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    The impact of corporate political connections and political instability on audit fees and earnings quality in Pakistan : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Accountancy at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Ahmad, Fawad
    This study investigates the impact of corporate political connections on audit fees and earnings quality. Prior literature reports that politically connected companies pay higher audit fees and have poor earnings quality. The key motivation of this study hinges on the argument that in some institutional settings, there can be multiple power sources with dissimilar degrees of resource allocation and decision making abilities. This will affect the costs and benefits accrued to politically connected companies. For example, Pakistan has two visibly distinct power sources, political institutions, and the military. Political institutions are fragile and politicians are prone to public, media, and judicial scrutiny. The military has emerged as a key power player enabling them to command the process of resource allocation. Based on this visible distinction of the power streams, this study segregates politically connected companies in Pakistan into two groups, companies connected to the political elites, termed as civil connected companies and military connected companies. This study also examines the impact of political instability on audit fees and earnings quality. Prior literature examining the impact of political instability reports that political instability results in higher business risk and poor economic performance. Prior auditing literature reports that auditors charge a price premium from high risk clients. Prior earnings quality literature reports that poor economic performance results in poor earnings quality. By combining these streams of literature, this study investigates the auditing and earnings quality implications of political instability. Essay 1 of this study investigates the political determinants of audit fees in the context of Pakistan. The results indicate that civil connected companies pay significantly higher audit fees while military connected companies pay significantly lower audit fees relative to non-connected companies. The findings for political instability indicate that political instability has a positive association with audit fees. Nonetheless, this positive association is weaker for military connected companies relative to non-connected companies. Results for the interaction effect for civil connected companies are not significant. Essay 2 of this study investigates the political determinants of earnings quality in Pakistan. Earnings quality is measured by the level of absolute magnitude of discretionary accruals and earnings persistence. The results indicate that civil connected companies report a significantly higher level of absolute magnitude of discretionary accruals indicating poor earnings quality, while the earnings persistence results are not significant for civil connected companies. The discretionary accruals results for military connected companies are not significant. Nevertheless, military connected companies have more persistent earnings indicating better earnings quality. Essay 2 also examines the impact of political instability on earnings quality. Results indicate a significant negative association between political instability and the level of absolute magnitude of discretionary accruals; and between political instability and earnings persistence. The interaction effects show that the negative association between political instability and the level of absolute magnitude of discretionary accruals is stronger for civil connected companies and not significant for military connected companies. The negative association between political instability and earnings persistence is weaker for military connected companies and not significant for civil connected companies. This study adds to the literature that aims to provide a deeper understanding of the relation between political connections, political institutions, and its auditing and earnings quality outcomes. The study adds to the existing political connections literature by identifying the military as a source of significant power. It also adds to the auditing and financial reporting literature by identifying political instability as a variable which significantly affects the audit fees and earnings quality.
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    Multi-carrier cooperative wireless communication : performance analysis and resource allocation : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Abrar, Muhammad
    Relay-based cooperative wireless communication is emerging as the major candidate technology for the next generation wireless cellular networks that will support significantly higher data rates than the recent systems. The combination of cooperative relaying with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a very promising design for next generation of wireless networks with increased system throughput and spectral efficiency. The success of this combination, like other wireless networks, relies on the efficient utilization of limited radio resources such as relays, power, subcarriers and antennas. In this research, resource allocation problems are examined with different relaying techniques and protocols and computationally efficient resource allocation algorithms are proposed. The general objective is to device resource allocation schemes in relay-based cellular networks that maximize the system throughput under different constraints. The main goal of our research is to develop efficient resource allocation algorithms for two different relaying models, namely; one-way relaying and two-way relaying in realistic scenarios for the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) cellular standard. Performance of the proposed algorithms will be evaluated in terms of not only the throughput but also the computational complexity. In particular, in this thesis we present low-complexity efficient schemes for jointly deciding the selection of relays and subcarriers for the users. Two types of fairness among users, namely; minimum rate proportional fairness and access proportional fairness, are also considered in assigning subcarriers to users in relay networks. A new low-complexity iterative resource block (RB)-pairing and allocation algorithm is also investigated in relay networks. Finally, we present a brief analysis of inter-cell interference in relay networks. Both theoretical analysis and computer simulations are performed in the performance evaluation of the proposed algorithms. Furthermore, practical implementation issues are also addressed.
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    Decision-making in conservation : a model to improve the allocation of resources amongst national parks : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Natural Resource Management at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2008) Allan, Abigail Jane Margaret
    Protected areas are of prime importance to conservation efforts worldwide because they provide society with a range of important environmental, economic, and social benefits. The ability of government agencies to manage threats to their national parks is often compromised by limited resources. There is a growing need to improve decisions about how resources are allocated amongst conservation responsibilities. Multiple Criteria Analysis (MCA) techniques are integrated decision systems that have the potential to reduce the complexity normally associated with decisions about public and quasi-public goods. The explicit expression of a decision-maker’s preferences for certain decision attributes is a key stage in the MCA process. The ability of MCA to increase the understanding, transparency, and robustness of decisions has been demonstrated in many disciplines. This research describes the development of a MCA model to assist decisionmakers with the allocation of resources amongst national parks. After a thorough review of the conservation and protected area literature, a MCA model is developed to determine the utility of a group of national parks based upon environmental, economic, and social significance. The model is tested and applied to the national parks managed by the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory of Australia and to selected parks managed by the Department of Conservation of New Zealand. The research highlights the need for protected area management agencies to take lessons from the commercial sector and incorporate elements of business practices, particularly comprehensive inventory and data management, into conservation decision-making. It is shown that the integrated decision-making approach taken in this research aggregates complex data in a way that improves managers’ ability to make better informed decisions concerning the allocation and distribution of resources.