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Faculty of Accounting and Informatics

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    Factors affecting small and medium-sized enterprises financial resilience post Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa
    (PT Keberlanjutan Strategis Indonesia, 2023-11) Msomi, Thabiso Sthembiso; Zungu, Sphesihle Charles
    This research paper aims to investigate the factors influencing the financial resilience of SMEs in South Africa in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focuses on three primary factors: access to loans, the interest rates applied to these loans, and the structure of repayment plans. To achieve this purpose, a quantitative research methodology, guided by the positivism philosophical framework, was employed. The research selected 310 respondents who were SME owners representing various sectors. The data collection and analysis methods primarily involved multivariate regression analysis. The research revealed that access to loans, interest rates on loans, and the design of repayment plans exerted positive and statistically significant effects on the financial resilience of SMEs in the post-COVID-19 period. These factors displayed probability values of 0.005 and absolute values of 0.448, 0.456, and 0.432, respectively. These findings underscore the crucial role of these factors in determining the financial stability of SMEs. The study's implications are twofold. First, it suggests that financial institutions should streamline the process for SMEs to access financing, making it more accessible and accommodating. Furthermore, these institutions should tailor loan repayment options to better align with the unique needs of SMEs. Second, the research underscores the importance of offering financial education and support services to assist SMEs in enhancing their financial management skills and adaptability within the post-pandemic economic landscape.
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    Smart face masks for COVID-19 pandemic management : a concise review of emerging architectures, challenges and future research directions
    (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2023-01-15) Fagbola, Temitayo Matthew; Fagbola, Funmilola Ikeolu; Aroba, Oluwasegun Julius; Doshi, Ruchi; Hiran, Kamal Kant; Thakur, Surendra Colin
    Smart sensing technology has been playing tremendous roles in digital healthcare management over time with great impacts. Lately, smart sensing has awoken the world by the advent of smart face masks (SFMs) in the global fight against the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. In turn, a number of research studies on innovative SFM architectures and designs are emerging. However, there is currently no study that has systematically been conducted to identify and comparatively analyze the emerging architectures and designs of SFMs, their contributions, socio-technological implications, and current challenges. In this article, we investigate the emerging SFMs in response to Covid-19 pandemic and provide a concise review of their key features and characteristics, design, smart technologies, and architectures. We also highlight and discuss the socio-technological opportunities posed by the use of SFMs and finally present directions for future research. Our findings reveal four key features that can be used to evaluate SFMs to include reusability, self-power generation ability, energy awareness and aerosol filtration efficiency. We discover that SFM has potential for effective use in human tracking, contact tracing, disease detection and diagnosis or in monitoring asymptotic populations in future pandemics. Some SFMs have also been carefully designed to provide comfort and safety when used by patients with other respiratory diseases or comorbidities. However, some identified challenges include standards and quality control, ethical, security and privacy concerns.
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    African women entrepreneurs and COVID-19 : towards achieving the African Union Agenda 2063
    (AOSIS, 2022-01-01) Anwana, Emem O.; Aroba, Oluwasegun Julius
    Research on the challenges facing African women entrepreneurship and the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is scant. This article explored the challenges and the impact of COVID-19 on African women-owned businesses and the effect thereof on the 17th goal of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063. African women entrepreneurs experience many social inequalities, ranging from cultural norms to family to legal and regulatory measures to accessing finance. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges as many African women entrepreneurs have been forced out of business because of measures taken by African governments to halt the spread of the disease. The article reviewed current literature on African women entrepreneurs and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic using two databases and is based on a total of 104 published articles. The article provided a foundation for post-COVID-19 policy directives in Africa. The authors recommend measures to mitigate these challenges and discuss strategies for policymakers to re-position African women entrepreneurs for the post-COVID-19 era towards achieving AU Agenda 2063 and realising the Africa we all want. Contribution: The study aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty in Africa and the AU Agenda 2063 goal of achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls to achieve the Africa we all want.
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    Understanding the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on Management Accounting students
    (Sciedu Press, 2021) Zunckel, Sharon; Msomi, Mbali Portia; Samuel, Stephanie Caroline; Marimuthu, Ferina
    A switch to emergency remote teaching, learning, and assessment (TLA) has become necessary as a result of the social distancing brought about by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were forced to switch from face-to-face to online teaching and learning to ensure successful completion of the academic year as well as the safety of their staff and students from a global pandemic. This arrangement has created teaching problems in terms of familiarizing oneself with technology, losing face-to-face contact, and limiting access to essential facilities such as laboratories and libraries. The new normal is when remote learning is employed to fulfil TLA obligations. Therefore, students are expected to adjust from a traditional to a remote learning environment. This change in environment highlights the importance of exploring students’ perceptions as the recipients of this novel learning.  Hence, the aim of this study was to explore the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on student learning, underpinned by the activity theory. Quantitative research methods were applied to elicit students’ perceptions of remote learning through the use of an online questionnaire. The target population comprised undergraduate management accounting students. The paper provides interesting implications for government, policymakers, regulatory bodies, and other researchers because it offers a student perspective on the challenges experienced with remote learning.