Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Rso Longevity Fund, Martin Fitzgerald Walker

Honors Theses

The reason for this research is to create a solution for fraternity and sororities as well as registered RSO’s on campus to allow them to create a fund that can provide a steady stream of income that will be used to pay national expenses, chapter expenses and fund future programs and events which may include scholarships or initiatives that the organizations feel the need to support.

Throughout my research I look to solve problems such as: How to Generate the Funds to support the renewable investment, how to manage the fund and who within the organization should manage and spend …

The Collapse Of Lehman Brothers And The Economic Fallout, Mark Kuykendall, Lauren Leroy

ATU Scholars Symposium

This research paper analyzes the causes and effects of the bankruptcy of the investment banking company, Lehman Brothers. We examined the economic and financial conditions of the business leading up to the collapse, what they truly were and how that differed from what investors were misled to believe. We will also explain the falsified financial statements and show how they deceived investors, along with the accounting ethics and rules that were violated. We also discussed the economy after the collapse and how it affected not only investors, but others outside the company as well.

Fafsa Completion Trends And How State Initiatives Impact High School Student Fafsa Completion Rates, Joseph Cecil

Honors Theses

Eight states currently have policies in place that make FAFSA completion mandatory/highly incentivized at some level (Granville, 2022, and Hughes, 2022). Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois were early adopters, and were then followed by Alabama; These four states have shown significant increases in state wide completion rates. Increases in completion were recorded to be as high as 26% in the first year of policy enactment and serve as tests to see what methods encourage students to complete the FAFSA. National data shows that low income and high minority schools can have college enrollment and FAFSA completion rates up to 13 times …

Special Needs Financial Planning Case Studies: Evaluation Of Three Financial Services Business Models' Approaches To Client Needs, Thomas Williams

Honors Projects in Finance

Special needs financial planning is the process and organization of a financial plan for a family with a child or children with a disability. A key aspect of special needs financial planning is planning for the life of a child with a disability after the death of their parents. Failing to conduct financial planning for such a family could leave the child with a disability relying on state-provided services with a poor quality of life. The following research outlines how four business models will approach a family with a special needs dependent. The four business models are a Registered Investment …

Effectively Influencing Personal Financial Management And Financial Preparedness Among Athletes, Darnel Shillingford

Honors Projects in Finance

Professional athletes live the dream of millions of people when they sign their first contract to be paid to play sports. For many athletes, they are coming into money that many have never seen before. Handling this money can prove difficult for athletes from a personal finance standpoint, and it is imperative for them to utilize the support systems around them. However, the support systems need to be readily available to the athlete for there to be a significant impact on the budgeting and investing practices of the athlete. Empowering an athlete to take full advantage of their time in …

A Review Of The Effect Of Esg On "Sin" Firms, William Stearns

Honors Projects in Finance

In this study, we examine the impact of ESG on stock returns and portfolio returns for sin stocks. The relationship between ESG and stock prices has been a topic of interest for research in recent years with the increasing emphasis on ESG in society. The present study analyzes the ESG scores for nine specific sin stock industries: tobacco, gambling, alcohol, adult entertainment, firearm, military, nuclear power, bioengineering, and oil and gas. This study is conducted through the use of statistical analysis with data collected from COMPUSTAT, CRSP, and MSCI. Our results reveal that ESG is negatively correlated with sin firm …

The Impact Of Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The Fashion Industry, Hannah Dreska

Honors Projects in Finance

This research study is an examination of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the marketing and infrastructure of companies within the commercial fashion industry. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, this paper examines the purchasing preferences and behaviors of young adults and whether their opinions on diversity and inclusivity impact it. Second, this paper examines the financial impact of companies that adopted an inclusive and diverse approach to their marketing strategies and company infrastructure. I hypothesize that inclusivity and diversity are qualities highly valued by consumers and would thus have a positive financial impact on companies that focus on …

The Impact Of Federal Reserve Monetary Policy On Sector Etf And Market Cap Etf Performance, Maverick J. Boring

Honors College Theses

This study explores the impact of Federal Reserve policy changes on returns and volatility of U.S. equity markets, including large cap, mid cap, and small cap as well as the eleven sectors of the S&P 500. Federal Reserve policy changes in this study are measured by changes in the federal funds target rate. To measure the impact of these rates on U.S. equity markets, I construct a longitudinal dataset inclusive of exchange traded funds (ETFs) that serve as proxies for all eleven sectors, as well as one index and two ETFs that capture the performance of small, mid, and large …

Bridging The Chasm Between Fundamental, Momentum, And Quantitative Investing, Allen Hoskins, Jeff Reed, Robert Slater

SMU Data Science Review

A chasm exists between the active public equity investment management industry's fundamental, momentum, and quantitative styles. In this study, the researchers explore ways to bridge this gap by leveraging domain knowledge, fundamental analysis, momentum, crowdsourcing, and data science methods. This research also seeks to test the developed tools and strategies during the volatile time period of 2020 and 2021.

Following The Crowd: Beginners Investors Guide To The Options Market, Jeremy Dawkins, Alexy Morris, Jacob Gipson, Masoud Valizadeh

SMU Data Science Review

While the options market may be intimidating for a beginner, having the right tools can help improve the outcome of their investments. This project aims to develop a tool that uses time-series analysis and forecasting to model the future demand of S&P 500 and AAPL options contracts. The open interest of these contracts will be analyzed using various models such as AR, ARIMA, Neural Networks, and VAR, along with the put-call ratio. The goal is not to make buy or sell recommendations, but alert the user when money is flowing into a security or index. Of all the models, the …

Things To Consider Before Co-Signing A Loan, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

In the context of family farms, includes some general points to consider before you sign a loan guarantee for a family member who is heavily in debt.

Conclusion: Having to consider whether to co-sign a child's loan is a very difficult situation-no one wants to be part of losing part of the family farm or ranch to loan foreclosure. But if the loan guarantee isn't part of a financial turnaround plan that has at least a fighting chance of success, don't sign the guarantee unless you absolutely don't need the money for your own retirement.

On The Road Lending Program Evaluation: Final Report, Michael E. Swack, Jolan Rivera, Sanjeev Sharma

Carsey Publications

In this report, Michael Swack, Jolan Rivera, and Sanjeev Sharma discuss the results of the On The Road Lending (OTRL) program evaluation.

OTRL and its sister CDFI, On the Road Sustainability Funds (OTRSF), share a common mission to promote prosperity within America’s working families through transportation and financial innovation. While OTRL and OTRDF measure and report on many environmental, social, and financial outcomes, the most important are economic mobility measures and improvements in quality of life, namely, greater agency, and control of options through more wealth and time (OTRL, 2021).

OTRL clients work with a coach who provides vehicle purchase …

Determining The Most Suitable Benchmark(S) For The Liberty University Student Asset Management Fund, Colin Denney, Joseph Engle, Joshua Zody, Luke Perlot, Nathan Corcimiglia, Noah Clark, Quinn Davidson

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Applied

Recidivism Rates In The United States Versus Europe: How And Why Are They Different?, Madalyn Hayden

Honors Theses

Recidivism rates in the United States (70%) are almost triple that of most European countries (20% in Norway). The question that this project aims to answer is “How and Why are Recidivism Rates in the United States and Europe Different?”. High recidivism rates like the ones we have in the United States indicate that a criminal justice system is perpetuating a crime cycle, rather than rehabilitating or reforming its prisoners. High recidivism rates in the United States are first and foremost caused by high incarceration rates and high juvenile incarceration rates. Other causes are a focus on punishment in our …

Ethics And Nil, Jackson Krause

Honors Projects

Research diving into the ethics surrounds NIL, and how it is affecting the current collegiate athletic atmosphere.

Money And Energy, Admin Stem For Success, Natalie Wilson

STEM for Success Showcase

Money is related to physics concepts to teach students about work, potential energy and conservation of energy

Ceo’S Tweets And Firm Stock Returns: A Case Study Of Elon Musk And Tesla, Jauron Gunther Dam

Honors College Theses

This research study explores the relationship between a CEO’s public statements and a firm’s abnormal stock returns by focusing on the case study of Elon Musk’s tweets and Tesla’s stock price over the course of 2021. A longitudinal dataset is constructed by analyzing how the information contained in tweets affected Tesla’s short-run stock price. The textual data is analyzed based on CEO tweets, the daily frequency of tweets, explicit and implied fundamentals, and sentiment. The content of Elon Musk’s publications may lead TSLA to have abnormal returns. The tweets are able to capture influences from fundamentals and psychology. When Elon …

A Comparison Of Investing Strategies For Individual Investors, Ngoc Hoang

Undergraduate Research Conference

Objective: I compared the performance of three trading strategies to identify if one of them leads to higher ending wealth for the investor.

Blockholder Mutual Fund Participation In Private In-House Meetings, Robert Bowen, Shantanu Dutta, Songlian Tang, Pengcheng Zhu

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) in China is unique worldwide in requiring disclosure of the timing, participants, and selected content of private in-house meetings between firm managers and outsider investors. We investigate whether these private meetings benefit hosting firms and their major outside institutional investors—blockholder mutual funds (i.e., funds with ownership ≥5%). Using a large data set of SZSE firms, we find that blockholder mutual funds have more access to private in-house meetings, and top management is more likely to be present, especially when a meeting is associated with negative news. Furthermore, when blockholder mutual funds attend negative-news meetings with …

Fraud And The Audit Expectation Gap, Samuel Pelumi Olatunde

Honors College Theses

This study seeks to explore the expectation gap Georgia Southern University business and non-business majors have toward the work of an auditor. This study aims to assess the understanding of Auditors' responsibility for preventing and detecting fraud. This study will help assess the roles of an auditor, a forensic accountant, and management in fraud detection and prevention. The study will also highlight the importance of equipping students with accounting knowledge relevant to the business environment. The research for the study is conducted through a survey questionnaire and interpreted with Excel software. The hypothesis is that students that are majoring in …