The value-added statement: An appeal for standardisation

Owing to the absence of accounting standards for the preparation of a value-added statement (VAS), a large variety of methods are used in financial statements. In this study the published value-added statements (PVAS) of companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange during the period 1976-2005 have been standardised by the Graduate School of Business of the University of Stellenbosch (USB) in order to quantify the differences between the standardised VAS (SVAS) and the PVAS. These differences consist of the inclusion of items that do not belong in the VAS, items that are erroneously allocated among the distribution to stakeholders, and interpretation differences in whether a certain item forms part of the calculation of value added or the distribution thereof. The greatest difference quantified was the overstatement of the distribution to government that amounted to 54.4% of total differences. For users, including government, to properly calculate and compare the value added of different business entities, a standard for the preparation and presentation of VAS ought to be published. In the South African context the need of a precise measurement of each business entity's contribution to the growth of the national economy is relevant, and this need should also be addressed.Value added, Gross Domestic Product, South Africa, financial statements

River and maritime boundaries between South Africa and Namibia

The thesis explores four aspects of delimitation beginning with the terrestrial boundary..

Share repurchase and dividend payout behaviour: The South African experience

Share repurchases, rather than dividend payments, are increasingly becoming the globally favoured payout method. This has prompted a renewed interest in the field, and raises questions about the actual motivation for share repurchases and whether companies are now repurchasing shares in preference to investing in future growth. This study set out to ascertain whether South African company payout behaviour mirrors global company behaviour. Comprehensive data on share repurchases are, however, not compiled by South African financial data sources or by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Ltd. In preparation for this study, the authors thus compiled the first comprehensive share repurchase database for companies in selected JSE-listed sectors for the first 11 years (i.e. 1999 to 2009) since share repurchases were first allowed in this country. Share repurchases were found to be a popular payout method, especially in the more recent periods covered in the study. Payout value was dominated by a few companies paying dividends every year and regularly repurchasing shares. Aspects unique to the South African regulatory environment, however, resulted in the South African share repurchase experience not fully mirroring current global practice. The main constraint in the South African share repurchase environment is that comprehensive, actual-time-based share repurchase data are not available. Recommendations are made on how to align the South African regulatory environment with global best practice. Regulatory changes, as well as continued research in the field, will equip stakeholders to make informed decisions

Orbital changes, variation in solar activity and increased anthropogenic activities: controls on the Holocene flood frequency in the Lake Ledro area, Northern Italy

International audienceTwo lacustrine sediment cores from Lake Ledro in northern Italy were studied to produce chronologies of floodevents for the past 10 000 yr. For this purpose, we have developed an automatic method that objectively identifies the sedimentary imprint of river floods in the downstream lake basin. The method was based on colour data extracted from processed core photographs, and the count data were analysed to capture the flood signal. Flood frequency and reconstructed sedimentary dynamics were compared with lake-level changes and pollen inferred vegetation dynamics. The results suggest a record marked by low flood frequency during the early and middle Holocene (10 000–4500 cal BP). Only modest increases during short intervals are recorded at ca. 8000, 7500, and 7100 cal BP. After 4500–4000 cal BP, the record shows a shift toward increased flood frequency. With the exception of two short intervals around 2900–2500 and 1800–1400 cal BP, which show a slightly reduced number of floods, the trend of increasing flood frequency prevailed until the 20th century, reaching a maximum between the 16th and the 19th centuries. Brief-flood frequency increases recorded during the early and middle Holocene can be attributed to climatic oscillations. On a centennial time scale, major changes in flood frequency, such as those observed after ca. 4500/4000 and 500 cal BP, can be attributed to large-scale climatic changes such as the Neo-glacial and Little Ice Age, which are under orbital and possibly solar control. However, in the Bronze Age and during the Middle Ages and modern times, forest clearing and land use probably partially control the flood activity

The value-added statement: An appeal for standardisation

Owing to the absence of accounting standards for the preparation of a value-added statement (VAS), a large variety of methods are used in financial statements. In this study the published value-added statements (PVAS) of companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange during the period 1976-2005 have been standardised by the Graduate School of Business of the University of Stellenbosch (USB) in order to quantify the differences between the standardised VAS (SVAS) and the PVAS. These differences consist of the inclusion of items that do not belong in the VAS, items that are erroneously allocated among the distribution to stakeholders, and interpretation differences in whether a certain item forms part of the calculation of value added or the distribution thereof. The greatest difference quantified was the overstatement of the distribution to government that amounted to 54.4% of total differences. For users, including government, to properly calculate and compare the value added of different business entities, a standard for the preparation and presentation of VAS ought to be published. In the South African context the need of a precise measurement of each business entity's contribution to the growth of the national economy is relevant, and this need should also be addressed

A Structure for Quasars

This paper proposes a simple, empirically derived, unifying structure for the inner regions of quasars. This structure is constructed to explain the broad absorption line (BAL) regions, the narrow `associated' ultraviolet and X-ray warm absorbers (NALs); and is also found to explain the broad emission line regions (BELR), and several scattering features, including a substantial fraction of the broad X-ray Iron-K emission line, and the bi-conical extended narrow emission line region (ENLR) structures seen on large kiloparsec scales in Seyfert images. Small extensions of the model to allow luminosity dependent changes in the structure may explain the UV and X-ray Baldwin effects and the greater prevalence of obscuration in low luminosity AGN.Comment: 35 pages, including 8 color figures (figures 4abc are big). Astrophysical Journal, in press. Expanded version of conference paper astro-ph/000516

Ab-initio density-functional lattice-dynamics studies of ice

We present the results of first-principles computational studies of the dynamical properties of hexagonal ice using both the ab-initio pseudopotential method and the full-potential augmented plane-wave method. Properties obtained using both the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and the meta-GGA in density-functional theory are compared. The lattice-dynamical properties of the structures are obtained using a finite-difference evaluation of the dynamical matrix and force-constant matrix from atomic forces. Phonon dispersion is evaluated by the direct determination of the force-constant matrix in supercells derived from the primitive molecule unit cells with the assumption that force constants are zero beyond the second molecular nearest neighbors. The k-dependent phonon frequencies are then obtained from the force-constant matrix and dispersion relations, and the Brillouin-zone integrated density of states is evaluated. The importance of phonon dispersion in the various regions of the phonon spectra is then assessed and compared to existing neutron-scattering data. Frozen-phonon calculations are used to compare phonon frequencies evaluated in both the GGA and meta-GGA

X-ray Spectral Survey of WGACAT Quasars, II: Optical and Radio Properties of Quasars with Low Energy X-ray Cut-offs

We have selected quasars with X-ray colors suggestive of a low energy cut-off, from the ROSAT PSPC pointed archive. We examine the radio and optical properties of these 13 quasars. Five out of the seven quasars with good optical spectra show associated optical absorption lines, with two having high delta-v candidate systems. Two other cut-off quasars show reddening associated with the quasar. We conclude that absorption is highly likely to be the cause of the X-ray cut-offs, and that the absorbing material associated with the quasars, not intervening along the line-of-sight. The suggestion that Gigahertz Peaked Sources are associated with X-ray cut-offs remains unclear with this expanded sample.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, including 2 Tables and 1 figure. Ap.J. in pres