Effect of Camel Variables on Financial Stability: A Dynamic Panel Analysis of Commercial Banks in Kenya

A stable banking sector is significant in ensuring economic growth as well as sound, efficient and stable financial system. However, the banking sector in Kenya has been considered fragile and this is evident from the increasing trend of non-performing loans, fluctuating deposit trend of some commercial banks and fluctuations of foreign liabilities in commercial banks in Kenya, which is associated with financial stability. Furthermore the collapsing of some commercial banks and some being put under receivership is of great concern to the financial stability of the commercial banks in Kenya. The general objective of the study was to establish the effect of CAMEL variables on financial stability of commercial banks in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the effect of operational efficiency, capital adequacy, bank liquidity, profitability and asset quality on financial stability of commercial banks in Kenya. The study was carried out in 17 fragile commercial banks in Kenya between 2011 and 2018. Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model guided by dynamic panel regression results revealed that operating efficiency had a statistically significant positive effect on financial stability (β= 0.3104109, p=0.037) of commercial banks in Kenya. The study also established that capital adequacy had a statistically significant negative effect on financial stability (β= -0.1560403, p=0.050) of commercial banks in Kenya. The study further revealed that bank liquidity had a statistically insignificant negative effect on financial stability (β= -0.0073553, p=0.881) of commercial bank in Kenya. In addition, profitability had a statistically significant negative effect on financial stability (β= -0.1064231, p= 0.036). Finally, the study revealed that asset quality had a statistically significant positive effect on financial stability (β= 0.0987029, p= 0.032). Based on these findings, the study recommends for mergers and acquisition among the fragile commercial banks as per the fragility index, adoption of internal economics of scale, limits on insider loans to be established and credit to borrowers should not exceed 15% of the capital. This would ensure a sound and vibrant economy towards achieving the Vision 2030 that advocates for well-functioning, efficient and stable financial system. Keywords: Camel Variables, Firm characteristics, Financial Stability, Dynamic Panel Regression. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-18-10 Publication date:September 30th 2020

Moderating Effect of Exchange Rate on the Relationship Between Firm Characteristics and Financial Stability of Commercial Banks in Kenya

The study sought to determine the moderating effect of exchange rate on the relationship between firm characteristics and financial stability of commercial banks in Kenya. The study sought to establish the effect of exchange rate on financial stability of commercial banks in Kenya. The study further sought to determine the effect of firm characteristics as a composite index on financial stability of commercial banks in Kenya. Positivism research philosophy was employed. Causal research design was utilized in this study. The study targeted 17 commercial banks from which secondary data was collected from the published financial reports for the study period between 2011 and 2018. Generalized method of moments (GMM) model guided by dynamic Panel regression analysis was utilized. Data analysis was run on the Stata 13 package and findings presented in tables while deriving conclusions and recommendations from the study findings. The study found out that exchange rate had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between firm characteristics and financial stability (β= 0.422519, p= 0.095) of commercial banks in Kenya. The study also found out that firm characteristics as a composite index had a significant negative effect on financial stability (β= -1.006024, p= 0.063) of commercial banks in Kenya. The coefficient of exchange rate at (β= 0.0177881, p=0.000) shows a statistically significant positive effect on financial stability of commercial banks. To deal with issues of exchange rate fluctuations, the study recommends that commercial banks in Kenya should adopt a unified exchange rate. The study further recommends that commercial banks should focus on streamlining their internal firm characteristics in order to ensure financial stability is achieved collectively since they are associated with variability in the exchange rate. Keywords: Moderating Effect, Exchange Rate, Firm Characteristics, Financial Stability. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-25-07 Publication date:September 30th 2020

Base Deficit as an Indicator of Significant Blunt Abdominal Trauma

Background: Blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among trauma patients. Base deficit (BD) has been proposed as an early available tool alongside focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) in the screening of patients suspected to have BAT and also to help guide the selective use of CT scan. Objective: To determine the use of BD as an indicator of significant BAT. Methods: This was an observational study carried out at the Kenyatta National Hospital from February to May 2015. Patient with suspected BAT admitted into Accident & Emergency were enrolled. Data collected included clinical assessment, BD, FAST findings, CT-scan, and laparotomy were recorded. Data was analyzed using SPSS 17.0. Comparison of mean values of BD between different groups of patients (discharged from A&E, managed conservatively or operated) was performed using ANOVA. Results: Patients who had significant abdominal injury had sensitivity and specificity of 82.98% and 65.91 % respectively at BD of -4.15.The PPV and NPV were 56.52% and 87.88 % respectively. At this cut-off point, AUC was 0.863 (p=0.037). Conclusion: Due to high NPV, BD could rule out significant abdominal injuries but can also predict need for exploratory laparotomy when less than -6.85.Key words: Base deficit, Blunt abdominal trauma, Predictor

Effect of Internal Control Systems on Financial Performance of Public Universities in Kenya

Most public Universities across the world have reported suboptimal financial performance compared to private universities. The poor financial performance can be attributed to financial management practices. The sound financial management practices require the institutions to have robust internal control systems. However, there are limited empirical research findings regarding the relationship between the internal control systems and financial performance in public universities in Kenya. The general objective of the study was to establish the effect of internal control systems on financial performance of public universities in Kenya. The study specific objective was to investigate the effect of detective controls on the financial performance of public universities in Kenya. The study was anchored on agency theory, stewardship theory, systems theory and attribution theory. The study adopted a causal research design. The target population of respondents were the deputy vice chancellors finance, registrar finance and administration, ICT personnel, finance officers and internal auditors in the 37 public universities in Kenya. The target population was 185 respondents. The study worked with a sample of 34 public universities through stratified random sampling, and the other three were used for pilot testing. Primary data was collected from sample population using semi-structured questionnaires. Secondary data was collected through evaluation of reports, organizational journals, publications and review of information from the organizations website. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). All the questionnaires received were referenced and items in the questionnaire coded to facilitate data entry. After data cleaning which entailed checking for errors in entry, descriptive statistics and frequencies were estimated for all the variables and information presented inform of tables, graphs and pie charts. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used because they enabled the researcher to meaningfully describe distribution of scores or measurements using a few indices. Inferential data analysis was done using Pearson Correlation coefficient and regression analysis. Regression analysis was conducted to empirically determine whether detective controls were significant in determining the financial performance of public universities in Kenya.  Regression results indicated the goodness of fit for the regression between detective controls and financial performance was strong. From the regression model, detective controls and financial performance to a constant zero, financial performance would be 3.132. It was established that a unit increase in detective controls would cause an improvement in financial performance by a factor of 0.237. This clearly showed that there was a positive relationship between detective controls and financial performance. P-value was less than 0.05, which showed that variables covered in the study on detective controls were statistically significant to influence financial performance. The study concluded that detective controls had a positive and significant influence on the financial performance of public universities in Kenya. Keywords: Internal control Systems, Detective Controls, Financial Performance DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/12-16-09 Publication date:August 31st 202

Assessing the Influence of Accounting Outsourcing on Financial Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Thika Subcounty, Kenya

Globally, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have been found to significantly contribute to the gross domestic product (GDP) in developing nations as well as to employment. In Kenya, the SMEs have the potential of raising many citizens to the mainstream economy. Although the SMEs contribute toward economic development as well as to employment in Kenya, their financial performance is still wanting, which is evidenced by the high collapse rate of SMEs. This research project assessed the influence of accounting outsourcing (AO) on financial performance of SMEs. The study used a descriptive design, and the number of SMEs that formed the population of study was 8605 in Thika subcounty. The sample size was therefore 368 SMEs, which were sampled using stratified and simple random sampling. The study adopted a questionnaire to collect data, and the Cronbach alpha coefficient was employed for testing of reliability. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analyzing the collected data with the assistance of statistical packages of social science (SPSS) version 23. The relationship between influences of AO and its effect on financial performance of SMEs were established through a simple regression model. The results of this study showed a significant positive association between the explanatory variables and the financial performance of SMEs. The study concludes that influences of AO have significant influence on SMEs financial performance. The study recommended that managers and owners of SMEs should seek service from qualified accountants as this may increase the quality of financial records and may improve their SMEs financial performance

Can Prenatal Malaria Exposure Produce an Immune Tolerant Phenotype?: A Prospective Birth Cohort Study in Kenya

In a prospective cohort study of newborns residing in a malaria holoendemic area of Kenya, Christopher King and colleagues find a subset of children born to malaria-infected women who acquire a tolerant phenotype, which persists into childhood and is associated with increased susceptibility to malarial infection and anemia

Frost Monitoring and Forecasting Using MODIS Land Surface Temperature Data and a Numerical Weather Prediction Model Forecasts for Eastern Africa

No abstract availabl

Avaliação da técnica de coloração AgNOR em testículos de ovinos

The silver staining technique for AgNOR nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) is characterized by marking proteins linked to the ribosomal ribonucleic acid, evaluating cell proliferation. The aim was to study the validity of the AgNOR staining technique in the testicular cell proliferation in crossbred ovine. Forty-three pairs of ovine testicles between 6 and 10 months old were collected. Wilcoxon and Spearman tests were used with a significance level of 5%. The mean NORs count in cells of the right and left gonads were respectively: spermatogonia (8.77±1.14 and 9.04±0.96), spermatocytes (4.99±2.00 and 6.20±2.07, P<0.05), Leydig (8.05±2.82 and 7.89±2.29) and Sertoli cells (8.07±1.88 and 7.61±2.16; P<0.05). There was a correlation between the mean values for the right and left sides for the number of NORs (P<0.05) between Leydig x spermatocytes (0.49); spermatocytes x Sertoli (0.49) and Sertoli x Leydig (0.96). The study demonstrates that the AgNOR staining technique is indicated to evaluate the cell proliferative potential in ovine testis with practical implementation and low cost.A coloração pela prata das regiões organizadoras de nucléolos (NORs) é caracterizada por marcar proteínas ligadas ao ácido ribonucleico ribossômico, avaliando a proliferação em células normais ou neoplásicas. Objetivou-se estudar, em testículos de ovinos obtidos em matadouro, a validade do uso da técnica de coloração pela prata (AgNOR) na identificação das regiões organizadoras de nucléolo (NORs) em células saudáveis da linhagem espermatogênica. Utilizaram-se 43 pares de testículos de ovinos mestiços entre seis e 10 meses de idade. Testes de Wilcoxon e Spearman foram empregados, com nível de 5%. As médias das NORs nas células das gônadas direita e esquerda foram, respectivamente: espermatogônia (8,77±1,14 e 9,04±0,96), espermatócitos (4,99±2,00 e 6,20±2,07; P<0,05), Leydig (8,05±2,82 e 7,89±2,29) e Sertoli (8,07±1,88 e 7,61±2,16; P<0,05). Houve correlação (P<0,05) entre os lados para o número de NORs: espermatócitos x Leydig (0,49); espermatócitos x Sertoli (0,49) e Leydig x Sertoli (0,96). Conclui-se ser válido o emprego da técnica AgNOR para avaliar o potencial proliferativo das células saudáveis em testículos de ovinos com prática execução e baixo custo.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq