Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Financial Advising Experience, Joshua Wittenauer

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Building wealth can be easier with the help of a financial advisor. Wealth consists of assets and savings, and while there are many ways to save, there are some basic steps to get started:

1) Earn enough money to live and have some left over for saving. 2) Control your spending so you can save. 3) Invest your money in different assets – “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Accounting Internship Thesis - Koch Industries, Casey Rivero

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis outlines my accounting internship experience with Koch Industries during the summer of 2021. It describes the company's background, explains my role and responsibilities throughout the summer, and details the tools and technology I worked with. This thesis shows what is to be expected of the present day accountant and bridges the gap between university course material and real-life corporate application.

Conway Properties Llc, Cody Conway

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis shows the business model for Conway Properties, LLC.

Colgate-Palmolive Customer Development Finance Internship: A Collection Of Journals Entries & Testimonials Of Professional Development, Braden Byrum

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This is a collection of journal entries and testimonials to professional development that I received from my internship with Colgate-Palmolive on the Walmart team. Over the span of three months it serves as a reflection on my purpose and inflictions throughout my day to day during my internship. The skills developed during this experience are monumental in professional development but also expand into my personal life. These themes are relevant to the life ahead of me and this collection will serve as an endorsement to that.

Theranos: Case Study And Examination Of The Fraud Triangle, Abbey Jennings

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fraud is a serious issue which carries significant implications. Fraud committed by top level managers is particularly grievous, as it ripples through a firm, harming the company’s shareholders, employees, and credibility, while posing a threat to individuals and society (Zahra, et al.). A common framework in auditing, the fraud triangle, outlines three factors that if present, increase the risk or enable fraud to occur. The three factors are incentive, opportunity, and rationalization to commit fraud (Barlow).

In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of a supposedly groundbreaking health tech company, Theranos, with what …

Insider Trading Enforcement And The Private Information Environment: Evidence From The Newman Ruling, Andrew T. Pierce

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I exploit a shock to U.S. insider trading law to investigate whether a reduction in the enforceability of tipper-tippee insider trading restrictions leads to changes in information parity among investors and the efficiency of price discovery. The December 2014 Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in US v. Newman constrained enforcement by restricting the types of exchanges between managers and investors that trigger tipper-tippee insider trading liability. Following Newman, I find that Second Circuit hedge funds experienced a significant increase in their stock picking ability of Second Circuit stocks in terms of preempting future earnings announcement returns and future …

Auditor Information Spillovers And Company Operating Performance: Evidence From Targeted Auditor Switches, Tyler Kleppe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine whether companies realize operational benefits from making “targeted auditor switches” (i.e., engaging a new auditor recently dismissed by a competitor company). While prior work provides evidence consistent with companies perceiving that auditor information spillovers are costly, there is sparse extant evidence as to whether auditors actually do transfer operational information across companies. I find that companies that switch to a competitor’s former auditor realize significant subsequent improvements in operating performance, and I provide evidence that the association between targeted auditor switches and improvements in operating performance varies predictably with several across- and within-market factors. In …

A Case Study On Whether A Business Should Own Or Lease Its Real Estate, Benjamin Cooper

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Businesses are continually faced with many difficult decisions to make daily that can have a significant impact on their success. Whether it is if they should adopt a new accounting practice, work with a new supplier, or push into a new consumer sector, these decisions will affect their operations and long-term plans. One of these major decisions that a business has to make is whether they should own or lease their real estate. Depending on the size, type, and scope of a business this decision could be made differently but for certain companies there is definitely a correct answer. Buying …

The Strategic Disclosure Of Currency Headwinds And Tailwinds, Kevin Butler

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine whether companies are more likely to disclose revenue growth adjusted to remove the effects of foreign currency fluctuations (constant-currency revenue growth rates) when currency fluctuations decrease revenue growth (i.e., there is a currency headwind) than when currency fluctuations increase revenue growth. Public companies increasingly cite non-GAAP performance metrics when announcing earnings. While regulators see value in non-GAAP reporting, they continue to express concern that it is carried out inconsistently and in a misleading manner. Because the disclosure of constant-currency revenue growth is discretionary, companies have an incentive to strategically disclose it only when it benefits …

Collaborative Speculation And Overvaluation: Evidence From Social Media, Adam Barrett Booker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I use data from StockTwits and Twitter to provide evidence that investor attention on social media in the period before earnings is related to short-term overvaluation, consistent with bullish investors herding around common information. In the 2 to 60 days after earnings, returns for companies in the highest quintile of pre-earnings announcement investor attention are 4.2 percent lower than those of companies in the lowest quintile. I find evidence that the negative post-earnings drift result found in this study is related to investors waiting until after earnings are announced to enact costly arbitrage strategies. I further examine intra- and inter-network …

Essays On Networks And Corporate Finance, Tatiana Salikhova

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In my dissertation I explore how personal networks affect firms’ financial decisions. In the first essay, I study how social connections among divisional managers affect the capital allocation to divisions in diversified conglomerates. In contrast to the previous studies, I focus on the horizontal connections or connections formed among managers of the same level of corporate hierarchy. I show that connections among divisional managers lead to higher sensitivity of segment capital spending to segment’s growth opportunities, higher firm-level allocation efficiency and higher firm value. Additionally, firms tend to strategically assign better-connected managers to these segments, and connections help to reduce …

Potential Consequences Of U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission’S Replacement Of The Quarterly Reporting Requirement For Semi-Annual Reporting, Mengchen Zhou

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study extends the discussion of potential consequences of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s replacement of the quarterly reporting requirement for semi-annual reporting. This research summarizes the perspectives about quarterly and semi-annual reporting from reporters, critics, business executives and academic researchers, analyzes the influential parties from changing reporting regulation, and provides detailed explanation about potential impacts. Five parties are related to the replacement of the quarterly reporting requirement, including corporations, investors, analysts, auditors and Trump Administration. This research concludes that the auditor will be the least influential party and corporations will be the most impacted party.

Are Prize-Linked Savings Accounts The Solution To Arkansas' Savings Problem?, Mckenzie Wages

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research finds that access to prize-linked savings could improve the financial security of Arkansans. Prize-linked savings (PLS) accounts are nontraditional savings products that offer depositors the chance to win cash prizes instead of a typical interest rate return. Given the low median incomes, high liquid asset poverty rates, and high levels of underbanked and undereducated individuals in Arkansas, there is a need for an innovative savings solution like PLS in the state. PLS accounts capitalize on individuals’ propensity for lottery-like risk-taking to inspire the productive behavior of personal saving. A wide range of individuals, especially those who could stand …

Acquisitions: Walmart Vs Amazon, Scott Sims

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The retail industry is in the process of undergoing major change. Historically big box brick and mortar strategies have dominated, but this is changing in the age of impatience and instant gratification. As consumers want items more conveniently, online retail has taken hold with no semblance of anticipated decline. At the forefront of this transformation are two industry giants: Walmart and Amazon. Walmart finds itself on the side of brick and mortar with 11,718 physical retail locations worldwide. Amazon is dominating the online retail space with control of a staggering 44% of all US e-commerce sales in 2017. These equally …

Effect Of Automated Advising Platforms On The Financial Advising Market, Benjamin Faubion

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis outlines the cost to investor differences between a traditional financial advisor and the growing group of highly competitive automated Robo-Advisors.

Correlation Between Shareholder Concentration And Firm Performance With Regard To Midcap Companies, Wynn Lemmons

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The research herein explores the correlation between performance and shareholder concentration. This paper compares the performance of a group of companies with a single shareholder stake of over 10% from the universe of the S&P 400 Midcap Index to the performance of the index itself over a period of eight years (January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2016). When run as a simulated portfolio, the group selected generated a slight amount of positive alpha, but the results were ultimately statistically insignificant.

How Relevant Is The Disclosure Of A Ceo Pay Ratio?, Addison Stanfill

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

An aftershock of the so called “Great Recession” in 2008, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act effective July 21, 2010 aimed to increase the transparency of public companies. Section 953(b) of this act is targeting the transparency of executive and employee compensation by requiring the disclosure of a CEO to median employee pay ratio. This disclosure requirement, set to affect all filings with a fiscal year beginning after January 1, 2017, was a response to the public outcry against excessive CEO compensation. Although it does promote the transparency initiative of the Dodd-Frank Act, this disclosure may be …

Diversifying A Portfolio Using Vix Options, Alec J. Amos

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Ubiquitous investment strategies often include similar forms of diversification – holding stocks of differing industries, exposed to different business cycles, in order to reduce idiosyncratic risk. During the recession, these strategies failed as the markets fell substantially leaving investors exposed to great amounts of systematic, or “un-diversifiable” risk. Throughout this paper, I will examine the effects of diversifying a portfolio using call options on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) to try and alleviate systematic risk from a portfolio, allowing an investor to capitalize from short-term market fluctuations arising from financial, economic, and geopolitical risks.

Does Analyst Experience Affect Their Understanding Of Non-Financial Information? An Analysis Of The Relation Between Patent Information And Analyst Forecast Errors, Taiwhun Taylor Joo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines whether analyst experience affects the relation between patent information and analyst forecast errors. U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles require that firms expense all in-house research and development (R&D) costs. This means that even when R&D activities produce intangible assets with future economic benefits, firms cannot capitalize R&D costs as assets. Consequently, financial statements are largely deficient in the information they provide regarding the output of R&D activities. However, patent information is one type of non-financial information about R&D output that is publicly available.

Using updated patent data, I confirm the results of prior studies that find a …

The Determinants And Consequences Of Ceo Cheap Stock In Ipos, Michael Dennis Stuart

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The term "cheap stock" describes undervalued stock options granted to CEOs and other key employees prior to initial public offerings (IPOs). Pre-IPO firms have incentives to issue cheap stock as compensation because it results in lower compensation expense on the income statement and in large cash windfalls to CEOs subsequent to the IPO. Because cheap stock results in an overstatement of earnings, the Securities and Exchange Commission frequently challenges the valuations of these grants, which makes cheap stock a key accounting issue in many IPOs. Using a sample of firms that completed IPOs between 2004 and 2007, I investigate the …

Do Changes In The Sg&A Ratio Provide Information About Changes In Future Earnings, Analyst Forecast Revisions, And Stock Returns?, Eugene Scott Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In fundamental analysis, increases in the ratio of selling, general and administrative (SG&A) costs to sales (SG&A ratio) are viewed as negative signals about future firm performance. However, this interpretation focuses on the overall change in the SG&A ratio and ignores the underlying changes in the components of the ratio. For example, prior literature finds that the interpretation offered by fundamental analysis does not hold during periods of decreasing sales. I contend that a further partitioning of the full sample into subsamples representing all possible combinations of changes in the components of the SG&A ratio, and the ratio itself, will …

Determinants And Consequences Of Risk Management Committee Formation, Chris Hines

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the determinants and consequences of financial institutions voluntarily forming risk management committees (RMCs). Specifically, I determine whether RMCs are related to a change in risk outcomes, an increase in profitability, a change in hedging and trading derivative structures, and greater financial reporting quality during the post-committee formation period compared to a control group. I use a sample of financial institutions that form a RMC in any year from 1994 through 2008 and a control sample of financial institutions that do not form a RMC during the sample period. The results provide evidence to suggest that financial institutions …

Film Financing: Thrilling Scenes And Investing Schemes, Charlotte Moore

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis discusses investing in independent films and researches whether or not it is a scam by looking at techniques to draw in investors, accounting practices, and professional advice.

Credit Card Act Of 2009: The Impact On College Student Credit Card Responsibility, Siobhan Costello

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study aimed to find out if the rules regarding college students and credit cards implemented by the Credit CARD Act of 2009 improved student credit card responsibility.

The Impact Of Quantitative Easing On Inflation In The United States, J. Bryan White

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the current and potential impact of the Federal Reserve’s non-traditional monetary policy known as Quantitative Easing on inflation in the United States. It examines the events and rationale behind the Federal Reserve’s policy actions as well as the theoretical implications for inflation. However, theory and reality do not seem to coincide. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has shown no correlation to what many refer to as the “printing of money” that has occurred during Quantitative Easing. This is in opposition to the basic economic principle of the Quantity Theory of Money which …

Accounting Conservatism In International Financial Reporting Standards And U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Hang Minh Pham

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

During the past five years, the number of US. citizens who own foreign securities has increased by thirty percent. This trend has led to the need for a uniform accounting system that would increase the comparability and consistency of financial statements across countries in the world. Today, over 100 countries have adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as their primary accounting system. The European Union required the use of IFRS in 2005. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering the adoption of IFRS in 2014. IFRS and U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are different in many …

Lobbying Activity In The Standards Setting Process: Fasb Statement On Financial Accounting Standards No. 106, "Employers' Accounting For Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions", Christine Schalow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explain and classify the behavior of corporate managers in the accounting standards setting process as it related to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 106. Evidence from this study provides readers a better understanding of participation of corporate managers in the accounting standards setting process. To accomplish the objective, this study surveyed corporate representatives who responded to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's, February 1989, exposure draft, "Employers' Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions," (OPEB). A sample of corporations whose representatives did not respond to the OPEB exposure draft, although the corporations did …

A Comparison Of The Classification Accuracy Of Linear And Quadratic Statistical Discriminant Models Versus Linear And Quadratic Programming Discriminant Models, Jerry William Ferry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to compare the classification accuracy of two mathematical programming models versus traditional statistical discriminant analysis. Monte Carlo techniques were used to compute population 1, population 2, and average misclassification rates for the linear discriminant function (LDF), the quadratic discriminant function (QDF), a linear programming discriminant model (LPDM), and a quadratic programming discriminant model (QPDM) for specific values of several parameters which affect discriminant analysis. This study was restricted to the two group, two variable discriminant problem.

An Inquiry Into The Accounting Principles And Reporting Practices Followed By Selected State University Hospitals, Rameshwar Dass Gupta

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Because of their unique position as component units of other governmental organizations, the accounting and reporting practices of hospitals owned and operated by state supported university medical centers have been subject to several conflicting guidelines. The purposes of this study were to investigate the accounting and reporting practices of selected university hospitals, to determine the deviations between their practices and the principles recommended by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Hospital Audit Guide and other guides, and to recommend changes that should be made by these hospitals to achieve the objectives for financial reporting by nonbusiness organizations as stated …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Characteristics Of Publicly-Held Corporations That Change To Private Ownership, Alan Kent Ortegren

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disenchantment with public ownership during the decade of the 1970's contributed to the emergence of a trend for publicly owned corporations to change to private ownership by deregistering under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The primary purpose of the study was to investigate whether firms which changed to private ownership possessed attributes during the time leading to the change that differentiated them from selected firms which remained publicly held. The attributes included in the study contained financial data from published corporate financial statements, stock distribution information, and stock market data. The study included firms which changed o private ownership …