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The University of South Africa (Unisa), as a distance education institution, is continuously challenged to lessen the negative impact distance has on students’ learning. The effective use of technologies affords distance education institutions with valuable opportunities to enhance teaching and support students’ learning. Using online technologies in the context of a developing country like South Africa often remains unrealised because of the persistent impact of lack of access, bandwidth and cost to students. Most students, however, have mobile phones, thus creating an ideal opportunity for distance education institutions to increase the effectiveness of learning. This article investigated students’ responses to a pilot study aimed at integrating short message systems (SMSs) into the study experience of accounting students at Unisa. This research found that students overwhelmingly experienced this initiative not only as support but also more importantly as assistance to enable them to study more effectively. On the basis of the evidence provided, it is evident that using mobile technology can enhance the learning experience of accounting students and provide them with a more satisfying and successful experience.

Blended learning is the new buzzword in higher education. International trends in open and distance learning proclaim that the use of blended learning is essential for any distance education institution that wishes to remain relevant in an increasingly contested market. Blended learning refers to the use of a variety of technologies, pedagogies, contexts and delivery modes (such as online learning) to create a strategic mix that will increase student success. Online learning environments form a crucial part of any blended learning strategy. In the South African context, access to such online environments is a controversial issue. This article reports on a study which attempted to determine how many of the students registered for Accounting at second year level at the University of South Africa (UNISA) would benefit from a blended learning approach.

This paper aims to assess the impact of protected geographical indications (GIs) on the trade performance of South Africa’s wine industry within the European Union (EU). This is critical in enhancing informed policy decisions towards securing more GIs for wines and other products. The unearthed evidence may provide a basis for more government interventions in support of the initiative while protecting the good reputation in communities where production occurs.

This paper uses the gravity flow model framework. The Rand value of wine exports was used as a trade performance measure whereas GIs data was extracted from the E-Bacchus database, and three proxies are used to capture the GIs variable.

GIs foster South Africa’s wine exports into the EU. When GIs were proxied as a dummy variable, results suggest that GIs led to about 170% increase in wine exports. However, when the actual number of GIs was used, the estimate also indicates 0.7% rise in exports, whereas using the difference between South Africa’s and the EU’s number of GIs, results suggest that GIs are associated with 87% increase in wine exports.

This paper did not take into consideration protected designation of origins (PDOs) on the side of the Europe given that South Africa has no registered PDOs. Further research at industry level should be undertaken to ascertain whether some of South Africa’s wine meets the specifications required to register as a PDO.

This paper adds empirical evidence to the existing literature on the competitiveness of South Africa’s wine industry. The role of GIs in international markets remains a silent feature in the literature yet the industry exhibits an outstanding footprint in GIs. This paper, in part, responds to Biénabe and Marie-Vivien’s (2017) recognition for the need for interdisciplinary empirical analyses to better understand the GI concept. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to analyse the impact of GIs on the industry’s trade performance.

Educators in the accounting discipline are faced with the challenge of finding innovative ways to accommodate the flexible learning styles of Millennial students, using “in classroom/contact time” effectively and decreasing transactional distance between students and educators in large classes. In an attempt to address these challenges, this paper aims to describe the implementation of basic e-learning tools (podcasts, vodcasts and voice-over-PowerPoint) as supplementary and substitutional tools in an undergraduate taxation curriculum. The tools were implemented as part of a student-centred approach to the facilitation of learning, embedded in the Blended Learning Theory. The paper reports on students’ use and experience of various basic e-learning tools, as well as the impact of the use of these tools on student performance.

An action research methodology was followed, and data were collected by way of a voluntary, descriptive student survey and student class lists. A total of 387 students completed the survey.

Students appear to have access to devices and data to use e-learning tools. They perceive these tools as helpful study aids and prefer synchronous, substitutional tools. Use of the tools does not have a significant impact on performance; however, it does appear to have a positive impact on the learning environment and student engagement.

The results of the study may be of benefit to educators and curriculum designers who are responsible for reviewing and updating the content delivery methods of undergraduate taxation curricula in large classes with diverse student populations. These results add to the limited body of knowledge on the implementation of basic e-learning tools in a South African accounting education setting.

The transition from primary school to secondary school is viewed globally as a crucial period in students' lives and a challenging transition can have both short-term and long-term consequences for the wellbeing of students. Despite primary-secondary transition being so important, it is a neglected area of research in general in most countries including South Africa. By smoothing the transition from primary to secondary school challenges that are related to students' disengagement with education, school failure (school dropout), and continued social inequality can be addressed. In this chapter, the value of a transition intervention based on peer mentoring to ease the transition of students in five primary schools in an area of the country where the context is characterized by socioeconomic challenges is discussed. A lack of resources and funding make it difficult to provide individual support to all these students. In response to this challenge, a peer-mentoring approach has been applied to develop an intervention aimed at preparing the students with insight into the challenges that awaits them. The intervention encompasses a workshop attended by a representative group of 20 Grade 7 students, selected based on the leadership skills as demonstrated in their interactions with adults and peers. Following the workshop, they are given the opportunity to give feedback to their Grade 7 peers and also avail themselves for individual discussions with their peers. In this chapter, we critically reflect on the value of this peer-mentored approach for socioeconomically challenged school contexts.

The high occurrence of procurement fraud requires the management of an enterprise, the risk manager of the enterprise and the internal auditor to address procurement fraud risks effectively within the enterprise risk management concept. The purpose of the article is to explain a procurement fraud risk management process which will serve as a comprehensive framework for enterprise risk managers and for internal auditors to limit the enterprise’s exposure to procurement fraud as far as possible. The study by Venter (2005) on which the article is based proposes a procurement fraud risk matrix which can be used to manage fraud risks within the procurement function efficiently. This matrix is based on the Committee of Supporting Organizations of the Treadway Commission’s (COSO’s) Enterprise Risk Management ‐Integrated Framework which is specifically applied to address the procurement fraud risk problem.

This paper aims to describe the implementation of a blended learning approach in a Stage 2 management accounting course at a university in New Zealand. The paper reports on student participation and engagement in the course and reflects on students’ learning experiences. The blended learning approach was implemented in response to low student attendance and poor preparation for face-to-face tutorial sessions, along with demand from students to be able to access learning resources off-campus.

Data were collected from formal course evaluations, the learning management system and a student focus group, with particular emphasis on three of the online activities introduced – lessons, quizzes and chat rooms.

The study finds that while learners value online activities, they are nevertheless still unwilling to forgo the opportunities which face-to-face contact with both peers and faculty members present. This finding provides support for the continuation of a blended learning approach in the course, as well as its implementation in others.

This paper has several limitations. These include the small sample size and the absence of reflection on the process and outcome(s) of implementation of the blended learning course by the responsible academic. Furthermore, the paper also did not consider the impact of blended learning on students’ soft, or generic, skills. These are topics for future research.

The findings highlight the importance of offering not only a mixture of online activities, but also a blend of face-to-face and online activities.

This study focuses on student participation and engagement in a blended learning accounting course.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the detrimental consequences of participating in stokvels among women entrepreneurs within the South African township economy.

The research used the Gioia methodology, involving the implementation of a qualitative inquiry with an inductive approach. Semi-structured interviews served as the primary method for data collection. The study had a sample comprising 20 women entrepreneurs located in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Narratives on the detrimental consequences of participating in stokvels among women entrepreneurs within the South African township economy included fraudsters, misunderstanding and dishonesty among stokvel partners, year-end robbery and theft, stokvels being dominated by men, operating outside of formal regulatory frameworks, exclusion and limited funding.

Sample size challenges feature as a notable limitation, including the research being conducted in only one province of South Africa. Caution should be exercised when seeking to generalize the findings in other contexts.

While there is an array of literature on the impact of stokvels on entrepreneurship, there are deficiencies in studies that have looked at the detrimental consequences of stokvels on women entrepreneurs. As a result, the goal of this research is to add to the present corpus of African entrepreneurship literature, specifically in the context of South Africa.

Heavily subsidised irrigation systems have been the government’s measure to improve the farmer’s lives. However, evaluation of the performance of these systems was often overlooked. Thus, this study aims to assess the efficiency of irrigation systems in Davao del Sur, Philippines, according to agricultural, social and economic aspects, namely cropping intensity, functionality and production and monthly average income per hectare, respectively. More than half of the national irrigation schemes exhibited outstanding functionality based on organisation, system and operation and maintenance areas, while almost 75% of the communal schemes have exhibited the same. On the other hand, communal systems have higher cropping intensities (wet – 106% and dry – 116%) than those of the national schemes (wet – 89.8% and dry – 89.1%). Results show that communal systems perform better than those managed by Irrigation Administration. The former have been given the full control over their farm areas, where it is expected that members of the association are able to fully articulate in the decision-making and participate in their activities. Although irrigation managers of the said agency have key roles in the capacity building and management of the irrigation systems, performances of such systems largely depended on how well farmers manage the irrigation association.

Companies are often accused of using sustainability disclosures as public relations tools to manage financial and non-financial stakeholders' impressions. The purpose of our study was firstly to determine how comprehensive the human rights disclosures of a sample of large international companies were and secondly, whether different narrative styles are associated with levels of disclosure to manage readers' impressions about the company. We analysed the public human rights disclosures for 154 large, international companies obtained from the UN Guiding Principles Reporting website. On average, companies complied with only one-third of the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework criteria. Communication about policies has the highest compliance, whilst communication about determining which human rights aspects are salient to the company, remedies for transgressions and stakeholder engagement have the lowest disclosure. When we split the sample between high disclosure and low disclosure companies, we found that the readability of the human rights disclosures is exceptionally low and even more so for low disclosure companies. Low disclosure companies used words implying Satisfaction significantly more than high disclosure companies, which provides some support for suspecting that low disclosure companies practise impression management by only presenting a ‘rosy picture’, as well as obfuscation via low readability. We add to the literature on impression management by large corporations in their sustainability reporting, and specifically human rights disclosures, by revealing how the interplay of low disclosure, low readability and overuse of words signalling Satisfaction contributes to impression management, rather than sincere attempts at accountability to all stakeholders.