Salman Sarwat

This study aims to investigate potential contingent factors which influence Management Accounting (MA) and Company Performance (CP) in SMEs operating in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. Data was collected from 102 SMEs by using questionnaire, which was adopted from the various researches. Management Accounting (MA) and Company Performance (CP) are endogenous variables, whereas Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT), Firm Size (FS), Qualified Accountants (QA), Strategy (STA) and Structure (STR) are exogenous variables. Reliability and validity was analyzed through Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analysis respectively. AMOS 23 was used to test the relevancy and hypotheses of designed contingency model by structural equation modeling (SEM). The results revealed that advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) and structure (STR) are significant contingent factors that have a positive impact on management accounting (MA). Firm size (FS) has a significant but negative impact on company performance (CP) whereas strategy (STA) has a significant and positive impact on company performance (CP). Qualified accountant shows insignificant impact on management accounting, whereas management accounting (MA) and structure have also shown insignificant impact on company's performance. This research has filled the knowledge gap found in the literature with regards to SMEs in Pakistan. I t w ill create awareness among the SMEs to focus on contingent variables and their effect on MA and performance, which ultimately enables the SMEs to operate efficiently in the competitive environment. This research will also help the SMEs owners, policy makers and practitioners in decision making.

This study analyzes the effects of Working Capital management i.e. inventory management, receivable management and payable management, on the performance of the non-financial firms in Pakistan. Panel data of 280 nonfinancial firms enlisted in Pakistan Stock Exchange have been analyzed from 2000 to 2016. Firms’ profitability were proximate with return on assets and return on equity; whereas for growth i.e. sales growth and asset growth were used. The impact of Working Capital management is captured through its constituent policies such as Inventory management, Receivable Management and Payable management. Firm size, liquidity and leverage are used as control variables. Results suggest that Working Capital management has a significant impact on firms’ financial performance in terms of profitability, as well as growth. As far as component wise results are concerned, inventory management does influence the firms’ growth and Payable management significantly, hence affecting the firms’ profitability. However, only receivable management influences both profitability and growth.

This study aims to find out the factors influencing the practices specially implementation of Activity Based Accounting (ABC) in the cement sector of Pakistan. The study is based on primary data collected through convenience sampling technique. Closed ended questionnaire has been used as data collection instrument, the reliability of which was checked through Cronbach's Alpha. The econometric tool of binary logistic model was applied for the identification of factors. ABC method classifies costs, based on various cost drivers. By implementing ABC system, indirect costs can be precisely allocated to various products manufactured in an organization; in doing so, an organization can go for cost reduction by controlling overheads. Organizational size, organizational structure, organizational culture, management behavior and technical issues were identified from preliminary literature review as important factors to have an influence on ABC practices in an organization. These factors were subsequently incorporated in the questionnaire. The results from Binary Logistic Regression suggests that from identified factors organizational size, organizational structure, organizational culture, and technical issues are not significantly influencing the implementation of ABC practices in the cement industry of Pakistan. Only management behavior is resulted from the analysis as significant influential factor in this regard. It can be concluded from the findings that behavior elements play vital role for the adoption and successful implementation of ABC system for the firm in Pakistan in case of cement sector. These findings are important for creating an insight among professionals as well academician regarding costing preferences and practices prevailing in Pakistan.

The aim of this study is also to find out the component wise connection between the effective management of working capital and productivity in the context of Pakistan’s cement sector. There are studies proving both, relevancy and irrelevancy of working capital management with profitability, but most of the studies advocate an inverse relationship between liquidity and profitability. Thus, a firm should maintain a delicate balance of working capital so that smooth operation can be achieved without disturbing the profitability. Panel data of 18 companies listed in KSE from cement sector from 2007 to 2011 is collected. Profitability of Companies, being dependent variable, is gauged through Return on assets (ROA). Efficiency of working capital management is calculated through six accounting ratios. Panel Least square method of regression is applied for analysis. Results suggest that assets turnover ratio (ATO), current ratio (CR) and size of the firm (SLS) have positive and significant affiliation with the return on assets (ROA). Inventory, account receivable and payable, the most important elements of working capital, found insignificant. Thus, it can be inferred that in cement sector of Pakistan, efficiency of working capital management has least role to play in enhancing the profitability of firms.

This paper aims to determine whether Exchange Rate instability of Pakistan, affects it's imports , Exports, Trade Balances, Foreign Exchange Reserves and GDP of Pakistan or not, and if so then in what direction. We have used pooled data from 1952 to 2010 (on annual basis), indirect exchange rate quotations (Dollars per Rupee) are used. We have estimated our equation by running each variable at lag 3, Estimated equation of explanatory variables (Exchange Rate, imports, Exports, Foreign Reserves) for explained variable (GDP) exhibits a significant relationship, which is highly sensitive. A change 1 basis point in exchange rate can result in thousand of USD change in GDP. The depreciation of exchange rate has a positive impact on the exports, but sudden and abrupt fluctuation in exchange rates can disturb economic growth. We have used: Correlation Removal methods, Multi-collinerity Detection and Removal Tests, Stability Test, Granger Causality Test, Auto correlation Detection and Removal Tests, in-order to make our model and it's variable, a " good predictor " for determining the Trade Balances of Pakistan, significant enough, for future predictions about GDP. 1. INTRODUCTION Exchange rate is an important macroeconomic variable and a vital factor in international trade. " Exchange rate " is the price of one currency in terms of another currency. The variability in exchange rate plays an important role in the determination of trade balance. Volatile exchange rate slows down the process of trade, destabilizes the capital movements, and shatters the confidence of investors, which slows down the process of growth. Volatility refers that how exchange rate is settled on demand and supply of domestic currency vis-à-vis to foreign currency. Exchange rate volatility can influence policy decisions, affect the volume of exports, imports and reserve money, and disturbs the allocation of productive resources and balance of payments. Exchange rate volatility provides chances to domestic investors to invest in foreign currency to obtain higher profits and thus domestic currency depreciates and economy's growth becomes venerable. The objective of the study is to see impact and the relationship of exchange rate instability on trade and GDP of Pakistan. Empirically, " Appreciation " of the exchange rate affects exports negatively and imports positively, conversely, " Depreciation " has reverse effects. Exports of Pakistan are mainly based on manufacturing and agriculture sectors with less value addition. Instability on Real exchange rate plays a vital role in determining the competitiveness of trade, real depreciation makes the home products cheaper in the world market, which Increases the level of Exports of a country. So, devaluation helps in improving the trade balance and association would be negative. However, some researchers argues that exchange rate does not significantly affect the Exports or imports of the country unless the exchange rate is highly changed i.e. " Highly Undervalued or Highly Overvalued " and no other incentives are given to the traders, Since the Exchange Rates of Pakistan, changes rapidly, therefore, it is expected that, instability in Exchange Rate, will considerably affects the Trade Balance of Pakistan. Import of capital goods plays an important role in enhancing the exports, these imports could be in the form of raw materials, machineries or both, those are used in the manufacturing sector. But, trickling effect of import of capital goods on export may take two period lags on average as setup and production process may take considerable time. Abrupt changes in exchange rate is expected to have a significant negative impact on the imports of the Pakistan, because in a small developing country the importers play safe and cautious role than any other developed country because of less risk taking and resources limitations. Similarly, growth instability will also have significant impact on imports. FOREX reserves are the vital element in determining the volume of import as a country with limited FOREX reserve has to rely on foreign borrowings or she might cut down imports. Therefore it is expected to have positive association between FOREX reserves and imports. Trade Balance Deterioration leads to exchange rate depreciation, therefore it is expected to have positive association between-Devaluation of the currency and the trade balance. Analogous to it, there is a positive association