Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Strategic Decisions And Shareholder Value: An Analysis Of Conocophillips, Michael Miller

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Overview of strategic decisions that ConocoPhillips has made and the effect it has on shareholder value. Uses knowledge a basic investor would be equipped with to analyze the spin-off of ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 by comparing it to Marathon Oil's spin-off and the returns it created for investors.

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.

Opt-In Overdraft Regulation Affects Bank Revenues, Kyle Mills

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Amendments to Federal Regulation E, effective during 2010, limited banks ability to generate fee income from one-time debit card and ATM transactions. This research quantifies the estimated annual loss experienced by US and Arkansas banks.

Taking Advantage Of Credit Default Swaps In European Markets, Phillip Kosmitis

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Credit default swaps are the leading indicators in bond and equity markets. The movement of credit default swaps can explain sovereign bond and equity market movements in distressed countries. Investors can take advantage of credit default swap volatility and movement in both sovereign credit and equity markets. In stable European countries, credit default swaps show little evidence of being the leading driver of sovereign bond and equity markets.

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.

Deregulation Of Indian Telecommunication: An Analysis Of Customer Benefit, Jordan Johnson

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates whether mobile customers were made better off following the deregulation of the Indian telecommunications industry. It will establish a link between industry deregulation and affordability and accessibility for customers. Results indicate that as a result of deregulation and increased FDI, customers saw decreased usage charges and greater cellphone coverage and accessibility. Also covered is a case study of the Brazilian telecommunications industry.

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 …

Essays On Mergers And Acquisitions And Governance, Rwan Ibrahim Talib El-Khatib

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a recent strand of corporate finance literature that explores the impact of executives and directors' Social connections on firm value, performance, and governance. Those studies document that such Social connections could be beneficial when they enhance the sharing of information and knowledge, but could also be detrimental when associated with CEOs, as they could provide the CEO with a source of influence that makes her more entrenched and powerful.

In the first essay, I use four common measures of network centrality to compute the position of the CEO within the Social network of all executives and directors of …

Three Essays On Opacity, Corporate Governance, And Credit Ratings, Yiwen Gu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first essay, utilizing a more recent and expanded 20-year sample 1991-2010 of dual-rated bonds issued, I confirm Morgan's (2002) finding that banks are relatively more opaque than nonbanks. The likelihood of a rating split is higher, and the magnitude of the rating gap is larger, for banks than nonnbanks. Moreover, rating agency disagreements are more significant for banks with relatively higher loan and trading securities holdings and maintain lower capital, and for banks engaged in mortgage securitization. Importantly, I find that rating agency disagreements reflect market proxies of information uncertainty. Further, opacity makes external financing more costly. Equity …

The Opaqueness Of Fair Value Assets And Systematic Risk In The Banking Industry, Jody Wayne Bland

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Opacity has economy-wide implications. A lack of information, whether from non-disclosure or complexity of business, creates uncertainty that even the most sophisticated of investors must face. In this paper, I analyze the relationship between opacity and the systematic risk of bank holding companies. Specifically, I find that investments in opaque assets required to be reported at fair value significantly affect the levels of financial institutions’ systematic risk. Furthermore, I provide evidence that firm investments in opaque assets contribute to systematic risk to an even greater degree during times of financial crisis.

Procrastination Does Pay Sometimes: How The Delay In Implementing Basel Ii Reduced The Effect Of The Subprime Financial Crisis, Raymond Bart Simmons

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Basel II, a major international regulatory capital revision, was supposed to have been implemented in the U.S. by 2004, but delays pushed it back more than five years. Basel II could have lowered minimum capital standards and made the largest banks even more vulnerable to the subprime financial crisis and economic downturn had it been adopted before its onset in 2007. Consequently, the procrastination in implementing Basel II made the banking industry more stable as it entered the financial crisis. In this study, the assets of the 11 largest bank holding companies at year-end 2006 were separated into broad asset …

Market Volatility Asymmetries: The Effects Of Stock Market Returns On Realized And Implied Volatilities, Matthew M. Chestnut

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Volatility is an integral and inescapable variable of financial engineering, modeling, and finance theory itself Classical financial economics proxies volatility for risk itself, as it becomes difficult to predict future price realizations of a given asset when that asset exhibits significant price volatility over a given time. However, the nature of volatility as it is explained by classical financial economics has been extensively questioned in the previous three decades, since it is characterized as a function of uncertainty aggregate market psychology-that is, as a function of fear, greed, exuberance, and other fundamental human instincts and emotions. While previous research has …

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 …

Outcomes Of The Transition Process In Central And Eastern Europe: The Roles Of Culture And Society In Adopting Democratic Capitalism, Brian Lee

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

In this paper, the author explores the reasons why some states have achieved higher levels of progress in transitioning from a communist system to a system rooted in democratic capitalism. Unlike the majority of scholars, though, he does not fault any one government's policies or the reform path chosen for a country's success or supposed failure along the way. Instead, the author concludes that the outcome of the transition process is dependent upon the interaction between the new formal institutions being adopted and the prevailing informal societal institutions and rules found throughout the region. If the formal institutions are in …

Flights-To-Quality: The Effects Of Market Volatility On Short Term U.S. Treasury Yields, Craig Michael Cox

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Flights-to-quality are the sudden, and sometimes irrational, rebalancing of investment portfolios to include more liquid and safer investments during times of uncertainty, high market volatility, or other unusual stock market environments. While previous research has explained flights-to-quality in terms of liquidity needs and credit risk premiums, this paper examines the significant statistical relationship between the VIX Index of implied market volatility and yields on U.S. Treasury bills. I found that the VIX Index explains a significant portion of U.S. Treasury yield variability and that the models become more significant and accurate as the maturity of the Treasuries increases. In terms …

Semi-Strong Form Market Hypothesis: Evidence From Cnbc's Jim Cramer's Mad Money Stock Recommendations, Elizabeth Dodson

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Mad Money has become one of the most popular shows on CNBC. The host, Jim Cramer, has an outlandish style and personality that viewers find intoxicating. Cramer's goal for the show is to make people money. Does he succeed? This paper finds that investors can expect to gain above-average, risk adjusted returns by following Cramer's stock recommendations and trading accordingly. These findings challenge the semi-strong form market hypothesis. According to this hypothesis investors should not recognize gains trading on public information since it states that the market has already adjusted prices for that information. It also contributes to current literature …

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 …

The Information Content Of Standard & Poor's Common Stock Ranking Changes, James Felton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the information content of Standard & Poor's common stock ranking changes. These rankings are derived from a system which begins with a computer-generated score for per-share growth, stability, and cyclicality of earnings and dividends for the most recent ten years of available data. Standard & Poor's then makes adjustments to the scores based on firm size, sales volume, "relative current standing,'1 and special considerations. The eight rankings are as follows: A+ (Highest), A (High), A- (Above Average), B+ (Average), B (Below Average), B- (Lower), C (Lowest), and D (In Reorganization). Although the rankings are not purported to …

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 …

Personal Financial Planning: Determination Of Customer Profiles, Needs And Viewpoints, Ricardo Martin Ulivi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Personal financial planning is a service that springs from the need for objective and centralized advice on a wide range of areas such as investments, insurance, money management, taxes, estate planning and others. A personal financial planner fits each one of those individual areas into a well- balanced, integrated plan, after a comprehensive financial analysis is undertaken— guided by a family's goals, attitudes and objectives.

The purposes of this study were (1) to identify characteristics which discriminate between households that are interested and those not interested in obtaining a personal financial plan; (2) to determine the relative importance of the …

Self-Regulatory Processes In The Accounting Profession As They Relate To The Professional Competence Of The Individual, Kyle Henn Klein

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The accounting profession has traditionally enjoyed a relationship of trust with the community, receiving certain advantages in return for the benefits it offered to society. However, in recent years the increasing litigation, regulation, and investigations involving accountants and the accounting profession indicate that the relationship between the profession and society is deteriorating. Indications are that society feels the profession has violated the trust placed in it by failing to effectively regulate itself and protect the public interest. The purpose of this study was to provide a situational analysis of the current status of self-regulation in the accounting profession as it …

The Future Of Credit Unions: Growth Or Stagnation?, Charles Paul Edmonds Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The general purpose of this study was to evaluate the operation and problems of credit unions in the United States. More specifically, the study attempted to evaluate the contributions of credit unions, to reveal their major problems, to evaluate their competitive position among financial institutions, and to evaluate the influence of current and proposed credit union legislation. To accomplish the stated purposes, the credit union industry was surveyed at various levels. A questionnaire was sent to all credit union leagues in the United States. Another questionnaire was sent to selected credit unions in the fifth district of the Credit Union …

An Evaluation Of The Entity Theory As A Partial Solution To The Non-Comparability Enigma Of Inter-Firm Income Statement Analysis, Lester Lee Schmidt Jr.

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study has been to evaluate on deductive grounds the proposition that income as determined according to the entity theory would be more comparable among firms than income as determined under contemporary generally accepted accounting principles, and to investigate whether or not empirical support exists among two professional groups for the propositions inherently contained in the entity theory.