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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that motivate women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to become self-employed. Design/methodology/approach -Different factors, documented in previous research, that affect women's decisions to start their own businesses were included in a questionnaire. A total of 750 women entrepreneurs in the UAE were asked to express the degree of agreement with the factors listed in the questionnaire. Of them, 449 completed the questionnaire. Findings -Financial support from the government especially in the start-up capital is an important factor that motivates women to establish their own businesses. Self-fulfillment, knowledge, skills and experience, including relationship to spouse/father business, are all important factors in the development of women entrepreneurs. Unlike previous research factors such social norms, market network, and competition do not seem to be barriers for women in becoming entrepreneurs. Research limitations/implications -Questionnaires were mainly distributed in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. To give a clear picture of factors affecting women's decision to start their own businesses in the UAE, the opinion of women located in other Emirates needs to be investigated. The questionnaire survey targeted women entrepreneurs. To give a clear picture, future studies should target women who chose not to start their own businesses. Practical implications -The outcome of this study will be used by researchers and policy makers to motivate women to become entrepreneurs. Women involvement in developing their businesses provides job opportunities and ensures that women are taking active part in the development of the national economy. Originality/value -This is the first study that uses empirical evidence to identify factors that motivate women in the UAE to become self-employed.

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PurposeThe study investigates the structure of audit fees in an emerging economy, Jordan.Design/methodology/approachThe following regression model will be tested: ADFEES = f (SIZE, AUST, COMP, INDS, PROF, RISK, YEND, TLAG). The model is tested by running a cross‐sectional linear ordinary least squares (OLS) regression of the audit fees on corporate size, the status of the audit firm, the degree of corporate complexity, profitability, risk, corporate accounting year end and the lag between the audit report and the end of the accounting year.FindingsThe results of the analysis revealed that corporate size, status of the audit firm, industry type, degree of corporate complexity and risk are the main determinants of audit fees. However, variables such as corporate profitability, corporate accounting year‐end (YEND) and time lag between YEND and the audit report date appeared to be insignificant determinants of audit fees.Research limitations/implicationsIn order to generalize the outcome of the study, the same study needs to be conducted over a long period of time (five years). Other variables such as the market share of the audit firm and the economic conditions of the country need to be included in the regression model in future research.Originality/valueThe outcome of the study can be used by audit firms to determine audit fees. Companies' management can also use the results of the study to predict the amount of audit fees that they will pay.

In this study an attempt is made to provide empirical evidence on the usefulness of different aspects of the annual report to various Kuwaiti user groups. To do so, eight Kuwaiti user groups were surveyed through a questionnaire. The groups were individual investors; institutional investors, bank credit officers, government officials, financial analysts, academics, auditors and stock market brokers. The analyses indicate that the user groups surveyed in the study rely mainly on information made directly available by the company and do not consult intermediary sources of corporate information in order to make informative decisions. The analyses also revealed that credibility and timeliness are the most important features of useful corporate information and traditional financial statements are the most important and credible parts of corporate annual reports. Non-financial information, however, proved to be less credible and of less importance to the Kuwaiti user groups.