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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the micro determinants of the extent of credit rationing experienced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana.

The study adopted the direct approach to investigating the presence of credit rationing. This involves the use of surveys permitting loan applicants to report on their credit market experiences. The multinomial logistic regression model was then applied to the survey data to arrive at the findings reported.

The study amongst other things confirms the existence of credit rationing in the SME sector. It also revealed that the extent to which SMEs are rationed varies and these variations are determined by the characteristic of the SME owner and the characteristics of the business.

The use of the survey method in investigating credit rationing could introduce some biases in the responses obtained. However, the lack of publicly available data did not permit the use of the indirect method which is based on the testing for possible violation of the permanent income hypothesis. Despite its weakness, the survey method remains the more realistic approach to investigating credit constraints especially in the data-constrained developing countries. The design and piloting of the questionnaire as well as the use a large sample size all went a long way to reduce any possible biases in the responses.

Despite the fact that a number of studies exist on SME financing problem in Ghana, available studies present the problem as if it were the same for all SMEs. Even though there is evidence to suggest that SMEs may be rationed in the credit market to different extents, currently, there are no known studies that have empirically investigated the various degrees of rationing and factors that determine the extent to which SMEs may be credit rationed. This paper thus attempts to contribute to the literature by unearthing these factors.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate overconfidence bias and the effect of presidential elections on investor overconfidence bias in sub-Saharan African stock markets.

The study uses the vector autoregressive (VAR) model and its associated impulse response functions to investigate overconfidence bias. Furthermore, we make use of OLS regressions to examine the effect of presidential elections on investor overconfidence bias.

Investor overconfidence bias is present in the markets of Ghana and Tanzania suggesting that the phenomenon persists in sub–Saharan Africa's small markets. We also find that post-presidential election periods have a dampening effect on investor overconfidence in a country where there is less post-election uncertainty.

Despite the previous studies on investor overconfidence bias in sub-Saharan Africa, this paper to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to investigate investor overconfidence bias in the context of presidential elections.

This paper aims to examine the theoretical underpinnings of international financial reporting standards (IFRS)-related studies and offers directions for theoretical and empirical research. Specifically, this study examines the main theories in IFRS adoption research (i.e. adoption, compliance and effects).

The sample contains 67 empirical papers that have used theories and was collected from Web of Science database. This study uses a systematic review technique.

Generally, the review shows the prevalent and pervasive use of institutional theories of isomorphism across all the three areas of IFRS adoption. Particularly, regarding IFRS adoption stream, this study finds the institutional theory as a dominant theory used to explain IFRS diffusion around the globe. For IFRS compliance, this study finds that the agency and the capital need theories are widely used. For IFRS adoption effects stream, this study finds a few studies using the contingency and neo-institutional theories. Overall, the review provides theoretical lens for IFRS adoption, IFRS compliance and IFRS adoption effects.

Given the lack of a well-defined set of theories in the domain of accounting, the findings provide further guidance on theory building within the field. Further, accounting regulators, academics and practitioners may benefit from the findings when explaining various changes in the world of accounting.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of presidential elections on stock return volatility in five leading stock markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper uses various criteria to select an appropriate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model to estimate the second moment of the return distribution with the inclusion of pre- and post-presidential election dummy variables that capture the effect of presidential elections on stock market volatility.

The empirical results show that high pre-election uncertainty increases volatility in the Nairobi Stock Exchange, Stock Exchange of Mauritius and the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Furthermore, the results show that volatility in stock return is reduced 90 days after an election in Nigeria and South Africa but increases 90 days after elections in Ghana.

Contrary to the previous studies that are conducted in a single country with focus on specific elections, this paper provides a comparative analysis of presidential elections and stock return volatility in five leading stock markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate investor herding behaviour and the effect of presidential elections on investor herding behaviour in African stock markets at the sector level.

The study segregates listed firms into financial, consumer goods, consumer services and basic materials sectors and uses the cross-sectional absolute deviation approach as a metric of detecting herding in each of the sectors. The authors extend the model to tease out the effect of presidential elections on investor herding behaviour.

The study reveals that sectoral differences are fundamental to the evolution of herding. Herding is prominent in a financial services sector dominated by banks. The phenomenon also prevails in markets with smaller consumer goods and services sectors. A post-presidential election effect on investor herding is found for the consumer goods and services sectors of Ghana and a pre-presidential election effect is documented in Nigeria's consumer services sector. The authors conclude that post-presidential election effect is as a result of political connections whilst a pre-presidential election effect is attributable to political business cycles.

The study is based on four African countries due to data constraints. Nonetheless, the study is the first in Africa to the best of the authors' knowledge, and the results are very solid and have a lot of practical and policy implications.

The study has implications for investors as it guides investment behaviour in pre- and post-presidential election periods.

Past studies on investor herding behaviour in African stock markets have largely concentrated on the aggregate market. Knowledge on sectoral differences in investor herding is almost non-existent for African stock markets. Furthermore, premised on the fact that stock markets react to presidential elections, there is no known study that have attempted to examine the effect of presidential elections on investor herding behaviour. This paper contributes to the literature by providing evidence on sectoral differences in investor herding behaviour and the effect of presidential elections on sectoral herding behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between financial inclusion, banking stability and economic growth in sub-Saharan African countries given the interconnectedness between them. Globally, financial inclusion has gained recognition as a critical channel for promoting economic growth by bringing a large proportion of the unbanked population into the formal financial system. This cannot be achieved exclusive of the banking sector.

This paper focussed on 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Data on financial inclusion and the economy were obtained from the World Bank, and bank soundness indicators data were also obtained from International Monetary Fund covering the 11-year period from 2008 through 2018. Panel system generalised method of moments is employed for the regression analysis because it has the capability to produce unbiased and consistent results even if there is endogeneity in the model.

The results show that economic growth drives banking stability and not vice versa; confirming a unidirectional causality from gross domestic product to banking stability. So, this study finds support for the demand-following hypothesis. The paper further observed that financial inclusion positively and significantly influences the stability of banks and economic growth. The study established that bank capital regulation negatively influences banking stability in sub-Saharan African countries.

This study does not capture the unique country-specific relationship.

The policy implication is that policymakers in sub-Saharan African countries should focus on growth-enhancing policies that improve the level of financial inclusion. The central banks in sub-Saharan African countries should take advantage of the positive effect of financial inclusion to develop regulatory frameworks and policies that make it attractive for banks to continue to expand their operations to the unbanked.

This is, as far as the authors know, the explanation of the interconnection of financial inclusion, banking stability and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to establish whether or not the absence of registered property titles is a barrier to credit access amongst small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana.

The study involved the conducting of surveys amongst credit officers of financial institutions in Ghana; participants were from both microfinance institutions and universal banks. To achieve the aim of this study the survey was designed to study the attitudes of credit officers towards the use of property as security for SME credit. Their experiences in handling such issues were captured through a series of closed ended questions. Participants were randomly sampled and the data analysed descriptively using SPSS.

The results amongst other things show that most formal lenders accept landed property for collateral purposes irrespective of whether they are covered by registered property titles or not. Also found were differences existing between traditional banks and the microfinance institutions.

Small businesses are exposed to several challenges which hinder their growth and have potential to contribute to the overall agenda of poverty reduction. Prominent amongst these challenges is the difficulty in raising funds for investments purposes. Whilst some have attributed this to the lack of assets which could be used as collateral, others have argued that it is the result of the absence of formal property titles which have made land an unacceptable form of collateral. Previous studies have focused on the demand side however; the supply side is the focus of this study.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the argument linking land registration to agricultural investment and to provide theoretical reasons as to why this linkage may not materialise in Africa within the short to medium term.

The paper takes the form of a critical review of the relevant literature on land registration, access to credit and agricultural investment; arguments are built on empirical studies found in the literature and theoretical concepts.

It has been established in this paper that the links between landed property registration and agricultural investments are made defective in Africa by factors such as poverty, lack of appropriate agro‐based infrastructure and the fact that land registration per se does not improve the profitability of agriculture, neither does it improve access to credit.

The fact that this paper is based on literature review may be seen as a weakness to some extent.

Even though previous researchers have looked at the relationship between landed property registration and agricultural investment in the developing world, they fall short of critically explaining why land registration has been found not to enhance agricultural investment. This paper fills the gap through a combination of various theoretical and practical arguments which could call for a rethinking on the policies for promoting agricultural growth. The rigorous theoretical argument may also provide the basis for further empirical research.

The assertion that land registration guarantees landownership security is common knowledge. Thus, efforts at securing landownership in particularly, the developing world have concentrated on the formulation and implementation of land registration policies. However, over the years, whilst some studies claim that land registration assures security, a lot of other studies have established that security cannot be guaranteed by land registration. Also, there is evidence from research that has shown that land registration can be a source of ownership insecurity in some cases. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the underpinning principles of land registration and their application in order to establish whether or not land registration can actually guarantee ownership security.

It is a literature review paper that looks at the existing literature on landownership, security and land registration systems. The land registration principles that have been subjected to critical analysis are the publicity function of land registration, the legality of ownership emanating from land registration and the warranty provided by the State in land registration, specifically, under the Torrens system.

An analysis of the underpinning principles of land registration shows that land registration per se cannot guarantee ownership security and this helps to explain the findings of the numerous studies, which have established that landownership security cannot be assured by land registration. The paper concludes by identifying the right role of land registration as well as a mechanism that can effectively protect or secure landownership.

Land registration policies and programmes in the developing world are often funded by the international donor community and the findings provide useful insights regarding the actual role of land registration and for policy change in terms of what can secure landownership.

Even though there are two schools of thought regarding research on the link between land registration on one hand, and landownership security on the other, none of the studies has made an attempt to consider the nexus by critically examining the principles that underpin land registration to support their arguments.

This study aims to investigate the impacts of procurement strategies on the growing proportion of construction small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and whether the size of the construction company moderates the effect.

This study adopted a quantitative research approach and a cross-sectional questionnaire survey in achieving its objectives. The survey requires the respondent to identify both the most successful and most outstanding project that the respondent was involved in between 2010 and 2016.

The study found that only traditional and management-oriented procurement strategies ensure the achievement of all growth plans for construction SMEs in South Africa; and that medium-sized construction enterprises achieve social growth such as community empowerment, managerial skills and advancement on the cidb Register of Contractors.

The findings of the study imply that policymakers should base their decisions regarding macroeconomic issues and growth plans for construction SMEs on the internal and external factors such as differences in the sizes of construction SMEs and differences in the suitability of procurement strategies affecting the growth of construction SMEs.

In past studies, the diversity amongst SMEs is often overlooked and SMEs are erroneously assumed to share similar objectives, possess equal capabilities and face challenges of the same magnitude. The original contribution of this study is shown in the investigation of the moderating effect of SMEs’ diversity (in terms of company size) on their growth proportion as influenced by procurement strategies.