Does Model Reflect on Reality? Exploring Beneish M Score on Selected Private Commercial Banks in Nepal

This research explores if possible fraudulent financial statement is present in private commercial banks in Nepal. This study examines the viability of Beneish M-score model in detecting probable earning manipulation considering the sample of 16 private commercial banks including the joint ventures. The published annual report (income statement and balance sheet) of the year 2018 and 2019 of respective banks are used as a secondary source of information. This research employs Beneish M-score equation and threshold value -2.22 as keys to analysis. The result shows even four banks are engaging in income manipulation, the Beneish model cannot identify the deception on the financial statement. Though the given model is suggested for manufacturing companies, the researcher has used it to explore the Banks—this is the limitation of this research. Further investigation of these tools combined with other fraud detection models is suggested to discover financial manipulation and relationship with the stock market return.

The Effects of Telecommunication Service Quality Dimensions on Customer Satisfaction in Kathmandu Valley

Telecommunications have become a vital tool for the success of any business. The 21st-century telecommunication business has been described by hi-tech competition, which has brought attention to customer satisfaction. The study aimed to identify major influential dimensions that affect customer satisfaction. It was accompanied by a descriptive and causal research design and used a structured questionnaire as a survey instrument of the service quality (SERVQUAL) model. The population of this research covered all customers of the Telecommunication industry located at Kathmandu valley, and the sample considered 400 customers through convenience sampling techniques. The survey questionnaire was set in three sections with 38 questions of various types to collect data. The result showed a noteworthy strong positive relationship between service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. It also revealed security was the major influential dimension of customer satisfaction, followed by tangibles, assurance, and empathy. The finding of the study helps all telecommunication industries to enhance service quality and develop a strategy to increase customer satisfaction and value. Hence, it infers that security, tangibles, assurance, and empathy increase the customer's satisfaction in telecommunications services. Overall service quality dimensions are commonly considered as crucial features of customer satisfaction.

Individual, Family Factors and Career Development of Female School Teachers

In Nepalese society, female people feel that they are facing many obstacles in their career development such as individual, family, organization barriers, etc. In this regard, this study is conducted to analyze barriers in female career development. So, the study's main objective is to analyze the impact of individual and family barriers on female school teachers' career development. ausal effect research design has been employed in this study to analyze the impact of the barriers on female career development. The study used a judgmental sampling technique to gather the real picture of data from female school teachers in Kathmandu valley. Multiple regression analysis techniques has been adopted to analyze the data. From the result of data analysis, it is concluded that the family issue has hampered the career development of female school teachers. This means that Nepalese female teachers have to do their office duty along with giving time for their family members, housework and child-caring, etc. This could be beneficial to school administrators, trainers, and human resource professionals who want to help female teachers for the advancement of their careers.

Financial Status of Rural and Urban Dalit of Kaski District

The primary objective of this paper is to describe and measure financial status of the Bishowkarma, Pariyar, and Nepali caste in the rural and urban regions of Kaski district of Nepal. The study has used descriptive research design and judgmental and quota sampling with an equal 150 samples of the rural and urban areas including 50 samples of each caste. A set of close-ended questionnaires was used to collect data from primary sources. The collected data were analyzed with the help of statistical tools like frequencies, weighted mean, and percentage using MS-Word, MS-Excel, and SPSS. The Bishwokarma caste has good financial status in the urban area followed by Nepali and Pariyar. However, in a rural area, the Nepali caste has a better financial position followed by Pariyar and Bishwokarma. The study results indicate people living in the urban areas have a stronger financial position with an overall mean score of 3.02 compared to people living in the rural areas with an overall mean score of 2.85. The concerned government bodies need to give special care to uplift the financial status of the Pariyar people in the urban region and the Bishwokarma people in the rural region. Thus, this study conveys a comprehensive picture of the financial status of rural and urban Dalits of Kaski District which could be the baseline data set for future study and primary data sources for local stakeholders.

Factors Influencing Organizational Performance in Hotel Sector of Nepal

The present study is designed to identify the factors influencing organizational performance based on native research work carried out through field study. Adopting descriptive cum analytical research design, this study is based on primary data obtained from the hotels located inside the Kathmandu valley of Nepal through the use of a five-point Likert-type questionnaire. With the help of the random sampling technique, 130 employees working in 23 hotels in the position of executive, managerial and officer’s level are taken as sample respondents. Four different variables affecting hotels' performance i.e., qualification, training and experience, administrative efficiency and location are taken as the independent variables and organizational performance as the dependent variable. Descriptive and inferential statistics have been used in this study. All the variables obtained Cronbach alpha value greater than .65, which shows the consistency on items taken for the study. The correlation analysis showed a strong positive correlation between organization performance and performance factors in the Nepalese hotel sector. Moreover, the regression analysis indicated that qualification of the employee, administrative efficiency of hotel management and training and experience provided to the employee are found strong predictors of organizational performance but the location factor was not found the determinant of organization performance in the Nepalese hotel sector. This study can further expand by adopting other variables affecting organizational performance in the hospitality sectors of Nepal.

Determinants of Tax Compliance Behaviour among Rental Income Earners in Pokhara

Rental tax is an important source of revenue for local government units. After Nepal adopted fiscal federalism, concerns have been shown by policymakers as well as academicians on the fiscal sustainability of the local government units. In this context, this study attempts to explore tax compliance behaviour among rental income owners in Pokhara. The study is based on a survey of 196 households located in wards 9, 11 and 17 of Pokhara Metropolitan City. The wards represent commercial, semi-urban, and densely populated areas of the city respectively. The required data were gathered employing a self-administered questionnaire comprising Likert scales to measure tax awareness, attitude towards tax, cost of non-compliance, peer influence for compliance, government incentives, and tax compliance behavior of the rental income earner. The data collected were analyzed employing ANOVA, correlation and multiple regression. The research revealed a positive relationship between tax awareness, attitude towards tax, peer influence, and government incentives with tax compliances. The study findings depict that the taxpayers’ awareness and perception towards tax are important variables that affect the compliance behavior of rental taxpayers. Moreover, the results reveal that the rental income earner in Pokhara does not comply with the tax rules due to the lower cost of non-compliance as negative relationship established was found between tax compliance and the cost of non-compliance. Metropolitan tax authority needs to focus on awareness and government incentives rather than the cost of non-compliance for better adherence to tax rules among rental taxpayers.

A Fit between Logistics and Supply Chain Management Education and Jobs Market Need in Nepal

The purpose of this paper is to explore a fit between Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LSCM) related course content and the industry needs in the Nepalese context. Since this study is undertaken using the Nepalese sample, the knowledge and skills prioritized by employers, it can be of value to educators while designing their LSCM course content. Desk-based research involving content analyses was done to understand the supply side information i.e. relative coverage of LSCM topics in business-related courses and degrees offered at selected five Nepalese Universities and for the demand side information i.e. analysis of job description of the LSCM related vacancies in the Nepalese job market over eighteen weeks. The study reveals that the inclusion of LSCM courses in the business programs at Nepalese Universities is currently negligible as none of them offered a separate program dedicated to LSCM. Besides, the LSCM courses were limited to just one course per program weighing not more than three credit hours. Instead, there seems to be an unprecedented number of business schools and colleges leaning towards more sellable traditional business degrees related to finance, marketing, human resource management, IT, and hospitality. Finally, when comparing the relative coverage of LSCM topics in the curriculum to the relative demand for such knowledge by the employers, there seems to be an over-emphasis or under-emphasis of courses related to LSCM both at the bachelors and masters level indicating a mismatch between the expectations of employers and education offered by the universities.

Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the Light Engineering Industries: A Developing Country Perspective

The study strives to generate deep insights into sustainable entrepreneurship of the Light Engineering Industries (LEIs) from a developing country perspective. This exploratory research has conducted interview schedules with a total of 450 respondents (entrepreneurs 100, workers 350) from 100 LEIs scattered in different parts of Bangladesh. The LEIs belong to the green category as indicated by the environmental regulation of Bangladesh; however, the study has found a clear lack of environmental concerns to its day-to-day practices. Deficiencies are also observed in its value chain processes. This sector is lagging to take environmental initiatives for marketing their products and creating environmental and social risk awareness among workers. In addition to these, the study has found significant deficiencies in the workers' job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment factors that are hindering organizational effectiveness. For the current entrepreneurial activities to be sustainable, this sector needs to scrutinize its product, market, value chain, industry clusters, employee motivation and environmental concerns to its day-to-day operations.

Assessing Participation and Position of Vietnam in Global Value Chains

Vietnam’s policy of openness to trade and investment has made it integrated very quickly with the global production networks, also known as global value chains, which has brought many visible fortunes to it in terms of socio-economic achievements. To have a deeper insight into the prospects and constraints of its integration into global value chains, and also to assess its degree of integration, this paper has employed Koopman et al. (2010) approach to measure the participation index, and position index. The analysis shows that the participation of Vietnam in global value chains has increased significantly in the last two decades based on strengthening FDI-led exports of Vietnam. It also shows that most of the exporting industries are located in the middle-stream in the value curve and are net buyers of intermediate products for exports, which infers the presence of predominant I2E practices in Vietnam. The paper also identifies and assesses the risk I2E practices are prone to. Scenario analysis suggests that Vietnam shall focus on upskilling of its labour force and developing indigenous industrial base. In the meantime, domestic firms shall be encouraged to collaborate with foreign firms and densify into global value chains.

Competitive Conditions in Nepalese Commercial Banks

This study aims to analyze the competitive conditions of commercial banks in Nepal. Competition is measured through structural and non-structural measures of bank competition. Data were taken from 21 commercial banks of Nepal using pooled sampling method, including five commercial banks based on the highest total assets and sixteen commercial banks using random sampling. Concentration ratio, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, H-statistic and Lerner Index measures were used to assess the competitive position of Nepalese commercial banks. Panel data regression model with bank fixed effect and time fixed effect was employed to measure H-statistic and Lerner index. Findings showed the increasing pattern of capitalization and the decreasing trend of non-performing loan ratio, indicating that Nepalese commercial banks have a low possibility of loan default and, are more financially stable. It also showed the declining trend of bank concentration and HHI, suggesting that Nepalese commercial banks are losing their monopoly power and becoming more competitive in recent years. Competition in the loan market was found higher than deposit market competition. Banks have to pay special attention to loan portfolio management rather than deposit collection strategies. This study concludes that the competitive condition of Nepalese commercial banks is monopolistic. Therefore, appropriate strategies might be taken into action to sell financial products and services competitively.