Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Business Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year

Articles 421 - 450 of 804

Full-Text Articles in Business

Takeover Defenses In The Era Of Shareholder Activism, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin Apr 2016

Takeover Defenses In The Era Of Shareholder Activism, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the interplay between takeover defenses and shareholder activism. Using a comprehensive sample of shareholder activism events between 2006 and 2014, I find a differential impact of takeover defense measures on the likelihood of being targeted for activism; a dual-class structure or a staggered board deters activism, whereas firms with a poison pill in place are more likely to become targets. Activists are more likely to demand removal of takeover defense measures and/or sale of the target firm if the firm has a staggered board or a poison pill in place, suggesting that when takeover defenses block the …


Do Analysts Understand The Economic And Reporting Complexities Of Derivatives?, Hye Sun Chang, Michael Donohoe, Theodore Sougiannis Apr 2016

Do Analysts Understand The Economic And Reporting Complexities Of Derivatives?, Hye Sun Chang, Michael Donohoe, Theodore Sougiannis

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We investigate whether and how the complexity of derivatives influences analysts earnings forecast properties. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that, relative to a matched control sample of non-users, analysts earnings forecasts for new derivatives users are less accurate and more dispersed after derivatives initiation. These results do not appear to be driven by the economic complexity of derivatives, but rather the financial reporting of such economic complexity. Overall, despite their financial expertise, analysts routinely misjudge the earnings implications of firms derivatives activity. However, we find evidence that a series of derivatives accounting standards has helped analysts improve their forecasts …


Risk Management In A Vuca Environment: Some Key Considerations, Foo S.L., Nam Sang Cheng, Nam Sang Cheng Apr 2016

Risk Management In A Vuca Environment: Some Key Considerations, Foo S.L., Nam Sang Cheng, Nam Sang Cheng

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Whatis VUCA? Why is it relevant to accountants, the C-suites and Board ofDirectors? Companies are in the business of taking risks for rewards. Situatedbetween the companies are in the business of taking risks for rewards. Situatedbetween the companies and the rewards are risks. Critical concepts in thisprocess are volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), a trendymanagerial acronym that conflates the reality of the business environment and the challenges ofrisk management.


The Future Of Corporate Real Estate With Data And Analytics, Clarence Goh Mar 2016

The Future Of Corporate Real Estate With Data And Analytics, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

JLLrecently commissioned Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) to conduct in-depth interviewswith C-suite executives across the globe to understand their views on the rolethat data and analytics (D&A) plays in corporate real estate (CRE). Allparticipants in this series of interviews held overall responsibility for CREdecision making – at either the global or regional level – withintheir organisations.


Analysts, Macroeconomic News, And The Benefit Of Active In-House Economists, Artur Hugon, Alok Kumar, An-Ping Lin Mar 2016

Analysts, Macroeconomic News, And The Benefit Of Active In-House Economists, Artur Hugon, Alok Kumar, An-Ping Lin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Although macroeconomic news has a major impact on corporate earnings, anecdotal evidence suggests that financial analyst research is inefficient with respect to such news. Examining analysts' earnings research, we find that they underreact to negative macroeconomic news. Analysts are not all equal, though, as analysts employed at the same firm as an active macroeconomist underreact much less. We find that the benefit of analyst access to an economist is concentrated in firms that are high in cyclicality relative to their industry, high in cyclicality in general, and that are smaller in size. In addition, analysts who are exposed to more …


Accounting Conservatism And Stock Price Crash Risk: Firm-Level Evidence, Jeong-Bon Kim, Liandong Zhang Mar 2016

Accounting Conservatism And Stock Price Crash Risk: Firm-Level Evidence, Jeong-Bon Kim, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a large sample of U.S. firms during 1964-2007, we find that conditional conservatism is associated with a lower likelihood of a firm's future stock price crashes. This finding holds for multiple measures of conditional conservatism and crash risk and is robust to controlling for other known determinants of crash risk and firm-fixed effects. Moreover, we find that the relation between conservatism and crash risk is more pronounced for firms with higher information asymmetry. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that conditional conservatism limits managers' incentive and ability to overstate performance and hide bad news from investors, which, …


Ceo Overconfidence And Management Forecasting, Paul Hribar, Holly I. Yang Mar 2016

Ceo Overconfidence And Management Forecasting, Paul Hribar, Holly I. Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines how overconfidence affects the properties of management forecasts. Using both the ‘over‐optimism’ and ‘miscalibration’ effects of overconfidence to generate our predictions, we examine three research questions. First, we examine whether overconfidence increases the likelihood of issuing a forecast. Second, we examine whether overconfidence increases the amount of optimism in management forecasts. Third, we examine whether overconfidence increases the specificity and precision of the forecast. We use both options‐ and press‐based measures to proxy for individual overconfidence, and find support for all three research questions. We further find that the results are concentrated among firms that provide forecasts …


Preparing Accounting Graduates For Digital Revolution: A Critical Review Of Information Technology Competencies And Skills Development, Gary Pan, Poh-Sun Seow Feb 2016

Preparing Accounting Graduates For Digital Revolution: A Critical Review Of Information Technology Competencies And Skills Development, Gary Pan, Poh-Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The pervasiveness of information technology (IT) in businesses has altered the nature and economies of accounting activities. In particular, the emergence of cloud computing, eXtensible Business Reporting Language, and business analytics in recent years have transformed the way companies report financial performance and make business decisions. As a consequence, there is a surge in demand for advanced IT skills among accounting professionals. In this research, we aim to review selected articles published between 2004 and 2014 based on selected search phrases. The outcome of the review may serve as an important input for current and future accounting curriculum revisions.


Six Tax Reforms For 2016, Yee Loong Sum Feb 2016

Six Tax Reforms For 2016, Yee Loong Sum

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Offers some fresh ideas on how to make Singapore more business-friendly and socially aware.


What Does Your Workplace Say About Your Company Culture?, Clarence Goh Feb 2016

What Does Your Workplace Say About Your Company Culture?, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Disengagementin the workplace can create toxic environments – research has linked suchdisengagement with decreased client interactions and reduced collaborativeperformance, increased absenteeism, and a rise in workplace harassment. Arecent State of the American Workplace study conducted byGallup estimated that active disengagement in the workplace costs the UnitedStates between US$450 billion and US$550 billion annually.


Bank Competition And Financial Stability: Evidence From The Financial Crisis, Brian Atkins, Lynn Li, Jeffrey Ng, Tjomme O. Rusticus Feb 2016

Bank Competition And Financial Stability: Evidence From The Financial Crisis, Brian Atkins, Lynn Li, Jeffrey Ng, Tjomme O. Rusticus

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the link between bank competition and financial stability using the recent financial crisis as the setting. We utilize variation in banking competition at the state level and find that banks facing less competition are more likely to engage in risky activities, more likely to face regulatory intervention, and more likely to fail. Focusing on the real estate market, we find that states with less competition had higher rates of mortgage approval, experienced greater housing price inflation before the crisis, and a steeper housing price decline during it. Overall, our study is consistent with greater competition increasing financial stability.


Female Board Representation And Corporate Acquisition Intensity, Guoli Chen, Craig Crossland, Sterling Huang Feb 2016

Female Board Representation And Corporate Acquisition Intensity, Guoli Chen, Craig Crossland, Sterling Huang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the impact of female board representation on firm-level strategic behavior within the domain of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). We build on social identity theory to predict that greater female representation on a firm's board will be negatively associated with both the number of acquisitions the firm engages in and, conditional on doing a deal, acquisition size. Using a comprehensive, multi-year sample of U.S. public firms, we find strong support for our hypotheses. We demonstrate the robustness of our findings through the use of a difference-in-differences analysis on a sub-sample of firms that experienced exogenous changes in board …


Short Selling Pressure And Corporate Social Responsibility Performance, Louise Yi Lu, Yangxin Yu, Liandong Zhang Jan 2016

Short Selling Pressure And Corporate Social Responsibility Performance, Louise Yi Lu, Yangxin Yu, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using Regulation SHO as a natural experiment, we show that managers respond to apositive exogenous shock of short selling pressure by enhancing corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) performance. The positive effect of short selling on CSR is mainlydriven by improvements in stakeholder CSR, rather than third party CSR; and byimprovements in CSR strengths, rather than reductions in CSR concerns. We further findthat the effect is more pronounced for firms that locate in environments where CSR isemphasized by their stakeholders. Moreover, we find that managers are more likely toissue CSR reports that convey information about firms’ CSR activities to the publicduring the implementation …


Investor Reactions To Company Disclosure Of High Ceo Pay And High Ceo-To-Employee Pay Ratio: An Experimental Investigation, Khim Kelly, Jean Lin Seow Jan 2016

Investor Reactions To Company Disclosure Of High Ceo Pay And High Ceo-To-Employee Pay Ratio: An Experimental Investigation, Khim Kelly, Jean Lin Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

There is significant debate about the usefulness of disclosing the CEO-to-median employee pay ratio, as required under Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States. Using an experiment, we find that disclosing higher-than-industry CEO pay (versus comparable-to-industry CEO pay) marginally decreases perceived CEO pay fairness and perceived workplace climate, which is counteracted by a significant positive effect on perceived CEO attraction/retention ability, although there are no significant indirect effects through these perceptions on perceived investment potential. However, incrementally disclosing a higher-than-industry pay ratio (versus disclosing only higher-than-industry CEO pay) significantly decreases perceived CEO pay fairness and marginally deceases …


The Effect Of Board Independence On Information Asymmetry, Beng Wee Goh, Jimmy Lee, Jeffrey Ng, Kevin Ow Yong Jan 2016

The Effect Of Board Independence On Information Asymmetry, Beng Wee Goh, Jimmy Lee, Jeffrey Ng, Kevin Ow Yong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Boards have an important role in ensuring that investors’ interests are protected. Our paper first examines whether the independence of a firm's board affects information asymmetry among investors. We provide evidence that greater board independence leads to lower information asymmetry. Next, we provide evidence that more voluntary disclosure and greater analyst coverage are two underlying mechanisms via which greater board independence reduces information asymmetry. Of the two mechanisms, we find that analyst coverage is more significant in influencing how board independence affects information asymmetry. Overall, our paper contributes to a better understanding of the effect of board independence on information …


Analyzing The Analysts: The Effect Of Technical And Social Skills On Analyst Career, Congcong Li, An-Ping Lin, Hai Lu Jan 2016

Analyzing The Analysts: The Effect Of Technical And Social Skills On Analyst Career, Congcong Li, An-Ping Lin, Hai Lu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper investigates how technical and social skills of financial analysts affect theirperformance and career advancement. Using a sample of LinkedIn profiles of financial analysts,we document that analysts with good social skill, proxied by the number of social connections,generate more accurate earnings forecasts and produce more informative stock recommendations.These analysts are also more likely to be voted as All-Star analysts and to move to high-statusbrokers when changing jobs. However, the effect of technical skills, proxied by the quantitativeskills disclosed on LinkedIn, only affect earnings forecast accuracy. The analysts with technicalskills are indifferent in the likelihood of being voted as star …


Corporate Political Connections And Tax Aggressiveness, Chansog (Francis) Kim, Liandong Zhang Jan 2016

Corporate Political Connections And Tax Aggressiveness, Chansog (Francis) Kim, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study investigates the relation between corporate political connections and tax aggressiveness. We study a broad array of corporate political activities, including the employment of connected directors, campaign contributions, and lobbying. Using a large hand-collected data set of U.S. firms' political connections, we find that politically connected firms are more tax aggressive than nonconnected firms, after controlling for other determinants of tax aggressiveness, industry and year fixed effects, and the endogenous choice of being politically connected. Our findings are robust to various measures of political connections and tax aggressiveness. These results are consistent with the conjecture that politically connected firms …


Client Conservatism And Auditor-Client Contracting, Mark L. Defond, Chee Yeow Lim, Yoonseok Zang Jan 2016

Client Conservatism And Auditor-Client Contracting, Mark L. Defond, Chee Yeow Lim, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We find that auditors of more conservative clients charge lower fees, issue fewer going concern opinions, and resign less frequently, consistent with more conservative clients imposing less engagement risk on their auditors. Using path analysis, we find evidence that both inherent risk and auditor business risk explain these associations. Also consistent with conservatism reducing auditor business risk, we find that client conservatism is associated with fewer lawsuits against auditors and with fewer client restatements. Taken together, our results are consistent with auditors viewing client conservatism as an important determinant of engagement risk that, in turn, affects auditor-client contracting decisions. Our …


Smu-X: An Innovative Approach To Preparing Students With Skills For The Future, Gary Pan, Gan Hup Tan Dec 2015

Smu-X: An Innovative Approach To Preparing Students With Skills For The Future, Gary Pan, Gan Hup Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The SMU-X Initiative is a paradigm shit which focuses on learning as opposed to teaching as well as a mind-set shift to get the university to collaborate both internally and with our external stakeholders more. We strive to do this by introducing innovation curriculum based on an experiential approach that is interdisciplinary and hands-on. It gets the SMU community to collaborate and step out of their silos by encouraging group effort in solving complex issues.


Insider Trading Restrictions And Corporate Risk-Taking, Yuanto Kusnadi Nov 2015

Insider Trading Restrictions And Corporate Risk-Taking, Yuanto Kusnadi

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the effect of insider trading restrictions on corporate risk-taking. Using a cross-country sample of 38 countries over the 1990 to 2003 period, we find that corporate risk-taking is positively related to insider trading restrictions. This finding is robust to alternative regression specifications and sample periods, to the use of alternative measures of insider trading restrictions and risk-taking incentives, and to controls for possible endogeneity. Further investigation suggests that the relation between insider trading restrictions and corporate risk-taking is influenced by cross-sectional differences in stock market development and legal origin, and that the increase in risk-taking is beneficial …


The Intersection Of Tech And Accounting, Poh Sun Seow Oct 2015

The Intersection Of Tech And Accounting, Poh Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.


Navigating The “Patent-Cliff”: The Role Of Corporate Real Estate In The Life Science Industry, Clarence Goh Oct 2015

Navigating The “Patent-Cliff”: The Role Of Corporate Real Estate In The Life Science Industry, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The Life Science industry is standing on the edge of a “patent cliff.” In 2015, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical firms stand to lose up to US$47.5 billion in revenues from the expiry of the patents of some of their biggest blockbuster drugs. For example, Celebrex – an arthritis drug which contributed almost US$3 billion to Pfizer’s revenues in 2014 – is set to see its patent expire later this year, opening it up to competition from “generic” alternatives which are often sold at much cheaper prices.


Data And Analytics In Corporate Real Estate: The Importance Of Talent, Clarence Goh Oct 2015

Data And Analytics In Corporate Real Estate: The Importance Of Talent, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Data and analytics are set to play a more pivotal role incorporate real estate (CRE) over the next three years.As organizations recognize that data-driven insights candramatically improve decision making across a broadrange of business functions, they are seeking to capitalizeon and incorporate data and analytics in their CREprocesses.


Exposure Draft On Leases: Impact On Lessee’S Tax Computation In Singapore, Teng Aun Khoo, Joon Keong Nicholas Chan Oct 2015

Exposure Draft On Leases: Impact On Lessee’S Tax Computation In Singapore, Teng Aun Khoo, Joon Keong Nicholas Chan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

How the exposure draft on leases would impact the computation of taxes in Singapore


Corporate Real Estate’S Rising Profile In The Banking And Finance Industry, Clarence Goh Sep 2015

Corporate Real Estate’S Rising Profile In The Banking And Finance Industry, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Seven years after the financial crisis, profits have returned to the banking and finance industry – statistics compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for banks in the US showed that overall industry profits hit near record highs in 2014.


Economic Freedom, Investment Flexibility, And Equity Value: A Cross-Country Study, Chih-Ying Chen, Peter F. Chen, Qinglu Jin Sep 2015

Economic Freedom, Investment Flexibility, And Equity Value: A Cross-Country Study, Chih-Ying Chen, Peter F. Chen, Qinglu Jin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Prior studies show that equity value has convex relations with earnings and book value of equity, respectively, due to growth and adaptation options (Burgstahler and Dichev 1997a; Zhang 2000). These studies, however, do not consider the role of institutions in affecting firms' ability to exercise growth and adaptation options. In this study, we investigate whether these convex relations vary with the degree of a country's economic freedom, which may influence the frictions and costs of exercising these options. We develop four hypotheses: In countries with greater economic freedom, (1) a firm's capital investment in response to profitability is greater; (2) …


Ceo Contractual Protection And Managerial Short-Termism, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng, Alvis K. Lo, Xin Wang Sep 2015

Ceo Contractual Protection And Managerial Short-Termism, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng, Alvis K. Lo, Xin Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

How to address managerial short-termism is an important issue for companies, regulators, and researchers. We examine the effect of CEO contractual protection, in the form of employment agreements and severance pay agreements, on managerial short-termism. We find that firms with CEO contractual protection are less likely to cut R&D expenditures to avoid earnings decreases and are less likely to engage in real earnings management. The effect of CEO contractual protection is both statistically and economically significant. We further find that this effect increases with the duration and monetary strength of CEO contractual protection. The cross-sectional analyses indicate that the effect …


Comments On The Exposure Draft On The Conceptual Framework For Financial Reporting (Ed/2015/3), Tan, Pearl Hock-Neo Aug 2015

Comments On The Exposure Draft On The Conceptual Framework For Financial Reporting (Ed/2015/3), Tan, Pearl Hock-Neo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.


Default Clauses In Debt Contracts, Ningzhong Li, Yun Lou, Florin Vasvari Aug 2015

Default Clauses In Debt Contracts, Ningzhong Li, Yun Lou, Florin Vasvari

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the determinants of events of default clauses in syndicated loan and bond contracts, provi- sions that allow lenders to request the repayment of principal and to terminate lending commitments. We document significant variation in the use of default clauses and their restrictiveness within the same type of lending contract but also across loans and bonds. We find that default clauses in public bond contracts are less restrictive than those in syndicated loan contracts. We also document that two ex ante proxies for bankruptcy costs, the level of intangible assets and capitalized research and development expenditures at the time …


Analytics And Cybersecurity: The Shape Of Things To Come, Gary Pan, Poh Sun Seow, Calvin Chan, Chu Yeong Lim Aug 2015

Analytics And Cybersecurity: The Shape Of Things To Come, Gary Pan, Poh Sun Seow, Calvin Chan, Chu Yeong Lim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.