% higher without misallocation. Using granular data on bank-firm credit relationships, I find causal evidence that the preceding banking crisis contributed to the increase in misallocation. The second chapter shows stylized facts on interest rate risk management for the population of German banks and investment funds using transaction level data on derivatives. I find that around 50% of banks and funds use interest rate derivatives, funds predominantly use exchange-traded products, and banks manage their risk mostly with OTC contracts. On average, both sectors use interest rate derivatives to hedge their interest rate risk against a rate rise, although there is considerable heterogeneity. The third chapter provides empirical evidence that asset managers use bond futures to counteract valuation losses from physical bond holdings when yields move adversely. Analyzing supervisory mutual fund data, I find that this overlay strategy is more pronounced among funds with higher share of ex-ante longer-term bond holdings, more ex-ante riskier fixed income assets, and higher net outflows.<br>Esta tesis contribuye a la comprensión del riesgo sistémico en el sector financiero y su interrelación con la macroeconomía. El primer capítulo documenta que, durante la crisis financiera de 2009, la mala asignación de recursos en el sector manufacturero alemán aumentó y sin esta mala asignación, la productividad habría sido un 4% más alta. Utilizando datos granulares sobre las relaciones crediticias entre bancos y empresas, encuentro evidencia causal de que la crisis bancaria anterior contribuyó al aumento de la asignación incorrecta. El segundo capítulo muestra hechos estilizados sobre la gestión del riesgo de tipos de interés para la población de bancos y fondos de inversión alemanes, utilizando datos a nivel de transacción sobre derivados. Encuentro que alrededor del 50% de los bancos y fondos usan derivados de tasas de interés. Los fondos usan predominantemente productos negociados en bolsa y los bancos administran su riesgo principalmente con contratos OTC. En promedio, ambos sectores utilizan derivados de tipos de interés para cubrir su riesgo de tipos de interés frente a una subida de tipos, aunque existe una considerable heterogeneidad. El tercer capítulo proporciona evidencia empírica de que los administradores de activos utilizan futuros de bonos para contrarrestar las pérdidas de valoración de las tenencias de bonos físicos cuando los rendimientos se mueven adversamente. Al analizar los datos de supervisión de fondos mutuos, encontramos que esta estrategia de superposición es más pronunciada entre los fondos con una mayor proporción de tenencias de bonos ex ante a largo plazo, más activos de renta fija riesgosos ex ante y mayores salidas netas.

Doutoramento em Gestão<br>The doctoral thesis is composed by three self-contained empirical papers that can be read independently, plus an introduction and a conclusive chapter. The first empirical paper, which is entitled “Corporate Taxation and Financial Reporting Quality”, examines whether the relation between tax enforcement and firms’ financial reporting quality varies with firms’ level of tax avoidance in Europe. Incentives for tax avoidance are dissimilar across firms and jurisdictions, as the latter levy firms with different corporate taxation and employ different enforcement mechanisms. Thus, the simple view that higher tax enforcement increases the quality of financial reporting may also change with institutional characteristics. We predict and confirm that in Europe, overall tax enforcement is positively associated with financial reporting quality, although there is a greater incidence for firms engaged in more tax avoidance. We find a lower sensitivity to tax enforcement for firms engaged in less tax avoidance, which is consistent with the tendency for these firms to already report higher quality financial information. Furthermore, it is unclear whether our findings are sensitive to variations in other tax system characteristics and in institutional characteristics. In contrast to other studies, we show that the association between tax enforcement and financial reporting quality is sensitive to firms’ level of tax avoidance, rather than accounting for other differences at country level. The second empirical paper – “Disclosure of Income Taxes and Firm Value: a Cross Country Comparison of IFRS Adopters”, examines whether disclosure of income taxes is associated with firms’ value. We focus on all IAS 12 disclosure requirements in a sample of IFRS adopters in Europe, rather than in the US. The disclosure of income taxes is measured by an index based on hand-collected data from annual reports, which made it possible to distinguish between mandatory and voluntary disclosure of income taxes. Results suggest no direct relation between mandatory disclosure of income taxes and firms’ value. However, when the level of tax avoidance is taken into consideration the association is significant. Tax avoidance strategies are viewed with scepticism by investors, although disclosure of income taxes mitigates this negative effect, especially for tax aggressive firms, and for “poorly”-governed firms, which is measured by lower institutional ownership. Findings suggest that disclosure of income taxes might play a role in shaping the relation between tax avoidance strategies and firms’ value, rather than the quality of corporate governance. The third empirical paper is entitled as “Crossing the Border: Regional Tax Differences and Firm Creation”. Does the introduction of reduced corporate income tax rates at regional level increases firm creation? Instead of focussing on existing corporate income tax rate differentials, we take advantage of a quasi-natural experiment to study the introduction of reduced corporate income tax rates at regional level. Results suggest that the creation of firms increased with the introduction of reduced corporate income tax rates for specific regions. However, further variations in the corporate income tax rate differential between regions appear to be ineffective in fostering the creation of firms. Indeed, the effect on firm creation is robust regarding border competition, whereby neighbouring municipalities compete for corporate income tax rates. Job creation appears to be positively affected, these new firms are typically small, and the likelihood of their survival appears to be enhanced by the tax change. The findings also highlight the influence of agglomerations in order to take advantage of the tax change. Taken altogether, the findings contrast with the previous literature, which is focussed on existing tax rate differentials, as we demonstrate that what really triggers the creation of new firms is when a tax rate differential between regions is created.<br>A tese de doutoramento é composta por três artigos empíricos autónomos que podem ser lidos de forma independente, a que se acrescenta um capítulo introdutório e um capítulo conclusivo. O primeiro artigo empírico, intitulado de “Corporate Taxation and Financial Reporting Quality”, analisa se a relação entre o nível de fiscalização da administração fiscal e a qualidade do relato financeiro das empresas varia de acordo com o nível de planeamento fiscal das empresas na Europa. Os incentivos ao planeamento fiscal não são iguais entre empresas e jurisdições, uma vez que estas últimas fazem incidir nas empresas diferentes tributações empresariais e os mecanismos de fiscalização das administrações fiscais variam igualmente entre jurisdições. Nesse sentido, a visão clássica de que uma maior fiscalização da administração fiscal tem efeitos positivos na qualidade do relato financeiro das empresas pode variar de acordo com as características institucionais dos respetivos países. Neste artigo, é previsto e confirmado que na Europa uma maior fiscalização da administração fiscal exerce um efeito positivo na qualidade do relato financeiro das empresas, no entanto esse efeito é mais acentuado para as empresas com maior nível de planeamento fiscal. Verificou-se uma menor sensibilidade para as empresas envolvidas em um menor nível de planeamento fiscal, situação que é consistente com o facto de essas empresas já exibirem um relato financeiro de melhor qualidade. Adicionalmente, os resultados parecem não ser sensíveis a variações em outras características fiscais e em características institucionais. Em contraste com outros estudos, é evidenciado que a associação entre a fiscalização das administrações fiscais e a qualidade do relato financeiro das empresas é sensível ao nível de planeamento fiscal das empresas, ao contrário de estudos existentes que sugerem a existência de efeitos diferentes de acordo com características específicas dos próprios países. O segundo artigo empírico – “Disclosure of Income Taxes and Firm Value: a Cross Country Comparison of IFRS Adopters”, analisa se a divulgação de informação sobre impostos sobre o rendimento relaciona-se com o valor das empresas. O foco recai sobre os requisitos de divulgação da IAS 12, sendo a amostra composta por empresas Europeias que adotaram as IFRS, em vez de empresas cotadas nos EUA que têm sido alvo de mais investigação. A divulgação de informação sobre impostos sobre o rendimento é medida através de um índice construído através de recolha de informação diretamente dos relatórios e contas das empresas, permitindo dessa forma distinguir a divulgação de informação com caráter obrigatório da divulgação de informação voluntária, ambas sobre impostos sobre o rendimento. Os resultados sugerem que não existe relação direta entre a divulgação de informação sobre impostos sobre o rendimento de caráter obrigatório e o valor das empresas. No entanto, quando é considerado o efeito moderador das estratégias de planeamento fiscal, a relação acima descrita é significativa. As estratégias de planeamento fiscal são vistas pelos investidores com ceticismo, todavia a divulgação de informação sobre impostos sobre o rendimento mitiga esse efeito negativo, sobretudo para as empresas com práticas mais agressivas de planeamento fiscal, bem como para as empresas com menor qualidade do corporate governance, medido por uma menor presença de investidores institucionais na estrutura acionista das empresas. Os resultados sugerem que a divulgação de informação sobre impostos sobre o rendimento pode desempenhar um papel importante na definição da relação existente entre as estratégias de planeamento fiscal e o valor das empresas, ao invés da qualidade do corporate governance. O terceiro artigo empírico é denominado de “Crossing the Border: Regional Tax Differences and Firm Creation”. Será que a introdução de taxas de imposto sobre o rendimento empresarial reduzidas ao nível regional aumenta a criação de empresas? Em vez do foco recair sobre diferenciais de taxas de imposto já existentes entre regiões, este estudo toma partido de uma aproximação a uma experiência natural para analisar o momento da introdução de taxas de imposto sobre o rendimento empresarial mais reduzidas para algumas regiões. Os resultados sugerem que a criação de empresas aumenta com a introdução de taxas de imposto reduzidas sobre o rendimento empresarial. Contudo, variações posteriores no diferencial de taxas de imposto entre regiões parecem não ser eficazes para fomentar a criação de empresas. Além do mais, o efeito na criação de empresas parece ser influenciado por competições fiscais regionais, nas quais municípios vizinhos podem competir ao nível das taxas de imposto sobre o rendimento empresarial. A criação de emprego parece ser positivamente afetada com a alteração fiscal, as novas empresas são tipicamente de pequena dimensão e a probabilidade de sobrevivência parece melhorar como consequência da alteração fiscal. Os resultados também salientam a importância dos aglomerados para que as empresas aproveitem a alteração fiscal. Em geral, os resultados contrastam com a literatura que foca-se em diferenciais de taxas já existentes entre regiões, uma vez que neste estudo é demonstrado que o período mais relevante para despoletar a criação de novas empresas é o período da criação de um diferencial de taxas entre regiões.

<p> The overriding presence of informal sector businesses has exacerbated the problem of tax revenue generation in the economies of most developing countries. Business owners in the informal sector have negative opinions and attitudes against taxation and they are unwilling to pay taxes. This has created a gap in knowledge as researchers explore the activities of the informal sector in the economies of developing countries. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore and analyze the reasons informal sector business owners have negative opinions and attitudes against taxation. Research participants were drawn from informal sector businesses in the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The study explored the behavior modification and behavior economic theories to determine why informal sector business owners are ambivalent in their taxpaying obligations. The research questions were answered by interviewing 6 business owners from the informal sector with the aim of drawing up inferences about their perceptions on taxation. Some of the key findings from the study were that taxpayers have negative remarks about their interactions with tax officials because tax agents do not respect and provide the best customer service, agents misuse tax money, taxpayers do not see any benefit for paying taxes, and they are not even sure about how their tax money is used. The findings from the study present stark implications for tax officials to pursue their tax collection activities with utmost care and honor, to gain respect and confidence from the informal sector taxpayers by eliciting positive behaviors of tax obligations from that sector, as well as influencing tax policy for informal sector businesses in developing countries. The recommendations from the study will spiral future research agenda to expand current knowledge about informal sector business owner&rsquo;s perceptions and attitudes towards taxation, and to develop an informal sector taxation model to assist tax administrators in developing nations about a more congenial way to handle informal sector business owners.</p><p>

The main objective of this study is to investigate empirically users' perceptions of the usefulness of financial information that could be provided in corporate annual reports presented by listed companies in Egypt. This investigation is carried out, in the light of the requirements of the Egyptian Accounting Standards (EASs) issued in 1997, the new listing rules of the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE) adopted in 2000 and the Capital Market Law (CML) No. 95/1992, using a set of eleven qualitative characteristics of accounting information (QCOAI) in a hierarchy, which should be possessed by financial information if it is to be useful to its users. Those characteristics are: understandability, relevance, reliability, comparability, predictive value, timeliness, faithful representation, neutrality, verifiability, consistency and materiality. A survey was carried out, based on a questionnaire, which was designed and pre-tested in two stages, as a basic data collection instrument supported by some semi-structured personal interviews. 320 questionnaires were personally distributed, and a total of 232 questionnaires were collected. Of them 222 were usable and analysable, representing about 69.38%. The survey was conducted to examine the perceptions of five groups of users of corporate annual reports, namely, financial analysts, decision makers, academics, stock brokers, and staff of the regulatory and observatory bodies, regarding the importance they attach to corporate annual reports and different sources of financial information, sections of corporate annual reports, each of the QCOAI selected earlier in the study, and some financial information items. The collected data were largely quantifiable and based on a five-point scale. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences — SPSS was used in analysing the collected data and the analysis was carried out for the overall sample and for the various sub-groups using the descriptive statistics and the statistical analysis (the non-parametric tests such as the Chi-square Test, the Kruskal-Wallis H Test and the Mann-Whitney U Test). A major finding is that "corporate annual reports" were perceived as the most important source of financial information by users in Egypt, followed by "newspapers and magazines" and "the direct contact with the company management". Also, there was a clear finding that "income statement" was considered as the most important section among the various sections of corporate annual reports followed by "balance sheet" and "cash flow statement". It was found that users as a whole, and as occupation, education and experience groups, considered the selected set of QCOAI to be suitable for use in the evaluation of the usefulness of financial information provided in corporate annual reports. All selected characteristics were perceived to be important or very important characteristics, to slightly different degrees. Furthermore, the study found that "timeliness" was considered as the most important characteristic. Lastly, the majority of financial information items that were perceived as the most important items, whether or not mandatorily required, are not disclosed by listed companies.

The objective of this research is to explore the area of financial accounting, international accounting, and accounting technology transfer, with emphasis on accounting for developing countries, specifically Indonesia. Confining itself to external financial reporting, the study explores the influence of environmental aspects on accounting standards and practices, institutionally and technically. Analysis of the role and needs of preparers, users, auditors and government agencies, and of the interaction between institutional and technical aspects, conducted to ascertain their implications for accounting development in Indonesia. The empirical research was conducted using hypotheses as catalysts, to test the characteristics, general opinions and attitudes of the interested parties toward accounting standards and practices, accounting education and development of the accounting profession. The findings of the research suggest that accounting technology cannot be successfully transferred from a developed to a developing country without considering the influence of environment, particularly the role of government. Indonesia, heavily influenced by the US accounting, needs to improve its accounting system in order to make it appropriate for its own environment. Many deficiencies were found in the areas of accounting theory, accounting standards and practice, accounting rules and regulations, accounting education, professional accounting and the role of government. In order to improve the existing conditions, it must be recognised that those aspects are closely related, and that the only way to develop the role of accounting is to adopt an integrated approach. The study provides a series of recommendations, based upon the findings of the empirical research, which should provide a useful starting point towards such an approach.

Financial liberalisation is the process of financial development that reduces the extent of government control over the financial industry. It is argued that a liberalised financial system is a fundamental prerequisite for more efficient allocation of savings and investment, which in turn leads to greater economic growth. Financial liberalisation includes the freeing up of interest rate controls, exchange and capital controls, entry of foreign banks, and the deregulation of banking sector. The latter process, which comprises the deregulation of bank structure and conduct rules and the concomitant reregulation of bank prudential supervision, is generally targetted to improve the efficiency and productivity of banks. On the other hand, financial liberalisation and basic deregulation have also (been) precursors to many banking and financial crises. This study examines the effects of deregulation on the Thai banking sector during 1990- 97 using a two-stage approach. In the first-stage analysis, the relative efficiencies and productivity of each bank in each year are measured using DEA techniques. In the second-stage, regression techniques are used to evaluate the impact of financial deregulation on efficiency and productivity, controlling for bank-specific attributes. The main findings regarding bank efficiency are that on average banks operating in Thailand hardly improved their technical, allocative and cost efficiencies, except in 1996 and 1997. Most banks were better at optimising their input mix than minimising their usage and costs of inputs. There was a clear association between size and cost efficiency for the domestic Thai banks, and on average their cost efficiencies were greater than those of the foreign bank branches, all other things being equal. However, the majority of the banks on the best-practice efficient frontier were foreign, and the smallest Thai banks were the least efficient of all the banks studied. The average productivity of foreign banks increased over the period studied, and this was mainly due to outward shifts of the production frontier each year (technological progress) rather than improvements in relative efficiency. The average productivity of domestic banks did not change over time, as technological progress was offset by moves away from the best-practice frontier. Overall, the evidence for the postulated beneficial effects of deregulation is somewhat mixed. Improvements in total factor productivity were driven by the huge expansion in lending made possible by the liberalisation, but these increases in productivity were mainly achieved by the foreign bank branches whose operations were supported by substantial amounts of financial capital from their parents. Productive efficiency of the domestic banks did improve over the period of study, but these improvements were greatest for the large and medium size banks, thus widening the gap between the most inefficient group of small Thai banks and the rest of the banking sector.

<p>This research report examines the factors associated with facilitating and constraining the implimentation of financial management and budget reforms in the public sector using the Health Sector (National and Provincial Departments of Health) as a case study. The main findings of this report are that there are factors that are both facilitating and constraining the implementation of financial management and budget reform in South Africa. The primary constraining factor in this regard is that there is limited capacity in the country with regard to financial management.</p>

The government of Ghana borrows from both domestic and foreign sources to finance the budget deficit. By the year 2013, the domestic debt was 55% of the public debt. Government domestic borrowing is competitive and can potentially crowd out the private corporate sector. Therefore, the specific research problem addressed in this study was whether the Ghanaian government's domestic debt (DEBT) caused financial crowding out (FCO) in Ghana. FCO theory is not conclusive and not proven specifically for Ghana, so the purpose of this research was to investigate its presence in Ghana. The neoclassical theory of FCO underpinned the research. The 2 research questions investigated FCO along the quantity and cost channels. The research examined the relationship between DEBT as the independent variable, the quantity of private sector credit (PSCREDIT), and the net interest margin (NIM) of banks as dependent variables. Covariates were macroeconomic and banking industry variables. The research population was the banking sector of the financial services industry. The research was correlational, and it used time series data from the Bank of Ghana and the World Bank. Data analysis used the autoregressive distributed lag method. The analysis returned a negative relationship between DEBT and PSCREDIT, and a positve relationship between NIM and DEBT. These results indicated the presence of FCO along both the quantity and cost channels. The research provides policymakers a means of quantifying the extent and effects of fiscal policies. The study may contribute to positive social change by promoting the revision of fiscal policies to favor the private corporate sector to invest, create jobs, and grow the Ghanaian economy.

This thesis is comprised of four self-contained chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 examine, within a DSGE framework, the role of the financial sector in amplifying and propagating business cycles fluctuations in the macroeconomy and the role for macroeconomic policy. Chapter 3 deals with computational issues, and develops in more detail a part of the solution technique used in Chapter 2. Chapter 4 shifts towards the market for government bonds and examines whether fiscal policy reacts to changes in the cost of public debt finance. The four chapters share an overarching motivation, namely having all been motivated by the events of the current financial crisis - first in its guise as a banking crisis and then in its guise as a sovereign debt crisis. All four chapters make a contribution to the literature, whether it is to deepen the understanding of financial frictions models, how they behave, how to solve them and what the policy implications are, or whether it is to expand empirical evidence on fiscal policy behavior. Chapter 1, "Coordination Failure and the Financial Accelerator" studies the effect of liquidity problems in markets for short-term debt within a DSGE model with leveraged borrowers. Creditors (financial intermediaries) receive imperfect signals regarding the profitability of borrowers (entrepreneurs) and, based on these signals and their beliefs about other intermediaries' actions, choose between rolling over and foreclosing on the debt. Due to the uncoordinated actions of intermediaries, the incidence of rollover is suboptimal, generating endogenous capital scrapping and an illiquidity premium on external finance. As entrepreneurs become more leveraged, the magnitude of the coordination inefficiency increases as do the premiums paid on external finance. The interaction between entrepreneurial leverage and the illiquidity premium generates significant amplification of technology shocks, and predicts that periods of illiquidity in credit markets can generate sharp contractions in output. Two unconventional policy responses are analyzed. Dire.et lending to entrepreneurs is found to dampen output fluctuations. Equity injections into entrepreneurs' balance sheets, however, are significantly more powerful in dampening the contemporaneous effect of illiquidity shocks, but cause output deviations from potential to persist. Chapter 2, "The Risk Channel of Monetary Policy" examines how the design of monetary policy effects the riskiness of financial institutions aggregate portfolio structure, a mechanism referred to as the risk channel of monetary policy. I study the risk channel of moneta1y policy in a DSGE model with nominal frictions and a banking sector that has the option to issue outside equity as well as short term debt, making bank risk exposure an endogenous choice, and dependent on the (monetary) policy environment. The portfolio choice of the banks is determined by solving the model around its risky steady state. I find that banks reduce their reliance on short-term debt and decrease leverage when monetary policy shocks and prevalent. A monetary policy Taylor rule that reacts to movements in leverage in the banking system or to movements in credit spreads, incentivizes banks to increase their use of short-term debt funding and increase leverage, ceteris paribus, increasing the risk exposure of the financial sector for the real economy. The chapter finishes by searching for the optimal simple monetary policy rule in this environment. Chapter 3, "Computing the Risky Steady State in DSGE Models" describes a simple procedure for solving the risky steady state in medium-scale macroeconomic models. This is the "point where agents choose to stay at a given date if they expect future risk and if the realization of shocks is Oat this date" Coeurdacier, Rey, and Winant (2011) . This new procedure is a direct method which makes use of a second-order approximation of the macroeconomic model around its deterministic steady state, thus avoiding the need to employ an iterative algorithm to solve a fixed point problem. The methodology advanced in this chapter is used in Chapter 2. Chapter 4, "Cost of Borrowing Shocks and Fiscal Adjustment", based on joint work with Federic Holm-Hadulla and Nadine Leiner-Killinger, examines whether capital markets impose fiscal discipline on governments. We investigate the responses of fiscal variables to a change in the interest rate paid by governments on debt using a panel of 14 European countries over several decades. This is done in the context of a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model, using sign restrictions via the penalty function method of Mountford and Uhlig (2009) to identify structural cost-of-borrowing shocks. Our baseline estimation shows that a one percentage point rise in the cost of borrowing leads to a cumulative expansion of the primary balance-to-GDP ratio of approximately 1.9 percentage points over 10 years, with a fiscal response only significantly evident two years following the shock. We also find that the majority of fiscal adjustment takes place via a rise in government revenue rather than a cut in primary expenditure. The size of the total fiscal adJ'ustment ~ ' however, is insufficient to avoid the gross government debt-to-GDP ratio from rising as a consequence of the shock. Sub-dividing our sample we also find that the EMU countries post-1992 (the year of the Maastricht Treaty) raised thei primary balances more aggressively in response to a cost-of-borrowing shock than they did prior to 1992.

The purpose or objective of this dissertation was to analyse the current income tax treatment of derivative financial instruments in South Africa. In the context of financial markets, derivative financial instruments are mainly used for hedging and speculation. The dissertation considers whether the current South African Income Tax Act deals with the income taxation of derivatives with respect to gains and losses and the timing of those gains and losses. With regards to the nature of gains and losses arising from derivative transactions, the aspect which was considered is whether gains and losses were of a capital or revenue nature in the context of speculation or hedging. With regards to the timing of gains or losses, the dissertation considers when gains and losses should be brought into taxable income of a taxpayer. The following examples of derivative financial instruments were analysed: cross currency swaps, index options, credit default swaps and contracts for differences (CFDs). These derivatives were analysed with respect to the nature and timing of the gains or losses when hedging or speculating. The impact of the provisions of the Eighth Schedule is also considered with respect to the derivatives mentioned above. Copyright<br>Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009.<br>Taxation<br>unrestricted

New Zealand's public sector reforms have been hailed as a model of theoretical consistency and coherence. The associated financial management reforms, known internationally as new public financial management (NPFM), were world-leading although they are no longer unique. The underlying nature and intent of public sector reforms have been the subject of considerable debate internationally. Early public sector reforms openly sought privatisation, often on ideological grounds. However, in the face of gathering public opposition, public discussion of privatisation softened. NPM and NPFM have been promoted instead mainly on more pragmatic grounds such as improving public sector performance. In New Zealand, the Public Finance Act 1989 is the key legislation underpinning the financial management reforms. The Act delegates regulatory powers to the Treasury and, over time, a considerable body of secondary regulation, including accounting rules, has been developed. However, this secondary regulation, and its contribution to the success or otherwise of the public sector reforms, has not been examined in detail to date. In 1999, New Zealand s Controller and Auditor-General suggested that the financial management system erodes government departments resources and that somehow this resource erosion escapes parliamentary scrutiny. The Treasury, on the other hand, defended the foundations of the financial management system as solid, arguing that retention of the existing framework would allow further and faster progress towards improved performance and value-for-money than would be achieved by a new set of reforms. This debate prompts questions whether and, if so, how and why a financial management system, ostensibly implemented to improve the performance and accountability of the public sector, could be linked to such effects, and whether parliamentary scrutiny is indeed avoided. This thesis examines the secondary regulation and explains the development of the financial management system with the intention of answering those questions. The analysis undertaken in this thesis suggests that New Zealand's public sector financial management system fabricates the conditions under which privatisation initiatives might be accepted for pragmatic reasons. The erosion of departments financial resources is an essential mechanism in that fabrication process. As this system has developed, the time available for parliamentary scrutiny has reduced and the Controller and Auditor-General s controller function has been eroded, while the control and discretion exercised within the Treasury has increased. Arguably, these developments have helped to conceal the system s privatising intent. The thesis identifies features of the financial management system used to rationalise the financial resource-eroding processes. It also notes that if New Zealand's financial management system is no longer unique, then other NPFM systems may contain a similar combination of features.

Mike Arce is the owner of a 30-hectare farm in an agricultural area on the coast north of Lima, Peru. He must find a solution to the liquidity problem that arose at the end of 2016 and determine if he has adequate accounting information to make his decision. Students are challenged to review information from an accounting and financial perspective. In the resolution of the case, international rules concerning information to be submitted via financial statements must be considered, especially taking into account the rules concerning agriculture, property/plant and equipment and inventories. This case lends itself to analysis and projection of financial statements and to seeking alternative solutions.

Le secteur financier a émergé afin d’apporter une réponse à certaines imperfections microéconomiques, principalement de nature informationnelle. Trois rôles principaux ont été identifiés dans la littérature : la sélection et le suivi des emprunteurs (voir par exemple Grossman et Stiglitz (1980) ou Boot et Thakor (1993)), la création d’un actif insensible à la production d’informations privées, à savoir les dépôts bancaires (Gorton et Pennacchi (1990)), et la fourniture d’une assurance contre les besoins de liquidité en présence d’incertitude sur les préférences quant au moment choisi pour la consommation (Diamond et Dybvig (1984)). Mais, si le secteur financier constitue une réponse à certaines défaillances du marché, il opère en présence de certaines autres imperfections microéconomiques qui peuvent réduire son efficacité. Cette thèse s’attache à étudier plus particulièrement deux d’entre elles : le caractère incomplet des marchés et les problèmes d’aléa moral des gestionnaires des banques. L’existence de ces imperfections implique une externalité dans le fonctionnement du secteur financier qui peut justifier une réglementation. Afin que la régulation puisse permettre de traiter ces inefficacités, il est crucial d’identifier d’abord quelles sont les défaillances de marché responsables de l’inefficacité et à travers quels mécanismes elles influent sur les choix des agents. Cette analyse théorique représente l’objectif principal de cette thèse<br>The financial sector has emerged because financial institutions help overcome some microeconomic imperfections, mainly informational. Three main roles have been identified in the literature: the screening and monitoring of borrowers (see for instance Grossman and Stiglitz (1980) or Boot and Thakor (1993)), the creation of an informational-insensitive asset out of their liabilities (Gorton and Pennacchi (1990)), and the provision of an insurance against liquidity needs in the presence of uncertainty on the preferences over the timing of consumption (Diamond and Dybvig (1984)). But, if the financial sector has emerged as an answer to some market failures, it is operating in the presence of some other micro imperfections that can reduce its efficiency. This dissertation focuses on two of them: incomplete markets and moral hazard problems. Their existence implies some externality in the functioning of the financial sector that may justify a regulation. In order for the regulation to overcome those inefficiencies, it is crucial to first identify what are those market failures and through which mechanisms they affect the choices of agents. This theoretical analysis is the main objective of this dissertation

The main objective of the study was to analyze the potential tax collection from the informal rental housing market in Zambia, using household level rental housing data collected for the Lusaka Urban District by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) as a basis for computation and extrapolation to the national level. This data was used to analyze household monthly expenditure on housing (rent), the total number of households in rented accommodation, and the tax regime applicable on rental income, to estimate the potential tax revenue that could be realized from this emerging sector. The estimates indicate that about K9.7 billion revenue could be collected on income from rental housing in Lusaka Urban District alone and a total of K83 billion nationally per annum. This represents about 0.4 percent of the country’s GDP in 2007. Compliance needs to be improved and legislation revised to ensure that the landlords are compelled to remit tax to the Zambia Revenue Authority. The current legislation makes enforcement and compliance difficult as it places the statutory tax burden on tenants, who are very mobile. It is, therefore, recommended that the landlord is made responsible for the payment of taxes due on rental income and that any compliance requirements be enforced against the real estate/property that is generating the income. This study also examines the performance of the presumptive taxation regime in Zambia The study uses data from the Zambia Revenue Authority on revenue collection from presumptive taxes which were introduced to capture income from the informal sectors. The presumptive taxes already introduced in Zambia include: base tax, advance income tax and turnover tax for minibuses and taxi operators. To analyze the performance of the presumptive tax regime, the study utilizes data on imports made by those not registered for taxes, to estimate how much revenue could be generated by imposing a 3 percent turnover tax on the value of their imports at importation. The analysis shows that the Zambia Revenue Authority increased revenue collection from K5.3 billion in 2004 to K33.5 billion in 2007. This improvement in revenue collection is far below the potential, however, which is estimated at over K501 billion on imports of unregistered traders alone. To collect this revenue and expand the tax base, the tax authority needs to improve the administration of advance income tax on unregistered importers, and raise the advance income tax rate to a level where the importer is indifferent between paying the advance tax at the border and paying turnover tax inland.

With players in the National Football League (NFL) making what seems to be the most money out of any entry-level position, it might come as a shock to many people to hear that so many players end up in financial distress afterwards. Sports Illustrated has put this number at 78% of players filing for bankruptcy or are in serious financial trouble within only two years of leaving the league (Torre). The problems that the players run into are their short careers, which average 3 ½ years, their poor financial decisions and their very optimistic approach to life. The 3 ½ years means that they should approach their employment as more of a lottery winning than a long term career. With so much income, the players might want to take out large mortgages and could be in trouble. They would believe that they would be the exception and not the rule for this because they are constantly succeeding as well. The players should set up a budget to fix this. They should defer the maximum amount of compensation possible and invest most of the rest. The athletes should have enough still to have a comfortable few years in the NFL. The football players should also be smart and get a college degree while they can for free.

The 2008 Global Financial Crisis caused the collapse of a number of the so-called ?too-big-to-fail? financial institutions. The crisis highlighted the need to maintain and promote financial stability, by monitoring systemic risks in the financial system. One of the popular global trends in financial sector regulation in response to the crisis was a shift towards a Twin Peaks model. According to this model, the authority responsible for prudential regulation is given the power to designate certain institutions as systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs). Further, a number of international instruments have been published, setting out standards and guidelines for designation of SIFIs. South Africa is currently on the move towards the Twin Peaks model, which is facilitated by the Financial Sector Regulation Bill. This dissertation investigates the rationale behind SIFIs and the process of designating SIFIs in South Africa once the Bill is enacted as an Act. A comparative study of Australia and the U.S is undertaken and the conclusion is that South Africa should lean more towards the Australian approach of designating SIFIs.<br>Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2016.<br>Mercantile Law<br>LLM<br>Unrestricted

This research examines financial reporting by Scottish local authorities. Two particular aspects have been examined, namely audit lags and audit incidents. 65 local authorities were examined for the period 1989/90 until 1995/96. This period is classified as the pre-reorganisation period. Then the research continued by analysing audit lags and audit incidents for the 32 new postreorganisation local authorities for 1996/97 and 1997/98. The researcher used Luder's (1992) contingency model of public sector accounting innovations as a framework to analyse the stimuli for financial reporting changes in the Scottish local authorities. The effect of audit qualifications appears not to be a strong stimulus for the local authorities to improve financial reporting. The discussion on audit lags was divided into pre-reorganisation and postreorganisation periods. In addition, the ten local authorities in the Grampian and Tayside regional areas were studied for an additional 14 years. The results indicated that there was a persistent pattern among the local authorities in Scotland. The good performers were always good and the poor performers were always poor. Authorities like Angus DC managed to get an audit lag of around 4 months, while some local authorities took more than two years. Thus it is not impossible to get the accounts certified within four months. Audit incidents were classified into two categories, that is Audit Qualifications (AQ) and Comments Short of Audit Qualification (CSAQ). The performance among authorities varies tremendously. While some regional councils obtained very few audit incidents, some have many. Likewise some district councils have many and some have none. Islands appear to have more audit incidents. As proven by some authorities, getting a clean report is not impossible. Therefore it is important for local authorities to emphasise improving the audit lags and improving the quality of the accounts to obtain a clean report every year. Lengthy audit lag reflects inefficiency in management. This not only suggests weak internal control but also indicates that financial reporting is considered as a low priority task. Numerous audit incidents seem to signal that local authorities have not complied with all the rules and regulations. Repeated audit incidents imply that they were not serious in rectifying the situation. Reorganisation appears to disturb the ranking of the councils resulting in much longer audit lags in the last year of the abolished councils and the first two years after reorganisation. Thus, reorganisation contributes to longer audit lags and leads to numerous audit incidents, especially for 'limitation in audit scope'. Undoubtedly, Scottish local authorities should improve their financial reporting and their accountability to the public.

Without doubt a well-developed financial sector is related to efficient resource allocation and growth, but there is modest consensus on the direction of that link, on the notion of what is meant by "well developed", on which subset of the financial market is crucial and thus which organisational set-up provides optimal returns for both architects and market participants alike. With sluggish growth, torn down market barriers and systemic change in the EU accession countries the direction, magnitude, sustainability, institutional set-up of the finance-growth nexus (and which), becomes one of the core issues of both macroeconomic theory and practice. This paper reviews the economic theory available, provides a well structured overview of 54 empirical studies conducted since 1964, sets the stage for constructing a data base encompassing the major three segments of financial markets (stock, bond and bank credit) and provides the methodological background for combining cross-country production function and time-series approaches in order to answer the following questions: (1) What is the direction of the finance-growth nexus, (2) which segment of the financial sector drives whatever nexus there is, and (3) what are the features of a growth supportive financial architecture.<br>Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut