Director remuneration and narrative disclosure of remuneration changes: remuneration committee effects

 This thesis investigates the impact of remuneration committees on CEO remuneration, the narrative voluntary disclosure of remuneration information and its attribution. Results show the existence and quality of a remuneration committee play an important roles in relation to CEO remuneration and in relation to remuneration narrative disclosures and attribution

The impact of a computerised consolidation accounting package (CCAP) on student performance

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between the use of a computerised learning tool (specifically designed to teach consolidation accounting) and student performance in the final examination of an undergraduate accounting unit on Corporate Accounting. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; A regression model was developed to analyse 1,103 observations of assignment and examination scores, collected over three semesters, to test the central proposition that computer assisted learning enhances student learning outcomes and performance in the exam. Findings &ndash; The results show a positive and significant relationship between the computerised accounting assignment on consolidated accounting (linked to usage of the computerised tool) and the consolidation question in the final examination. The findings suggest that the computerised consolidation accounting package (CCAP) assists students to understand the concepts underpinning consolidation accounting. Research limitations/implications &ndash; The data were collected from a single institution, which may not represent the population of accounting students. Due to ethical obligations, the study lacked a control group that would have allowed meaningful comparison and assessment of student performance. Furthermore, whilst the findings in this study were able to demonstrate a positive association between the CCAP and exam performance, it is unable to determine the quality and depth of the learning experience from using the CCAP. Practical implications &ndash; The present study found that a CCAP and its usage has the potential to positively impact student performance on assessment tasks on subject matter similar to concepts contained the computer package. Such findings may encourage instructors to seek ways of incorporating learning technologies in the pedagogical design. Originality/value &ndash; This is believed to be one the few papers that has exclusively studied the impact of a specific CCAP and a specific segment in accounting education (consolidation accounting) using direct measures, CCAP assignment score and the final examination score for a question dedicated to consolidation accounting.<br /

Aqueous Methanol Extracts of Cochlospermum tinctorium (A. Rich) Possess Analgesic and Anti-inflammatory Activities

Cochlopermum tinctorium A. Rich. (Cochlospermaceae) is a commonly used medicinal plant in the West Africa sub-region for the management of various conditions including pain and inflammatory conditions. In the present study, we report the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of the aqueous methanol leaf (20–80 mg/kg), root (7.5–30 mg/kg), and root bark (20–80 mg/kg) extracts of the plant. The analgesic potentials of the extracts were studied using acetic acid induced writhing and hot plate tests in mice while the anti-inflammatory activity was investigated using carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats.The extracts significantly and dose dependently inhibited the acetic acid-induced writhing in mice. However, the highest protection against writhing was produced by aqueous methanol leaf extract at the dose of 80 mg/kg (96.65%) which even was greater than that of the standard agent, ketoprofen (82.30%). The extracts did not significantly increase mean latency of response in the hot plate test. However, aqueous methanol root bark extract at the dose of 20 mg/kg significantly (P < 0.05) increased the mean latency of pain response. While the extracts of the root and root bark extracts of the plant afforded non dose-dependent protection against carrageenan-induced edema, the aqueous methanol leaf extract significantly and dose-dependently inhibited carrageenan-induced hind paw edema at the end of the third hour.The present study suggests that the aqueous methanol leaf, root, and root bark extracts of Cochlopermum tinctorium possess analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities which lend some credence to the ethnomedical claim of the use of the plant in the management of pain and inflammatory conditions

Issuance of warrants in seasoned equity offerings: evidence from rights offerings

The Australian financial market is unique in enabling firms to raise new capital via right offerings of standalone warrants in seasoned equity offerings. As such, it provides an ideal environment for examining the validity of the Chemmanur and Fulghieri's (1997) signaling model for warrant inclusion in seasoned equity offerings via rights offerings by analyzing across unit offerings, standalone warrants and standalone equity. We provide empirical evidence in support of their model's predictions regarding the issuance of warrants to existing shareholders. The quality dimension contained in the signals is associated with a more favorable stock price reaction, ceteris paribus

Why do Australian firms issue standalone warrants?

This paper examines why Australian firms issue standalone warrants and how the market perceives this type of capital raising method. We find that firms with smaller size, smaller issue proceeds, higher risk and lower ownership concentration choose standalone warrants rather than rights issues of equity to raise equity capital. Price reactions to standalone warrant announcements are significantly and positively related to takeup and underwriting status consistent with the findings of Balachandran, Faff and Theobald (JFE, 2008) for the announcements of rights issues of equity. Price reactions are stronger for moderately out-of-the-money warrants than in-the-money and deeply out-of-the-money warrants. We also find that managers of larger/moderate/smaller firms with higher/moderate/lower pre-event RUNUP and lower/moderate/higher risk choose in-themoney/moderately-out-of-the-money/deeply out-of-the money warrants

A comparison of different study load classifications and their association to student performance: an exploratory study

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to investigate the alternative study load measures (dichotomous full-time/part-time classification and the number of units enrolled) and their association to student performance by using student data from a final year accounting unit in a large Australian university.Design/methodology/approach &ndash; Using regression analysis, the authors compare the two measures to ascertain the explanatory power of the two approaches in explaining student performance.Findings &ndash; A positive association is found between study loads and student performance when using the &ldquo;number of units enrolled&rdquo; measure. This relationship was not found when the dichotomous measure (full-time vs part-time) was used. The results suggest that a scaled measure of study loads is a better measure compared to a binary (dichotomous) measure.Research limitations/implications &ndash; The study will assist future researchers to better control for study loads, and also to gain a better understanding of the association between study loads and student performance. This may possibly assist educational institutions and academics to use a more appropriate pedagogical design in the structure of courses when determining study load allocations across the different cohorts.Practical implications &ndash; This study will help in methodology of future researchers controlling for study loads and student performance.Originality/value &ndash; The study adds to existing literature by providing an alternate study load measure in methodology for controlling for student performance

Remuneration committee effectiveness and narrative remuneration disclosure

This paper investigates the impact of the effectiveness of remuneration committees on narrative voluntary disclosure of information on remuneration. We develop a composite measure as a proxy for remuneration committee effectiveness by incorporating remuneration committee size, remuneration committee independence, remuneration committee chairman&rsquo;s independence, expertise and diligence. We find that both the existence and quality of a remuneration committee play a significant role in the decision to provide voluntary disclosure of remuneration actions and in the extent of this disclosure. Further analysis suggests that remuneration committee independence and diligence enhance the quality of remuneration committees. The results have policy implications for remuneration committees as an effective corporate governance mechanism

EFFECT OF CHEMICAL TREATMENTS ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF JUTE FIBER HYBRID COMPOSITE LAMINATES

ABSTRACT A study has been carried out to investigate the tensile properties of alkali treated woven jute natural fiber and woven glass fiber reinforced Hybrid Composites Bolted Joint (TCBJ) and Untreated Hybrid Composite Bolted Joint (UTCBJ). Effect of stacking sequence and fiber treatment on tensile strength, hardness and impact strength of alkali treated woven jute natural fiber and woven glass fiber reinforced hybrid composites and Untreated Hybrid Composite has been investigated experimentally. It has been observed that the tensile properties increase with respect to jute fiber content. The results indicated that the properties of jute composites can be considerably improved by incorporation of glass fibre as extreme glass plies. The layer sequence has greater effect on hardness and Impact Strength

The issuance of warrants in rights offerings: agency costs and signaling effects

We examine the issuance choice across rights issues of equity, unit offerings, and standalone warrants and investigate the market reactions to these issue types. We find that agency costs, growth opportunities, and current funding needs relative to assets in place are prime drivers of the type of equity issuance choice. Managers use quality signals such as underpricing, underwriting status, and the proportion of funds raised by exercising warrants in determining the features of the warrant issue. Furthermore, we document that the market reacts more favorably to standalone warrants issues than units and equity during the rights offering period