ARS - 2010
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/168
Browse
122 results
Search Results
Item Corporate Reporting Practices in Sri Lanka with special reference to the Manufacturing Companies Listed in Colombo Stock Exchange(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Pushpakumara, W.P.N.; Rajapakse, R.M.D.A.P.In recent years all over the world there has been increasing demand for transparency of operations with respect to environmental and social performance of the corporate in addition to its financial performance. The environmental and social reporting is a tool for extending a broad dialogue with stakeholders, those who are interested in the organization. Environmental and social reporting is a gesture to reveals Company’s commitment towards sustainability, it underlines their responsiveness to those who always want to know the company betterment. Thus corporate reporting on social is grown significantly throughout the world. This study has been carried out to analyze the extent of corporate reporting by the listed companies in manufacturing sector of the Colombo Stock Exchange and the how it influenced by the company attributes. The researches have identified five main categories of disclosures such as Information on Accounting and Finance, Information on Personal, Information on Marketing, Information on Production and General Information. The research population is manufacturing sector in Sri Lanka, and the research is based on 3listed companies has been selected on the sample from manufacturing industry listed in Colombo Stock Exchange. The research is based on the secondary data of the companies for the period covering 2008 to 2010. The empirical results of the study indicate that a large number of reporting items have lesser disclosure score in the selected sample during the period. Information on Accounting and Finance has gained maximum disclosure score percentage during the period while general information has the lowest score of disclosure. Further it has found that a positive significant relationship between the sizes and the disclosure and also turnover and disclosure of the company. Finally it concludes that the disclosure practices of Sri Lankan manufacturing companies still not in a satisfactory level, therefore corporate sector of the Sri Lanka must be pays special attention on this regard.Item Adaptation of e-commerce by Sri Lankan companies(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Munasinghe, M.A.T.K.; Kumari, P.W.N.A.Electronic Commerce or E-commerce is the newest trading mechanism activated by means of the internet or other computer networks. This particular trade method is functioned in three forms namely Public relations, Brochuring and Retail. The Retail form represents fully adoption level of e-commerce. E-commerce offers excellent opportunities for growth in developing nations. Hence it is needed to have a better understanding of current adoption levels pertaining to it. To understand the potential for E-commerce and the current state of adoption in Sri Lanka it was supposed to conduct a survey on this particular field. All companies listed in CSE were selected for survey. The study is based on review of websites of each listed companies in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). CSE has 236 listed companies representing 2business sectors. CSE is one of the top performing markets in Asia with an average annual index growth rate of 27%. The research reveals that 41% of companies fall under the public relations, 27% of companies are brochuring and 17% of companies are retailing. Overall findings conclude that 85% of companies adopt E-commerce in Sri Lanka.Item The impact of types of ownership on small firm performance in Sri Lanka(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Nanayakkara, K.G.M.; Wijetunge, W.A.D.S.Over the past 2years new and small firms have been identified by most economies as significant components of economic strategies for job and wealth creation. This has paved the way for a large amount of innovators to start new ventures. In the Sri Lankan context, according to the recent (2003/2004) banking survey done by International Finance Corporation on the Sri Lankan SMEs, SMEs constitute 80-90% of total establishments, 70% of employment and 20% of industrial value added. However recent literature shows that percentage of collapse of these newly started ventures is substantially high due to various reasons. Birley and Westhead (1990) pointed out that types of ownership directly affect the performance of small businesses. Businesses with one owner have been performed well and they have survived long time. Accordingly with the objectives of identifying different types of ownership and testing it against performance of SMEs in the Sri Lankan context, this study has been carried out. The sample consisting of 5small business owners, which was selected from the Gampaha District. The study followed the inductive method of research and the data was collected through a structured questionnaire and interviews. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS software which includes both descriptive statistics and parametric tests. The results of the study showed that the ownership of small firms concentrated on sole proprietors, partnership, family members and private limited and 78% of the small businesses are run by sole proprietors. Further the study revealed that the different types of ownership will affect the performance of the small firms.Item Determinants of Exchange Rate Movements(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Ranjani, R.P.C.; Fernando, J.M.R.; Rathnasiri, U.A.H.A.The economy is comprised of many activities that fulfill human needs. The fluctuations of economy depend on variety of economic tools in any country. The exchange rate is one of the most important macro economic tool, since it links the domestic economy and the rest of the economies together. In the recent past, countries have shown a tendency to choose either hard peg or freely float system in determining their exchange rate. Since January 2001 Sri Lanka was abandoned the existing floated system which were governed by the Central Bank to a free float system by allowing greater freedom in determining the exchange rate through market forces. Therefore identification of the macro economic factors is significant in determination of exchange rate. In this study we have taken the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) as the dependent variable and interest rate, inflation rate and GDP growth rate as the macro economic variables. Three months Treasury bills rate is represent the interest rate and Weighted Price Index (WPI) is for the calculation of the inflation. This study will be basically using secondary data sources such as Central Bank annual reports, and Central Bank Website. The time period for this study considered from year 2005 to 200based on quarterly balances. For analysis of data regression and correlation coefficient were used. The result shows that the correlations between the dependent variables and the independent variables have strong relationship and the regression results shows that the selected macroeconomic variables are significant in determining the exchange rate. Overall results conclude that the exchange rate is insightful to the macro economic variables.Item Necessity and importance of developing forensic accounting services in Sri Lanka to mitigate corporate failures(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Thilakarathna, P.M.C.The accounting scandals involving Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing in the world, and Pramuka Bank and Golden Key Credit card companies in Sri Lanka have put accountants in the public spotlight as never before in their history. After these accounting scandals, public confidence in the accounting profession has been undermined (Wallace, 1991; Chu, 1999). Sri Lanka is in the process of economic transformation, and with the gradual development of the economy and the continual enhancement of the comprehensive national strength, the accounting information is more and more important in the whole social and economic activity, and the amount of the civil action induced by the accounting information is increasing by the geometric series, which will all quicken the further integration of the legal domain and the accounting domain, and generate a new accounting domain, i.e. the forensic accounting. This study investigates the necessity and importance of developing forensic or investigative accounting services to mitigate corporate failures. The failure of statutory audit to prevent and reduce mis-appropriation of corporate fund and an increase in corporate crime has put pressure on the professional accountant and legal practitioner to find a better way of exposing frame in business world. The study makes use of available literature on forensic accounting and intends to find out how the knowledge of forensic accounting can reduce corporate fraud and mismanagement which eventually resulted in collapsing commercial ventures in Sri Lanka. Study finds that the generation of forensic accounting services is closely related with the economic and legal background and the social demand, and the development and change of the economy and the society will be the core force to push the advance of the forensic accounting. In this context, Sri Lanka should establish and develop the forensic and investigative accounting services as soon as possible to reduce unexpected corporate failures. Key words- Forensic and investigative accounting, frauds, corporate failuresItem Accounting information of cooperative rural banks in Sri Lanka(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Jayamaha, A.Many small financial institutions (SFIs) in developing countries make great effort to provide efficient services to the poorhouse holders. In Sri Lanka, Cooperative rural banks (CRBs), one of the formal SFIs in Sri Lanka, serve a large number of customers, deal with a large amount of funds and have substantial contributions to the rural financial sector during the last four decades. In recent literature, accounting information, integral part of the corporate governance mechanism has been highlighted in regulatory and supervisory framework of SFIs (Bushman and Smith2001; Mullineux 2006; Cayanan 2007). However, there is a doubt of providing relevant and sufficient information to the stakeholders in SFIs in developing countries due to not maintaining appropriate accounting practices. In Sri Lanka, recent collapses of many financial institutions also signal that they do not provide relevant and sufficient information to their stakeholders. This paper seeks to assess the accounting practices of CRBs in Sri Lanka. In the absence of accepted standards for the preparation and presentation of financial statements of SFIs in Sri Lanka, the accounting practices of CRBs were assessed, by using generally accepted accounting principles for financial institutions and international guidelines for Microfinance institutions. Those are considered as the most appropriate benchmark for CRBs in Sri Lanka. The empirical analysis reveals that there is considerable variation in the accounting practices for the provision for loan losses and write-off of loan losses across CRBs. Some CRBs use accounting practices that are on par with those accepted by global financial institutions even though no specific guidelines exist for Sri Lankan CRBs.Item Macroeconomic determinants of stock market return with special reference to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE)(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Karunarathne, W.V.A.D.; Ranjani, R.P.C.; Kumari, P.W.N.A.The linkage between macroeconomic variables and the movement of stock prices for developing countries have been widely discussing topic in research arena. CSE is one of the top performing markets in Asia with an average annual index growth rate of 27% and currently it shows the continuous upward trend. There for this study explores the association between selected macroeconomic variables and sectorial indexes. Since it would be almost impossible to incorporate every potential aspect to explain the stock market behavior we limit our study to the selected monthly macro economic variables such as inflation rate (IR), three months treasury bill rate (TBR) and exchange rate US$ =LKR (ER) for the period of 5 years from 2005 to 200and we select five sectors in CSE as proxy for represent all twenty sectors. Those are Banks Finance and Insurance (BFI), Diversified Holdings (DH), Hotels and Travels (H&T), Telecommunications (Telecom), and Trading. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software and Stepwise regression analysis was applied to test for the linkage. Upon testing stepwise regression analysis we show that changes in CSE sectorial indexes do perform a significant relationship with, IR, TBR, and ER. Coefficient of determination (R2) for BFI, DH, H&T, Telecom, and Trading are 60%, 50%, 60%, 68%, and 42% respectively. All the three variables are significant at 1 % level for all the sectors except DH and Trading. Another important finding was ER doesn't make significant influence on the sectorial indexes in DH and Trading. An overall finding concludes that Colombo Stock Exchange is sensitive to changes in the macroeconomic variables. It is hoped that the finding of this study would provide some meaningful insights to the body of knowledge, policy makers as well as the practitioners.Item An Empirical Analysis on Determinants of Capital Structure in Sri Lankan Companies(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Silva, P.A.P; Ranjani, R.P.C.One of the central issues in both the theory and the practice of finance is the problem of determining the optimal capital structure of the firm. This study was undertaken to identify the most significant variables considered for the design of the capital structure and to determine whether or not such factors affect capital structure decision significantly and whether such vary among the sample companies. The study examined the relevance of the corporate capital structure determinants such as size, profitability, tangibility, growth, tax, non debt tax shields and volatility to leverage. The sample of five industries namely Beverage Food and Tobacco, Hotels and Travel, Land and Property, Manufacturing and Plantations during the period of 2003 to 200was selected from the companies registered and listed in Colombo Stock Exchange. The preliminary analysis of the degree of the liner association between variables has been done with the help of Karl Pearsons correlation method. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis has been used to identify the most significant variables out of various selected explanatory variables. The results show positive association between leverage and non debt tax shields, -size measured in terms of sales, size measured in terms of assets, tax, volatility, tangibility, and profitability (return on equity) while -negatively associate with profitability (return on capital), profitability (return on assets) and growth opportunities. The results have revealed that the size measured in terms of sales, size measured in terms of assets, profitability- (return on equity), profitability (return on capital), growth opportunities, tangibility, tax, non debt tax shields are the significant determinants in the capital structure. Finally, it had been tested on the applicability of Static Trade-off, Pecking Order and Agency Cost theories in the Sri Lankan context. Hence, it is suggested to conduct further research on the determinants of capital structure by considering financial managers board of directors, and the financial consultants thinking patterns and attitudes, based on the available sources in the corporate sector.Item The Impact of work related factors on Labour Management Relationship(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Gamage, P.N.; Uduwella, U.K.S.M.Labour Management Relationship is an important factor that could contribute to gain the competitive advantage in productivity and value addition in both manufacturing and service producing organizations in theglobal environment of this new millennium. Existing literature reveals a gap in the knowledge in respect of work related factors that affect Labour Management relationship in Sri Lankan context . Effective handling of work related factors has become a vital aspect in maintaining a harmonious and a productive Labour Management Relationship. This study is an attempt to identify the impact of work related factors on Labour Management Relationship in Rubber Manufacturing organizations in Sri Lanka. Further this study empirically evaluated four work related factors that could have an effect on Labour Management Relationship, namely Routinization, Autonomy, Distributive justice and procedural justice while the Labour Management Relationship was analyzed under four dimensions namely Understanding between parties, Participation, Grievance Handling and Dispute settlement. The objective of this study was to identify the impact of work related factors on Labour Management Relationship. Hence the study involved randomly selected ninety employees who are currently working for unionized companies which are engaged in manufacturing rubber products in Sri Lanka. Data were obtained by giving a structured questionnaire. Reliability of the questionnaire was more than 0.7 according to the Cronbaches Alpha test. The regression analysis and Persons correlation Analysis were used to analyze the data. The statistical results of this study revealed that there is a positive and significant association between work related factors; Autonomy , Distributive justice and procedural justice while as a work related factor Routinization has a negative relationship with Labour Management Relationship. This study enhances the degree of understanding of the work related factors and how it can be used to enhance the Labour Management Relationship of Rubber production industry in SriLanka.Item Reasons for Strikes in Plantation Industry(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Gamage, P.N.; Uduwella, U.K.S.M.The economy of Sri Lanka still remains on plantation agriculture and also the largest concentration of resident labour in the country was in the plantation sector. Today globalization process has offered unlimited opportunities as well as challenges for the plantation industry. To survive in the global market, management must emphasize on taking corrective actions to minimize the cost of production and enhance the quality of product. Periodically it seems that in the plantation Industry the frequency of strikes is rather high. Thus the problem addressed under this study was why such a poor situation has occurred. Existing literature reveals a gap in the knowledge in respect of Strikes in Plantation industry. The main purpose of this research was to find out the reasons for strikes in plantation industry and also to identify the most prominent reasons among them. All the strikes occurred in plantation sector during the period of 1999-2008 were considered. Additionally the study was based on two specific objectives namely to identify the reasons for strikes in plantation sector and also to identify the relationship between trade union membership density and loss of man power hours in plantations. The study was based on secondary data obtained from the Department of Labour. The data were analyzed by using percentage method and Pearsons correlation coefficient technique. Finally researchers found that there are eleven reasons for occurrence of strikes in plantation industry and the most prominent reason was Poor working Conditions. This study further revealed that there is a negative significant association between trade union membership density and loss of man power hours.