Business Commons^™

An Evaluation Of Environmental, Social, And Governance Standards On Fund Performance: Comparison Of Esg Funds In The United States And The European Union, Gracie V. Del Real

Honors Program Projects

The growing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies in global industries has attracted special attention from investors seeking to evaluate companies beyond traditional financial metrics. Given the evolving social climate, investors are seeking ways to utilize their money not only for financial success but for societal change. ESG offers the opportunity to retain money in the market while being responsible concerning the environmental and societal impact companies are having on the communities in which they operate. Being a responsible investor can go beyond making strong returns. This study aims to determine if there is a statistically significant difference …

Effects Of The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017 On Nonprofits’ Charitable Contributions, Megan Drenth

Honors Program Projects

Background

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed in 2017, significantly altered individual’s taxes for all filing statuses, notably increasing the standard deduction. By nearly doubling the standard deduction, it considerably decreased those individuals choosing the itemized deduction. Due to this, it may impact charitable contributions, a major source of nonprofits’ revenues. Prior studies projected a variety of stances regarding changes in giving levels due to the TCJA. This study attempted to determine the overall effect of the TCJA on nonprofits, as well as within the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) major groups Education, Health, Human Services, Public …

A Self-Study Of Frn Olivet: A Student-Led Food Recovery Model On A University Campus, Madeira Sherwood

Honors Program Projects

An alarming amount of unserved food, which emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, is thrown away daily on university campuses. In those same college communities, there is likely a large food insecure population that is going to bed hungry every night. The Food Recovery Network (FRN) is a network of colleges/universities across the United States that seeks to bridge this gap. The FRN chapter at Olivet Nazarene University, established in October 2017, encountered challenges in its first couple years of operation because there were not yet many resources that laid out best practices for a food recovery program on a …

The Economics Of The Political Parties: A Comparison Of Economic Performance Under Conservatives And Liberals, Austin Fischer

Honors Program Projects

A topic that has long been a subject of debate is which party in America’s two-party political system has better economic policies. Democrats tout strong economic records, boasting of their tried and true Keynesian principles. Republicans point to the accomplishments of recent presidents in combating recessions with supply-side ideals. This project attempts to look at the actual performance of the economy under Republican and Democratic presidents since 1950, and come to an unbiased conclusion on whose policies really do work better.

This project looks at GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, disposable income, and budget deficits to determine which party’s policies help …

Trading Intraday Volatility, Treavor Dodsworth

Honors Program Projects

Many people believe that there is no way to profit off of anomalies in the markets because the markets are either completely random or they always accurately reflect outside information and events. Others, however, believe that models can be found through historical testing that successfully beat the market (Williams, 2011, p. 13-15). This thesis presents a method for beating the market by trading intraday volatility. The researcher focused on trading corn futures contracts. A futures contract is simply a derivative that can be bought and sold. It represents an agreement to buy or sell at a future date. Futures contracts …

Social Giving Then And Now: Exploring Philanthropic Activities In The 20th Century Through Andrew Carnegie And Toms, Lauren M. Beatty

Honors Program Projects

This thesis explores social giving in the past century by looking at Andrew Carnegie and his influence on philanthropy and on the American business, TOMS, that integrates giving into its corporate structure. This historical research provides a conceptual context for the small business I created in August 2012. My business, Double Vision, applies the ideas of corporate social responsibility on a small scale to impact a community in the Dominican Republic. Included in the paper is an overview of the progression of social giving in the past century through the focus on Andrew Carnegie and TOMS, an analysis of the …

Predator Prey Models In Competitive Corporations, Rachel Von Arb

Honors Program Projects

Predator prey models have been used for years to model animal populations. In recent years they have begun to be applied to economic situations. However, the stock market has remained largely untouched. We examine whether the success of competitive corporations such as Target and Walmart, as measured by the indicators of price per share, market share, and volume, can be modeled by various predator prey models. We consider the basic Lotka-Volterra model and the two-predator, one-prey model, as well as a ratio-dependent model. We discuss the use of numerical techniques and regression analysis as tools to estimate model parameters. For …

The Relationship Between Tax Structure And The Lives Of Individuals: Who Wins And Who Loses, David Werner Parker

Honors Program Projects

This study takes a look at various forms of taxation, as well as how the various options impact households. The current system is examined, and it is compared to two alternatives, which are the flat tax and the consumption tax. The positives and negatives of each option are evaluated. Each option is also applied to a family on the poverty line, a family that makes the average household income, and a wealthy family; calculations are done to determine how much income tax they would have to pay under each of them. The second part of the paper takes a look …

Beads To Build: Raising Funds To Raise Hope, Elisabeth M. Abfall

Honors Program Projects

Beads to Build is a fundraising initiative that uses both print material and online resources to share the story of the Mountains of Hope Orphanage in Mpigi, Uganda and make items available for sale to support the orphanage. The children at the orphanage live in a rented building, which is very costly. By selling jewelry made by the orphans, t-shirts, and photographs, Beads to Build was able to generate enough funds to purchase two acres of land in October 2011. In the spring of 2012, an orphanage will be built on the two acres of land. Building an orphanage will …

How Well Does The Typical Accounting Bachelor's Degree Prepare Students For A Career In The Accounting Department Of The United States Government?, Michael J. Tuttle

Honors Program Projects

This study investigates the effectiveness of the typical Accounting Bachelor’s Degree in preparing graduates to enter the Accounting Department of the United States Government. My experiences as a student at Olivet Nazarene University and as an intern with the Department of Defense have revealed a gap in accounting curriculum. Governmental accounting is rarely required by universities, presenting unnecessary challenges to entry-level government accountants. A survey conducted by the Government Accountants Journal, in 2000, revealed that only 33% of universities require governmental accounting. (Campbell, 2000) Our further analysis indicates that these numbers have not improved. To investigate this issue, we conducted …