Search results

This article reports on a study on the value‐added tax (VAT) levied on new residential properties sold to individuals by developers registered for VAT purposes. The objective of the research was to evaluate the current VAT provisions applicable to new residential properties in South Africa by measuring them against the principles of taxation, and by comparing the results with those obtained for the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Similarities and differences are established and evaluated. It is recommended that the supply of new residential properties in South Africa be zero rated.

This paper reports on a research study of value‐added tax (VAT) that applies to new residential properties developed by developers who are registered for VAT purposes. The objective of the research was to compare the current VAT provisions relating to new housing in South Africa with those of the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Similarities and differences were determined and discussed. It was ascertained that the selected countries all have special rebates or concessions regarding new housing, whereas South Africa has none.

To the extent that management accounting is based on neo‐classical economics, all decision‐making is assumed to be rational, aimed at utility or profit maximisation and all circumstances influencing decisions are accepted as stationary. The approach excludes all social, cultural or historical considerations and is based on perfect information that is freely available. Neo‐classical economics further assumes that minimum government intervention, which is regulated by competition, will result in maximum benefit for society as a whole. This paper aims to determine the extent to which management accounting theory has been based on these limiting assumptions and finds that emerging management accounting theory is increasingly based on alternative, more liberating foundations. This situation is in contrast to management accounting education in South Africa, which remains almost entirely based on neo‐classical economics.

The abolishment of the wine tax in Hong Kong has led to increased wine consumption and increased demand for wine-related professionals, such as sommeliers. Yet the importance of sommeliers’ value-adding performance in the context of upscale Chinese restaurants has not been examined. To address this gap, the SERVQUAL framework is adopted to examine the influence of sommeliers’ service quality (SQ) on customer satisfaction (CS) and loyalty in the context of upscale Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong.

The survey method is used to collect data from 302 units of the population of interest, partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is used to test the links between constructs.

Four of the seven dimensions of sommeliers’ service quality, namely, empathy, tangibles, credibility and assurance, have a significant positive impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, whereas the impact of perceived value and responsiveness on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is positive but only marginally significant. Reliability has a weak and non-significant impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Examining a small number of upscale Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong limits generalisation of the findings to other contexts. Replication of the research in different contexts will enhance generalizability. In terms of implications, the discussion highlights the importance of sommeliers’ service performance on customers’ SQ perceptions SQ, CS and loyalty, all of which are important variables for restaurateurs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of the influence of the quality of sommelier’s SQ on CS and loyalty in upscale Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. Given the lack of attention to this service role in the literature, the study contributes theory from which further understanding can develop.

In the second part of this report the action of nitrogen peroxide on flour is discussed at some length in an account of a series of researches that have been carried out by DR. MONIER‐WILLIAMS. His conclusions may be briefly stated as follows. The maximum bleaching effect is obtained when each kilogram of flour is treated with from 30 to 100 cubic centimetres of nitrogen peroxide. The bleaching effect becomes more pronounced after keeping for several days. The amount of nitrous acid or nitrites that are present in bleached flour corresponds to about 30 per cent. of the total nitrogen absorbed, the proportion of nitrites present remaining nearly constant after the lapse of several days in the more slightly bleached samples. After the lapse of a short time it is still possible to extract about 60 per cent. of the nitrogen absorbed by the flour by means of cold water, but after several days the nitrogen that can be extracted by this means decreases. This may perhaps be attributed to the “absorption” of nitrous acid by the glutenin and gliadin. In highly bleached flour (300 cubic centimetres of nitrogen peroxide per kilogram of flour) a considerable increase in the amounts of soluble proteins and soluble carbohydrates takes place. In highly bleached flour, after some time, about 6 or 7 per cent. of the nitrogen introduced as nitrogen by the nitrogen peroxide is absorbed by the oil, which acquires the characteristics of an oxidised oil. No evidence is forthcoming as to the formation of diazo compounds nor the production of free nitrogen. Bleaching was found to exercise an inhibitory action on the salivary digestion of flour.

This suspension bridge, with its main span of 3,300 ft., is expected to be opened in 1963. It will be the largest in Europe and the fourth largest in the world. A number of interesting improved techniques will be used in protecting it from corrosion and, in particular, the post‐tensioning cables which anchor the side towers to the base rock are expected to last over a century.

The Corporation of the City of London are about to appoint a Public Analyst, and by advertisement have invited applications for the post. It is obviously desirable that the person appointed to this office should not only possess the usual professional qualifications, but that he should be a scientific man of high standing and of good repute, whose name would afford a guarantee of thoroughness and reliability in regard to the work entrusted to him, and whose opinion would carry weight and command respect. Far from being of a nature to attract a man of this stamp, the terms and conditions attaching to the office as set forth in the advertisement above referred to are such that no self‐respecting member of the analytical profession, and most certainly no leading member of it, could possibly accept them. It is simply pitiable that the Corporation of the City of London should offer terms, and make conditions in connection with them, which no scientific analyst could agree to without disgracing himself and degrading his profession. The offer of such terms, in fact, amounts to a gross insult to the whole body of members of that profession, and is excusable only—if excusable at all—on the score of utter ignorance as to the character of the work required to be done, and as to the nature of the qualifications and attainments of the scientific experts who are called upon to do it. In the analytical profession, as in every other profession, there are men who, under the pressure of necessity, are compelled to accept almost any remuneration that they can get, and several of these poorer, and therefore weaker, brethren will, of course, become candidates for the City appointment.

The purpose of this paper is to report on an analysis of court judgments on sexual harassment over the last ten years.

This research has anaylsed a sample of 399 sexual harassment cases.

The analysis provides information on factors that influence the courts’ decision‐making process.

Further investigation could be made by interviewing witnesses, claimants, respondents and tribunal members.

The article provides pertinent learning outcomes for claimants and employers.

The analysis allows us to develop a profile of successful SH claims over the period studied.

The South African Companies Act of 2008 (SACA2008) seeks to reaffirm the company as a means of promoting the economic welfare and development of South Africa by encouraging efficient, transparent value‐additive corporate management. The purpose of this paper is to present the important role of the cost of capital for financial valuations that are consistent with the purposes of SACA2008, as stated in Section 7.

The relevant sections of SACA2008 of this legislation were studied. The role of the cost of capital in performing and interpreting financial valuations was presented. As the CAPM is widely used, and in cases is the only approach used to estimate the cost of capital, an update of CAPM empirical evidence was presented to affirm the conclusion by Fama and French that the CAPM is not an acceptable way of estimating the cost of capital. The Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was studied to ascertain the implication of using valuation criteria that lack empirical validity.

Management that makes financial decisions on the basis of criteria that have not been empirically validated may find it difficult to defend challenges to their efforts at complying with SACA2008 and promoting the success of the company.

From an extensive survey of publicly available literature, there is no evidence to suggest that research on the role of the cost of capital in helping achieve the purposes of SACA2008 has been published. Without a valid and reliable cost of capital it will be difficult to achieve the purposes of this legislation.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the attainment of the corporate objective of the UK Companies Act of 2006 Section 172(1) from the perspective of financial valuations that are reliant on the cost of capital. The cost of capital plays an important role in many of the models and propositions that are routinely used for financial valuation and decision making.

From the perspective of financial valuations that are used to guide decision making that is in accordance with the corporate objective of the UK Companies Act of 2006 Section 172(1), managers and directors require a valid, reliable, and interpretable cost of capital. The theory, models, and propositions of financial management, whether they be investment, financing, or distributions (Sections 829‐853) decisions, are dependent on the cost of capital. This paper has three main tasks. First, the relevant sections of UK corporate statute with regard to the corporate objective need to be identified and presented. Second, a brief review of the function and role of the cost of capital for the valuations upon which investment, financing, and dividend decisions are based, is undertaken to ensure that the role and function of this key financial metric is clearly recognized. Third, since the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is so widely and exclusively used, often without recourse to other approaches to calculation of the cost of capital, an update of CAPM empirical evidence is undertaken to affirm the 2004 findings and subsequent recommendations by Fama and French that the CAPM is not an acceptable way of calculating the cost of capital.

It is doubtful whether directors, who use an empirically invalid and unreliable valuation model such as the CAPM to calculate the cost of capital, will be able to meaningfully and purposefully make decisions consistent with the “enlightened shareholder value”. Managers and directors need to use approaches to the cost of capital that are valid and can be empirically verified.

This paper recommends that directors of public companies who make decisions using financial valuations that embody the cost of capital should ensure that models other than the CAPM are used; otherwise, they may find it difficult unable to defend challenges to their statutory duty of attaining the corporate objective.

An update of CAPM empirical evidence is undertaken to affirm the findings and subsequent recommendations by Fama and French (2004) that the CAPM is not an acceptable way of calculating the cost of capital.