International Journal of Management and Business Studies ISSN 2167-0439 Vol. 7 (4), pp. 001-006, April, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Convergence to international financial reporting standards (IFRS): The need to tighten the rule on divisible profit

Wai-Meng Chan*, S. Susela Devi, Sai-Leong Lee and Kok-Thye Ng

University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Accepted 13 January, 2017

Abstract

The issue of convergence with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has been a subject of increasing academic debate. One of the issues raised is that the IFRS are fair value based, and in some instances, recognizes unrealized gains and thus, include them in the income statement. Despite resistance, it is a foregone conclusion that the IFRS convergence exercise will continue to gain momentum. This article focuses on the importance of examining the existing legislative requirements that form part of the national specificities. As an illustration, this article highlights the importance to resolve the issue on the size of profit which may be legally distributed to shareholders as dividend. An examination on the legal approaches to the payment of dividends in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and Singapore found most of them to be lacking.

Key words: Convergence, international financial reporting standards (IFRS), divisible profits, unrealized gain.

International Journal of Management and Business Studies ISSN 2167-0439 Vol. 7 (3), pp. 441-448, March, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Ghana’s downstream petroleum sector: An assessment of key supply chain challenges and prospects for growth

¹Richard Amponsah (Dr.) and ²Francis Kelvin Opei

¹Gimpa, P.O. Box ah 50, Achimota, Accra.

²Misyl Energy Company Limited, No. 49 Mensah Wood Street, East Legon Accra, Pmb 37 Legon, Accra.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 233208412896

Accepted 13, June 2014

Abstract

Ghana’s petroleum industry, though relatively young has been touted as having the potential to moving the country from a developing country to a developed one. The growth of the industry is highly dependent on ensuring that petroleum products produced at the downstream sector of the industry are distributed consistently and timely to consumers through an effective and efficient supply chain system. Though this is the ideal situation yearned for by stakeholders, the sector is plagued with challenges that negatively impacts on performance. This study, therefore explored supply chain challenges in the downstream petroleum sector in Ghana.  A mixed method approach was adopted to study the phenomenon. Data was collected from key players in the downstream petroleum sector through in-depth interviews and a questionnaire. The study discovered government interference in activities of actors, inability of government to pay under recoveries, government indebtedness to actors, inadequate infrastructure and inability of TOR to refining crude regularly as key challenges that impacted on an effective and efficient supply chain process. The study recommended, the Government of Ghana to inject capital for infrastructural development of the sector as well as wean off its interference in the activities of actors. In this case, key national players like BOST should be given autonomous status.

Key words: Assessment, downstream petroleum, supply chain, challenges and prospects, Ghana.

International Journal of Management and Business Studies ISSN 2167-0439 Vol. 7 (3), pp. 431-440, March, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Control of cost variations through statistical studies

Jean A. Sabastine*, Nadai Cioran Euguene and Nicolae Ionesco

University of Craiova, Romania.

E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 10 February, 2017

Abstract

The knowledge about costs and their evolution represent an essential element in decision process. The priority given to the cost analysis in the decision process can be explained through the fact that often the main factor is the financial implication of the selected decision made by the manager. The management of a company can find in the cost information an important instrument for adjustment, orientation and optimization of the operational and future activity because the cost appears in all its activities. The paper presents some aspects regarding the costs and their role in the management of enterprise because the information concerning costs play a vital part in formulating more performing strategies to get lasting competitive advantage. We intend to highlight the importance of the strategic planning and the role of costs management in a business medium, because the costs structure can be really an advantage in establishing the way in which the performance can be obtained “a durable competitive advantage” (M. Porter, 2001). The recent evolution of the management accounting is essentially characterized by the passing from an information system to a whole bunch of instruments guided towards outward part, strategy and future. Under these conditions, our paper tries to point out the necessity of inclusion the principles of strategy into the management of costs. Therefore, we consider a necessity of a managerial, contemporary system. Such an approach lays down the premises of a new philosophy of costs and opens new perspectives of approaching the management accounting. As result of the recent theories regarding the costs and their determinants factors, theories that contradicted the dominated idea in the classical analytic theory accordingly whose production volume determine the costs, at present, the cost management should consider the variety and complexity of all factors. Considering the randomly character of these factors’ influence, for getting some rigorous results that can be the basis for adopting some efficient decisions, in the paper we propose statistical studies based on the influence of the determinant factors, studies based on the using of notions from probability theory and mathematical statistics. The main purpose of these studies is represented by the control of cost evolution, in the condition of incertitude and risk for the companies’ activity.

Keywords: Costs, Management accounting, Strategic management of costs, Incertitude, Risk, Statistical studies, Mathematical statistics.

International Journal of Management and Business Studies ISSN 2167-0439 Vol. 7 (2), pp. 422-430, February, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Theoretical and experimental studies on textual anti-spam filtering

Mahathir A. Anwar¹, Lee Choo Bernard¹, Abdullah H. Victor¹ and Najib Jimmy Ibrahim²*

¹Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University, 63100 Cyberjaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

²Department of Educational Management, Planning and Policy, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, 50606 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 28 January, 2017

Abstract

Spam is unsolicited bulk messages sent indiscriminately. According to Wikipedia and Cisco report, more than 31 trillion spams have been sent in 2009. These spam or “junk mails” can involve various kinds of messages such as commercial advertising, pornography, viruses, doubtful product, get rich quick scheme or quasi legal services. In this paper, a direct attention has been paid to the text spam, and in particular, the process of text spam and the tricks of the spammers have been described in this paper. Moreover, the author described the implementation of the text content analysis and classification, using different document processing techniques (that is, stop words, short words form, regular expression, stemming etc.) and naive Bayesian classifier. In addition to that, the author has depicted the practical work of the document processing and naive Bayesian classifier towards implementing an accurate anti-spam system.

Key words: Text spam, stop words, short words form, regular expression, stemming, document processing, naive Bayesian classifier.

International Journal of Management and Business Studies ISSN 2167-0439 Vol. 7 (1), pp. 414-421, January, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Effects of product placement advertisements

Lee Puyi Wong

College of Communication, Fujian Normal University, China.

E-mail:[email protected] 

Accepted 20 December, 2016

Abstract

This paper uses natural experiment to explore effects of product placement advertisements. Results shows (Experimental Film: A Sigh): Buick and Bank of China are different in terms of main effect of brand awareness. It is the same as in terms of consumer’s value. In terms of interaction between two brands, results are different. This paper provides reasonable procedures to test effects and tells us what kind of consumer’s value is effective for product placement advertisements.

Key words: Brand awareness, consumer’s value, product placement advertisements, effects.