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Companies that adopt lean operations and lean accounting ultimately should achieve better profitability and cash flows than similarly situated companies that do not adopt lean operations and lean accounting.

Archival data is analyzed through Wilcoxon signed-ranks, matched-pairs tests.

Lean companies had greater returns on net operating assets (RNOA), returns on total assets (ROA), operating cash flows, and cash-adequacy ratios than Non-Lean companies. These results were driven by the larger Lean companies. The profit margins and financing-assets ratios also were marginally better for the Lean companies than the Non-Lean companies.

Lean companies have achieved benefits proposed by the proponents of lean operations. The present study provides a starting point for further research on the financial performance of Lean companies using archival data.

There is limited research on the financial performance of Lean companies that is based on archival data. The present study fills a void in the academic literature. This study measures RNOA, which does not confound operating and financing activities. Additionally, this study utilized a methodology that provides reasonable assurance of the identification of both Lean companies and Non-Lean companies from publicly available data.

A report of the International Labour Organization on undeclared work in Greece refers to failures of formal institutions which contribute to the asymmetry between state and civic morality. The particular asymmetry is explored through the context of tax morale, which is one of the major determinants of the shadow economy. Although several papers have been published on the Greek shadow economy, tax morale in Greece has not been adequately explored. This research aims to investigate the effect of the economic downturn on the factors determining the level of tax morale through primary data from a European Union-funded research project on the Greek shadow economy. The findings provide policy orientations toward transferring activities from the shadow to the official economy, a goal which is part of Europe 2020 strategy.

We investigate the role of group identity in delegated decision-making. Our framework considers the impact of group identity (based on racial segregation in post-Apartheid South Africa) on decisions to appoint a representative in a trust game with delegated decision-making, where information on the race group of other players is either common or private knowledge. We test our framework experimentally on a sample of young South Africans who had never been exposed to experimental economics research. By exogenously matching parties according to their race group, we observe their endogenous trust and delegation behavior. Our results suggest that white players try to use information about group identity to increase profits, albeit unsuccessfully. This may help to explain distrust and coordination failures observed in real-life interactions.

Enhanced revenue mobilization is essential in developing countries such as South Africa. However, it is inevitably a complex process, both from economic and political perspectives. Increasing the rate of value-added tax (VAT) has been identified as one option to increase tax revenue, although the likely effect of VAT rate changes on tax compliance behaviour is undetermined. This study considers the impact of such a change on the tax compliance behaviour of small business entities. In order to address the impact of VAT rate changes on tax compliance behaviour, a between-subjects pre-test/post-test online field experiment was conducted and designed to identify the implications of rate changes of various directions and magnitude.

Statistical analysis of the data obtained from the experiment indicated that small business entities are inclined to reduce the VAT liability when there is an increase in the VAT rate, and to do so by overstating purchases rather than under-declaring sales. This leads to an increase in non-compliance. The greater the magnitude of the VAT rate increase, the greater the level of non-compliance. In contrast, no significant relationships were identified between a decrease in the VAT rate and tax compliance.

Examine hiring preferences of nonpublic accounting professionals when selecting candidates with online versus traditional face-to-face (FTF) accounting degrees.

Surveys.

Consistent with Kohlmeyer, Seese, and Sincich (2011), this study revealed that accounting professionals, in general, indicated a strong preference to hire students with a FTF accounting degree as compared to a candidate with an online (OL) accounting degree. However, there were two significant departures from the results of Kohlmeyer et al. (2011). AACSB accreditation did help mitigate the respondents’ reluctance to hire students with OL degrees. In addition, nonpublic accounting professionals were neutral as to whether they would hire someone with an online accounting degree in the next three years. Public accounting professionals opposed hiring someone with an online accounting degree in the next three years (Kohlmeyer et al., 2011).

Online programs are going to have to be more proactive in persuading accounting professionals that an online and FTF accounting degree are equally desirable for hiring purposes.

Students need to be aware of accounting professionals’ hiring concerns in regard to candidates with online accounting degrees.

Little research has examined the hiring preferences of accounting professionals in selecting candidates with either an online or FTF accounting degree.

To examine the business case for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the South African context.

A cross-sectional correlation research design involving quantitative and qualitative data.

The findings lend general support for the utility of business case oriented CSR strategic applications in the South African business context.

The small samples using accountancy students and high CSR performing companies restricted the generalizability of the findings. Also, the links between respondents’ propensity to purchase and actual purchasing behavior remained undetermined.

The chapter provides an empirically validated model measuring associations between individual perceptions of actual and expected CSP configurations with predilections to purchase products from a sample of high profile CSR multinational South African companies.

The results suggest the model’s cogency and lend general support to the utility of the business case strategy in the South African business context by showing associations between CSR company profiles and respondents’ intentions to purchase their goods and services.

The importance of CSR in providing social benefits in South African communities is reinforced by its strategic importance in offering business benefits to companies that invest in its implementation.

Development and empirical verification of a novel conceptual model in the South African business context.

This research investigated the market conditions caused by IPO advertising by examining the impact of IPO advertising, based on the US stock market from 1986 to 2009. The relationship between advertising intensity in the IPO year and the degree of IPO underpricing was examined. It was found that an increase in advertising intensity around an IPO event increases the initial returns. Simultaneously, however, advertising intensity around an IPO event also increases the degree of overvaluation, which raises the question as to whether advertising serves primarily as a mechanism to convey a firm’s true value to investors. The theoretical valuation of IPO and the relation between IPO advertising and the degree of stock overvaluation are discussed. Based on the Peasnell’s (1982) residual-income valuation framework (henceforth RIV), IPO advertising was proved to cause stock price to be more overvalued in the secondary market: a positive relationship was found between advertising and the degree of stock overvaluation relative to its theoretical value. Accordingly, an alternative hypothesis, that advertising inflates the short-run stock price, was proposed. The results of this study are consistent with the view of Purnanandam and Swaminathan (2004), namely that the stock price of newly listed firms can be overvalued.

Stokvel is an African traditional credit system with initiatives that are typically situated in the informal economy and are easily accessible to alleviate financial challenges associated with micro and small enterprise financing, networking and product marketing. A wealth of research has provided an understanding of the entrepreneurial imperatives in this regard; however, knowledge of processes of setting up a successful Stokvel model to achieve this overarching benefit of scaling the initiative is still lacking. This study consolidates and examines the application and distribution of the model's four-building constructs established in a previous case study in a broader spectrum, providing requisite knowledge for its adoption in the contemporary entrepreneurial economy. Using a sample of 418 valid responses from the rural and urban areas of Limpopo Province of South Africa, findings reveal that the four building constructs (formation, operation, financial segment and disciplinary measures), are conformant to the study area, with no statistical evidence to support a difference between the ratings of the categories of location. This implies that Stokvel practices across areas of the province are similar, and a proper understanding of the building blocks that sustain its operations can enhance its applicability in other parts of South Africa, as well as other regions. The study, therefore, lays a foundation that can be used to develop a typical rotating Stokvel model for entrepreneurial success in Africa and beyond.

This study investigates the ex-dividend day stock prices of the firms listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) where the tax rate is higher on dividends than on capital gains. The results help to explain what impact taxes have on the ex-day stock prices behavior in an emerging market.

To examine the tax effect on the ex-day stock prices behavior, this study considers after-tax dividends and computes the raw price ratio, market-adjusted price ratio, raw price drop, market-adjusted price drop. The market-adjusted ex-dividend day abnormal returns and relative trading volume are also examined to determine the direction of investor trading around the ex-day.

The main hypotheses examine whether the mean (median) differs from its theoretical value by using a t-test and nonparametric sign-rank test. The findings suggest that the drop of stock prices on the ex-day on the DSE is not due to taxes or transaction costs but to valuation assumptions made by investors in determining the equilibrium stock price.

Findings of this study will be useful for investors and traders in their valuation assumption to trade around the ex-dividend day.

Market participant’s preference of dividends, and exempted tax and its ultimate contribution to the equity value explain the ex-day stock prices behavior in the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

Online education may meet the needs of students who do not want to attend classes or of working adults who want to obtain a college degree. Yet an open question is whether online (OL) degrees meet the needs of employers (Adams & DeFleur, 2006; Columbaro & Monaghan, 2009). Specifically, our exploratory study investigates how professionals in public accounting firms perceive OL accounting degrees as compared to accounting degrees earned in the traditional face-to-face (FTF) environment relative to a hiring decision. To examine these issues, a survey was administered to accountants of small- and large-sized public accounting firms located in the southeast United States.

Our results revealed that public accounting professionals, in general, indicate a strong preference to hire students with a traditional FTF accounting degree as opposed to a candidate with an OL accounting degree. Even when both candidates (traditional vs. OL accounting degrees) had passed the CPA examination, public accounting firm professionals still prefer the traditional accounting degree. Yet public accounting firms were more willing to hire a candidate with an OL accounting degree from an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited university than a candidate with an OL accounting degree from a non-AACSB accredited university. Lastly, we found that the preferences for traditional accounting degrees existed across different job titles (e.g. partner, manager, senior) and different sized public accounting firms.