Africa's Requirements Research Articles

Compliance level with IFRS disclosure requirements across 12 African countries: do enforcement mechanisms matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of enforcement, and more particularly government quality and the stock market development, on compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) disclosure requirements in 12 African countries.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a self-constructed compliance index from content analysis and apply panel regressions for a sample of 606 firm-year observations during the period 2012 to 2014.FindingsThis analysis illustrates a high level of disparity of information provided by companies, possibly due to the complexity of the selected standards and the depth of information required. The findings reveal that government quality and stock market development have a positive and significant effect on compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements in Africa. This implies that enforcement plays a key role in improving the compliance level across African countries.Practical implicationsThese findings should be of interest to government policymakers, professional bodies, regulators and standard setters who are concerned with compliance and financial reporting transparency at a country level. It should be a signal to call for more effort to strengthen the enforcement of accounting standards and capital market supervision by putting in place some disciplinary actions for non-compliance with IFRS. The authors also believe that the results may help African policymakers and regulators enhance the level of compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements by enforcing accounting standards.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the compliance literature by investigating the effect of enforcement on compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements in the African countries, an understudied context where enforcement is a challenge.

Biogeography of the Egyptian mongoose Herpestes ichneumon (Linnaeus, 1758) in Africa, with first records for Laikipia County, central Kenya

AbstractThe paucity of studies on Egyptian mongoose Herpestes ichneumon (Linnaeus, 1758) in Africa highlights the need for baseline information on the geographic range of this species as well as factors that may determine its distribution. This study presents eight novel locality records of H. ichneumon in Laikipia County, central Kenya, addresses questions on the species’ distribution in Africa, and predicts environmental (climatic) suitability across its range. From a total of 4,822 H. ichneumon occurrence records, we used 4,432 georeferenced records to generate distribution maps, conduct ecological niche modelling, and identify environmental limits for this species across its range with a focus on Africa. 20% of all records originate from continental Africa, including 121 records for Kenya. Despite extensive field research and predicted habitat suitability, H. ichneumon has not been previously reported in Laikipia County. Our niche models, however, predicted parts of Laikipia to be environmentally suitable for H. ichneumon. Similarly, our new distribution maps show extended geographic ranges both in Laikipia and Kenya as compared to the 2016 IUCN map. The eight Laikipia records underscore the limited knowledge for this species, its distribution, and its environmental requirements in Africa.

Basel III liquidity rules: The implications for bank lending growth in Africa

This paper examines the possible loan growth effect of the Basel III NSFR and LCR requirements in Africa and seeks to determine whether the different regions of the continent are affected differently. The paper also offers what is possibly the first investigation of how the interaction between the performance of loan portfolios and the new Basel III liquidity requirements might shape bank loan growth rates. Using a dataset of 361 commercial banks across 38 African countries over the 2005–2015 period, our static and dynamic panel analyses show that both the NSFR and the LCR exert significant positive effects on bank loan growth rates. The results also reveal that the NSFR reduces the impact of the negative effect of poor performance of loan portfolios on bank loan growth rates. Compliance with the Basel III liquidity rules in Africa is therefore likely to have beneficial impacts on policies intended to increase bank lending in the continent.

Mapping evidence on charitable food assistance system\u2019s compliance with safety and general hygiene requirements in Africa and the rest of the world: a systematic scoping review protocol

BackgroundThe charitable food assistance system has an influential role in the larger effort to curtail the problem of food insecurity globally. They often play a crucial role in meeting the food security needs of the poor, particularly resource-limited settings where food security is a challenge. The aim of our study is to compare evidence on the safety and general hygiene of charitable food assistance system in Africa and the rest of the world.MethodsThis study will be conducted through a systematic scoping review. We will search for literature from the following electronic databases: African Index Medicus, PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost (MEDLINE with full text, Academic Search Complete, MEDLINE) and open access for unpublished theses and dissertations. Articles will also be searched through the ‘Cited by’ search as well as citations included in the reference lists of included articles. Websites, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Departments of Health websites, will be searched for policies and guidelines for food charity practice. Studies will be identified by searching literature published in any language between 1967 and 2018. Then, following title screening, eligible studies will be exported to EndNote library where duplicates will be removed before the parallel screening of abstracts and full articles by two independent reviewers. Screening will be guided by the study eligibility criteria. Data from the included studies will be extracted, and the emerging themes will be analysed. The relationship of the emerging themes to the research question will be critically examined. The quality of the included studies will be determined by the use of Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT)—version 2011.The search results will be presented through the use of the adapted PRISMA-P chart.DiscussionWe hope to find relevant studies that highlight evidence of charitable organisations’ food safety and general hygiene practices, in order to effectively compare their performance to those of formal and informal food establishments. Findings of this study will be disseminated electronically, in print and through peer presentation, conferences and congresses on synergies between efforts to reduce food loss and waste and those practices of public health concern.

Work integrated learning for engineering qualifications: a spanner in the works?

Work-integrated learning (WIL) has been identified as a way of equipping graduates with attributes that make them work-ready. Many higher education institutions (HEIs) require their students to go through a compulsory work place learning form (WPL) of WIL. The complications of WPL can affect HEIs’ student throughput. To address this challenge, a university of technology (UoT) in South Africa is curriculating engineering diplomas and degrees which do not make WPL a compulsory module. This is in line with the new Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework and Engineering Council of South Africa requirements. We employed in-depth interviews to gain an insight into the new programmes without WPL. Our findings indicate that WPL, in its current form, does not make graduates work-ready. Employers use it either to get extra cheap labour or as a recruitment process. It is envisaged that the new programme will increase the UoT’s throughput without adverse effects on the graduates’ attributes. These findings have important implications for HEIs, students and employers. It implies that HEIs will greatly improve throughput, which is desirable for both the HEIs and the students. For employers, this means they will have qualified people who might need higher wages, in comparison with students on WPL and they will need to plan for more in-house induction.

Integrating Property Industry in Masters Real Estate Education in Africa: Approaches and Initiatives

Programme coordinators and their assistants within selected Masters Real Estate (MRE) programmes offered in Africa were surveyed to determine approaches and initiatives adopted to integrate the property industry in real estate curriculum and research. Results reveal that involvement of part-time lecturers from industry, inclusion of real-world project cases and practical sessions in the curriculum, appointment of lecturers with high qualifications and industrial experience and deliberate collaboration of research with the industry are some of the practices implemented by the universities to include the industry in the curriculum. Objective of the adopted approaches and initiatives is to produce students and research which are relevant to the property industry and to create other opportunities for students, educators and industry practitioners as they interact in the curriculum. The study intends to support and promote the culture of involving industry practitioners in the curriculum and research in order for the universities to meet property industry requirements in Africa and elsewhere in the world. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p340

Special and Differential Treatment for Agriculture: Africa's Requirements from Special Safeguards and Special Products

The 1 August 2004 Framework Agreement stated that developing countries would have access to a Special Safeguard Mechanism and Special Products designation as part of special and differential treatment within a new WTO Doha Round agricultural agreement. This was confirmed in the Ministerial Declaration following the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial in December 2005. This paper discusses the potential usefulness of these instruments for the six programme countries of Development Cooperation Ireland, and what further research is desirable to help countries define them in a way that maximises their usefulness.

Prospects for food security in the 21st Century: with special emphasis on Africa

AbstractFood security for the world in 2025 is possible and probable if the right set of things are done, starting now. But the task will not be easy. It is both a technology and a political/economic challenge. The challenge for sub‐Saharan Africa is even greater. While other regions improved per capita food availability over the last 30 years, Africa's availability declined. But food security is about more than supply. It is also about access which means income generating employment is critical. Meeting future requirements in Africa and the world will require sustainable intensification of complex production systems, appropriate national and international policies and continued investments in agricultural research. Without these conditions and increased employment intensive growth, prospects for the future are less bright.

Prospects for food security in the 21st Century: with special emphasis on Africa

Abstract Food security for the world in 2025 is possible and probable if the right set of things are done, starting now. But the task will not be easy. It is both a technology and a political/economic challenge. The challenge for sub-Saharan Africa is even greater. While other regions improved per capita food availability over the last 30 years, Africa's availability declined. But food security is about more than supply. It is also about access which means income generating employment is critical. Meeting future requirements in Africa and the world will require sustainable intensification of complex production systems, appropriate national and international policies and continued investments in agricultural research. Without these conditions and increased employment intensive growth, prospects for the future are less bright.