Browsing by Author "Vanker, Salma."

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Adoption of Islamic banking amongst Muslim accountants and lawyers in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2018) Vanker, Salma.; Deodutt, Jugjith.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for less than 2% of total Islamic Banking assets despite its 500 million Muslim population. As a consequence of low adoption in Africa, particularly in South Africa, there is a need to navigate this challenge and understand what drives the development of Islamic Banking in order to identify ways to stimulate its growth. Given the role and esteem of Muslim Accountants and Lawyers in the business sector of KwaZulu-Natal, this quantitative study aimed to determine the motivational factors for adopting Islamic Banking amongst Muslim Accountants and Lawyers in KwaZulu-Natal. A self-administered questionnaire was used, which contained specific questions relating to knowledge, perceptions and bank selection criteria. The study identified a lack of understanding and scepticism about the underlying principles of Islamic Banking. The original contribution of the study is the availability of a set of ranked factors that increase adoption of Islamic Banking. Further, the study addressed effective ways to bridge the education gap and promoted a collaboration between various stakeholders to find solutions to implement Islamic Banking in the ever-complex and dynamic business environment, whilst still adhering to the principles of Islam. The study identified the need for a single unified regulatory body and provided insights about its role and composition thus provides policy makers with useful information to inform policy formulation and implementation.
An analysis of the trends in integrated reporting by South African government-owned enterprises.
(2023) Omarjee, Ayesha.; Vanker, Salma.
In recent times, government-owned enterprises have faced a deficit in terms of accountability. Addressing this issue, there has been a call for an oversight mechanism to enhance governance and consequently, accountability within state-owned companies (IOD and PWC, 2011). Integrated reporting has emerged as a response to this demand, primarily due to its capacity to offer a comprehensive perspective on the factors that contribute to value creation for an organisation over different time frames. Recognising the advantages that integrated reporting brings to corporate governance, South African government-owned enterprises have acknowledged its potential and subsequently incorporated integrated reporting in accordance with King IV principles and the IR Framework. The objective of this research is to analyse the patterns in integrated reporting among government-owned enterprises according to The Public Finance Management Act of 1999, focusing on the financial periods of 2018, 2019, and 2020. This study assesses the depth of information disclosed by government-owned enterprises and its alignment with the suggestions and criteria set forth by the King IV guidelines and IR Framework for integrated reporting. This evaluation utilizes a scorecard methodology to gauge the degree of disclosure achieved by each individual government-owned enterprise. Based on the empirical facts from the analysis, it is clear and conclusive that the level of reporting and disclosure of government-owned enterprises has improved consistently over the years. This assertion is based on the evident adoption and the upward trend in the application of the Integrated Reporting Framework for integrated reporting by government-owned enterprises. Whilst the overall average level of disclosure is good, there is without debate a necessity for improvement in some critical areas highlighted in this research . Notable among these areas are leadership, governance, stakeholder relationships, organizational ethics, and corporate citizenship.
A comparative analysis of Islamic and conventional fund performance on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
(2021) Abdul Latiff, Arshad.; Sibanda, Mabutho.; Vanker, Salma.
The study comparatively evaluated the performance of Islamic and Conventional funds vis-à-vis selected market benchmark indices. This was carried out by the creation of both Islamic and Conventional portfolios based on existing individual South African funds listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Whilst the study utilised descriptive statistical analysis for the non-risk adjusted performance analysis, several investment performance models were used for the risk adjusted performance analysis. Relevant statistical tests were performed to decipher relationships between the Islamic fund and the Conventional fund vis-à-vis the selected market benchmarks. Based on the non-risk adjusted performance analysis and absolute risk adjusted performance analysis, the empirical evidence suggests that the Conventional fund performed better than the Islamic fund. However, the relative risk adjusted performance analysis shows a mixed overall result during the entire period of the study. While the Modigliani & Modigliani measure and Jensen alpha showed that the Conventional fund performed better than the Islamic fund from a risk adjusted return perspective, the Treynor ratio showed that the Islamic fund performed better than the Conventional fund. Likewise, from a relative risk perspective, the study found that the Conventional fund performed better and is less risky than the Islamic fund when benchmarked against the JSE Shariah Index, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange All Share Index (JSE ALSI) Index and the Morgan Stanley Composite Index (MSCI) Emerging Markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More so, while the t-test analysis suggests that there is no statistically significant evidence to support that the Islamic fund under or outperforms the Conventional fund, the correlation analysis showed that both funds are more positively correlated and statistically significant with the South African market indices. The findings of the study imply that an investment in the Conventional fund would have offered a superlative non-risk adjusted return than the Islamic fund. Also, the relative risk adjusted performance imply that upon the diversification of unsystematic risks in some market indices, the Islamic fund may perform better than the Conventional fund. Finally, the positive correlation of both portfolios with the local market benchmarks, imply that their performance is largely influenced by the performance of both the JSE Shariah All Share Index and the JSE All Share Index