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Neutrophils provide the body's first line of defence against infection by bacteria and fungi. The aim of this project was to use gene targeting to determine the effect of disrupting three genes thought to be important in neutrophil function. Mice lacking p47phox. a component of the NADPH oxidase, were found to suffer from a condition identical to the human disorder chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). Like sufferers of CGD the mutant mice lacked the activity of the NADPH oxidase, developed granulomas and were extremely susceptible to infection by C.albicans. Mice deficient in grancalcin, an EF hand calcium binding protein expressed in neutrophils, were healthy and fertile. Neutrophils from the mutant mice could kill S.aureus and migrate to the peritoneum normally. The mutant mice themselves were able to resolve infection by S.aureus in an identical manner to wild type mice. Further research will be required using the mutant mice to define the role of grancalcin. Mice lacking Csk specifically in their neutrophils were generated using conditional gene targeting and found to suffer from pneumonia. Csk is thought to down regulate the Src family of tyrosine kinases and the tenfold elevation in tyrosine phosphorylation in the neutrophils of the mutant mice implied that Csk actively plays this role in neutrophils. The results obtained not only show how essential p47phox and Csk are for normal neutrophil function but how essential neutrophils are to the immune system.

Country risk factors have become an important source of systematic and nonsystematic risk in capital markets. Therefore, how to effectively manage country risks has become an increasing concern for researchers and investors. Country risk is a broad and complex subject which financial scholars have studied from many perspectives. This thesis consists of three empirical chapters that focus on examining the impact of country risk on the performance of nine African stock markets over the period 1998 to 2018, namely, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia. In the first empirical chapter, the long-run relationship and causality between country risk and stock market returns are examined using Pedroni (2004) and the Johansen-Fisher panel cointegration techniques proposed by Madalla and Wu (1999); the Granger causality and Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality approaches are also used. The results suggest that long-run relationships and causal linkages exist between country risk and stock market returns. In the second empirical chapter, the impact of disaggregated country risk factors is investigated using a pooled mean group dynamic panel model. The results indicate that African markets are negatively affected by country risk in the long run. That is, as a group, African markets are significantly impacted by country risk. In particular, a rise in the level of disaggregated elements of country risk for African countries is typically associated with a reduction in the performance of their stock market indices. Finally, to investigate the extent to which country risk influences the level of stock market linkages in Africa, the thesis studies cross- and own-volatility linkages among African stock markets using the ADCC GARCH model. An analysis of the results reveals evidence that country risk increases the level of stock market volatility and integration in Africa. The evidence supports the notion that 'country risk' influences stock returns and volatility in Africa. These findings imply that equity returns in African stock markets are predictable from changes in country risk; this result calls the weak form of the EMH into question since it suggests that an investor could outperform by studying country risk data in the region.

To fund State-based investment in public services, governments have to confront issues of tax evasion and tax avoidance which erode a country’s tax base and therefore Government revenue. Moreover, they have to deal with wealthy individuals and companies that develop aggressive tax planning schemes in order to reduce their tax liabilities. This research seeks to add to the sparse literature on tax evasion and tax avoidance: (i) by looking at this problem within a Thai context; (ii) by investigating current perceptions about the extent of tax avoidance/evasion from relevant stakeholders; (iii) by identifying institutional factors that influence a taxpayer’s propensity to engage in tax evasion and tax avoidance; and (iv) by studying the motives behind the introduction of a new tax evasion legislation (the Revenue Code Amendment Act (No.45), B.E.2560 (A.D.2017)) in Thailand. This research employs a combination of institutional theory and concepts of legitimacy as the theoretical lenses to guide the study. A qualitative approach including both interviews and internet-based news articles is employed when conducting this study. Reflecting on 35 interviews with a range of stakeholders and discussions about the legislation in on-line news articles as it progressed through Parliament, the findings indicate that a number of issues are thought to contribute to the level of tax evasion and tax avoidance in Thailand: (i) the taxpayer’s sense of morality and feeling of responsibility to society, (ii) social norms, and (iii) views on public sector efficiency. Additionally, the results suggest that external and internal institutional pressures acted as catalysts for the introduction of the new tax evasion legislation in Thailand. These findings should provide useful empirical evidence and analysis for policymakers in Thailand and other similar developing countries; specifically, it should aid with the design and development of tax policies which promote tax compliance. Moreover, this study is the first to empirically investigate the motives behind the introduction of tax evasion legislation in Thailand. In addition, the study also extends the application of institutional theory to empirically examine tax evasion and tax avoidance in Thailand. These are contributions of the current thesis to international investigations of tax avoidance and tax evasion.

Since the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis, significant spillover effects between the credit default swap (CDS) spreads of sovereigns and banks have been evidenced in the US and several European countries. Even though systemic risk seems more likely to be associated with banks, the role of non-financial firms in linking sovereigns and financial institutions is often crucial within Asian economies. This thesis attempts to facilitate an understanding of the credit risk transmission in Asia by analysing data for non-financial firms. Data for three East Asia countries (i.e. China, Japan and South Korea) and two Southeast Asia countries (i.e. Malaysia and Singapore) are analysed in order to test whether geographical proximity has an influence on credit risk interdependence in Asia. In addition, this thesis uses 1-year and 5-year CDS data enabling a comparison of findings between risk assessments over different horizons. The findings of the variation of credit risk transmission should provide some insights into either direct or indirect credit risk interdependence between sovereigns, financial institutions and non-financial firms. This thesis initially incorporates the changes in the CDS spreads of a sovereign debtor and that of domestic financial institutions and non-financial firms via a multivariate GARCH model; thus, spillovers in mean spreads as well as the volatility of spreads are considered. This analysis is then extended in a number of ways. Credit risk transmission is split to four groups: (i) domestic intra-sectoral, (ii) domestic cross-sectoral, (iii) regional intra-sectoral and (iv) regional cross-sectoral. The main findings evidence the strong credit risk interdependence exist within Asia given that shocks from common creditors such as Japan appears to spill over shocks to sovereigns and non-financial firms. Finally, this thesis uses a panel model to examine the effects of corporate and market factors on credit risk correlations. The findings from this part confirm the significance of trade links to credit risk interdependence in Asia. Moreover, credit risk correlations increase as the time-horizon gets longer.

The goal of this thesis is to investigate the capital budgeting practices of Lebanese companies. In particular, this thesis examines four main research questions: (1) How are capital investment projects appraised in Lebanon?; (2) Is risk incorporated into this process by Lebanese firms?; (3) Do Lebanese companies experience capital rationing and, if so, is it imposed internally or externally?; (4) How important is the impact of political risk on the capital budgeting process? The thesis employs an interpretive approach to investigate these issues, and the results are obtained using the qualitative methods of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. In particular, a total of 151 questionnaires were completed by firms from across three industrial sectors - 51 firms participated in the first questionnaire and 100 firms took part in the second questionnaire; 12 semi-structured interviews were also conducted with two groups of individuals who were thought to be knowledgeable about the capital budgeting process: 'insiders', who work in Lebanese firms, and 'outsiders', such as bankers and chartered accountants, who are involved in an advisory capacity with the capital budgeting processes of Lebanese firms. The results of this research indicate that Lebanese firms place more emphasis on non-financial factors, such as political priorities and personal experience, than financial factors when analysing potential projects. The study also finds that Lebanese companies tend to employ more than one method of investment appraisal to evaluate projects and that, increasingly, these firms are using more sophisticated discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques. However, the payback method is the most popular method of investment appraisal. In addition, although the use of DCF methods is increasing, they are not used as frequently relative to companies in developed countries. The study also finds that appraisal processes are impacted by the source of funding used, as well as the size and nature of the project being undertaken. In terms of risk evaluation, the most widely using methods include scenario analysis and sensitivity analysis; very few companies use Monte Carlo simulation. Most of the companies surveyed use the weighted average cost of capital as the discount rate in capital budgeting, although a sizeable number use the interest rate. Another key finding to emerge from the study relates to capital rationing. Specifically, a majority of the companies surveyed indicated that they had experienced capital rationing and that this rationing tended to be imposed externally, typically as a result of external constraints in the equity and debt markets. A sizeable number of the companies surveyed indicated that the stock market was currently not a feasible source of firm or project funding due to its small size. A key finding that emerged from the study is that political risk plays a very important role in the capital budgeting processes of Lebanese companies. Most of the participants in the study highlighted the high level of political risk in Lebanon, and indicated that it plays a major role in determining which method should be used to evaluate a project.

Contribution to online communities, such as stock message boards, may be considered as "paradoxical" (Rafaeli and LaRose, 1993), in that a "free-riding tendency" (Olson 1985) by rational participants would result in a lack of original content. However, online financial message boards continue to thrive as a platform for investors to share tips, express opinion and to disseminate (mis)information. The high interactivity and low communication costs of online message boards result in a potential for social networks to amplify the effects of behavioural biases (Zhang, 2014; Russ, 2007). However, previous studies on the informational content of message board postings, and the power of online communications in predicting abnormal returns and trading volumes produce conflicting results (Nardo et al., 2015). Prior studies focusing on small-capitalisation firms have so far produced stronger associations (Leung and Ton, 2015), but academic study in the field is still considered to be in its relative infancy (Zhang, 2014). This thesis contributes to existing literature examining relationships between message board postings and trading activity, by focusing on 854 securities listed on the comparatively lightly-regulated AIM submarket of the London Stock Exchange. Sentiment analysis techniques are applied to a dataset of 245,200 message board postings to calculate novel measures of posting sentiment and agreement, alongside posting frequency. The first empirical chapter of this thesis uses the event study method to analyse intraday abnormal returns and trade volumes surrounding increases in message board posting activity. Positive cumulative average abnormal returns are identified prior to - and immediately following - instances of abnormal posting frequencies, before drifting downwards. However, these returns are found to be economically small and statistically insignificant in many cases. Disaggregation of posting events by firm-specific characteristics finds only sporadic statistical significance in returns. However, abnormal trade volumes do appear to differ according to company type and the level of online sentiment. The second empirical chapter tests for causality between message board posting and share trading variables. Lagged correlation coefficients find evidence that posting behaviour impacts upon trading activity, and this is further supported by results of Granger Causality and Impulse Response testing. To the contrary, little evidence is found that message board postings impact upon share returns. Indeed, stronger evidence suggests the reverse to be true; share returns inform message board postings. The final empirical chapter of this thesis focuses on an individual instance during which an AIM-listed firm was subjected to a damning research note by a short-seller employing the online medium. Behaviour of the online (and offline) investment community following publication of the research is consistent with prior theories of social contagion and online herding. When considered in isolation, high-strength "shock" online content can possess the potential to impact upon online investor behaviour and the price-discovery process. This research ultimately adds to previous studies of online financial communities, and the findings of this these are discussed in the context of both traditional and behavioural finance.

Historically sub clover has been widely used for pasture improvement in summer dry pastures in both South and North Islands. However its use has declined with more focus on white clover since the 1970's. In recent years there has been resurgence in its use due to the release of new cultivars from Australia coinciding with a series of dry summers in New Zealand in the late 1990's. These dry summers highlighted some of the weaknesses of white clover in extended drought and were the catalyst for not only the renewed interest in sub clover use but also research into production and persistence of sub clover cultivars and their grazing management. The Lincoln University Mt Grand high country station in Central Otago where this study was based is typical of farms in that area with a history of sub clover in early years of hill country pasture improvement but over the last 30 or so year's only white clover has been oversown. This project recorded where early sub clover introductions have persisted, where white clover has established and the area covered by volunteer annual clovers that make up the total clover herbage on offer to grazing animals. Four experiments were conducted both across the farm and in small plots from November 1999 to December 2003. The aim was to determine the sub clover zone using cover % to estimate botanical composition, exclusion cages to measure herbage production and temperature data loggers and rain gauges to characterize climatic conditions. Climate stations recorded air and soil temperatures at 5 sites, four on sunny aspect at 450, 620, 750, 910 m a.s.1. and one south facing site at 630 m a.s.1. The effect of altitude and aspect on temperature and rainfall was compared and thermal time (ºCd) calculated. Thermal time for the spring growth period (mid Aug-Dec) was about 1400 °C.d at 450N and declined at 100 °C.d per 100 m elevation (r² = 0.99) to be < 800°C.d at 910N. Lower accumulated thermal time with increasing altitude may restrict full lifecycles of annual clover (germination to mature seed). Rainfall differed little with altitude or aspect making temperature and associated evapotranspiration the drivers of botanical composition. Interestingly the 630S site with its southerly aspect had thermal time values between those for the 620N and 750N sites. A preliminary botanical survey showed that sub clover and volunteer annuals were the predominant clovers on offer on the sunny faces. Herbage production from exclusion cages placed on favourable sunny face sites confirmed this with 25% of November/December herbage production of 4000 kg/DM/ha coming from sub clover cultivar 'Mt Barker'. More detailed botanical composition analysis through visual cover scoring was done over two growing seasons in 2002 and 2003, next to the five climate stations. The contrast in botanical composition between north and south faces was dramatic. White clover was between 12 and 40% of cover on the south face compared to less than 5% on sunny faces with annual clovers the dominant on sunny faces. Adventive clovers cluster (T glomeratum), striated (T stratum), haresfoot (T arvense) and suckling (T dubium) made significant contributions to sunny face herbage production. Suckling clover was the only annual clover recorded on the south face. It was concluded that white clover had occupied all suitable niches and further spreading of its seed need not continue. Instead earlier flowering cultivars of sub clover should be introduced to drier steeper faces currently dominated by cluster and striated clovers.

This thesis investigates the weak-form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) by examining the behaviour of equity returns in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). In particular, the 10 largest sectors in terms of market capitalisation and number of listed companies are considered. According to the weak-form of EMH, current share prices reflect all available historical information such that investors should not be able to beat the market or earn abnormal returns consistently by trading on the basis of historical price data. It is important topic for a country seeking to promote economic development as well as foster the financial and regulatory development that Jordan has sought to publicise over the past few years. Furthermore, while a number of studies have investigated the topic of stock market efficiency for ASE they have tended to focus on the whole market index, or used the old sectoral classification. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge no study has either used the new industry grouping or applied the multivariate General Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model to test for time-varying variance and correlations between sectoral index returns in the ASE. This thesis tries to fill this gap in the literature by investigating market efficiency in the ASE using the new sectoral classification and finding the determinants of any interdependence between sectors. In the first part of the analysis, the weak-form of EMH is tested by examining the risk-return relationship of the 10 ASE sectoral equity indices. Persistence in share volatility is investigated and the leverage effect is also studied by employing univariate symmetric and asymmetric GARCH models. A large sample of daily sectoral index data is used in the analysis over the 10-year period from 2003 to 2012. The results from estimating various GARCH models indicate that the returns for different sectors are characterised by different levels of volatility persistence and almost all reject the hypothesis that the ASE is weak-form efficient. This finding implies that share price changes in a sector may be predicted from its own historical information on return and volatility and a more up-to-date trading system is needed or more regulations concerning corporate disclosure are required. To obtain a more in depth understanding of the share price formation process than that supplied in the first part of the analysis, the dynamic linkages between the 10 sectors of ASE in terms of both return and volatility are investigated in the second empirical component of the thesis. A Granger Causality test is employed to study the relationships between each pair of equity returns from the ASE sectors. The return spillovers between the 10 sectors of the ASE are investigated using a multivariate Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model, while the volatility spillovers in own as well as in other sectors’ returns and the dynamic conditional correlations among the sectors is examined using a multivariate Threshold GARCH model with Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC-MVTGARCH). In terms of return spillovers, the results indicate that the mean return of a sector is only affected by changes of historical share prices from other industries in a minority of cases. By contrast, evidence of interdependence in the volatility across the 10 ASE sectors is more evident; a large number of shocks and volatility spillovers are uncovered in the data. Furthermore, the results indicate that correlations between the sectoral equity returns are time-varying and not constant over the period of investigation. The results support the notion the news in one sector influences not only the return in that sector but also the variance of price changes in other sectors through their input-output linkages. These findings imply that the sectoral equity returns of the ASE are predictable from historical share price changes in their own series while their return volatility and interdependences are also predictable from the past volatility of the other sectors; this result calls the weak-form of the EMH into question since it suggests that investors can outperform the market by studying historic return and volatility information in the ASE.Finally, building on the previous analysis the determinants of the time-varying conditional correlations between the different pairs of sectoral returns are investigated. Firm specific as well as macroeconomic variables are found to be significant determinants. In particular, 10 financial ratios and seven macroeconomic variables are investigated; a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to narrow down the most relevant factors. Principal components are then extracted and used to construct the independent variables in the panel data analysis to explain the time-varying sectoral return correlations. The resulting findings show that profitability, aggregated demand and inflation are important in explaining time-varying sectoral return correlations between the ASE sectors. However, a further analysis indicated the effect on asset correlation of liquidity, profitability and stock market performance (growth) depends on aggregate demand (economic vulnerability).

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued International Financial Reporting Standard No. 7 (IFRS 7) “Financial Instruments: Disclosure” in June 2006 as part of its ongoing refinement of existing financial instruments accounting standards. The new standard became effective for periods beginning on or after January 1st 2007 (IASB, 2006). IFRS 7 supersedes the previous International Accounting Standards (IASs): IAS 30/32. IFRS 7 states that information about Financial Instruments (FI) should be prepared in accordance with the management approach. In addition, the standard clarifies the disclosure requirements about FIs across all industries. In particular, the new standard consists of two main types of disclosures, namely: (i) discussion of the significance of FIs for an entity’s financial position and performance; and (ii) the provision of qualitative and quantitative information about exposure to risks arising from FIs based on information provided internally to the entity’s key management personnel. The current thesis uses a decision usefulness theoretical framework to examine the impact of IFRS 7’s adoption on FI disclosure practices and firm value. In particular, the current study has two primary objectives: (i) to assess the impact of IFRS 7 on the FI disclosure policies of Jordanian listed firms in their annual reports for 2007 when the standard became effective; and (ii) to examine the value relevance of FI disclosures. For these objectives, two pieces of empirical work were conducted respectively; a disclosure index technique was constructed and a valuation analysis was performed. A disclosure index analysis was undertaken for a sample of Jordanian listed companies’ annual reports pre- and post- the implementation of IFRS 7. The extant literature and the findings from the disclosure index analysis informed the second part of the empirical work: the valuation analysis. Value relevance analysis was employed in order to assess the usefulness of FI disclosures provided in the companies’ financial statements; indeed, the association between the level of information supplied and firms’ market values was examined. The main findings indicate that the implementation of IFRS 7 had a significant and sizeable impact on the FI disclosure practices of Jordanian companies in 2007 as compared to that provided under International Accounting Standard No. 30 (IAS 30): Disclosures in Financial Statements of Banks and Similar Financial Institutions and International Accounting Standard No. 32 (IAS 32): FIs: Presentation. In particular, the results revealed that the number of companies disclosing information about FIs as well as the level of FI information provided significantly increased after IFRS 7 was implemented. In addition, the analysis of FI disclosure by industry revealed that comparability of financial statement data within and across the sectors examined has improved. In particular, an analysis of Balance Sheet and Fair Value information about FIs revealed no significant differences within and across industries after IFRS 7 became effective. The findings from the valuation analysis revealed that FI disclosure was value relevant over the two periods. However, the regression analysis showed that the FI disclosure provided under IFRS 7 was more value relevant as compared to that supplied under the previous standards. The principal components analysis revealed that some categories of FI information were more influential than others. In particular, Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Fair Value and Risk information about FIs were valued differently as compared to other components of FI disclosures. Indeed, the evidence provided indicates that investors value FI disclosure when making investment decisions. In general, the findings support the decision usefulness approach underpinning the current FI disclosures for Jordanian listed companies. Specifically, In particular, the test of differences in FI disclosure within and across sectors revealed that the implementation of IFRS 7 has enhanced the comparability of the financial statements; no significant differences were noted in FI disclosure (balance sheet and fair value) post-IFRS 7, while this was not the case pre-IFRS 7. In addition, the issue of relevance has been investiagted by testing the association between FI disclosure and firm value. These findings provide a great deal of insight for accounting regulatory bodies (e.g. the IASB) about the current theoretical framework that underpins financial reporting standards. In addition, they provide valuable insights to Jordanian policy makers (JSC and ASE) about the relevance of such standards for Jordanian companies.

This thesis aims to explore and investigate the state of current investment appraisal practices within Libyan firms. In particular, the thesis attempts to answer four research questions: (1) How do Libyan firms appraise capital investments? (2) Do Libyan firms incorporate risk into their capital investment appraisal processes? (3) Do Libyan firms face capital rationing and, if so, is it externally or internally imposed? and (4) Does the availability of Islamic Finance affect Libyan firms' view of the capital investment appraisal process? This study is based on a qualitative empirical approach, with a subjectivist orientation but a main concern with the sociology of regulation; the interpretive paradigm is employed in this thesis. Rather than simply providing a simple description of the phenomena under investigation, the aim of this thesis is to interpret and understand the issues surrounding the problem being considered. Thus, this study seeks to establish a better understanding about the nature of the capital investment appraisal process in Libyan corporations, and how it differs across Libyan economic sectors. In order to provide evidence and contribute to our knowledge about this topic, two research methods, both compatible with the interpretive paradigm and consistent with the methodology and the researcher’s beliefs about the topic under investigation, are employed. The research methods used are: (i) a semi-structured interviews; then (ii) a questionnaire survey based upon the literature review and on the key results from (i). For the former, 20 interviews were conducted, involving two groups: firm-based interviewees (‘insiders’ working in firms) in five economic sectors with different size and ownership structures and ‘outsider’ interviewees (bankers, academics and chartered accountants). In the second phase, 45 questionnaires were collected from firms which operate in five economic sectors, again with various size and ownership patterns. The main findings indicate that non-financial criteria (e.g. political priorities, State development plan and personal experience) play a more important role than financial factors. While Libyan companies use multiple techniques to appraise capital investments, usage of discounted cash flow techniques (DCF), although increasing is not yet as high as in developed nations, with payback remaining the most popular. The evidence shows that the source of the funding (followed by project size and nature of the project, respectively) also plays a role in choosing the appraisal techniques. Typically, the process of capital investment appraisal in Libya appears to have five stages (determination of budget, research and development, evaluation, authorisation, and monitoring and controlling). Libyan firms consider the first of these as the most important stage. The majority of the respondents employ a post-audit phase of two years or less; about half the sampled firms conduct the post-audit by comparing the actual performance with the feasibility study on which the project was based. The companies consider real options when looking at flexibility, but they have no effect on the choice of the appraisal techniques or the process generally. Similarly, there are no changes in the techniques or the process when advanced manufacturing technology investments are considered. Regarding risk evaluation, this is mostly subjective although scenario analysis and sensitivity analysis are employed to some extent. Around 50% of the firms calculate the cost of capital, but most of these firms do so subjectively (e.g. via interest rate observations), while the rest use CAPM to calculate the cost of capital. Fewer than one in ten of the firms that calculate the cost of capital employ project-specific rates. The majority of the companies noted their experience of capital rationing, mostly of the external variety (primarily reflecting State actions). The majority of the firms claimed to be considering the Libyan Stock Market as source of funding, but not in the near future, essentially because of a lack of knowledge among Libyan companies about its functioning. The findings suggest that use of Islamic finance is not yet common among Libyan firms. However, two thirds of the firms suggested that they would use Islamic financial products to finance their future projects for several reasons; mainly religion, to avoid paying interest or demurrage, plus risk sharing though the use of Islamic financial products such as Musharakah. Those firms, which did not view Islamic finance positively, mentioned the incompatibility of the current products with Islamic Shariah law, suggesting that in reality they are just traditional financial products with Islamic names. Some notable differences between theory and practice emerged in this research. For instance, certain non-financial criteria (e.g. political priorities) were more important than financial factors. Relatedly, there was evidence of external interested parties such as academics seeing practice and ideals differently. This type of finding suggests a key contribution of this study as highlighting the need for contextual specificities to be carefully considered when investigating an issue as (theoretically) straightforward as investment decision-making in practice.

Most of the prior research in the area of monthly regularities has been based on the Gregorian calendar; by contrast, little attention has been given to other calendars based on different religions or cultures. This thesis examines monthly calendar anomalies in the Pakistani stock market for both the Gregorian calendar and its Islamic counterpart. This is one of the first studies to investigate both calendars for monthly seasonality in one investigation on the same dataset. Empirical studies of the Pakistani stock market that have examined monthly calendar anomalies are relatively sparse when compared with investigations from other emerging markets throughout the world. Even the findings from the small number of Pakistani investigations that have examined for the presence of monthly calendar anomalies have arrived at different conclusions about the predictability of equity returns at different times within a year. Since the conclusions of these findings have been mixed, the current study undertakes further work on this topic to offer some clarity in this area; this thesis arrives at a firm conclusion about the monthly calendar anomaly. For the purpose of this thesis, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. Firstly, 19 face-to-face interviews were conducted with brokers, regulators and individual investors to ascertain their views about share price regularities with regards to monthly calendar anomalies and to gain some insights about the role of investor sentiment in the Pakistani stock markets. Secondly, share returns for a sample of 106 companies listed on the KSE over the 17 year period from 1995 to 2011 were analysed to determine whether Pakistani stock markets are weak-form efficient or whether security price changes can be predicted from knowledge of the month when the return is earned; it also investigates whether there is a change in the risk (volatility) of shares in different months which might explain any pattern in returns. To answer these questions various research methods were employed. The results of the interviews suggest that most respondents believed that share prices exhibit patterns in certain months of the year. The most common pattern highlighted by the interviewees related to the month of January for the Gregorian calendar and Ramadan for the Islamic calendar. Interviewees also argued that volatility declined during the religious month of Ramadan; they attributed these changes to investor sentiment and religious duties. Overall, the results suggested that monthly calendar anomalies may be present in the market and that these are studied by investors in an attempt to earn profit. The results from the quantitative analyses supported the findings from the interviews. Initial analyses suggested that returns varied significantly during certain months which indicate that the market might not be efficient. Further, investigations for seasonality in both the mean and volatility of returns offered conflicting evidence; very little statistical evidence of monthly seasonal anomalies was identified in average returns. However, monthly patterns were present in the variance of equity price changes in Pakistan. Overall, the results confirm that whatever monthly seasonality may be present in the equity prices of Pakistani companies, it is more pronounced in the volatility data than in the mean return numbers. These findings may have useful implications for trading strategies and investment decisions; investors may look to gain from managing the risk of their portfolios due to time varying volatility documented in the findings of this thesis. Further, the results of this thesis have interesting implications for our understanding of the dynamics of equity volatility in the Pakistani stock market.

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued International Financial Reporting Standard No. 8 (IFRS 8) “Operating Segments” in November 2006 as a part of its convergence programme with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB); the new standard became effective for periods beginning on or after 1/January/2009 (IASB, 2006a). IFRS 8 supersedes the previous international accounting standard (IAS): IAS 14 Revised (IAS 14R) “Segment Reporting” (IASC, 1997). IFRS 8 requires segments to be identified in accordance with the management approach. In particular, operating segments are to be identified on the basis of internal reports that are “regularly reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM) to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance” (IASB, 2006a, para 5). There are two main objectives to this study: (i) to assess the impact of IFRS 8 on the segmental disclosures of Jordanian listed firms in their annual reports for 2009 when the standard became effective; and (ii) to explore the perceptions of external auditors, preparers and users (investors and analysts) of financial statements about this new segmental reporting standard. A decision usefulness theoretical framework underpins the research; the research was carried out by using a disclosure index analysis and semi-structured interviews. The two objectives of this thesis were investigated by employing these two methods; a disclosure index and semi-structured interviews. The research is located in Burrell and Morgan’s (1979) functionalist paradigm using a decision usefulness theory lens. The findings suggest that IFRS 8 has had a significant and sizeable impact on the segmental disclosure practices of Jordanian companies in 2009 compared to disclosure practices in annual reports for 2008 based on IAS 14R; a sample of reports for 109 first market Jordanian listed companies were investigated. The disclosure index findings indicate that the Jordanian listed companies provided more disaggregated segmental information, published data on additional segmental items and supplied new Entity-Wide Disclosures (EWDs) in accordance with IFRS 8’s management approach. For example, 10% of the sample companies provided segmental information for the first time in 2009. The Jordanian listed companies provided details about more disaggregated business segments (where the mean number of segments rose from 2.4 to 2.7) and geographic segments / EWDs (where xii the mean number of segments increased from 1.5 to 1.8). The average disclosure index score rose from 18.6% in 2008 to 30.6% in 2009. In addition, 27% of the sample companies went beyond the requirements of IFRS 8 by identifying the CODM in their annual reports for 2009. With regards to the semi-structured interviews, 31 participants agreed to provide their views on IFRS 8. The respondents indicated that the quantity and quality of segmental information provided under IFRS 8 in annual reports for 2009 was “better” than that disclosed in 2008; it was more understandable, relevant, reliable and comparable than the segmental information which had previously been reported. Their responses also indicated that the implementation of IFRS 8 did not appear to cause any difficulties for external auditors, preparers and users during 2009; most interviewees reported that IFRS 8 was not a problematic standard. They believed that the disclosure of segmental information increased, published segmental information became more organised and better explained and the segmental information disclosed was more transparent. The current study is the first of its kind in Jordan, and adds to the growing literature on financial disclosure; it therefore fills a gap about segmental disclosure in developing countries. It is also exploratory in nature, since very little is known about segmental reporting practices in Jordan. Thus, this study’s findings represent a significant contribution to knowledge.

Dividends are payments made to the shareholders (owners) out of firms? earnings. Numerous academics, adopting either a behavioural or empirical approach, have provided rationales to address the issue of why companies pay dividends and whether the market response to the announcements can be predicted. However, these endeavours have failed to achieve unanimity on either issue. Moreover, most of these studies have been conducted in countries with developed markets; relatively little research has been conducted in the emerging stock markets of (Southern) Asia, such as Pakistan. This thesis tries to fill the gap in the literature by investigating both the impact of dividend announcements on the share prices of Pakistani firms and the behavioural determinants of dividend policy. The Pakistani market was characterised by a unique tax system, with capital gains totally exempted from taxation before June 2010. This unique feature provides an additional motivation for the researcher to explore the reasons why Pakistani firms pay dividends despite the tax penalty associated with such disbursements. For the purposes of the research, a mixed-methods approach was employed involving, firstly, an event study to calculate any unexpected share returns around dividend announcements for a sample of 639 dividend events across 202 firms listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) over the period 2005-09. Secondly, interviews were conducted with 23 company executives to ascertain their views about the determinants of dividend policy and its perceived impact on share prices. To gain an alternative – investor – perspective on the signalling impact of dividends, 16 financial analysts were also interviewed. The results of the event study indicate that dividend announcements do not convey information about Pakistani firms to the stock market; insignificant unexpected returns are documented for the announcement date. Nonetheless, the disaggregated results of the event study showed significant unexpected returns for the dividend increase and no-change sub-groups – usually before the actual dividend announcement date. However, consistent with results for developed countries with diverse shareholdings, this research suggests that earnings are the dominant signal in Pakistan, in the context of an interaction effect where earnings and dividends signals re-enforce each other. The results of the interviews indicated that Pakistani executives primarily base their dividend decisions on earnings, followed by liquidity. However, Pakistani firms do not appear have target payout ratios or employ a constant speed-of-adjustment to decide on payout levels. Indeed, most of the firms indicated that they decided the current payout ratio on an ad hoc basis. More importantly, both sets of interviewees (company officials and financial analysts) believed in the signalling effect, where dividends were sometimes used by investors as a signal of future earnings.

In recent years, the financial status of pension schemes has attracted a great deal of attention from the national press and policy makers. Despite the resulting increase in regulation, many authors maintain that the governance of UK pension schemes remains opaque. This thesis analyses the accountability relationships that are evident in the governance mechanisms of UK pension schemes and investigates how accountability is discharged therein. It finds that trustees are central to the governance of UK pension schemes and that the following stakeholders are accountable to the trustees: (i) sub-committees to the trustee board; (ii) the fund manager; and (iii) the actuary. The evidence suggests that accountability is fully discharged in these relationships. Conversely, trustees are accountable to (i) the auditor; (ii) the PR; (iii) the sponsoring employer; and (iv) the members/beneficiaries of the pension scheme. The evidence suggests that a variety of documents are used to discharge the trustees’ accountability including: (i) the annual report of the pension scheme; (ii) the annual report of the sponsoring employer; (iii) the Statement of Investment Principles; (iv) the Summary Funding Statement; (v) the Popular Report; (vi) and other pension scheme media such as pension scheme booklets, the pension scheme web-site and annual benefit statements. In doing so, the evidence suggests that, in terms of Stewart’s (1984) model, accountability for probity and legality, process, performance and policy accountability is discharged. The evidence also suggests that, with the exception of the pension scheme members/beneficiaries, the trustees are held to account in all of their accountability relationships. The main finding of this thesis is that pension scheme members/beneficiaries fail to engage in the governance processes of the pension schemes on which they rely so much; if they wish to preserve their future pension benefits, they will need to find a voice.

From 1 January 2005, all EU-listed firms are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards(IFRS) (EU, 2002). This requirement represents one of the most fundamental changes to affect financial reporting in recent times. This dissertation is an examination of the introduction and impact of IFRS on the annual report and accounts of UK companies in an attempt to investigate the decision-usefulness of the new IFRS disclosures. This examination is facilitated in three ways: (i) a content analysis is undertaken to investigate the magnitude and nature of the changes in IFRS-related disclosure presented in annual report and accounts produced prior to and following the introduction of IFRS; (ii) an analysis of the Reconciliation Statements produced upon first-time adoption of IFRS included in corporate annual reports to examine the impact on both profit and equity as a result of the transition from previous national GAAP to reporting in accordance with IFRS; and, (iii) an assessment of the new IFRS disclosures against the qualitative characteristics outlined in the IASB Decision-Usefulnessfr amework. In other words, it is an investigation of whether the claims of the IASI3 about the usefulness of the mandated IFRS disclosures for decision-makers are supported in practice with the contents of corporate annual reports and accounts in the UK.The results of the content analysis indicate that the implementation of IFRS had a significant impact on the content of the annual report and accounts of UK companies.The amount of disclosure in company annual reports increased significantly following the introduction of the new reporting regime. Furthermore, there was a large increase in the physical size of the annual reports for the vast majority of the firms surveyed. The scale of the impact varied from standard to standard, however, the nature and magnitude of the information presented in UK-published annual reports has been fundamentally impacted by the introduction of IFRS. The Reconciliation Statement analysis results reveal that profit disclosed under UK GAAP increased by 105.85 per cent following the implementation of IFRS. In addition, the results show that the introduction of IFRS had a significant impact on reported equity; however, there was an almost even split between those which experienced a favourable impact following the transition and those disclosing a negative effect on the balance sheet post-IFRS adoption. The main IFRS standards which impacted reported results under previous national GAAP were IAS 10, IAS 12, IAS 19, IAS 40 and the IFRS 3/1AS 36/IAS 38 group of standards.The assessmenot f the decision-usefulness of the new IFRS information reveals that the widespread variation in impact on reported results, the complexity of the supplementary narrative disclosures, absence of company-specific and forward-looking information, uncertainty about the long-term impact of the changeover and the lack of comparability between the Reconciliation Statements will likely have constrained the usefulness of the new disclosures for users and therefore their investment decisions. Thus, one of the aims of the standard setters does not seem to have been achieved as users of UK corporate annual reports were not supplied with more useful information about these companies compared to what was previously disclosed under UK GAAP.

This thesis investigates corporate Ireland's attitude to dividend payments and examines how the Irish stock market reacts to company announcements about dividends. Prior to this study, the attitude of company executives and investors to dividend policy in Ireland was not reported in the academic literature in a systematic fashion. A number of small studies on the topic had been undertaken but the findings of those studies are relatively old and the perspective adopted limited.In the mid-1980s, company managers in the US and the UK aggressively altered dividend policy because the disadvantageous income tax rates to which dividends were subject meant that paying dividends was not an efficient way to return money to shareholders(Campbell, 2003). The double taxation of cash dividends was the primary motivation behind the decision of corporations to repurchase their own shares rather than implementing or increasing dividend payouts (Wood, 2002). In addition, for much of the 1990s dividends seemed unimportant to company executives and investors, as much of the share valuation analysis undertaken by financial commentators, appeared to focus on top line and bottom line growth rather than expectations about periodic dividend distributions (Goodbody, 2003).However, dividends have recently become more important as growth rates in earnings have declined (Jones, 2004).The Irish economy has changed dramatically over the last decade with greater wealth,increased numbers at work and an ageing population (E. S. R. I., 2003). In this new environment, Irish dividend distributions, and more specifically the taxation treatment of those distributions, is an increasingly important issue for Irish economic policy makers as they seek to encourage companies to re-invest their profits for the long-term and to provide incentives to individuals to increase savings and provide for retirement. In this new environment, Irish dividend distributions, and more specifically the taxation treatment of those distributions, is an increasingly important issue for Irish economic policy makers as they seek to encourage companies to re-invest their profits for the long-term and to provide incentives to individuals to increase savings and provide for retirement.The current research finds that dividend policy matters to Irish investors.Specifically,Irish investors appear to react to a dividend announcement as if that announcement conveys important news about the future prospects for the firm. This reaction was very pronounced on the dividend announcement date. Irish firms support the suggestion that dividend policy affects share valuations. In particular, quoted firms believe they know the nature of their shareholder base, and perceive that Irish investors discriminate, according to their tax status, between those companies which pay dividends and those which do not, when selecting securities for their portfolios. In addition, Irish quoted companies follow a policy in which dividend reductions are anathema and an increased dividend will only be declared if management are convinced that the new dividend level can be maintained.Finally, for unquoted firms, dividend policy is strongly driven by the taxation status of their owner shareholders. Tax advisors play a key role in determining dividend policy for such companies and a case can be made for re-examining the inflexibility of Irish tax rules on dividends, particularly for those relating to small and medium-sized companies. The findings represent a contribution to understanding as to why Irish firms pay dividends. In particular, the findings relate to a recent period for Ireland where little evidence exists. In addition, the findings emerge from a comprehensive investigation of the topic using a large-scale sample questionnaire, an event study and a sizable number of interviews. The focus of the investigation is also novel in that the views of unquoted company executives are sought in addition to the perspectives of managers from listed companies. What emerges is a comprehensive investigation of the dividend decisions of Irish companies.

This dissertation investigates the implementation of FRS 13 by UK non-financial companies, and assesses the impact of the Standard on both users and preparers of Annual Reports. The investigation involves (i) a content analysis of the reporting practices of companies on their derivatives usage before and after the introduction of FRS 13. in order to ascertain whether the standard had any significant effect on the contents of company financial statements, and (ii) interviews with both the preparers (treasurers) and the users (fund managers) of the information provided under FRS 13, in order to facilitate an understanding of the implications of the standard for their operations. The study focuses in particular on the effects of the increased derivatives-related disclosures for corporate governance structures and accountability relationships The results suggest that the amount of disclosure in company annual reports increased significantly following the introduction of the standard; companies were now disclosing far more about their hedging and risk management activity than they had before. In general, treasurers responded favourably to the standard, and considered the narrative disclosures to be particularly useful. The numerical disclosures were considered to be very detailed and specialised; interviewees thought that users might have difficulty in understanding them. However, the implementation of lAS 39, which will be mandatory for all EU companies from 2005, was causing treasurers far more concern. Many treasurers expected to purchase expensive new systems and establish sophisticated procedures in order to comply with the hedge accounting rules of lAS 39. In general, the institutional investors interviewed expressed similar views to those of the treasurers; they found the narrative parts of the annual reports useful, but agreed that the numerical disc losures were too specialised. The investors thought that the disclosures did improve the corporate governance process and highlighted issues that they wished to raise with their investee companies' management as a result of the information gleaned from the financial statements.