Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Preliminary Assessment Of Client Interest In And Needs Of The New England Environmental Finance Center, New England Environmental Finance Center, University Of Southern Maine

Planning

The New England Environmental Finance Center (NE/EFC) has been conceived as a knowledge-based clearinghouse, training, and change-agent program aimed at helping EPA's constituencies find financially successful approaches to environmental improvements. The NE/EFC will develop approaches to needs of particular priority in New England and potentially useful throughout the nation; share such approaches through the EFC national network; and help make tools from that network accessible throughout New England. In 1999 we began exploring with potential users how this ninth of the nation's EFCs might best address the region's needs. The assessment continued through the Muskie School's EFC proposal to EPA …

Local Economic Risk Factors On The Primary And Secondary Mortgage Markets, Brent W. Ambrose, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

This paper presents a cross-sectional analysis of the spatial distribution of loans in the primary and secondary mortgage markets. Aggregating loan originations to the MSA level, we examine the proportion of the market served by FHA and conventional lenders. We model the geographic differences in market shares as a function of supply, demand, and economic risk factors. Results indicate that FHA market shares are higher in cities with higher economic risk characteristics. To examine the role of GSE activity, we model the spatial distribution of the disposition of conventional loans. Again, we focus on the impact of local economic risk …

Preventing Fraudulent Financial Reporting, Mark S. Beasley, Joseph V. Carcello, Dana R. Hermanson

Faculty and Research Publications

Provides information on a study conducted by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations regarding the detection and prevention of financial fraud. Discussion on the nature of financial frauds; Characteristics of unreliable financial reporting; Views on the role of auditing firms in the prevention of fraud.

Contagion Effects, Macroeconomic Conditions, And The Design Of Regulatory Capital Standards, Kevin T. Jacques, Stephen Hiemstra

Kevin T Jacques

No abstract provided.

Journal Of Actuarial Practice, Volume 8, Nos. 1 And 2 (2000) -- Masthead & Contents, Colin Ramsay , Editor

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

Contents

Editorial Policy: Topics suitable for this journal include AIDS, annuity products, asset-liability matching, cash-flow testing, casualty rate making, credibility theory, credit insurance, disability insurance, expense analysis, experience studies, FASB issues, financial reporting, group insurance, health insurance, individual risk taking, insurance regulations, international issues, investments, liability insurance, loss reserves, marketing, pensions, pricing issues, product development, reinsurance, reserving issues, risk-based capital, risk theory, social insurance, solvency issues, taxation, valuation issues, and workers' compensation

Review Process

Editor - Colin Ramsay, University of Nebraska

Associate Editors: Robert Brown, University of Waterloo ○ Cecil Bykerk, Mutual of Omaha ○ Ruy Cardoso, …

Environmental Finance Charette, Hyannis Park On Lewis Bay: A Case Study, New England Environmental Finance Center, Environmental Finance Center Of University Of Maryland

Water

The town of Yarmouth currently has a $30 million septic sludge treatment plant and transport lines in place. The vast majority of the dwellings and businesses in the Hyannis Park area are on septic systems that are viable and Title 5 compliant, regardless of age. Conventional, "non-failing" septic systems, however, were never intended to remove form their effluent nutrients such as nitrogen. These have become recognized as an environmental threat only as our understanding of the impacts of excess nutrients on ecosystems has increased in recent decades.

Front Matter, Journal Of Microfinance

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

No abstract provided.

Banking On Customer Loyalty, Craig Churchill

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

Enhancing customer loyalty is a microfinance institution's most important business strategy. Every critical element involved in managing microfinance operations--from product pricing to staff incentives, from marketing to eligibility requirements, from client screening to the menu of available services--can (and should) be formulated to promote loyalty. While most MFIs recognize the importance of client retention, few have designed business strategies to maximize customer loyalty. Hopefully that will change. This article details the economic impact that customer loyalty has on a microfinance institution (and the negative effect of desertion).

Replication: Regressive Reproduction Or Progressive Evolution?, Graham Wright

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

Increasing numbers of organizations are "replicating" the programs of successful microfinance institutions (MFIs). This approach allows rapid start-up using tested models and systems. These strengths are also weaknesses, though, since the models being replicated usually require substantial modifications to make them appropriate for local conditions. Furthermore, close adherence to "blueprints" is likely to substitute for careful research into the needs and opportunities for the provision of financial services to the poor--and thus the design of appropriate systems. Replication also risks the suppression of innovative ways of providing still better financial services--particularly when promoted by powerful apex funding organizations, as is …

Credit Scoring For Microfinance: Can It Work?, Mark Schreiner

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

In rich countries, lenders often rely on credit scoring--formulae to predict risk based on the performance of past loans with characteristics similar to current loans--to inform decisions. Can credit scoring do the same for microfinance lenders in poor countries? This paper argues that scoring does have a place in microfinance. Although scoring is less powerful in poor countries than in rich countries, and although scoring will not replace the personal knowledge of character of loan officers or of loan groups, scoring can improve estimates of risk. Thus, scoring complements--but does not replace--current microfinance technologies. Furthermore, the derivation of the scoring …

Microfinance In The United States: The Working Capital Experience— Ten Years Of Lending And Learning, Jeffrey Ashe

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

Working Capital is the United States' largest peer-group lending program. This article reviews what Working Capital has learned about the market, its customers, program impact, and service delivery over its ten year history. It presents a model for understanding how participating in peer lending groups develops “social and economic capital” in poor communities. The article then discusses how participants judge the group model as they identify the characteristics of successful groups and the impact of the group on their businesses, on themselves personally, and on the larger community. The rest of the article discusses how Working Capital evolved from a …

Book Review- Microfinance And Poverty: Questioning The Conventional Wisdom By Hege Gulli, Lisa M. Jones

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

No abstract provided.

Moving Microenterprises Beyond A Subsistence Plateau, Beth C. Haynes, Kristie K. Seawright, William C. Giauque

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

Enthusiasm for microcredit programs has increased during the past decade. The attention these programs have drawn stems philosophically from progress in cultivating self-sufficiency among those in abject poverty, and practically from the viability and high loan repayment rates of many microfinance institutions. The programs assume that lack of capital is the main barrier to the economic progress of the poor. The lack of entrepreneur business management experience and training, however, may create a barrier equally powerful and limit the growth potential of microenterprises. Microcredit programs could foster even greater economic progress by ensuring that clients receive appropriate human capital development. …

Impact Assessment Of Microfinance And Organizational Learning: Who Will Survive?, James G. Copestake

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

To what extent is it possible for organizations to reflect honestly on their own performance, draw appropriate conclusions, and then act on them? For many microfinance organizations this is now a question of survival. This paper argues that formal impact assessment can assist in the transition from donor-controlled replication projects to autonomous and adaptable organizations--but it often fails to do so. Pitfalls include inadequate attention to methodological detail and to the links between impact assessment and wider aspects of organizational change. The paper starts by highlighting the complexity of the overall task to which impact assessment is expected to contribute. …

Vol. 02 No. 2 Journal Of Microfinance, Journal Of Microfinance

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

No abstract provided.

Capital Enhancement Guarantees And Risk Management By Capital-Constrained Lenders, J.D. Von-Pischke

Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review

Commercial lenders require capital to bear risk. The capital enhancement guarantee (CEG) encourages lenders to make loans they would not otherwise make, such as microenterprise loans. The CEG is auctioned and awarded to bidders who promise the greatest amount of new lending for a given increment of permanent capital. Whether the incremental lending causes losses or gains for the lender, the incremental capital is free. The CEG subsidizes innovation in risk management. It places the analytical focus on risk and its cost, supports the key party to the lending decision, promotes skill in managing risk, is transparent, minimizes moral hazard, …

2000-2001 Operating Budget, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

The Operating Budget of the Southern University System, Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2001.

2000-2001 Operating Budget, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

The Southern University and A & M College Operating Budget for the Fiscal Year 2000-2001.

2000-2001 Operating Budget: Southern University Law Center, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

The 2000-2001 Fiscal Year Operating Budget for the Southern University Law Center Campus.

2000-2001 Operating Budget, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

The Southern University at Shreveport, Operating Budget for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2001.

Single Minded? : Implementing Common Financial Systems, Mark E. Pickering

Mark E Pickering

As companies grow via acquisition they collect a variety of separate and often quite diverse financial systems belonging to the newly acquired companies. While there is a substantial cost to implementing a common financial system across the merged group. Is that cost outweighed by the benefits of a single system? This article uses a case study to highlight options for different degrees of finance system commonality, potential benefits of each option and a framework for analysing the appropriate level of commonality.

The Cbn As A Catalyst To National Economic Policy And Development., J. O. Sanusi

Bullion

The paper examined the activities of the Bank into perspectives, particularly with the often-mis-construed belief the CBN should be held accountable for all the woes of the Nigerian economy. It also reviewed and appraised the performance of the CBN in the effort to meet its statutory mandate and adapt to the circumstances of the new global trend in Central Banking in which the maintenance of price stability supercedes all other objectives of monetary policy. The challenges facing the Bank are enormous, but not insurmountable. Efforts are already being made to confront these challenges. The instrument autonomy recently granted to the …

Commodities Taxes/Levies And Their Effects On Commodity Trade And Movements In Nigeria., Joe Alegieuno, A O. Balogun

Bullion

The Commodity Boards were noted for paying farmers prices that were lower than the world prices and sometimes even lower than their production costs. This difference represented implicit taxation of farm incomes and served as a dis-incentive to domestic production. This paper examines the administration of commodity taxes/levies and their effect on commodity trading in Nigeria as well as assessing the various systems of commodity marketing in Nigeria. The paper concludes that Commodity trade, in Nigeria began with the British companies exporting raw materials to their industries abroad. His was followed by the Commodity/Marketing Board era and finally trade liberation. …

1999-2000 Operating Budget: Southern University At New Orleans, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

1999-2000 Operating Budget of the Southern University at New Orleans Campus.

Monetary And Financial Sector Policies In The Year 2000 Budget Of The Fgn, M. O. Ojo

Bullion

The paper attempts to review the monetary and financial sector policies of CBN during the 2000 fiscal year. It also discussed the issues and problems of implementation of the policies. The paper observes that the Nigerian economy witnessed some anxious moments during the 1999 fiscal year. Severe Pressures built-up in the economy mainly because of the expansionary fiscal policy of the Federal Government during the first five months of the year. lf price of oil in the international market continue to rise above budget expectations and expenditure does not rise in tandem, finance is likely to constrain achievement of most …

Justifying Electronic Banking Network Expansion Using Real Option Pricing: An Empirical Illustration, Michel Benaroch, Robert J. Kauffman

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The application of real options analysis to information technology investment evaluation problems recently has been proposed in the IS literature (Chalasani et al. 1997; Dos Santos 1991; Kambil et al. 1993; Kumar 1996; Taudes 1998). The research reported on in this paper illustrates the value of applying real options analysis in the context of a case study involving the deployment of point-of-sale (POS) debit services by the Yankee 24 shared electronic banking network of New England. In the course of so doing, the paper also attempts to operationalize real options analysis concepts by examining claimed strengths of this analysis approach …

Pb1648-Considering An Agritainment Enterprise In Tennessee, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Marketing, Finances and Value-Added Agriculture

Agritainment (agritourism and entertainment farming enterprises) has an extensive history in the United States. Farm-related recreation and tourism can be traced back to the late 1800s, when families visited farming relatives in an attempt to escape from the city’s summer heat. Visiting the country became even more popular with the widespread use of the automobile in the 1920s. Rural recreation gained interest again in the 1930s and 1940s by folks seeking an escape from the stresses of the Great Depression and World War II. These demands for rural recreation led to widespread interest in horseback riding, farm petting zoos and …

Public Finance Of Professional Athletic Facilities: Case Studies In Stadium And Arena Finance, Larry Harala

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

During the course of the 1990s cities across the country opted to expend public monies at record levels on stadium and arena construction. The focus of this paper will be an examination of whether or not spending public money on private athletic facilities is justifiable. For the purpose of this paper “justifiable” will mean; that the overall economic benefit to the community can be clearly and quantifiably demonstrate to have a net positive economic impact on the community while benefiting all socio-economic elements of the community at large. The types of facilities that this paper will examine are arenas and …

Jumps And Dynamic Asset Allocation, Liuren Wu

CRIF Working Paper series

This paper provides a general framework for analyzing optimal dynamic asset allocation problems in economies with infrequent events and where the investment opportunities are stochastic and predictable. Analytical solutions are obtained, with which I do a thorough comparative study of the impacts of jumps on the dynamic decision. I also calibrate the model to the U.S. equity market and assess the quantitative impacts of jumps under a dynamic environment. I find that jump risk not only makes the investor's allocation more conservative overall but also makes her dynamic portfolio rebalancing less dramatic over time.

Financial Information Resources For Special Librarians, Di Su

Publications and Research

Speed has always been a competitive factor and corporate asset in business world. The growth of the Internet has created an equal opportunity for information service professionals in both big and small companies to improve their efficiency. The prominent advantages of Web source are currency, accessibility, and thus, the speed. You are provided with instant updates on issues like rules, official statements, interpretations, statistics, etc., and these documents can be accessed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There are so many valuable Web sites on the Internet that it is impossible to include them all in this article, …