Analysis of the Level of Financial Literacy among South African Undergraduate Students

The purpose of the study was twofold: to examine the relationship between financial literacy and demographic and other socioeconomic factors of a sample of undergraduate students; and to evaluate how undergraduate students’ financial knowledge correlate with their attitude and behavior towards personal finance issues. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data and logistic regression and Chi-Square statistical procedures were employed to analyse the data using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) software. Overall, this pilot study reveals that Bachelor of Commerce(Accounting) students at the University of Venda are not as financially literate as expected, confirming the findings of similar studies conducted on South African university students (Kotzè and Smidt, 2008). There is therefore the necessity to review the academic curriculum in the Bachelor of Commerce programme to include money management course. Furthermore, with more South African university students likely to depend on bank loans to finance their education, it is recommended that financial literacy be made a compulsory course in all undergraduate programmes in South African universities

Cash Conversion Cycle Theory and Corporate Profitability: Evidence from Non-Financial Firms Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

This study usesRichards and Laughlin’s (1980) Cash Conversion Cycle theory to investigate theimpact of working capital management efficiency and its separate components onthe profitability of a sample of 75 non-financial firms listed on theJohannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Panel data regression methodology was usedto analyse financial data obtained from I-Net Bridge and BF McGregor for the 10year period, 2003 to 2012 to determine the nexus between working capitalmanagement and profitability (proxied by return on assets). The study resultsare consistent with the CCC theory that: 1) there exists a negativerelationship between working capital management and corporate profitability; 2)there exist a negative relationship between inventory conversion period andprofitability; 3) there is a negative relationship between accounts receivablesconversion period and profitability; and 4) there is a positive relationshipbetween accounts payable deferral period (PDP) and profitability. The findingsthus suggest that corporate managers can create value for shareholders byreducing the CCC to an extent that it enhances its profitability

Bachelor of Commerce Programme and employability of University of Venda graduates, South Africa

Since its establishment two and half decades ago, the School of Management Sciences at the University of Venda (UNIVEN) has produced hundreds of Bachelor of Commerce (BCOM) graduates for the South African work force. Yet the School has had no formal feedback from its graduates regarding the relevance, usefulness, strengths and weakness of its BCOM programmes. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the BCOM (Accounting) programme on job prospects of UNIVEN graduates. A structured questionnaire was sent to a sample of 61 graduates of UNIVEN’s BCOMA programme through the Snowball technique of tracing survey respondents. The questionnaire sought the participating graduates’ opinions on several aspects of their educational experience at Univen including adequacy of the training and employability, among others. The study used the IBM SPSS version 21 to analyse the study data. The key findings of the study suggest that the components of the BCOMA programme that need major improvement to increase the employability of graduates are training in practical skills, using computers in Accounting training, as well as improvement in teaching and delivery methods. The study also found that modules offered in the BCOM programme were relevant to the graduate’s job needs

Working capital management and shareholders' wealth creation: evidence from non-financial firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Working capital plays a vital role in shareholders’ wealth creation, yet there is a dearth of empirical studies on the relationship between working capital management and firm value in the South African economic environment. This study attempts to fill this gap by using Richards and Laughlin’s (1980) Cash Conversion Cycle theory to investigate the impact of working capital management efficiency and its separate components on firm value of South African firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Panel data regression methodology was used to analyze accounting data obtained from I-Net Bridge/BFA McGregor for 75 firms for the 10 year period, 2003 to 2012, to determine the nexus between WCM and profitability (proxied by return on assets). The key findings of the study are as follows: 1) there exists a significant positive relationship between firm value and both inventory conversion period and receivables conversion period; 2) the relationship between the cash conversion cycle and firm value is positive but insignificant; 3) there is a significant positive relationship between accounts payable deferral period (PDP) and profitability; 4) firm size and firm value are significantly positively related, and 5) there is a significant negative relationship between leverage and firm value

A Markov regime switching approach to estimating the volatility of Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) returns

The study used the Markov regime switching model to investigate the presence of regimes in the volatility dynamics of the returns of JSE All-Share Index (ALSI). Volatility regimes are as a result of sudden changes in the underlying economy generating the market returns. In all, twelve candidate models were fitted to the data. Estimates from the regime switching model were compared to the industry standard non-switching GARCH (1,1) using the Deviance Information Criteria (DIC). The results show that the two-regime switching EGARCH model with skewed Student t innovations describes better the return of the JSE Index. Additionally, we backtest the model results in order to confirm our findings that the two-regime switching EGARCH is the best of the models for the sample period