Corporate Finance Commons^™

Density Forecast Evaluation For Dependent Financial Data: Theory And Applications, Aurobindo Ghosh, Anil K. Bera

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we propose a formal test for density forecast evaluation in presence of dependent data. Apart from accepting or rejecting the tested model, our smooth test identifies the possible sources (such as the location, scale and shape of the distribution) of rejection, thereby helping in revising the initial model. We also propose how to augment the smooth test to investigate explicit forms of dependence in the data within the same test framework. An extensive application to S&P 500 returns indicate capturing time-varying volatility and non-gaussianity significantly improve the performance of the model. Although we are dealing with index …

Why Do U.S. Firms Invest Less Over Time?, Fangjian Fu, Sheng Huang, Rong Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The ratio of capital expenditure to total assets of U.S. firms decreases by more than half from 1980 to 2012. The decline in capital investment is pervasive; it has occurred for firms in most industries and is robust to firms of different sizes, investment opportunities, profitability, accesses to external financing, and expenses on R&D or acquisitions. Existing theories of corporate investment fall short in explaining the decline trend. The decline is also not explained by time variation in firm characteristics, industry composition, and public listing cohorts, or by corporate lifecycle. Our further evidence suggests that it is related to the …

Customer's Short Positions And Supplier's Investment Decisions, Xia Chen, Guojin Gong, Shuqing Luo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Short interest contains valuable information about a firm’s business fundamentals. We investigate whether such information affects business partners’ real investment decisions in the supply-chain setting. We predict and find that a supplier’s future investments (including inventory, R&D, and tangible asset investments) decrease with its customer’s current short interest. This negative relation is stronger when the supplier faces greater difficulty in assessing its customer’s business fundamentals and when short interest is more likely to indicate longlasting deterioration in the customer’s fundamentals. Additional analysis does not support the alternative explanation that the supplier adjusts investments in response to unfavorable information obtained via …

Opaque Financial Reporting Due To Unemployment Concerns, Jeffrey Ng, Tharindra Ranasinghe, Guifeng Shi, Holly I. Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the link between rank-and-file employees’ unemployment concerns and financial reporting opacity. Following Agrawal and Matsa (JFE, 2013), we use exogenous variations in state unemployment insurance benefits to capture changes to unemployment concerns. We find that when unemployment concerns are lower, there is less opaque financial reporting. This relation is stronger when workers face higher unemployment risk, labor union participation is high, and executives have higher equity incentives. Using Tobin’s Q to capture firm value, we also find that the economic rationale to engage in opaque financial reporting reduces when unemployment benefits are high. Our findings suggest that …

Home Away From Home: Geography Of Information And Local Investors, Gennaro Bernile, Alok Kumar, Johan Sulaeman

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We develop a 10K-based measure of spatial variation in the availability of value-relevant information that reflects the multi-dimensional nature of firm location. Spatially distributed information generates location-based information asymmetries that affect institutional portfolio decisions and performance. Institutions overweigh firms with greater local economic exposure and earn superior returns on corresponding trades, even for firms not headquartered locally. These patterns are stronger among harder-to-value stocks. Consistent with local informational advantage, local investor performance increases with the local exposure of individual stock holdings and her portfolio as a whole, and more so when her portfolio is more heavily tilted toward local stocks.

An Analysis Of Delta's Oil Refinery Acquisition, Wilfred Manuela, Dawna Rhoades, Tamilla Curtis

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

Some Simpler Methods Of Accounting For The Effects Of Changing Prices, Surendra Agrawal, Kenneth Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

The complexities of accounting for the effects of changing prices on financial statements could be lessened with the use of simpler accounting methods. Because of existing complexities, even industrialized countries require only their larger business entities to provide inflation-adjusted information. Such information is prepared by making numerous adjustments to the traditional, historical cost-based data. For example, in the United Kingdom, inflation-adjusted income is calculated in two stages: operating profit and profit attributable to shareholders. These calculations are based on the concept of value to the business and require complicated adjustments with respect to cost of goods sold, depreciation, monetary working …

The Pricing Decision: Balancing The Cost-Based And Market-Based Approaches In Different Industries, Shawn M. Kain, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

The objectives of this paper are to discuss cost estimating and pricing issues in four different industries, to analyze methods and strategies that are used in the costing and pricing of products in those industries, and to make general comparisons about costing and pricing techniques. Accurate projection of costs is essential to the survival of any firm because cost estimates often determine whether a project will be authorized to begin or continue, the amount of resources that will be allocated to a particular product or product line, the prices of products, and the firm's and product line's profitability. Many management …

An Efficiency-Based Explanation For Current Corporate Reorganization Practice, Kenneth M. Ayotte, David A. Skeel Jr.

Kenneth Ayotte

No abstract provided.

Earnings Manipulation: A Report By Robert Lavine On The Business Ethics Research Of Kenneth Rosenzweig And Marilyn Fischer, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, Marilyn Fischer

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

This column by Robert LaVine in the Chartered Accountants Journal of New Zealand reports on the research of University of Dayton professors Kenneth Rosenzweig and Marilyn Fischer, "Is Managing Earnings Ethically Acceptable? Surveys Show Age and Seniority Affect Attitudes on Earnings Management," >>> published in the journal Management Accounting.

Why Toyota And Honda Topped The 2002 J.D. Power Quality Study, Susan Lightle, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, John Talbott

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

Toyota again topped the annual J. D. Power and Associates quality study released in late May of 2002. Toyota scored the highest mark ever with l 07 defects per l 00 vehicles, while Honda came in second with 113 defects. The study was based on responses of approximately 65,000 new car owners queried during their first 90-days of ownership. These results do not surprise us, as we have been fortunate to make numerous sojourns to the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, and observe the manufacturing processes. These trips were normally facilitated by a former Japanese student of ours, Minako Yanke, …

A Nondisclosed Cpa Examination: Implications For Education And The Accounting Profession, Kenneth Rosenzweig, K. Geary

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

The Board of Examiners of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has proposed that the Uniform CPA Examination change from a disclosed to a nondisclosed examination in the Year 1996. A disclosed examination is available to candidates and others after its administration, whereas a nondisclosed examination is kept secret. In this article, we develop the case that nondisclosure is undesirable. Consideration is given to the impact of nondisclosure on question quality, examination security, public confidence in the examination, accounting instruction in universities, and the costs of examination administration.

User-Friendly Financial Statements: A Proposed Model, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, Andrew A. Fioriti

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

In contrast to early bookkeeping systems whose only role was to assist the resident owners, financial reporting today serves to protect various nonresident parties with interests in the enterprise, such as absentee shareholders. It provides them with information useful for monitoring the operations of the enterprise and for making decisions concerning it. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) formalized this concept of usefulness when it stated: Financial reporting should provide information that is useful to present and potential investors and creditors and other users in making rational investment, credit, and similar decisions. The information should be comprehensible to those who …

Education, Certification, And The Earnings Of Industrial Accountants, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, Lawrence Hadley

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

Utilizing a model of the relationship between skill accumulation and earnings known as human capital theory, we analyzed the incremental earnings associated with various educational and professional credential for a sample of members of the National Association of Accountants (NAA). Data were collected by means of a questionnaire survey of NAA members and were analyzed utilizing a multiple regression technique. Earnings is regressed on various education and certification variables. Employment characteristics and personal characteristics of the respondents are included as control variables. Our analysis documents positive earnings increments for the bachelor’s and MBA degrees and the CPA certificate. For the …

An Exploratory Field Study Of The Relationships Between The Controller’S Department And Overall Organizational Characteristics, Kenneth Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

This paper describes an exploratory field study which applies organizational research perspectives to the study of the relationship between the controller's department and characteristics of the overall organizations of a sample of 18 manufacturing companies. Correlation analysis is used to assess the extent of association between a wide variety of controller's department and overall organization variables. The findings point to a number of significant relationships between the nature of the controller's department and characteristics of the overall organization.

Report Earnings Accurately, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, Marilyn Fischer

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

As authors of the March article, “Is Managing Earnings Ethically Acceptable?,” we wish to thank Alfred M. King for his letter in the April issue questioning some of the contentions in our article. In a time when corruption seems to be rampant in many aspects of our national life, it is important for accountants to discuss openly what are their ethical responsibilities, and what are the limits to those responsibilities. The credibility of accounting numbers is vital to our success as a profession and as individual accountants. There will be no demand for accounting service if accounting information is not …

Company Resistance To Complex Fasb Statements: The Case Of Sfas 33, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

Over the past fifteen years, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued numerous pronouncements designed to narrow the differences in accounting practice and thereby increase the usefulness of financial statements by making them more comparable among different enterprises. Though questions have often been raised over the years about the complex and prescriptive nature of these pronouncements, Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 33, “Financial Reporting and Changing Prices” (SFAS 33), has perhaps been the most controversial. The above statement required subject companies to generate and publish information that was radically different from that produced in accordance with conventional financial …

Managing The Cost Of Federally Sponsored Research At Educational Institutions, Mary J. Brown, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

In an era of weak economic ·growth, budget deficits and government spending reductions, limited government resources must be utilized in a manner that maximizes the public welfare. One major use of such resources in recent years has been to fund research and other activities at universities. To shed light on this important area, this article examines current practice in government contracting with educational institutions, reviews recent governmental efforts to control contract costs and investigates ramifications for the affected educational institutions.

Is Managing Earnings Ethically Acceptable? Surveys Show Age And Seniority Affect Attitudes On Earnings Management, Kenneth Rosenzweig, Marilyn Fischer

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

Is managing earnings through accounting methods ethically acceptable? That's the question we recently asked a sample group of management accountants. The response to the survey was enlightening. Our survey was designed as a follow-up and extension of the research done by Bruns and Merchant and published in Management Accounting in August 1990. They found that managers disagreed considerably on whether earnings management is ethically acceptable. They also found that in general the respondents thought manipulating earnings via operating decisions was more ethically acceptable than manipulation by accounting methods. Bruns and Merchant were disturbed by these findings. They were concerned that …

How Corporate Culture Impacts Unethical Distortion Of Financial Numbers, Joseph F. Castellano, Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig, Harper A. Roehm

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

The recent accounting scandals have highlighted the critical role that investor confidence in the accuracy and lack of distortion of accounting data plays in the health of capital markets and, indeed, the whole economy. The legal and moral culpability of top-level company managers (as well as auditors) is an issue that will be addressed by the nation in the coming months. Whether or not legal sanctions are imposed on managers, it would be well to examine some of the reasons managers may feel compelled to distort accounting numbers as well as engage in other actions that damage the interests of …