Business Commons^™

Boutique Staffing Firm Internship: How Ai Is Changing The Staffing Industry, Garrett Larsen

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores my experience as an Accounting, Finance, and Recruiting Intern for a boutique staffing firm in Memphis, Tennessee during the summer and winter of 2022 and my research on the current uses and future implications of artificial intelligence in the staffing industry. Specifically, it delves into my goals for the internship, my weekly tasks during the internship, and my observations of the internship. Based on my use of artificial intelligence for email marketing during the winter portion of the internship, I research the current uses of AI in the hiring process and the potential uses for the future. …

Man Vs. Machine: The Future Of Financial Advising, Rylee Driggs

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research evaluates the potential impact of artificial intelligence on the financial advising industry, particularly regarding the demand for human financial advisors within the industry as artificial intelligence rapidly evolves. With the recent launch of ChatGPT, a cutting-edge AI chatbot, the role of financial advisors, which previously seemed mostly exempt from any technological alternatives due to the essential emotional intelligence of a human financial advisor, is potentially at risk for replacement. This research provides an in-depth analysis on the feasibility of artificial intelligence replicating necessary humanlike characteristics of a human financial advisor and utilizes results of an anonymous survey where …

The Opportunities And Challenges Of Automation: Insights From An Internship Experience At Ultrasource Llc, Olivia Madden

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis provides insight into Olivia Madden's time as an intern at UltraSource LLC. UltraSource LLC is a Kansas City company that produces meat manufacturing equipment and operational supplies. Olivia worked as a finance intern, where she was tasked with automating processes for the accounts receivable and payable teams and also did ad hoc projects for the finance department as a whole. These insights are recorded through weekly journal entries describing what was done and what was learned every week.

These insights are translated into research on the opportunities and challenges of automation, and the impact automation has on worker …

Assessing The Impact Of Impact Investing: Practices, Challenges, And Opportunities Towards The Standardization Of Impact Assessment Mechanisms, Taylor Poe

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research project focuses on gathering information on which impact measurement mechanisms are currently used in the impact investing industry, and how these mechanisms are standardized across various firms, geographic locations, and fund types. The overarching goal of the study is to provide an assessment of the impact investing industry and the use of standardized impact assessment practices. The specific goal of this research study is to collect and present information on the current state of impact measurement standardization. Research is separated into three large components: interviews with industry leaders, findings from social finance conferences, and research of scholarly sources. …

A Walk-Through Corruption On Wall Street, Allison Ciocan

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Wall Street is viewed as the center of global finance. Although surrounded by a vast amount of popularity, Wall Street has had its fair share of unethical scandals. Despite numerous rules and regulations existing with the hopes of suppressing unethical behavior, multiple infamous individuals and companies have discovered ways around these rules which have led to detrimental effects on consumers, employees, companies, and the economy as a whole. Often, corruption can be traced back to one of three reasons. First, the individuals that are employed at big firms could lack morals and good character, which affects overall company culture. Second, …

How The Finance Industry Is Shaped By Technology – A Corporate Experience, Max Pabin

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

For this paper, I want to analyze how new technology affects the financial industry for individual clients. My internship at Fidelity Investments provided me with a back-end view of the technology used for clients, while my Chase experience has provided me with an in-depth view of how clients use technology daily. I believe that the financial services industry is being taken over by new technology. This has created a new experience for customers that has made it easier for them to bank, apply for credit, and invest their money. I find this subject to be very interesting as someone who …

Exploring Social Media Sentiment Analysis In Relation To Common Stock, Landon Johnson

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many institutions, investors, and researchers have sought to gain insights into consumer attitudes and behaviors by leveraging social media. However, trading strategies utilizing social sentiment have been observed to often provide returns roughly equivalent to or less than those of standard market indexes. This observation raises several questions: does the efficacy of social sentiment analysis vary from firm to firm? Are price or volume directly correlated with social sentiment? Does social sentiment display any predictive ability? The following analysis attempted to answer these questions by comparing one week’s worth of data from Twitter users to price and volume data from …

Financial Advising Experience, Joshua Wittenauer

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Building wealth can be easier with the help of a financial advisor. Wealth consists of assets and savings, and while there are many ways to save, there are some basic steps to get started:

1) Earn enough money to live and have some left over for saving. 2) Control your spending so you can save. 3) Invest your money in different assets – “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

An Analysis Of The Housing Affordability Crisis: Private Equity Or Legislation Issue, Jack Polk

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The aim of this thesis is to explore the claim that private equity investment is the cause of the modern unaffordability in the single family housing market. Through empirical study and historical research we found that the footprint of institutional investors in this space is insignificant. However, legislative errors which have artificially inflated demand and suppressed supply over the past decade have greatly contributed to the crisis and must be corrected for the long term health of the housing space. These corrections will focus primarily in the alleviation of supply pressures for new development and the continuation of the low …

Company Provided Retirement Plans: Key Distinctions And Impacts For Employers And Employees, Ashley Valentine

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Employee retirement plans vary from company to company as a result of organizational goals to attract and retain employees and drive overall company performance. This thesis will explore the differences between key retirement plans offered in the United States, including 401(k) plans, pension plans, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP), and profit-sharing. By understanding and evaluating each, a company can determine the ideal structure of retirement plans for the benefits of both their employees and the company’s growth. This review will provide insights on the financial and productivity benefits to employees and employers from offering each of the various retirement options. …