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In recent years, investment management education has become increasingly relevant. As a result of this development, it is essential that various role players should be consulted to ensure that investment management is taught in line with practitioners’ requirements. The South African Qualifications Authority also specifies that educators and practitioners should collaborate to maintain relevance in all fields of education. The importance of various areas in investment management was investigated. This article compares the ranking of these areas in terms of their importance as perceived by academics and practitioners. The study being reported also aimed to determine whether gaps exist between the areas that academics regard to be important and the areas that practitioners regard as such. Areas that are generally regarded to be most important include asset allocation, fundamental analysis and the measurement of risk and return. Areas that are regarded to be least important include arts, antiques and other hard assets; rights and capitalisation issues; and real estate. Areas in need of research include the measurement of risk and return; asset allocation; derivatives; and global markets and instruments. The findings of this study could have a significant impact on the provision of relevant training for South African investment specialists.

Business simulations are increasingly used to facilitate knowledge transfer in management education. Although such simulations have already been widely applied in other disciplines, this method of facilitating learning has not yet been used much in financial education. This article reports on three studies that examine the value added by this experiential learning method in a financial management course, as perceived by students. The reasons for students’ experiencing this teaching method as positive are investigated. It would seem that financial education has much to gain from a wider application of business simulations.

A number of portfolio strategies have been proposed, based on the dividend yield of a small number of large companies. It has been suggested that, by following any one of these strategies, a return that is superior to that of the market can be obtained. In this paper, these portfolio strategies are tested for investors on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. However, not only are strategies based on dividend yield scrutinized, but also comparable strategies based on earnings yield. The average return of various portfolios, selected in accordance with four methods of ranking, are compared. The major finding is that earnings yield is a better ranking method than the dividend yield method.

It is generally accepted that the payment of dividends is the most important and most widely used instrument for the distribution of value to shareholders. Shareholders also prefer to receive regular dividends rather than irregular cash payments. A well‐known model that attempts to explain dividend policy is that of Lintner (1956). This study investigates whether Lintner’s model can be used to explain South African dividend payments and compares this model with another, less sophisticated, model, namely the “percentage model”. Lintner’s model does not have a very good fit, probably as a result of the small sample used. Nearly half of the 200 largest companies that are listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange were excluded from the study as they were not listed for a sufficiently long period. Other companies were excluded on the grounds of having maintained their dividends on the same level for at least two consecutive years.

Student failure in tertiary education costs taxpayers and donors large sums each year. The cost of quality can be substantial, but it can also be a source of significant savings. This study attempts to provide a framework in terms of which these costs can be quantified through the application of the principles of quality costing in tertiary education. An emphasis on quality increases profitability by increasing student throughput and by decreasing the cost of the provision of services. Significant savings are possible if the educational system could achieve greater success by focusing on adding value to those students that are more likely to succeed. If quality costing is made visible in the South African tertiary education system, it could have a profound impact on the products (students) that are delivered to society.

The Internet is becoming increasingly important in our daily lives. So, too, is the ease of communication by means of television. The power of these two technological tools in education has been combined in so‐called ‘flexible learning’. This study investigates the experience of students in a master’s degree programme in taxation, which is presented by means of flexible learning. In general, students experience this mode of learning very positively and would advise others to enrol for the same course. They acknowledge that the benefits of flexible learning far exceed any possible drawbacks.

The vast global unit trust/mutual fund industry was worth more than $16 trillion by the end of June 2005. Over time, investors’ interests seem to have shifted from individual shares to share funds. The unit trust industry in South Africa is no exception. Over the 40‐year period from its inception in 1965 to 2005, the industry has grown from only one fund to 567 different funds, worth more than R345 billion. This study highlights some of the most important changes that have occurred in the South African unit trust industry over the last 40 years. These shifts are compared to changes that the USA mutual fund industry has experienced in the 60 years of its existence. An attempt is then made to answer the question whether South African investors are better off with these changes or not.

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the International Federation of Accountants require Information Technology (IT) to be integrated with the professional subjects, including Auditing, qualified chartered accountants need. Internationally, people want changes to Auditing teaching. The Accounting Department of Stellenbosch University developed an audit simulation of the whole audit process from client acceptance to completion. Students must prepare working papers, using substantive procedures focusing on stock and a database large enough for students to use IT. The simulation’s learning objectives are integrating auditing with IT, and exposing students to as authentic an audit as possible. A questionnaire tested students’ perceptions on the simulation. Responses were favourable. Respondents felt that the simulation helped them to understand auditing and showed them the practical application of IT functionalities. However, respondents complained that the simulation took too long. The principles and findings apply to simulations and the use of case studies in any environment.

The paper examines the possible existence of systematic performance differences between Broad based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) affiliated and non-B-BBEE affiliated mutual fund firms in South Africa and see whether the indigenisation laws affect firm performance directly through their effects on firm behaviour.

The authors’ baseline regression is a model features that varies between the observed groups in Fama-MacBeth regressions. To address the issue of how B-BBEE laws affect mutual funds' performance, the study follows Golec (1988, p. 77) in calculating mutual fund returns and follows Carhart's (1997) four-factor regression model.

The paper's results also cannot confirm with statistical significance the expectation motivated by theory that B-BBEE laws influence firm performance negatively, thus, predicting a block for foreign investment. The authors’ much longer sample period (from 2004 to 2016) does not lead to significant other results than a prior study published only shortly after the B-BBEE laws coming into force. However, this study’s results could not confirm that these laws have effects on firm performance.

The authors chose all the 3,320 B-BBEE-affiliated mutual fund firms and 3,329 non-B-BBEE-affiliated ones in the Morningstar database that had complete data for the period 2004– 2016.

The study's results cannot confirm with statistical significance the expectation motivated by theory that B-BBEE laws influence firm performance negatively, thus, predicting a block for foreign investment.

B-BBEE laws have been topical in the South African mutual fund industry. The unit trust industry in South Africa started with the establishment of the Sage Fund in 1965 in order to cater for the normal investors' needs for an easy product that starts with low investment amounts, but offers professional assets management and wide risk diversification across an extensive shares portfolio, that can be liquidated at short notice.

This paper aims to test the effects of financial reforms on the structural stability of the parameter estimates in the determinants of capital structure.

A panel of 100 non‐financial companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange is constructed, and a panel least squares estimation technique is used to test for lagged, current and leading structural breaks in the firm specific determinants of leverage.

The results show that structural reforms have a significant role in influencing the empirical relationship between leverage and its determinants. Specifically, the lifting of international sanctions and stock market liberalisation have a significant impact on the stability of the profitability, growth and tax rate variables for the book and market values of the debt to equity ratio. Furthermore, when the total and short term debt ratios are considered, only stock market liberalisation appears to have a significant influence on the stability of the profitability parameter.

This paper adds to the existing body of literature on capital structure by documenting the extent of structural breaks in the parameter estimates of the relationship between leverage and firm specific determinants of capital structure for listed non‐financial firms in South Africa.