5 research outputs found
Internal Control in the Public Sector of Ghana: A Case Study
No full textInternal control is considered to be a key corporate governance mechanism. The purpose of this study is to provide an account of the internal control activities and their challenges from the staff perspective and an insight into the process from the Internal Auditor within the context of the Kumasi Office of Ghana Highways Authority (GHA). The data was obtained from the staff through questionnaire administration and interviewing the Internal Auditor on the process.
The data analysis was descriptive and inferential statistics while the interview responses were analyzed via an interpretative approach. The results revealed that staffs are familiar with the existence of systems for internal control. The purpose of internal controls at GHA was the most critical aspect of its internal control activities. Internal control activities suggest that the tender committee formed to evaluate tender documents and goods bought through contracts are appropriately recorded in books had the majority consensus respectively. The internal auditor suggested that enforcing the formation of an Audit Committee in the region and provision of adequate logistics for internal auditors will improve the internal control activities of GHA. The study recommends that the management of GHA at the regional office must create an environment that can positively influence the control consciousness of entity personnel
Contractual Payment Terms: A Procedural Study in the Mining Industry of Ghana
No full textThis is a qualitative study to explore the procedures on contractual payment terms of Newmont Ghana as mining companies procure their goods and services through contractors/suppliers. Interviews were conducted with the three Contracts Administrators and complemented with archival records. The data analysis was inductive using thematic analysis from a constructivist viewpoint. The result reveals that contract requests, negotiations and evaluation were the bases for awarding a contract. The challenges have its root in non-compliance and communications gaps in the processes and procedures on contractual payment terms. The study concludes that there is a comprehensive laid-down procedure for how Newmont Ghana arrives at its payment terms. The study proposes that there must be effective coordination and collaboration between the Contracts department and the accounts payable office internally while externally Newmont must improve its supplier relationship management through best practices on account payables. Lessons learned with the prescription of four generic points to improve contractual payment terms of any organisation. This is one of the very few papers of a procedural study on contractual payment terms of contractors in the mining industry of Ghana using in-depth interviews and documentation reviews
Contractual Payment Terms: A Procedural Study in the Mining Industry of Ghana
No full textThis is a qualitative study to explore the procedures on contractual payment terms of Newmont Ghana as mining companies procure their goods and services through contractors/suppliers. Interviews were conducted with the three Contracts Administrators and complemented with archival records. The data analysis was inductive using thematic analysis from a constructivist viewpoint. The result reveals that contract requests, negotiations and evaluation were the bases for awarding a contract. The challenges have its root in non-compliance and communications gaps in the processes and procedures on contractual payment terms. The study concludes that there is a comprehensive laid-down procedure for how Newmont Ghana arrives at its payment terms. The study proposes that there must be effective coordination and collaboration between the Contracts department and the accounts payable office internally while externally Newmont must improve its supplier relationship management through best practices on account payables. Lessons learned with the prescription of four generic points to improve contractual payment terms of any organisation. This is one of the very few papers of a procedural study on contractual payment terms of contractors in the mining industry of Ghana using in-depth interviews and documentation reviews
Activities, employment, and wages in rural and semi-urban Mexico
No full textThe author addresses the labor markets in rural and semi-urban Mexico. The empirical analyses show that non-farm income shares increase with overall consumption levels and, also, with time. Rural-dwellers in lower quintiles of the consumption distribution tend to earn a larger share of their nonagricultural incomes from wage labor activities. For the poorest, low-productivity wage labor activities are important. The quantile wage regression analysis for rural Mexico shows a rather heterogeneous impact pattern of individual characteristics across the wage distribution on monthly wages. The author's findings reveal that education is key to earning higher wages, and that workers in more dispersed rural areas earn less than their peers in semi-urban rural areas (localities with less than 15,000 inhabitants). The rural non-farm sector is heterogeneous and includes a great variety of activities and productivity levels across non-farm jobs. Moreover it can reduce poverty in a couple of distinct but qualitatively important ways in rural Mexico. The analysis of non-farm employment in rural Mexico suggests that the two key determinants of access to employment and productivity in non-farm activities are education and location.Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Municipal Financial Management
Wage determination in Northeast Brazil
No full textThe author analyzes the labor markets in the Northeast region of Brazil that includes Pernambuco, Bahia, and Ceará states. Her findings show a rather heterogeneous impact pattern of individual characteristics on monthly wages across the wage distribution. That is, the magnitude of the effect of a wage determinant is different depending on whether the worker is placed in the lower, median, or top of the wage distribution. The findings reveal that basic schooling matters for all four geographical areas and across the income distribution. However, poor workers are awarded lower returns than their richer peers, and in Bahia and Ceará, the poor do not obtain any returns to basic schooling. Furthermore, the impact of 5-8 or 9-11 years of education is larger than that of 1-4 years of completed education. The returns obtained by a median worker are higher in Ceará and Pernambuco than in Bahia. Finally, completed tertiary education offers the largest returns of all levels of education. The median worker receives a premium of 105, 249, and 216 percent in Ceará, Pernambuco, and Bahia, respectively. Hence, one direct policy implication is to increase the quality of education, in particular in poorer neighborhoods. Experience impacts positively on wages and it increases with age until workers reach 50 years of age. However, returns to experience are falling significantly across the wage distribution. For the poor and younger generations, experience contributes more to wages than education. The occupation of workers is important for wage determination. All workers in the included occupational groups are paid more than workers engaged in agricultural activities. Workers employed as technicians or administrators obtain the highest returns. The white/nonwhite wage disparity reveals that white workers are paid 17 percent more than their nonwhite co-workers, takinginto account other characteristics. Gender disparities are large in the Northeast and heterogeneous across the wage distribution. The time spent in the current state impacts adversely on wages. That is, those that have stayed earn, on average, less than the newcomers. There are no considerable differences between male and female workers. Union membership has a positive impact on workers'wages.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Curriculum&Instruction,Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Economic Theory&Research
