Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Taxing Audit Markets And Reputation: An Examination Of The U.S. Tax Shelter Controversy, John Incardona, Yezen Kannan, Ronald Premuroso, Julia L. Higgs, Ivy Huang

Accounting and Finance Faculty Publications

From 2002 to 2007, the nation’s largest CPA firms faced allegations of illegal activity related to the sale of tax shelters: EY, KPMG and PwC paid fines; KPMG was investigated by a federal grand jury; and EY faced a criminal inquiry. These shelter events occurred shortly after the 2002 collapse of Arthur Andersen, when policy makers were concerned about audit market concentration. This is the first paper to provide a chronological summary of how the tax shelter controversy started and ended. We investigate the stock market reaction to tax shelter news developments between 2003 and 2005 to make inferences about …

The January Effect: A Test Of Market Efficiency, Shelby Klock

Theses & Honors Papers

The purpose of this study is to test the weakform efficient market hypothesis by analyzing the effects of year end selling/buying and the January effect on stock price. Specifically, is itpossible to earn an above normal return at the beginning of the new year? Numerous past studies suggest that at year end investors sell underperforming stocks, thus negatively impacting stock price . Past studies also suggest the repurchase of previou$ year losers in January causing upward pressure on stock price. According to the weakform efficient market hypothesis, it is not possible to outperform the market …

The Financial Characteristics Of Large And Small Firms Before And After The 2008 Stock Market Crash, Daniel Folkinshteyn, Gulser Meric

Rohrer College of Business Departmental Research

The financial crisis of 2008, and the associated bear market lasting from October 2007 to March 2009, has had a significant impact on a broad cross section of firms in the global economy. Of particular interest to us in this study is the effect of this time period on the financial characteristics of firms, with extra focus on debt-related ratios. Using a large sample of U.S. firms from the COMPUSTAT database, we find that firms, on average, come out of the financial crisis with less insolvency and bankruptcy risk, more efficient asset utilization, and more attractive market valuations.

Analysis Of The Relation Between The Spiders Spot And Option Implied Volatility., Stoyu Ivanov

Faculty Publications

In this study we use spectral analysis on SPY (Spiders) options to examine the relation between option spot and implied volatility for this exchange trade fund. We attempt to address the question is there a relation between the option spot and implied volatility or option implied volatility has no relation with the spot exchange trade fund volatility. We find that this relation does exist for SPY at-the-money call and put options and the in-the-money call and out-of-the-money put options. Using two spectral statistics – the coherence and the phase statistics, we find that the SPY option implied volatility and spot …

Economic Profitability Of The Bakken, North Dakota Unconventional Oil Plays Based On A Typical Well Performance With Current Market Conditions, Mehmet Apaydin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Increases in oil prices after the economic recession have been surprising for domestic oil production in the United States since the beginning of 2009. Not only did the conventional oil extraction increase, but unconventional oil production and exploration also improved greatly with the favorable economic conditions. This favorable economy encourages companies to invest in new reservoirs and technological developments. Recently, enhanced drilling techniques including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been supporting the domestic economy by way of unconventional shale and tight oil from various U.S. locations. One of the main contributors to this oil boom is the unconventional oil …

Small Business Owner Satisfaction With Financial Performance: A Longitudinal Study, Shanan G. Gibson, William C. Mcdowell, Michael L. Harris

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This exploratory study examines the financial performance satisfaction of small business owners at two time periods: (1) nearing the end of the Great Recession and (2) three years into economic recovery. In addition to considering small business owners in general, special attention has been paid to women and minority owners. Using independent samples t-tests, results indicate that business owners are more satisfied with their financial performance in 2012 than they were in 2009. However, results were not consistent for all subgroups of the population; differences exist between men and women owners and between Caucasian and minority owners. Whereas men mirrored …

Blended Learning : A Program Evaluation In A Central Virginia K-12 School District, Edward A. Hoisington

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a general education course offered in a blended learning environment in a Central Virginia public school district. Three research questions were addressed in this study: How satisfied are students with a blended learning environment in a general education Economics and Personal Finance course? Is a student’s course grade affected by the following: Technology, self-efficacy, course organization, quality of instruction, and student satisfaction in a blended learning course? Is a student’s grade on a credential test affected by the following: Technology, self-efficacy, course organization, quality of instruction, and student satisfaction in a blended …

The Stock Market Impact Of Government Interventions On Financial Services Industry Groups: Evidence From The 2007-2009 Crisis, Deborah Smith

Business Faculty Publications

We examine the market reaction and shift in risk from nine prominent government interventions in response to the crisis between February 2007 and July 2009 on four types of institutions: banks, savings and loan associations (S&Ls), insurance companies, and real estate investment trusts (REITs). Overall, with the exception of the Troubled Assets Repurchase Program (TARP), the interventions were wealth-decreasing and risk-increasing events for financial institutions. Leveraged firms and firms with higher trading volumes earn significantly lower abnormal returns. For both during- and post-crisis periods, larger firms experience increases in systematic risk; non-U.S. firms experience lower changes in systematic risk.

Deal Innovations In Mergers And Acquisitions: Do Go-Shop Provisions Create Real Benefits?, Chenguang Shang

Wayne State University Dissertations

Along with the private equity boom in the mid-2000s emerged a new M&A deal technology - the "go-shop" provision. In this paper, I address the question whether go-shop provisions are utilized by target managers to pursue private benefits or are used to protect the fiduciary interests of the target shareholder. I investigate the effectiveness of go-shop provisions by empirically testing two competing hypotheses: (a) the window-dressing hypothesis, and (b) the shareholder interest hypothesis.

This is the first study to shed light on the impact of go-shop provisions on the wealth of both the target and the bidder shareholders, and thereby …

Elections And Asset Pricing: The Politically Sensitive Equity Of Us Military Contractors, Matthew Mark Ross

Wayne State University Dissertations

I quantify the relationship between political uncertainty and equity volatility in the months around US elections from 1989-2012. The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data are employed to measure political uncertainty faced by military contractors, capitalizing on the unique monopsony-oligopoly business environment of these firms. I employ a GARCH (1,1) model with cross-sectionally correlated moments to produce daily firm-election volatility measures. Volatility increases 11% for local, 27% for midterm, and 43% for presidential elections. These measures demonstrate that all election categories: local, federal, presidential, and midterm exhibit differential effects on equity volatility. My results …

Financial Institutions And The Taxi-Cab Industry: An Exploratory Study In Canada, John D. Obradovich, Amarjit Gill, Nahum Biger, Leo-Paul Dana, Canadian Western Bank

Faculty Publications and Presentations

A current challenge taxicab owner/operators face in Canada is the lack of financing for taxicabs. This article examines business opportunities and lending risk; it also provides risk management strategies for financial institutions to manage the risk of lending to the taxi-cab industry. Members of the boards of directors and shareholders from the Canadian taxicab industry, and lenders from financial institutions that do not provide financing to taxicab owner/operators, were interviewed. Board members and shareholders were asked about their perceptions regarding business opportunity, risk, and their willingness to provide collateral for taxicab loans. Lenders of financial institutions were asked about their …

Corporate Or Network Governance? The Case Of The Italian Productive Chains And Their Scaffolding Finance Approach., Guido Max Mantovani, Teresa Guidone

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

We investigate and find out the inner differences between stand-alone firms and those participating to Productive Chain Networks (PCNs) as far as ownership and corporate governance characteristics are concerned. PCNs are typical Italian economic realities made of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which behave like a unique meta-firm. Different clusters are found from an empirical analysis: firms outside PCNs, leaders in PCNs and suppliers participating to PCNs. The clusters differentiate on corporate governance practices and the consequent capability to attract funding from financial institutions. The inner differences in governance structure relate to the underpinnings of the competitive advantage of the …

Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan

Doctoral Dissertations

Research documents that insiders, who have access to private information, appear to trade with profits before major corporate events like mergers, bankruptcy, dividend announcements, and future cash flow news (see, e.g., Seyhun, 1990; Seyhun and Bradley, 1997; John and Lang, 1991; Jiang and Zaman, 2010). Another recent stream of studies find that the size and quality of a firm's patent portfolio are positively related to the firm's future stock returns (Hirshleifer, Hsu, and Li, 2012; Pandit, Wasley, and Zach, 2011). However, there is little systematic evidence on whether insiders act opportunistically when they possess private information about the firm's patent …

Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan

Doctoral Dissertations

Research documents that insiders, who have access to private information, appear to trade with profits before major corporate events like mergers, bankruptcy, dividend announcements, and future cash flow news (see, e.g., Seyhun, 1990; Seyhun and Bradley, 1997; John and Lang, 1991; Jiang and Zaman, 2010). Another recent stream of studies find that the size and quality of a firm's patent portfolio are positively related to the firm's future stock returns (Hirshleifer, Hsu, and Li, 2012; Pandit, Wasley, and Zach, 2011). However, there is little systematic evidence on whether insiders act opportunistically when they possess private information about the firm's patent …

Interest-Rate And Calendar-Time Effects In Money Market Fund And Bank Deposit Cash Flows, Vladimir Kotomin, Stanley D. Smith, Drew B. Winters

Faculty Publications – Finance, Insurance, and Law

We examine the sensitivities of aggregate balances of retail and institutional money market funds (MMFs) and their potential substitutes, bank deposits, to changes in short-term interest rates while controlling for calendar-time effects. We find that institutional MMF and time deposit cash flows are sensitive to recent changes in short-term interest rates. Institutional MMF investors appear to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities created by MMFs using the amortized cost technique. Retail MMF investors are much less responsive to changes in interest rates.

Reassessing Anomalies And Puzzles, Keming Li

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

While standard asset pricing models assume a frictionless environment and investors are risk-averse individuals who maximize their utility based on all the available information in real time. The asset pricing literature has empirically documented numerous anomalies and puzzles, which cannot be explained by the traditional finance theory. Investors are exposed to these entire abnormal phenomenons, but at the same time investors do not fully understand them. This problem motives numbers of recent publications and also my dissertation.My dissertation is consisting of three essays. The first essay looks at the components of information uncertainty. Specically, I decompose information uncertainty into fundamental …

In Times Of Financial Distress: Perspectives From Valuation, Information Asymmetry And Returns, Ramya Rajajagadeesan Aroul

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

The dissertation addresses unanswered questions in asset valuation through the lens of financial distress in three different asset markets namely equity market, residential property market and REITs market. The first two essays explore the valuation impact of financial distress in equity and residential property markets while the third essay examines the role of information asymmetry in REITs market around credit rating announcements. In the first essay, I investigate why highly distressed firms earn low returns. By employing a direct misvaluation measure, I find that distressed firms with substantial overvaluation earn negative returns. I also further study the characteristics of the …

Measuring Egyptian Banks Efficiency Using Co-Plot, Mohamed Rashwan

Business Administration

Measuring the efficiency of the banking industry has been a significant challenge, especially in the developing countries. This research aims at measuring the efficiency of the Egyptian banks through the period of 2010-2013, in which the 25th of January revolution took place. The research applied an intermediation approach using the Co-Plot technique on 27 Egyptian licensed banks. Data were collected from Bank scope and banks’ annual reports. It is found that, the political unrest has no significant impact on the banking efficiency and that the state owned banks are more efficient than the privately owned ones. Moreover, the majority of …

Sustainable Revenue Generation System For Nonprofit Institutions Of Higher Education, Graig Arcuri

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social and individual spending on higher education has outpaced social and individual economic growth, resulting in nonprofit institutions of higher education (NIHEs) growing increasingly dependent upon unsustainable governmental subsidies and tuition increases. The purpose of this study was to examine the interactions among components of the nonprofit university system, existing revenue generation methods, and sustainability of revenue generation, thereby generating a new sustainable revenue theory for nonprofit universities within the United States. This qualitative grounded theory study used a multiphase design incorporating data from the literature review, historical documents, and phone interviews from a theoretical sampling of 10 NIHEs. Participants …

Financial Resources And Technology To Transition To 450mm Semiconductor Wafer Foundries, Thomas Earl Pastore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Future 450mm semiconductor wafer foundries are expected to produce billions of low cost, leading-edge processors, memories, and wireless sensors for Internet of Everything applications in smart cities, smart grids, and smart infrastructures. The problem has been a lack of wise investment decision making using traditional semiconductor industry models. The purpose of this study was to design decision-making models to conserve financial resources from conception to commercialization using real options to optimize production capacity, to defer an investment, and to abandon the project. The study consisted of 4 research questions that compared net present value from real option closed-form equations and …