Volume 30 (2020): Edizione 3 (September 2020)

The failure of banks in Nigeria has hitherto become a recurring phenomenon. Worried by the syndrome, this paper examines the determinants of bank performance in Nigeria taking into cognizance the duality of financial measures of bank performance. From an analysis of 115 bank-year observations of a sample of 17 Nigerian deposit money banks and macroeconomic data for the period 2012-2018 using Arellano-Bover one-step system GMM estimation approach, differences in the explanatory potential of these factors between the models with risk-neutral and risk-adjusted measures of performance as dependent variables are empirically established. This suggests that there is a higher probability of investors, depositors and other stakeholders being indecisive when analyzing the performance of banks. However, relying on the assumptions of risk-return hypothesis and level of risk embedded in banks’ operations could warrant them opting for determinants of risk-adjusted returns in their decision making. This study is exceptional in the bank performance literature for its long list of measures and drivers of bank performance.

This research introduces organization and personal dimensions to the study of ethics amid the adverse reactions of the users of the financial statements to a business fiasco. Using survey research design, a sample of one hundred and thirty-eight audit firms was taken while Probit analysis was used in testing the propositions made. Findings indicate that knowledge of the client industry and government policy are vital in shaping ethical decision making. It was concluded that environmental uncertainties and personal orientation of the auditor offers explanations to the dilemma and decision making of the auditor. Thus, it is suggested that a critical review of audit personnel characteristics and the technological environment would be a step in the right direction if the ethical dilemma is to be minimized.

A provincial analysis of Okun’s law in South Africa is provided in this article from 1996 to 2016. Empirically, we rely on the nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag (N-ARDL) model whilst the Corbae-Ouliaris filter is used to extract the ‘gap’ variables required for our regression estimates. Okun’s law is found to be significant hold in the long-run exclusively for the Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal provinces whereas the remaining provinces partially display significant short-run effects. Our sensitivity analysis in which panel N-ARDL estimations for all provinces finds insignificant long-run Okun effects for the country as a whole, whilst validating the relationship only in the short-run. Our study hence advises that the epicenter of policy efforts in addressing the country’s high unemployment and low economic growth dilemma should be concentrated at a provincial level.

The research of new intelligent features has shown huge potential to optimize the supply chain and enhance consumer consciousness of product utilization. The implementation of bioeconomy principles in all sectors is essential in seeking to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Innovation in the packaging industry can be considered as one of the key sectors in this approach. The study deals with the evaluation of the perception of intelligent packaging in Slovakia as ecological innovations through the Kano model. The results indicate that customer awareness of intelligent packaging as ecological innovation in the context bioeconomy is still at a low level in Slovakia. Hdgdgdsgowever, from the point of view of intelligent packaging, Slovak customers represent a key element of stakeholders for the management of innovation processes towards bioeconomy criteria.

The manipulation of the information presented through financial statements could represent a significant red flag for suspected fraud. In our paper, we investigated the extent to which the Romanian companies resort to manipulation of information data presented through the reported annual financial statements. For this purpose, we used a group consisting of 62 non-financial companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange for the analyzed period 2017-2018. The results of our study show that a majority percentage of the Romanian companies (approx. 84%) resort to manipulation of information provided through financial statements. Following the analysis carried out by activity fields, the results show that the companies activating in the fields of tourism, constructions, trade and transport resort to the manipulation of financial statements in the percent of 100%, followed by the companies activating in the field of production (86%) and services (50%). Our results are extremely useful to the users of financial information who must acknowledge the risks that they are exposed to in their decision-making process.

The study aims to explore the real wage convergence across the 42 Romanian counties from 1991 to 2016 by using the convergence algorithm developed by Phillips and Sul (2007). The process of divergence is identified in the period of 1991-2016 as well as a number of 4 convergence subgroups (clusters). Transitional curves indicate that over the long-run the real wage tends to converge. Policy implications of the paper’s findings are also provided.

Agriculture is a priority sector of the national economy, so the analysis of the economic performance of agricultural holdings in Romania using modern methods, such as econometric modeling, is of particular importance. In this article is made an analysis of economic performance, expressed by ROA and ROE, for the first 500 farms in Romania (ordered by turnover size), over a period of 5 years, the purpose being to provide an answer to a fundamental research question: Which are the economic indicators/variables that significantly influence the economic performance expressed by ROA and ROE? The results of this study highlight the relevance of the econometric modeling applied for performance analysis as well as the main indicators that significantly influence the economic performance of agricultural holdings expressed by ROA and ROE. The paper brings a significant contribution to make correct decisions aimed at the economic performance of the agricultural sector.