Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Understanding Financial and non-Financial Information to
Assess Listed Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
Companies’ Performances
Elmarie Papageorgiou 1 and Herman de Bruyn 2
1
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
2
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Elmarie.Papageorgiou@wits.ac.za
hdebruyn@uj.ac.za
Abstract: Today there is an urgent need for companies to adapt to the constantly changing business conditions
as the business environment exposes executives to so much data that data needs to be converted into useful
information. Executives of companies need to understand what information is available since recent research has
shifted to a broader, more profitable focus on the global business environment and competitive forces. The
purpose of the paper is to investigate the reality of financial and non-financial information in listed Johannesburg
Stock Exchange (JSE) companies. An exploration is undertaken to see what financial and non-financial
information are available, how it is used (or not) to make decisions and to solve problems to assess the
company’s performance and the role played by executives in that process by using Executive Information
Systems (EISs). A mixed method was used; quantitative and qualitative in nature. An empirical study and
observations derive from a questionnaire to executives of 334 listed JSE companies. Thereafter structured
interviews were undertaken with executives in listed JSE companies, focusing on the understanding of financial
and non-financial information to enhance the performance of companies. The findings of the study conclude that
several factors have served to enhance the demand and increasing awareness of EISs activities to assess the
performance of listed JSE companies. The three most important elements in upgrading information on EISs by
respondents are as follow: financial information: Income statement, comparative figures, Balance sheet and nonfinancial
information: director’s information, logo, contact details of the company. Companies portray a positive
image by upgrading all crucial information that is important for companies to have a competitive advantage. The
role played by executives in the process concluded that respondents selected executives as the main decisionmaker
for implementing EISs and as the responsible person to define the requirements of an EIS. Executives
must work together with the developers to discuss the requirements of the EIS and to ensure that the information
is made available to the system. It is noted that respondents also selected executives as the main decision
makers in deciding the content of EISs, to add new features, to ensure the integrity and to assure ownership to
an EIS. The findings from the interviews concluded that successful EISs provide executives with the necessary
real-time information and is a trusted source of information to provide financial and non-financial information. The
value of the study explains that the trend has increasingly shifted towards management empowerment to improve
the reality in understanding financial and non-financial information of companies to assess their performances.
Keywords: development of executive information systems, executives, financial information, management
information, non-financial information, South Africa, use of executive information systems
1. Introduction and background
The changing business landscape creates new challenges for Information Technology (IT) as top
management expects technology to drive immediate results to subsequently deliver a world-class
business while focussing on innovations that are the building blocks for the future (Cramm 2010:124).
Wessels (2008:149) states that IT changes at a rapid pace and businesses need to adapt to
incorporate theses changes to remain competitive. According to Cramm (2010:124) the next wave of
innovation is in connecting companies, people, computers and systems, a system top management
and other users can use to understand financial and non-financial information. Cramm (2010:124)
states that 90 percent of employees who are not employed in IT, definitively work with IT and are a
key source for innovation as they are on the front-lines dealing with customers, suppliers, competitors
and shareholders.
2. Research objective and research questions
The purpose of the paper is to investigate the reality of financial and non-financial information in listed
Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) companies used to assess the company’s performance and the
role played by executives in that process by using Executive Information Systems (EISs). The
research questions investigated were to establish what financial and non financial information are
available on listed JSE company’s Web sites and EISs, how is it used to make decisions and solve
problems and to determine the role of executives by using EISs to ensure a sustainable strategic
competitiveness for listed JSE companies.
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