Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

A Feasibility Study On Replacing A Hay Operation With An Equestrian Boarding Facility, Virginia Vouri

Agribusiness

The purpose of this project was to determine whether it would be feasible for Brians Dairy to convert their dairy farm into an equestrian boarding facility.

There are two major costs involved in this project, the development of the facility and the operation of the business. Once all of the costs were determined, they were entered into an Excel spreadsheet using the format of an Enterprise Budget. From the Enterprise Budget, revenues and expenses were used to develop an Investment Analysis, where a positive Net Present Value and a 30% Internal Rate of Return were discovered.

Using figures from the …

A Comparison Of Costs And Returns For Organic And Conventional Cabernet Sauvignon Grape Production In San Luis Obispo County, Amanda N. Johansen

Agribusiness

This study examined the differences in costs and profitability for established conventional and organic Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in the Edna Valley region of San Luis Obispo County, California. The study used a partial budgeting approach to compare cost and profitability for established vineyards for 2009, and thus ignored transition costs. Data were obtained from UC Davis cost studies for organic and conventional grape production in other regions of California in previous years. Adjustments made to these costs to account for changes in input use, input costs and grape prices in San Luis Obispo County during the 2009 growing season.

The …

Weathering The Storm: Asian Hedge Funds, Melvyn Teo

Research Collection BNP Paribas Hedge Fund Centre

How has the financial crisis shaped the hedge fund industry in Asia? We survey the style, investment region, and assets under management landscape of Asia-based hedge funds before and after the recent economic downturn. Our findings suggest that during the early part of the crisis in 2007, macro and fixed income funds based in Australia were especially vulnerable. When Asian financial markets succumbed in 2008 and 2009, hedge fund exits ramped up in Singapore and Hong Kong, particularly amongst event driven and Japan-focused funds. Small funds were most susceptible to closure during the liquidity crunch. Conversely, CTAs and Greater China-focused …

Secrets And Lies: How One Man Charmed His Way Into The Hearts, Minds And Wallets Of New York's Rich And Powerful, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Bernie Madoff’s reputation as the largest ponzi scheme operator will probably outlast the 150-year jail sentence he is now serving. For decades, the man created an aura around himself that spoke to the romantic ambitions of Wall Street's sycophants: unyielding success, exclusivity and power. Moreover, Madoff conjured a mystique so intriguing he had investors practically begging to surrender their money. But not everyone was blinded. Harry Markopolos, a financial consultant turned famous whistleblower, was convinced that the magician hath no magical abilities. For close to ten years, he nudged US regulators to no avail. His journey is detailed in the …

Side-By-Side Management Of Hedge Funds And Mutual Funds, Tom Nohel, Z. Jay Wang, Lu Zheng

Research Collection BNP Paribas Hedge Fund Centre

We examine situations where the same fund manager simultaneously manages mutual funds and hedge funds. We refer to this as side-by-side management. We document 344 such cases involving 693 mutual funds and 538 hedge funds. Proponents of this practice argue that it is essential to hire and retain star performers. Detractors argue that the temptation for abuse is high and the practice should be banned. Our analysis based on various performance metrics shows that side-by-side mutual fund managers significantly outperform peer funds, consistent with this privilege being granted primarily to star performers. Interestingly, side-by-side hedge fund managers are at best …

Study Questions For Actuarial Exam 2/Fm, Aaron Hardiek

Statistics

No abstract provided.

Trial And Budget Analysis Of Two Synchronized Artificial Insemination Breeding Programs For Beef First Calf Heifers, John Nino

Agribusiness

This study was designed to compare the benefits and costs of two different synchronized artificial insemination programs on two groups of beef first calf heifers. A financial budget was developed that would include cost of synchronized insemination per animal and the added value of a bred heifer compared to an open one.

The two synchronized programs were called controlled internal drug release (CIDR) and Ovsynch. They used a specific timeline and drugs to complete the synchronization process. A single low birth weight high calving ease bull was used for both groups to enforce conformity between the groups. Costs of all …

The Relationship Between Stock Price And Currency Exchange Rate In Malaysia : The Case Before Pegging And After Depegging Of Ringgit Malaysia., Ooi Beng Hooi

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study examines the relationship between stock price and currency exchange rate in Malaysia for the periods before pegging and after depegging of Ringgit Malaysia. Various econometrics tests are performed to find out the coefficients of correlation, beta coefficients, stationary of stock price and currency exchange rate, cointegration and Granger causality. It is found that stock price and strength of Ringgit are strongly and positively correlated, unilateral causality from stock price to currency exchange rate before pegging of Ringgit. However, the relationship between the two variables has become less significant as the correlation and degree of cointegration has become weaker …

Naira Convertibility: The Journey So Far, Moses K. Tule

Bullion

This paper examines the path to Naira Convertibility, the Journey so far. lt avers that convertibility is pursued by countries either as an economic management approach or as a tool for achieving higher reckoning on the global economic stage. Consequently, the examples of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil, etc could fall in the first category while the Russian Rubble push could qualify for the second group. Nigeria's efforts at Naira convertibility would fall. The paper suggested that Nigeria should initiate a more realistic Naira convertibility programme through trade guarantees where it insists that imports from Nigeria from member ECOWAS members would …

An Overview Of Financial Sector Reforms And Intermediation In Nigeria, George Okorie, Uche J. Uwaleke

Bullion

_{Financial systems all over the world play very important roles in the development and growth of the economy. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of the system as well as its scope and capacity varies quite considerably among economies. This is partly because of the varied levels of ,development. More developed financial systems tend to be associated with the more developed economies. This paper advocates the speedy adoption of international financial reporting standard for all Nigerian banks (currently in the pipeline). This reform, while by no means a cure-all for problems of bank transparency, would nonetheless be a significant step forward, …}

Islamic Banking In Nigeria: Issues And Prospects, Ismaila S. Abdullahi

Bullion

This paper analyzes the challenging issues and highlight the prospects of Islamic banking in Nigeria. Following this introduction is section two which discusses the evolution of Islamic banking including the basic principles as well as the products/services offered by the system. Section three reviews Islamic banking practices in Nigeria. Section four analyzes the challenging issues and highlights the prospects of practicing Islamic banking in Nigeria. Section five concludes the paper and proffers policy recommendations.

Information-Based Trading And The Bid-Ask Spread, Kee H. Chung, Jing Jiang

WCBT Faculty Publications

We analyze the equilibrium spread when the transaction size of informed traders is elastic in the value of private information (α). We show that the pooling equilibrium is likely to be inefficient when trade size is sensitive to α and the inefficient equilibrium can occur before the market breaks down. The pooling equilibrium spread does not monotonically increase with α, although it increases with the elasticity of informed trades to α. The upper bound of the elasticity of informed trades for the market to remain open for the active specialist is higher than the corresponding value for the passive specialist …

Firm Value And The Tax Benefits Of Debt : A Study On Public Listed Company In Malaysia., Izam Syaharadzi Ahmad Sofian

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study has three main objectives. First, to empirically defines the relationship between firm value and debt of Public Listed Company in Malaysia once endogeneity of contemporaneous debt is corrected. Secondly the study looks into the possibility impact of alternative theories such as Free Cash Flow and Debt Signaling Hypotheses to the relationship between firm value and debt. Finally, it examines the influence of managerial ownership towards firm value and how it affects the benefits of debts. This study uses interest expense scaled by total assets as proxy of debt. The relationship between firm value and debt is statistically tested …

The Effect Of Firm Characteristics On Capital Structure : An Empirical Study., Andrew Hon Ming Chong

Student Works (2010-2019)

The effect of firm characteristics on capital structure has been tested for thisstudy. Sample is randomly drawn from 60 manufacturing firms listed in theMain Market of Bursa Malaysia for a period from year 2004 to 2008 which totalling 300 data. A regression model is formed amongst one dependentvariable, five independent variables, and one dummy variable to study the relationship and effect between firm characteristics and capital structure. The results reveal that firm size has a positive relation to capital structure whereas interest coverage ratio, profitability, and growth opportunities have an inverse relation to capital structure. While tangibility alone is found …

Investment Performance Of Domestic And International Equity Funds In Malaysia., Choo Chih Tung

Student Works (2010-2019)

The a exploration on the performance of the unit trust funds in Malaysia is becoming more and more important nowadays as there is an increased demand and it is perceived to be able to provide better returns by diversifying its investment portfolio. This study focus on the excess returns provided by the unit trust funds when compare with the four market indexes. The returns from both Domestic Equity Funds and International Equity Funds were compare with the Bursa Malaysia (KLCI), Morgan Stanley World Index (MXWO), Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific ex-Japan (MXAPJ) and Europe, Australia and Far East Index (MXEA).

The …

Macroeconomics Stress Testing On Malaysia Commercial Banks' Credit Portfolios., Foo Chii Shia

Student Works (2010-2019)

In the research paper, quarterly data on Non-performing Loan (NPL) for commercial banks in Malaysia over the time period of quarter 1, 1998 to quarter 4, 2009 together with 5 macroeconomic indicators i.e. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (KLCI), Unemployment rate and House Property Index are collected to form a credit risk model. The estimated model is employed to analyse banking credit risks conditional on current macroeconomic conditions. Stepwise multiple regression method has been used which to select the useful subsets of variables and to evaluate the order of importance of variables. Furthermore, …

Explaining The Saving-Investment Relationship With Threshold Effects, Unro Lee

Eberhardt School of Business Faculty Articles

There have been many attempts to explain the unreasonably high correlation between domestic saving and investment rates. The threshold testing procedure developed by Hansen (1999) provides a framework for testing the effects of key variables relating to capital mobility in conjunction with the saving- investment relationship. Ho (2003) first applied this method to the saving-investment puzzle controlling for thresholds in country size. Extending this model, this paper reports a number of significant thresholds effects for country- size, trade and financial openness measures, age dependency ratios and trade balances. After controlling for threshold effects the relationship between savings and investment is …

The Impact Of Rebranding On Guest Satisfaction And Financial Performance: A Case Study Of Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre, Pingshan Huang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Existing literature has shown that effective branding/ re-branding can positively impact customer purchase preferences and intentions, satisfaction and loyalty and a firm’s financial performance. Building on these links, this paper investigated if there was a significant improvement in the Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre’s guest satisfaction (OSAT) and financial performance after its rebranding. Paired-samples analyses were conducted on the hotel’s pre- and post-rebranding guest satisfaction, occupancy, average daily rates (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR), revenue and net operating profit (NOP). Overall, the results revealed that after the rebranding, HISOCC’s occupancy and RevPAR increased significantly; ADR and OSAT reflected …

Pricing Options In An Extended Black Scholes Economy With Illiquidity: Theory And Empirical Evidence, Umut Cetin, Robert Jarrow, Mitchell Protter, Mitchell Warachka

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article studies the pricing of options in an extended Black Scholes economy in which the underlying asset is not perfectly liquid. The resulting liquidity risk is modeled as a stochastic supply curve, with the transaction price being a function of the trade size. Consistent with the market microstructure literature, the supply curve is upward sloping with purchases executed at higher prices and sales at lower prices. Optimal discrete time hedging strategies are then derived. Empirical evidence reveals a significant liquidity cost intrinsic to every option. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

An Analysis Of Extreme Price Shocks And Illiquidity Among Systematic Trend Followers, Bernard Lee, Shih-Fen Cheng, Annie Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We construct an agent-based model to study the interplay between extreme price shocks and illiquidity in the presence of systematic traders known as trend followers. The agent-based approach is particularly attractive in modeling commodity markets because the approach allows for the explicit modeling of production, capacities, and storage constraints. Our study begins by using the price stream from a market simulation involving human participants and studies the behavior of various trend-following strategies, assuming initially that their participation will not impact the market. We notice an incremental deterioration in strategy performance as and when strategies deviate further and further from the …