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Epichloë festucae var. lolii and Epichloë sp. LpTG-3 are filamentous fungal endophytes of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) that have a substantial impact on New Zealand’s agricultural economy by conferring biotic advantages to the host grass. Overall, Epichloë endophytes contribute NZ$200 million to the economy annually, with strain AR37 estimated to contribute NZ$3.6 billion to the New Zealand economy over a 20-year period. This strain produces secondary metabolites, including epoxyjanthitrems, which are a class of indole diterpenes, associated with the observed effects of AR37 on livestock and insect pests. Until very recently, AR37 was intractable to genetic modification but this has changed with the application of CRISPR-Cas9 based gene editing techniques. In this paper, gene inactivation by CRISPR-Cas9 was used to deconvolute the genetic basis for epoxyjanthitrem biosynthesis, including creating an AR37 strain that has been edited to remove the biosynthesis of all indole diterpenes. We show that gene editing of Epichloë can be achieved without off-target events or introduction of foreign DNA (footprint-less) through an AMA1-based plasmid that simultaneously expresses the CRISPR-Cas9 system and selectable marker. Genetic modification events in these transformants were investigated through genome sequencing and in planta chemistry.

Includes bibliographical references., Share options have become a popular, frequently rewarding and incentive-providing form of remuneration for executive directors and other employees. Previous international research has shown that the firm's decision to grant share options may be influenced by its financial reporting situation; its tax position; the existence of conflicting interests between management and other stakeholders; as well as the firm's size and liquidity situation. The reasons why the conflict of interest has been found to be significantly associated with the granting of share options is because share options can align the interests of management with those of the shareholders and in so doing reduce the extent of agency costs. The lack of an accounting requirement to recognise share options as an expense has also been found to influence the firms' decision to grant share options depending on its financial reporting position. The firm's tax position has also been associated with the decision to grant options based on the fact that firms cannot obtain a tax deduction for the value of share options granted. Finally, large firms with liquidity constraints have been found to be more likely to grant share options, due to the lack of available cash reserves for the payment of salaries. There has been no research as to whether the above explanatory variables influence the granting of share options by South African firms. The objective of this study is to investigate whether the variables that were identified internationally as being associated with share option grants apply to grants made to South African executive directors. This study examines whether the extent of share options granted is associated with various financial reporting and tax indicators, proxies for agency costs, the firm's size and its liquidity. Data from 61 firms over 2000 and 2001 was obtained. A total of 33 firms that granted share options were examined together with 28 firms that did not. The value of share options was measured using the dividend-adjusted Black Scholes model, and the dependent variable was calculated to be the value of share options granted during the year divided by the sum of the value of share options granted and the annual cash salary paid to the executives. This variable was regressed against thirteen independent variables identified in previous research. The results of this research indicate strongly that the larger the finn and the greater the extent of future growth opportunities (represented by the ratio of research and development to total assets), the more likely it is that finns will grant options, both of which are consistent with existing theoty. Option granting behaviour was also found to differ across industries and there was some evidence that the more difficult it is to monitor executive's performance (represented by the ratio of the variance in return on equity to the variance in share price), the more likely it is that the finn will grant options. Variables that were statistically significant but in the opposite direction to what was expected were growth in assets and the market-to-book ratio, both of which were negatively correlated with option granting behaviour. TIlls inconsistency may however be due to the fact that the data from the sample may not be a true reflection of the population. Financial reporting incentives, tax disincentives, liquidity, and two proxies for agency costs (the variance of market-adjusted returns and the ratio of the variance of marketadjusted returns to total returns) were not found to be significantly associated with option granting. TIlls suggests that the lack of a requirement to recognise share options as an expense; no deductions of share options for tax purposes; the fact that executive's choose to invest in projects that yield highly variable returns; and that finns that have a large amount of noise in their share price relative to the market, do not influence the decision to grant share options in South Africa. It therefore appears that the key drivers for granting share options to South African executive directors are finn size, unclear signals between earnings performance and the quality of manager's decisions and the desire to reduce agency costs by encouraging managers to focus on long-term investment opportunities.

Purpose: This study investigates the extent to which aspirant CA(SA)s perceive how the academic programme is, and should be, developing relational and decision-making (RDM) skills. There has been extensive criticism that these skills are insufficiently developed in accounting students, an unfortunate reality which, consequently, hinders their expected performance during the SAICA training programme. Research method: A questionnaire was distributed to 103 aspirant CA(SA)s (of which 44 responded) working at one of the largest audit firms globally and currently in their 1st to 3rd year of the SAICA training programme. The questionnaire consisted of three main questions focusing on the respondents' perception of the academic programme. Findings: The majority of the respondents perceive that almost all of the RDM skills are developed to an intermediate or advanced level during the academic programme. However, respondents also perceive that the academic programme should place greater focus on developing certain RDM skills, such as relationship-building; professional scepticism and teamwork, to an advanced level, to maximise performance during the training programme. Lastly, the case study method, a teaching method by academics, resulted in the highest response rate for assisting in developing RDM skills. Originality and value: The study is the first to research RDM skills development, as defined within the new SAICA Competency Framework, during the South African academic programme. Furthermore, the findings of this study could assist SAICA in identifying RDM skills development shortcomings and whether the academic or training programme providers should bear more responsibility for developing certain skills.

Some recent studies have proposed the integration of two prominent learning theories: Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) and self-regulated learning (SRL); whilst other studies have argued against their integration. The purpose of this study is to firstly, explore these arguments regarding the theoretical feasibility of integrating CLT and SRL, and secondly, to assess whether the integration can be empirically validated using the Conceptual Model proposed by Seufert (2018). Regarding the first objective, the findings of this study support the view that the commonalities between the independent learning paradigms outweigh the differences, providing theoretical support for the integration of CLT and SRL. The second objective was achieved by statistically analysing data collected from a postgraduate accounting class. Each participant completed one of three tasks of varying levels of difficulty, followed by a questionnaire that subjectively assessed each participants' cognitive load and self-regulation. The results indicate a statistically significant positive relationship between cognitive load and perceived task difficulty, in line with existing literature. No direct significant relationships were found for the negative relationship theorised between cognitive load and mental resources available, although certain descriptive tests indirectly supported the presence of the negative relationship. Finally, there is partial support for the parabolic relationship proposed by Seufert (2018): there is a significant negative relationship between cognitive load and self-regulation, as theorised in part of the parabola. However, no significant relationship was found for the positive relationship between cognitive load and self-regulation in the parabola. Therefore, this study contributes theoretical support and partial empirical validation, using Seufert's (2018) Conceptual Model, for the integration of CLT and SRL. This study is useful to educators, researchers and professional bodies who are interested in gaining a further understanding, through the integration of CLT and SRL, of the trade-off between the cognitive load experienced during learning, and the learner's ability to self-regulate while learning from various tasks and developing adaptable learners who can self regulate and improve their learning efficiency.

This study investigates whether or not non-IFRS earnings measures can predict future operating cash flows. Many companies consistently present non-IFRS earnings measures, being voluntarily disclosed earnings measures lacking in formal definition, in order to communicate a companies’ core or sustainable earnings. Prior research into the usefulness of non-IFRS earnings measures has shown mixed results around the measures’ ability to predict a company’s future stock returns. Furthermore, there is some evidence that non-IFRS earnings measures have been used opportunistically to report a more favourable financial performance compared to IFRS earnings, questioning the usefulness and relevance of non-IFRS earnings measures. A linear mixed model was used to investigate the ability of non-IFRS earnings measures’ to predict future operating cash flows [CF(T+1)] using the top 40 Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) companies over the sample period from 2012 to 2016. The results of the statistical analysis showed that the non-IFRS earnings measure within the final model showed a positive and significant relationship with CF(T+1), which aligns with findings of a similar Australian study. Further to this, the inclusion of an indicator variable for mining companies was found to improve the model’s ability to predict future operating cash flows using non-IFRS earnings measures. The results of this study add to the growing area of research surrounding non-IFRS measures by uniquely focusing on South African companies, with similar results to prior studies. These findings may be of assistance to analysts and investors for valuation purposes and to standard-setting bodies for consideration as part of their current research project on performance reporting. Finally, the results provide justification for non-IFRS earnings measures as valid and useful metrics for analysis of company performance.