This paper aims at providing a review of the factors that determine taxpayer compliance from a social marketing point of view. Data was obtained from 18 empirical studies published between 1985 and 2012 from across the globe. The findings made several revelations. First, too many and different explanatory factors have been proposed in the literature making comparison of findings across several studies difficult. Second, several researchers proceed without a theoretical framework to help guide the selection of independent factors. Since the use of theory enhances understanding of the major factors that affect a phenomenon, this deficiency has left the tax literature without a meaningful convergence on the key determinants. Third, aggregate analysis showed that attitudinal, normative and subjective control variables were on the overall good predictors of tax compliance. The findings suggest the following implications for research and policy action. First, it is recommended that future studies should seek to develop a few theory based set of relevant determinants of tax compliance that can yield accurate predictions. Second, tax policy makers are advised to desist from exclusive use of the conventional coercive methods (subjective control factors) normally used to compel tax compliance; instead they should take a balanced approach to tax enforcement that will also encourage voluntary compliance through change of attitudes and norms.

The need to communicate social and environmental effects of business operations to society has been with us for over four decades now. However, due to diverse factors the pace of introducing social and environmental reporting in developing countries has been slow. The purposes of this study are: to determine whether companies listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange and Parastatals in Botswana report on social and environmental issues in their annual reports and to what extent they disclose such information; to establish whether there is a difference in the level of reporting between listed companies and parastatals; and to determine whether size, type of industry and ownership influence the extent of disclosure. All listed companies and parastatals operating in Botswana formed the population of this study. Secondary data obtained from annual reports was reviewed and content analysis was employed to determine the extent of social and environment reporting. The extent of disclosure was measured using number of sentences describing the key themes such as human resources, environmental issues and community involvement. Regression analysis was used to find the association between dependent variable (extent of disclosure) and three independent variables namely size of the company, ownership and type of industry. The results suggest that social and environment reporting exists in Botswana entities and listed companies tend to disclose more than parastatals. The findings also show that size, type of industry and ownership are not good predictors of the level of social and environmental disclosure in Botswana entities.

This study had dual purposes: (1) to examine relationship between profitability and internal and external factors of commercial banks in Botswana and (2) to perform trend analysis of factors indicating banks' performance. The study analysed the secondary data obtained from Bank of Botswana reports. Profitability measures were return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and net interest income (NIM) as dependent variables. The independent variables comprised internal factors: bank liquidity, capital adequacy, credit risk, bank size, market profit opportunity, cost efficiency, and bank diversification as well as the external factors: economic growth, inflation and bank interest. We utilised regression technique to analyse the relationship between bank performance and internal and external variables presented in 3 models: ROA, ROE and NIM. The results suggest that ROE is the best measure of the bank profitability followed by ROA and NIM. The combination of inflation, cost efficiency, bank liquidity, credit risk, market profit opportunity and bank diversification was the best predictor of bank profitability as represented by ROE. The implications drawn from this study are that banks should match their operating expenses with revenue growth, and try to strike a balance between asset, liquidity, and liability management in order to remain competitive and earn higher profits. As for the regulator, effective controls should be placed on deposit rates, bank charges, inflation, and banks rates.

No abstract

This study intended to determine the disclosure levels of the CSR activities by banks in Botswana, to identify the types of information disclosed, and to determine the factors that influence the level of disclosure. The study used secondary data from the annual reports of the surveyed banks. The content analysis technique was employed and sentences that carried information relating to CSR were counted to arrive at the total of CSR reporting. Four themes of CSR, namely human resources, community involvement, environmental and ethical matters formed the bases for measuring level of CSR disclosure. The study found that a significant number of banks in Botswana are involved in CSR activities and report such engagements in annual reports. The findings of the study also suggest that the majority of banks engage extensively in and report their participation in community involvement and human resources activities. The results revealed that about two-thirds of variations in the CSR reporting levels could be explained by the combination of size, age and listing status. However, only size was found to have a positive significant relationship with CSR reporting levels. The implications of the study are that policy framework that addresses all CSR activities should be developed, and at micro level banks should come up with strategies for sustainable engagement in CSR and its disclosure.