Business Commons^™

Scaling Impact Investing Through Innovative Finance: A Focus On Women's Livelihoods, Durreen Shahnaz

Social Space

I embarked on a journey from the first steps of my career to utilise finance to do good for the world. This journey has now turned into a global movement that is taking the world by a storm, known as impact investing or social finance.

Risks Management Application In Helping The Poor Through Microfinancing, Edmond Njombe Lyonga

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poverty alleviation in Buea, Cameroon, has been a problem of concern for decades. The study is vital because managers who control the funds given to the government of Cameroon to help reduce poverty are politicians and do not equitably distribute the funds to all on the pretext that the default rate is high. The purpose of this study was to find better ways to make additional capital available to the microbusiness owners of Buea to open or improve businesses. This qualitative case study design was consistent with the aim of understanding the importance of risk management within the microfinance industry …

Show Me The Money: A Study Of Interrelationships Between A Regional Theatre's Revenue And Location, Rebecca Snedeker-Meier

Senior Independent Study Theses

Regional theatres are non-profit organizations that survive off earned and contributed income. In particular, contributed, or donated, income can change depending on the community a theatre is located in. However, there is no consensus whether there is a relationship between the two. This study compares Arena Stage, Guthrie Theater, Cleveland Play House and Alley Theatre to answer the question; how does geographic location relate to the ratios of revenue sources? The income ratios were based off numbers derived from 990 tax forms and the theatres’ operating budgets. Those numbers were then analyzed and compared to the other theatres’ income ratios. …

Death Spiral Convertible Bonds, Austin Dwyer

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Death spiral convertibles, are a type of loan lenders give to a firm in exchange for a right to convert into equity at below market prices. This differs from traditional convertibles because there is no fixed conversion price. Instead, the price can be reset lower if the firm's stock price falls below the conversion price at the time of issuance. As the process repeats itself the stock's price spirals downwards. This process benefits the bondholders at the cost of the shareholders. Based on a hand collected sample of 23 companies issuing a total of I 97 floating price convertibles, the …

Strategies For Effective Financial Management In Vincentian Small Businesses, Kishore Nalin Shallow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The lack of strategies for effective financial management has been an impediment to the survival and growth of many small businesses in Saint Vincent (St. Vincent), an island in the Caribbean. Inadequate adoption of strategies by small business owners is a prime contributing factor to small business failure. The purpose of this research was to identify strategies that small business owners use for effective financial management. Institutional theory served as the conceptual framework for this multiple case study. Participants consisted of 4 St. Vincent small business owners who had demonstrated effective financial management strategies in the operation of their businesses. …

Crowdfunding As A Financing Resource For Small Businesses, Melissa Cohen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although small businesses borrowed $1 trillion in 2013 from traditional lenders, 35% of small business owners were unable to obtain adequate financing and subsequently sought alternative sources such as crowdfunding. Guided by the pecking order theory, the purpose of this exploratory case study was to explore how 6 small business owners in Tennessee successfully used crowdfunding to start, grow, or sustain their businesses. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and a review of crowdfunding project data on the internet platform including the project description, target goal, amount achieved, number of backers, and locations of the funders. Data were inductively analyzed, …

International Diversification Into Emerging Equity Markets: Perspective Of U.S. Investors, Ki C. Han, Sukhun Lee, David Y. Suk, Hyun Mo Sung

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this study, we examine whether investing in emerging markets is indeed beneficial to U. S. investors. The results we find in this study are not so encouraging for U. S. investors. First, the change in currency exchange rate weakens the benefit of overseas investment to U. S. investors. Second, the correlations between the U. S. market and the emerging markets have been steadily rising during the sample period. Third, most of these emerging equity markets scored lower Sharpe Ratios than the U. S. equity market. Fourth, we find that the emerging market and its currency market move in the …

Financial Analysis With Artificial Neural Networks Short-Term Stock Market Forecasting, Andrew Linzie

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Excerpt from Introduction

Seldom reward is absent from risk, and stock markets are a prime example. Stock markets across the world are viewed as profitable and risky at the same time. Companies have made a business out of forecasting these markets. Quantitative analysis companies use mathematicians, financial analysts, and computer scientists to compete in the stock market. The old days of floor trading have progressed towards high-frequency trading with supercomputers housed within the exchange. For example, the New York Stock exchange has created regulations for these companies so that there’s competitive equality. The computer’s power, length of cable to the …

Gender Effects In Hedge Funds Performance, Karen Yoke Wah Gan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper shows that after controlling for total risks (as funds do not typically hold a completely large diversified portfolio) across different funds, female-managed funds appear to perform better in certain circumstances. For example, female-managed hedge funds perform better during post-crisis times, for investments using the Relative Value Style and also when investments are in the Asia excluding Japan region. However, there are still many conditions in which male-managed funds seem to perform better. Namely, male-managed funds performed significantly positive in the Relative Value, Security Selection, and Multiprocess Styles, notably during the pre-crisis period and also when investments are in …

A Traders Guide To The Predictive Universe- A Model For Predicting Oil Price Targets And Trading On Them, Jimmie Harold Lenz

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

At heart every trader loves volatility; this is where return on investment comes from, this is what drives the proverbial “positive alpha.” As a trader, understanding the probabilities related to the volatility of prices is key, however if you could also predict future prices with reliability the world would be your oyster. To this end, I have achieved three goals with this dissertation, to develop a model to predict future short term prices (direction and magnitude), to effectively test this by generating consistent profits utilizing a trading model developed for this purpose, and to write a paper that anyone with …

Amp Bridging Finance And Behavioral Scholarship On Agent Risk Sharing And Risk Taking, Geoffrey P. Martin, Luis R. Gomez-Mejia Prof, Robert M. Wiseman

Geoffrey P Martin

Rethinking Financial Reporting: Standards, Norms And Institutions, Shyam Sunder

Shyam Sunder

No abstract provided.

Faculty Focus: Hongjun Yan Challenges Students To See Financial Decision-Making From A Fresh Perspective

Business Exchange

Chair and Director of Richard H. Driehaus Center for Behavioral Finance Hongjun Yan found himself drawn to alternative theories of behavioral finance when he was studying finance. His scholarly work probes how asset pricing is affected by market imprefections and "bounded rationality," and he relishes challenging a new generation of business students to question conventional thinking.

Textual Analysis And Machine Leaning: Crack Unstructured Data In Finance And Accounting, Li Guo, Feng Shi, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In finance and accounting, relative to quantitative methods traditionally used, textual analysis becomes popular recently despite of its substantially less precise manner. In an overview of the literature, we describe various methods used in textual analysis, especially machine learning. By comparing their classification performance, we find that neural network outperforms many other machine learning techniques in classifying news category. Moreover, we highlight that there are many challenges left for future development of textual analysis, such as identifying multiple objects within one single document.

Macroeconomic Stability And The Role Of Financial Institutions In Promoting Financial Inclusion In Nigeria, Mbutor O. Mbutor, Ibrahim A. Uba

Bullion

This article discusses the role of financial institutions in promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria as well as its macroeconomic stability. Positive growth of the economy is prerequisite for financial inclusion but the stability of the economy is sine qua non for economic growth. Therefore, the discussion of financial inclusion is best served when enclosed in the framework of the extent to which the economy is stable. The article further highlights financial inclusion and its related concepts and the role of financial institutions in promoting financial inclusion.

Sustainable Architecture Design: Environmental And Economic Benefits, Michael Babcock

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the movement of environmentalism, and its impact on architecture and construction. During an interview with a professional architect, a basis for research of sustainable design was devised, when he explained that “good” architecture attempts to holistically integrate the external and built environment. Presently, the main measurement for sustainability is energy efficiency. Therefore, architects constantly implement new technology in an attempt to unify both the external and built environment in an energy efficient manner. Furthermore, this thesis provides an environmental and financial cost analysis of implementing sustainable design and build. Research shows that the life cycle and up-front …

Institutional Investors, Insiders And The Firm, Vinh Huy L. Nguyen

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three chapters that focus on three topics related to institutional investors’ and registered insiders’ trading activities around corporate announcements. The purpose of the research is to provide more insights into the trading behavior of institutions and insiders around corporate events when they are influenced by the anticipation and arrival of new information. Data samples are stratified, regression models are estimated, and control variables are added to ensure the results are significant and robust.

The first chapter discusses the information signaling hypothesis around share repurchase announcements. I examine if institutions can trade profitability around the announcement …

Financial Wellness And Undergraduate Students, Kristin N. O'Donovan

BU Well

Liberal Arts Universities often include a core curriculum with the education provided to students. This core curriculum includes a variety of topics, separate from a student’s major, aimed at delivering a well-rounded education. However, one major topic seems to be missing from the core curriculum of many universities across the country: finance. Not only does this have implications to the financial wellness of undergraduate students, but the overall wellness of students as well. Undergraduate students face an increasingly difficult financial landscape with unique needs, and the financial decisions they make may have repercussions years or decades into their futures. Based …

Inked With Debt: An Overview Of The Student Debt Market And A Potential For Change, Brian Alexander Kean

Senior Theses

In a world of rapidly escalating amounts of student debt, the current system harms college stakeholders. Whether governments (state or federal), students, universities, or the economy, all parties are suffering in the current student debt market. At this point in time, student loans have become a sizeable debt vehicle second only to mortgage debt in the United States. A majority of students use loans to attend school, which often become a major decision in post-graduation plans. In addition, it is the only form of debt not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Due to this, an alarming amount of Americans have become ensnared …

Turkish Smes’ Use Of Financial Statements For Decision Making, Howard E. Vanauken, Semra Ascigil, Shawn Carraher

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

With a sample of 91 small Turkish firms, this study examines the factors that affect the use of financial statements, and the important information they contain, to make decisions. A principal components analysis identifies three key variables that determine the use of financial statements: experience, confidence, and knowledge. Logit analysis reveals that these three variables are significantly associated with whether Turkish business owners use financial statements to make decisions. These results can help business owners and service providers for these businesses understand what affects their use of financial statements and the process by which financial statements get incorporated into decisions.

The Question Of Financial Career Paths: Which Graduate Program And/Or Professional Certification Leads To The Greatest Income And Level Of Satisfaction Based On A Survey Of Professionals Working Within The Accounting/Finance Fields?, Tanner M. Shaw

Honors Theses

Thousands of men and women across the United States graduate from accounting and finance undergraduate programs and find themselves uncertain about what the future holds and what steps should be taken in order to maximize their odds of meeting their personal goals related to job satisfaction and level of income. This study aims to evaluate graduate degree and non-graduate-degree alternatives, as well as the CPA and CFA professional designations in terms of the likelihood of each route leading to high job satisfaction and a high level of income. To that end, a survey of successful accounting and finance professionals was …

Student Perception On Female Discrimination In Accounting, Qiuting Zheng

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Approximately 72,648,000 women participate in the labor force compared to 31,543,000 women in 1970 (U.S. Department of Labor). In the 1950s, women were only 30% of the workforce (Toossi, 2002). In 1970, 1990, and 2010, the percentage of working women increased to 40%, 45%, and 47% respectively (Humphrey, 2013). However, students have wrong perceptions about discrimination against women, and, since perceptions and facts are not the same thing, their perceptions might make them misunderstand the accounting profession. This study confirmed that there are misperceptions. To gauge students’ perceptions, I conducted a survey named “Gender Diversity in Accounting” at the Walton …

Financial Literacy In High School Education, Chelsea N. Simmons

Honors Theses

Personal finance has become increasingly complicated in the past thirty years due to globalization and financial engineering. Americans are faced with new financial products and decisions, and many do not have the knowledge or expertise to successfully manage their finances. Financial literacy is especially low among young adults. Individual states have responded by introducing a personal finance course into the high school curriculum. This course may be an elective or a requirement for graduation. This study begins to examine personal finance curriculum in high schools and the effect such coursework has on overall financial literacy when students reach college.

Government Auditing Standards And Single Audits, April 1, 2016; Audit Guide, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Architecture Design: Environmental And Economic Benefits, Michael Babcock

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the movement of environmentalism, and its impact on architecture and construction. During an interview with a professional architect, a basis for research of sustainable design was devised, when he explained that “good” architecture attempts to holistically integrate the external and built environment. Presently, the main measurement for sustainability is energy efficiency. Therefore, architects constantly implement new technology in an attempt to unify both the external and built environment in an energy efficient manner. Furthermore, this thesis provides an environmental and financial cost analysis of implementing sustainable design and build. Research shows that the life cycle and up-front …

Predicting Schedule Duration For Defense Acquisition Programs: Program Initiation To Initial Operational Capability, Christopher A. Jimenez

Theses and Dissertations

Accurately predicting the most realistic schedule for a defense acquisitions program is an extremely difficult task considering the inherent risk and uncertainties present in the early stages of a program. We use a multiple regression analysis to predict schedule duration in a defense acquisition program. The prediction scope of our research is limited to predicting schedule duration from program initiation to initial operation capability (IOC).We use the data from 56 programs across all services, which was acquired from a SAR database created by RAND. We were able to achieve an R2 of 0.429 and an Adjusted R2 of 0.384 in …

State And Local Governments, March 1, 2016; Audit And Accounting Guide, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

The Expectation Differences Among Stakeholders In The Financial Valuation Fitness Of Auditors, James Digabriele

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there is an expectation gap among accounting academics, accounting practitioners, and users of financial statements in the financial valuation fitness of auditors. Complex reporting standards and current market expectations have the potential to create differences between what third-party users consider to be the responsibilities of the auditor and what auditors believe to be their responsibilities in auditing fair value estimates. Design/methodology/approach-This study surveys the perceptions of accounting academics, accounting practitioners, and users of financial statements and the degree to which an expectation gap exists in the financial valuation fitness of auditors. …

Are We Ready For The Next Financial Crisis?, Matthew Diller, Eic F. Grossman, Richard K. Kim, Richard Squire, David M. Gallagher Jr.

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

The Symposium was held at Fordham University School of Law on October 30, 2015. It has been edited to remove minor cadences of speech that appear awkward in writing and to provide sources and references to other explanatory material with respect to certain statements made by the speakers.

Qualified Mortgages & Government Reverse Redlining: How The Cfpb's Qualified Mortgage Regulations Will Handicap The Availability Of Credit To Minority Borrowers, Patrick T. O'Keefe

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Imprudent underwriting and mortgage origination in the years leading up to the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008 was determined to be one of its predominant causes. As a result, partly in an effort to protect consumers and ensure that lending institutions did not relapse into poor mortgage origination practices, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This Note examines the qualified mortgage rule promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act. This rule is intended to ensure that borrowers receive loans that are not unfair, deceptive, or abusive, and to …