Abstract

This report gives an overview of the key results from the analysis of the data collected in a survey conducted in October and November 2012 by the Austrian Institute for small and medium enterprise (SME) research on behalf of the World Bank center for financial reporting reform (CFRR). The survey was carried out using an online questionnaire and captures data from more than 780 SMEs that are representative of the Austrian SME sector. The primary purpose of this report is to assist the accounting and auditing profession, policy makers, and users of financial information in understanding the value and the constraints of SMEs’ financial reporting practices. It also feeds into a broader CFRR study on corporate financial reporting reform in Austria. The report presents the results of the survey grouped by topical areas as follows: accounting practices in Austrian SMEs; auditing financial statements; SME financing; and financial reporting and access to finance. Document type: Book

Abstract

This investment climate analysis reviews the experiences of over 3000 surveyed business owners in 26 states of Nigeria about the aspects of the business climate that affect their businesses. It complements a similar study in 2007 that covered 11 other Nigerian states. The survey asks business owners about both their perceptions and the actual costs of selected constraints. The analysis benchmarks Nigeria against comparator countries, and provides detailed data for each state. Nigerian firms have low productivity, as measured by their output in relation to their labor and capital inputs. Firms in Kenya are about 40 percent more efficient, firms in Russia almost twice as productive, and firms in South Africa almost four times as productive. Nigerian firms that export are about 90 percent more productive than non-exporters. Although labor in Nigeria is inexpensive, it is not inexpensive enough to compensate for this low productivity. The poor performance of Nigerian firms reflects many factors. This study focuses on constraints in the business climate and the serious costs they impose on Nigerian firms. Taken together, the total indirect costs of poor quality infrastructure, crime and security, and corruption amount to over 10 percent of sales for Nigerian firms. This is twice as high as in South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia. Microenterprises firms with fewer than five workers face similar constraints as larger firm's unreliable power, limited access to finance, corruption, and transportation bottlenecks. But the consequences for their businesses are far more severe. For instance, most microenterprises cannot afford generators, so power outages are more likely to shut down their operation. Lacking collateral, almost no microenterprises have access to formal external financing. Document type: Book