Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Gender Performativity And Hegemonic Masculinity In Investment Management, Corina Sheerin, Prof. Margaret Linehan

Dept of Applied Social Science

Purpose

Through an examination of the everyday organisational and social practices, this paper aims to consider gender performativity and hegemonic masculinity within front office investment management. At the core of this research is the need to understand the interactions between gender, power and patriarchy.

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretivist philosophical stance underpins the study. A theory-building approach using 19 semi-structured interviews with investment management employees based in Ireland was undertaken.

Findings

The findings highlight a sector in which gender is performed in line with sectoral expectations, which place men in positions of dominance with hegemonic masculinity inherent. The organisational structures and daily …

Could An Alternative Policy Design Have Produced A Stronger Mortgage Modification Outcome For Hamp?, Sean Macdonald

Publications and Research

This paper conducts a study of the relative effectiveness of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) - the primary federal mortgage loan modification program - from early 2009 through 2016. It evaluates U.S. Treasury Department and other data sources, and reviews the recent literature on the relative success of the program. The analysis suggests that HAMP’s success rate in modifying mortgage loans was likely constrained by its voluntary design, a structure that enabled lenders and servicers to prioritize the interests of investors in assessing the risks of modification. It then considers the economic issues surrounding the foreclosure issue and presents …

Comments On Discussion Paper "Financial Instruments With Characteristics Of Equity" (Fice), Pearl Hock-Neo Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Comments are given on the Discussion Paper issued by the International Accounting Standards Board in June 2018 on Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity. The comments are given in response to the Board's public invitation for feedback on the Discussion Paper. The comments convey the author's concerns about the Discussion Paper's proposals in the light of the conceptual framework of financial reporting and a fundamental understanding of what equity and liability is. The comments propose approaches that the Board may consider in its subsequent development of its proposals.

Disruptive Technology: Can The Banking Industry Harness Disruption For Competitive Edge?, Edgar Low

MITB Thought Leadership Series

Disruptive innovation was identified as a phenomenon more than two decades ago by prominent Harvard scholar Clayton Christensen. So you may wonder why established industries are only now waking up to the prospect of digital transformation - the banking industry in particular.

2018 University Of Maine System Financial Report, University Of Maine System

General University of Maine Publications

The Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) provides a broad overview of the University of Maine System’s (“the System” or UMS) financial condition as of June 30, 2018 and 2017, the results of its operations for the years then ended, significant changes from the previous years, and outlook for the future where appropriate and relevant. Management has prepared the financial statements and related note disclosures along with this MD&A. The MD&A should be read in conjunction with the accompanying basic financial statements and related notes.

Build Your Own Nest: Singapore's First Study On Matched Savings Schemes For Lower Income, Older Women, David Chan, Benedict S. K. Koh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Matched Savings Scheme is a research study, commissioned by the International Longevity Centre – Singapore (ILC – Singapore) of the Tsao Foundation and funded by the Tote Board, found that a monthly matched savings scheme is effective in sustaining the retirement savings behaviour among a group of 377 elderly women from low-income households over the study period of 18 months. The research, conducted by principal investigator psychology professor David Chan and co-investigator finance professor Benedict Koh, used an experimental design and longitudinal tracking to examine the effects that different factors of a matched savings scheme have on the participants’ decision …

New Factors Wanted: Evidence From A Simple Specification Test, Ai He, Dashan Huang, Guofu Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we examine the pricing errors (PEs) of three kinds of factor models: a) six well known ones– the CAPM, the Fama-French three-factor model, the Carhart four-factor model, the Fama-French five-factor model, the Hou-Xue-Zhang Q-factor model, and the Stambaugh-Yuan mispricing-factor model; b) principal component factors of sixty-two anomalies; c) extracted statistical factors. We find that there is a systematic PE reversal pattern. A spread portfolio that buys stocks in the bottom PE decile and sells stocks in the top PE decile earns significant abnormal returns across all the models, implying that none of them is adequate in explaining …

Delineating Operating And Support Costs In Aircraft Platforms, Garrett B. O'Hanlon, Jonathan D. Ritschel, Edward D. White, Gregory E. Brown

Faculty Publications

As the costs of Department of Defense (DoD) Weapon Systems increase, the ability to estimate the Operating and Support (O&S) costs accurately for the various weapon systems has become vital to long-term affordability. This research focuses on the O&S costs of the Air Force fixed-wing arsenal (i.e., platforms) for 1996–2016. First, the Cost Element Structure (CES) for 52 aircraft platforms and seven operational mission categories is analyzed to derive the descriptive statistics per aircraft category through examination of actual historical costs. Second, testing to identify statistical differences within the O&S CES construct across various Air Force aircraft categories is conducted. …

Project Financial Distress: Early Signs And Ways To Overcome, Dimitrios V. Siskos

Publications

Financial distress is a hot topic these days in finance and the project’s health is very important for investors as well as management. Investors posit money in those projects which are financially healthy as the risk of default is minimized for them, while management must be able to identify causes of distress which can be controlled by taking different measures (Khurshid, 2013). However, the fact that many projects encounter financial distress requires further investigation. This paper deals with the elements of project financial distress as its major signs and sources as well as it suggests ways to eliminate the consequences. …

Reflective Practice Series: Selected Instructional Models Using Synchronous Video Conferencing Software, Martin W. Sivula

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

With the vast array of resources available to instructors, one would think that instruction and teaching would yield success for all learners. Now, well into the 21^st century has much changed in the classroom? Certainly, movable desks and chairs, advanced audio and visual equipment, and a plethora of all types of technologies which might be able to enhance training and education. Over the last several decades research on individualized instruction, cognitive science, educational psychology, and multimedia instruction (to name a few) have permeated the literature on instruction. With all the research and the vast array of studies on improving …

Labor Law And Innovation Revisited, Bill B. Francis, Incheol Kim, Bin Wang, Zhengyi Zhang

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

This paper examines the impact of changes in job security on corporate innovation in 20 non-U.S. OECD countries. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we provide firm-level evidence that the enhancement of labor protection has a negative impact on innovation. We then discuss possible channels and find that employee-friendly labor reforms induce inventor shirking and a distortion in labor flow. Further investigation reveals that the negative relation is more pronounced in (1) firms that heavily rely on external financing, (2) firms that have high R&D intensity, (3) manufacturing industries, and (4) civil-law countries. Our micro-level evidence indicates that enhanced employment protection impedes …

An Examination Of Alternative Trading Techniques Using Intraday Eur/Usd Currency Prices, Brock Vaughters

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Global financial institutions provide a mechanism for multinational corporations to hedge against exchange rate risk via currency futures contracts and spot exchange rates. Currency managers working at these global financial institutions overseeing EUR/USD spot currency traders lack adequate data to determine if alternative trading tools could increase net gains for their respective firms. The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine the net gains from alternative trading techniques that can be utilized by currency managers working for international banks and hedge funds when trading the EUR/USD currency on an intraday basis. A buy and hold strategy, sell and hold …

Leveling The Playing Field Between Large And Small Institutions: Evidence From The Sec’S Xbrl Mandate, Nilabhra Bhattacharya, Young Jun Cho, Jae B. Kim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We investigate how XBRL adoption affects smaller institutions’ access to financial statement information relative to their larger counterparts. We examine three aspects of trading responsiveness: abnormal trading volume, response speed to 10-K information, and decision to trade immediately following the 10-K filing. With regard to all three aspects of trading responsiveness, we find that small institutions’ responsiveness to 10-K news increases significantly more relative to the change experienced by large institutions from the pre- to post-XBRL periods. We further document that small institutions’ stock picking skills in the 10-K filing period increase more compared to those of large institutions following …

Unequal Hopes, Lives, And Lifespans In The Usa: Lessons From The New Science Of Well-Being, Carol Graham

Center for Policy Research

Given that we have had historic increases in inequality, as well as stagnant poverty levels for several decades, I will tell the story of poverty and inequality in the U.S. from the perspective of the metrics of happiness and well-being. My research—and the book that resulted—found that inequality is part of this story, but not the only part. The story was much more complicated than I anticipated. One of the most interesting parts of the story includes different levels of hope and resilience across races and places. Poverty and inequality play a big role, but there is much more to …

Monitoring From Afar: Do Foreign Institutional Investors Deter Insider Trading?, Claire Yurong Hong, Frank Weikai Li, Qifei Zhu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the disciplinary effect of foreign institutional investors on opportunistic insider trading. Using a novel global insider trading data set containing 35,557 firms from 26 countries over the period 2000-2015, we find that greater foreign institutional ownership significantly reduces the profitability of insider trading, above and beyond the effect of domestic institutional ownership. Using the exogenous variation in foreign institutional ownership induced by MSCI index inclusion, we show that the effect is causal. The impact of foreign investors is stronger in countries with weak insider trading regulations and poor institutional environments, and operates mainly through the monitoring channel, …

Investors' Evaluations Of Price-Increase Preannouncements, Leon Gim Lim, Kapil R. Tuli, Marnik G. Dekimpe

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Several firms preannounce their price increases with the expectation that such announcements will be evaluated favorably by investors. However, little is known about the actual effect they have on shareholder value. Accordingly, the authors present the first systematic empirical examination of investors' evaluations of 274 price-increase preannouncements (PIPs). Results show that whereas the average increase in abnormal returns following a PIP is 0.51%, almost 41% of the PIPs result in negative abnormal returns. To explore this heterogeneity, the authors propose a conceptual framework that focuses on three key pieces of information that investors can use when evaluating a PIP: information …

Monitoring From Afar: Do Foreign Institutional Investors Deter Insider Trading?, Claire Yurong Hong, Frank Weikai Li, Qifei Zhu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the disciplinary effect of foreign institutional investors on opportunistic insider trading. Using a novel global insider trading data set containing 35,557 firms from 26 countries over the period 2000-2015, we find that greater foreign institutional ownership significantly reduces the profitability of insider trading, above and beyond the effect of domestic institutional ownership. Using the exogenous variation in foreign institutional ownership induced by MSCI index inclusion, we show that the effect is causal. The impact of foreign investors is stronger in countries with weak insider trading regulations and poor institutional environments, and operates mainly through the monitoring channel, …

Warrants And Their Underlying Stocks: Microstructure Evidence From An Emerging Market, Charlie Charoenwong, David K. Ding, Nuttawat Visaltanachoti

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The Stock Exchange of Thailand provides an ideal platform for comparing the trading characteristics of warrants and their underlying stocks since both of them trade in the same market under identical trading rules. If their patterns diverge significantly, it may be possible for an astute trader to devise profitable arbitrage strategies during the life of the warrants. We find that both their patterns are downward-sloping for spreads, U-shaped for flow toxicity, volatility, depth concentration, and trading volume; and upward-sloping for depth and market order flow ratio. This implies that trading under identical market structures leads to similar trading characteristics. We …

Testing Market Response To Auditor Change Filings: A Comparison Of Machine Learning Classifiers, Richard Holowczak, David Louton, Hakan Saraoglu

Finance Department Faculty Journal Articles

The use of textual information contained in company filings with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K, has gained the increased attention of finance and accounting researchers. In this paper we use a set of machine learning methods to predict the market response to changes in a firm's auditor as reported in public filings. We vectorize the text of 8-K filings to test whether the resulting feature matrix can explain the sign of the market response to the filing. Specifically, using classification algorithms and a …

How Do Financial Institutions In China Mitigate Risks In Securitization Markets?, Tiantian Lyu

Honors College Theses

Asset securitization as the essential financial tool has increased the liquidity of underlying assets and promoted rapid economic development. In 2008, the outbreak of Subprime Mortgage Crisis that brought by the collapse of securitization triggered the U.S. securitization market to realize the risks involved in structured financial products, and thus facilitated the development of risk controlling tools. Through the analysis of securitization process, drivers, and credit rating agencies, the study concentrates on the formation of risks and modeling evaluation with evidence in both China and the U.S. markets. Statistical analysis was conducted on Chinese securitized products combining with risk management …

2018 Q3 Private Capital Access Index Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Access Report

The Pepperdine Private Capital Access Index (PCA) is a quarterly indicator produced by the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, in partnership with Dun & Bradstreet. The index is designed to measure the demand for, activity, and health of the private capital markets. The purpose of the PCA Index is to gauge the demand of small and medium sized businesses for financing needs, the level of accessibility of private capital, and the transparency and efficiency of private financing markets.

Boards Of Directors And Firm Leverage: Evidence From Real Estate Investment Trusts, Trang Doan, Nga Nguyen

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

We re-examine the negative association between leverage and returns while also focusing on the role of boards of directors. To do so, we utilize the unique setting of real estate investment trusts (REITs), their high leverage, and the volatility that the industry experienced during the recent financial crisis. We find that during the financial crisis REIT board activity increased, especially among firms with high leverage. We also find that board activity helps mitigate the previously reported negative effect of leverage on returns during this time period. Post-crisis, we find evidence suggesting that firms with more active boards reduce …

Esg And Corporate Financial Performance: Empirical Evidence From China's Listed Power Generation Companies, Changhong Zhao, Yu Guo, Jiahai Yuan, Mengya Wu, Daiyu Li, Yiou Zhou, Jiangang Kang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Nowadays, listed companies around the world are shifting from short-term goals of maximizing profits to long-term sustainable environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. People have come to realize that ESG has become an important source of the corporate risk and may affect the company's financial performance and profitability. Recent research shows that good ESG performance could improve the financial performance in some countries. Yet, the question of how does ESG affect financial performance has not been thoroughly discussed and studied in China. In this article, we study China's listed power generation groups to explore the relationship between ESG performance and …

A Signaling Theory Of Institutional Activism: How Norway’S Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments Affect Firms’ Foreign Acquisitions, Gurneeta Vasudeva, Lilac Nachum, Gui-Deng Say

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Combining perspectives from institutional activism and signaling theory literatures, we suggest that an activist sovereign wealth fund (SWF) can serve as an intermediary signaler, providing cues about host countries’ institutional environment to internationalizing firms. By publicizing its investments and engaging in institutional activism, a SWF can signal the institutional quality of host countries to internationalizing firms, thus allowing them to overcome the well-known “lemons problem” in international decision-making. We examine the impact of a SWF’s signals on firms’ ownership choices in their foreign acquisitions. Our empirical analysis of Norway’s socially responsible SWF and firms from Norway and Sweden during 1998–2011 …

Identifying Individual Motivations Of Nonprofit Volunteers In The Human Services Field With A Study Of The National Red Cross Organization, Taylor Tyrrell

Honors College

The purpose of this paper is to identify individual motivations of volunteers in the human services nonprofit field. A literature review was conducted looking into the main functions of motivation, as well as relationships between demographic characteristics and the likelihood of volunteering. Then, a case study was completed on the local Red Cross branch in Bangor, Maine. Interviews were done within the organization in addition to data collection from their online database. The literature review was then used to predict motivations of volunteers within the Red Cross, as well as to devise predictions and suggestions for better recruitment and retention. …

Eqm Investment Research Report, Kaitlyn Berg

Honors Projects

The piece includes both an investment research and industry analysis report on EQM, a midstream oil company. Based on the industry environment, valuation metrics, and financial statement analysis, EQM holds a buy recommendation and demonstrates a large potential for growth and strong cash flow returns. The following analysis provides evidence to support this recommendation.

Relationship Banking And Loan Syndicate Structure: The Role Of Private Equity Sponsors, Rongbing Huang, Donghang Zhang, Yija (Eddie) Zhao

Faculty and Research Publications

Using a sample of syndicated loans to private equity (PE)-backed IPO companies, we examine how a third-party bank relationship influences the syndicate structure of a loan. We find that a stronger relationship between the lead bank and the borrower’s PE firm enables the lead bank to retain a smaller share of the loan and form a larger and less concentrated syndicate, especially when the borrower is less transparent. A stronger PE-bank relationship also attracts greater foreign bank participation. Our findings suggest that the lead bank’s relationship with a large equity holder of the borrower facilitates information production in lending.

The Salience Theory Of Consumer Financial Regulation, Natasha Sarin

All Faculty Scholarship

Prior to the financial crisis, banks’ fee income was their fastest-growing source of revenue. This revenue was often generated through nefarious bank practices (e.g., ordering overdraft transactions for maximal fees). The crisis focused popular attention on the extent to which current regulatory tools failed consumers in these markets, and policymakers responded: A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was tasked with monitoring consumer finance products, and some of the earliest post-crisis financial reforms sought to lower consumer costs. This Article is the first to empirically evaluate the success of the consumer finance reform agenda by considering three recent price regulations: a …

Place, Space, And Foreign Direct Investment Into Peripheral Cities, Conor Mcdonald, Peter J. Buckley, Hinrich Voss, Adam R. Cross, Liang Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Perspectives drawn from the economic geography literature are increasingly used to generate insights into locational issues in international business. In this paper, we seek to integrate these literatures further by investigating the locational determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) into peripheral cities within an emerging economy. Peripheral cities in emerging economies are attracting a growing proportion of global FDI flows, but the international business literature lacks a framework for understanding subnational determinants of FDI, particularly into non-core locations. We draw on the core-periphery model to build and test theory on how spatial interdependencies between subnational locations impact on the distribution …

The Evolution Of The French Cfos' Role Since The Introduction Of The Financial Market Logic, Redon Marie, Toru Yoshikawa, Berland Nicolas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper highlights the changes of the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) role since the introduction of the financial market logic in France. Through an analysis of thirty-seven interviews with CFOs and observations during events organized by the professional association of CFOs, we show that the CFOs’ role evolved in different pathways depending on the relationships between logics. We contribute to the literature that studies professions from an institutional perspective by responding to the question of whether professionals change their role when the logic to which they adhere and from which they derive their role is being challenged, or whether institutional …