Business Commons^™

Building Professional Development Through The Research Of Financial Accounting, Amanda Starrett

Honors Theses

The following work is compiled from twelve cases assigned by Dr. Victoria Dickinson over the course of an academic year. The program used in creating this work was designed to enhance students’ professionalism and enhance their exposure to real world examples of accounting methods. Each case provided different outlooks on accounting standards and provided the opportunity to examine specific issues regarding financial statements. Public accountants face a wide variety of problems when working with clients; learning from real world situations, students are able to create a better understanding of what challenges may await them in their future careers. By the …

Financial Accounting Topics: Cases And Analysis, Charles Boatright

Honors Theses

This thesis consists of twelve individual case studies that analyze issues and topics related to the current financial accounting landscape. These cases take a practical and professional look at financial accounting the real current world, using technical understanding that has been gained throughout the coursework of the Bachelors of Accountancy major as well as professional skepticism and judgement to assess the situations. All of these cases were facilitated by the Patterson School of Accountancy over a year long period. These cases pertain to recent accounting changes such as pensions, the financial implications of recent scandals such as the BP oil …

Executive Compensation Incentives Impact On The Tone And Readability Of Financial Reports, Xiaoyan Mi

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Financial disclosures do not only influence the future reaction of customers, they also imply the financial strategies of the managers of corporations. Through analysis, we find a strong causal relationship between tone and readability of financial disclosures and incentive methods of managers. Controlling executives’ pay-performance sensitivity (delta) and other variables, executives with higher sensitivity of executives’ wealth to stock volatility (vega) (Coles, Daniel, Naveen, 2004) tend to announce reports with more negative tone and low readability.

Reexamining Metallgesellschaft’S Hedging Policy: Does Anything Beat A One-For-One Hedge Ratio?, Christopher Haddock

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

There has been significant debate surrounding Metallgesellschaft's derivatives based fixed-price marketing strategy. Most of this debate relates to Metallgesellschaft's choice to use a one-for-one hedge ratio instead of an alternative hedge ratio optimized for risk management. I contribute to this discussion by reexamining the hedging strategy of Metallgesellschaft and use the Test for Superior Predictive Ability to determine whether any hedge ratio less than one outperforms the one-for-one hedge utilized by Metallgesellschaft.

The Relative Industry Specific Effects Of Covid-19 On Market Volatility And Liquidity, Callin Christensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Understanding how historical events affect market volatility and liquidity can provide crucial information to financial analysts, investment professionals, and managers in the event that similar circumstances resurface. In this study, I look at how a global pandemic (COVID-19) can introduce frictions into the market and cause disrupt the generation or flow of available information, this could cause prices to deviate significantly from their equilibrium values. I also hypothesize that these inefficiencies may have a greater effect on some industries than others. My analysis seems to confirm this hypothesis. I observe that the global COVID-19 pandemic leads to statistically significant increases …

Reinforcement Learning For Dynamic Futures Hedging, Evan Bullard

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper focuses on oil hedging using near month crude oil futures. Hedging may allow a firm to reduce risks and focus on areas of comparative advantage. Hedging requires a firm to estimate ex-ante the correct hedge ratio. The portfolio optimization framework allows for OLS to be applied to the estimation of a hedge ratio. Reinforcement Learning is another method available to hedgers to estimate a hedge ratio. Three strategies using econometric tools and one using Reinforcement Learning are estimated and tested against 2019 oil price data.

Mass Shootings And The Performance Of Tourism Stocks, Marshall Deem

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This study investigates the effects of mass shooting events on the performance of the tourism industry within the United States. The results of the study show that outside of the market-wide returns, the performance of tourism stocks is negatively impacted after a large-scale mass shooting event. Furthermore, when separating extreme outliers in the data such as the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay shooting, the results of the study find that tourism stocks surrounding other large-scale mass shootings are significantly negative. Overall, the results of the study demonstrate a negative response in the tourism industry to large-scale mass shootings.

Black-Scholes And Neural Networks, Gabriel Adams

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Neural networks have been proven to be universal approximators. We use neural networks to investigate the relationship between the quality of input data and the quality of outputted predictions from a neural network. We show that neural networks perform better on option pricing data with quality data and perform worse with lower quality data.

Industry Stock Prices Around Covid-19, Daniel Cardall

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In this study, I examine how market participants respond to global uncertainty around the Covid-19 pandemic. More specifically, I analyze the industries most affected by the outbreak. The pandemic has created events never before seen at such a global level. Governments closed their country’s borders and quarantined their residents. Business owners closed their doors. These unforeseen events put the world economy at a standstill. I find that these decisions caused the U.S. stock markets to crash by more than 30%. The industries that experienced the most negative value-weighted abnormal returns were Carry, Meals, and Books. The industries that exhibited the …

The Short And Long-Term Effectiveness Of Online Sales Promotion Type And Fit In Hotels, Esra Topcuoglu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sales promotion is an important component of the marketing mix and is used by marketers to communicate the company brand and products with their target consumers. Hospitality marketers adopt different sales promotion techniques for satisfying different organizational and customer needs including managing room inventory, boosting sales, differentiating the company brands, and making the consumer decision making process easier. The main focus of this research is to understand the effectiveness of different online hotel sales promotions. The specific purpose of this study is to investigate the short and long-term effects of online hotel sales promotion type (SP type) and sales promotion …

School Cooperative And Youth Development: A Case Study Of Smk Taman Tasik, Ampang, Selangor, Mohmad Zam Nur Ain

Student Works (2020-2029)

In the effort to develop future generations, cooperative entrepreneurship plays a significant role. This type of entrepreneurship increases its members ' economic and social interests and brings significant benefits to the community and society. Co-operative is a prominent way to generate job opportunities and reduce unemployment without relying on wage jobs, especially among young people, due to capital sharing and low risks when starting a business. The Malaysian Ministry of Education (MOE) has implemented school cooperatives since 1968 in fostering the entrepreneurial spirit, which seeks to promote entrepreneurial experiences and youth development. Hence, the primary purpose of this paper is …

Digital Marketing In Theatre Organizations: A Study On Mahua Fun Age Troupe In China, Peng Wang

Student Works (2020-2029)

The rapid popularization of Internet technology has changed the face of the whole world. With the advent of the era of digital, online marketing has come in a new way. Based on the traditional marketing methods, the marketing concept and model evolved from the traditional marketing methods are constantly innovated to play a role in the enterprise's marketing strategy and promote the enterprise to complete the overall business objectives more quickly. Shuyu Qi, a professor at the China academy of administration, said that in today's world, cultural development and economic development are increasingly integrated, and cultural industry has gradually become …

Blame Avoidance And Image Restoration Strategies In The Mh370 Press Conferences, Ravinthar Thilaga

Student Works (2020-2029)

This study focused on the relationship between the field of crisis communication and discourse analysis. The crisis of MH370 was used as a medium to explore the blame avoidance strategies opted by four public figures in addressing the public. The public figures who were used in this research were Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammudin Hussein, Director of Civil Aviation Dato’ Sri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman and MAS CEO Mr Ahmad Jauhari. The main focus of the study was to explore the press release and to illustrate the blame avoidance strategies opted during the …

Gaya Kepimpinan Dan Cabaran Pegawai Polis Wanita, Mohd Jailan Norizzati

Student Works (2020-2029)

Penyelidikan ini menggunakan pendekatan kaedah gabungan (mixed methods) yang dijalankan bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti serta mendapatkan kefahaman yang menyeluruh berkaitan amalan gaya kepimpinan wanita dalam menggalas tanggungjawab sebagai pegawai polis. Selain itu, kajian ini juga dijalankan bagi mengenalpasti cabaran yang dihadapi oleh responden sepanjang penglibatannya dalam profesion maskulin ini. Seramai 345 pegawai polis wanita Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) yang terlibat dalam kajian soal selidik yang dijalankan termasuk temu bual bersama 10 responden diperingkat pegawai kanan dan pegawai rendah. Teori kajian ini memberi tumpuan kepada tiga gaya kepimpinan utama iaitu Kepimpinan Transformasi, Transaksi dan Laissez-faire. Instrumen Kepimpinan Multifaktor (MLQ) digunapakai sebagai instrumen …

Trust Issues: A Case Study Of The Relationship Between Trust And Reform Implementation, Courtney R. Wilson

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Reform creation and implementation tends to focus on the mechanics needed to ensure intended outcomes are achieved. School relationships are affected by the tension caused by reform implementation. Research suggests trust among teachers and between teachers and their administrator affects the way teachers make sense of, implement, and use new reform efforts. Given the demands reforms place on schools, trust has the potential to impact and encourage the implementation of reform and the maintenance of relationships. A qualitative case study method was used to decipher the impact trust plays in the implementation of reform. The concept of trust is used …

Local Workforce Development, Federally Legislated Purposes, And A Systemigram: A Mixed-Methods Study, Tracey A. Regenold

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The public system of workforce development has existed for over 45 years, yet there are still issues with adequate skill-building, training, and employment for the vulnerable populations the system is mandated to serve. This study first used a modified Delphi method to survey a sample of executive directors and board members of local workforce development areas regarding the proper systems design needed to fulfill the purposes of current federal legislation. Subsequently using a visual representation of an “ideal” local workforce development area, participants were then interviewed and asked about the utility of such a model for strategic planning and systems …

Why Do Nonprofits Fail? A Quantitative Study Of Form 990 Information In The Years Preceding Closure, Mackenzie Arbogust

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations are an important piece of the community and economy in the United States. Each year, nonprofit organizations close their doors and stop providing services to the community. While there are large amounts of literature around financial health and vulnerability and governance best practices of nonprofit organizations, few of the studies have ever looked specifically at failed organizations. In general, the end stages of the life cycle of nonprofit organizations have not been well studied and are not well understood. This study draws on resource dependency theory and institutional theory to identify financial and governance factors that may serve …

Cyber-Assets At Risk (Car): Monetary Impact Of Personally Identifiable Information Data Breaches On Companies, Omer Ilker Poyraz

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Cyber-systems provide convenience, ubiquity, economic advantage, and higher efficiency to both individuals and organizations. However, vulnerabilities of the cyber domain also offer malicious actors with the opportunities to compromise the most sensitive information. Recent cybersecurity incidents show that a group of hackers can cause a massive data breach, resulting in companies losing competitive advantage, reputation, and money. Governments have since taken some actions in protecting individuals and companies from such crime by authorizing federal agencies and developing regulations. To protect the public from losing their most sensitive records, governments have also been compelling companies to follow cybersecurity regulations. If companies …

A Framework For Adaptive Capacity In Complex Systems, Abdulrahman Alfaqiri

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Complex systems are characterized by their high level of inter-connectivity, ambiguity, and emergence. Therefore, a failure in one element of a system (e.g. cyber layer) due to external or internal disturbances can lead to a cascade effect that may influence all elements of the system. Consequently, the complex system will not be able to perform its functional performance. Threats related to complex systems are very dynamic, fast, complex and damage can be severe. Thus, to respond to the dynamic and unpredictable nature of these threats, complex systems need to be highly adaptive to survive and thrive in the face of …

The Effects Of Ceo Dismissal Risk And Skills On Risky Corporate Decisions And Ceo Compensation, Son T. Dang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation consists of three distinct essays on the effects of CEO dismissal risk on M&A megadeal decisions, the association between CEO compensation and generalist managerial ability in the presence of CEO dismissal risk, and the alignment of the initial compensation of new CEOs following CEO dismissals with their managerial ability.

In Essay 1, I study the link between CEO dismissal risk and risky M&A decisions and find that higher-dismissal-risk CEOs engage in more M&A megadeals than their counterparts. Such megadeal transactions lead to lower acquirer post-M&A abnormal returns, suggesting that risky investment decisions are driven by CEOs’ career concerns. …

A Quest To Identify The Emerging Leadership Skills In Vuca World And Investigation Of Their Applications In Various Organizational Levels And Security Environments, Ali Can Kucukozyigit

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The theoretical framework of this research is based on “skills approach” that emphasizes the leader’s capabilities (skills, knowledge, and capabilities) that can be learned, taught, and fostered. VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) environment is chosen as the focal point of this research as the leadership skills are extracted from studies referring to such environment. Although the acronym is dominantly used in management and business domains, the military also uses it to describe the complex operational environments like in Iraq and Afghanistan. The identification of individual leadership skills and delivering the right skill, at the right time, to the right …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Accounting Topics Through Case Studies, Grant M. Rudow

Honors Theses

The following thesis is a combination of twelve accounting case studies that were presented as curriculum in the Accounting 420 class. Each case contains a different topic and demonstrates a deep analysis in accounting theory and the current industry, in accordance with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. This thesis demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of core accounting principles and standards, and their relation to academia and industry practice. The case studies were completed under the direction of Dr. Victoria Dickinson in fulfillment of the requirements for The University of Mississippi, Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors …

Exploring The Factors Influencing Big Data Technology Acceptance, Mohammad Nayemur Rahman

Dissertations and Theses

The success of new technology depends on user acceptance. Therefore, discovering the antecedents of technology use is pivotal to overcoming the lack of user acceptance in the field of technology adoption. Factors of critical technological capability, in particular, are overlooked and largely neglected in the literature. Accordingly, the body of literature on the field of technology adoption is inconclusive as to which technological capability factors influence technology acceptance.

Big Data has received great attention in academic literature and industry papers. Most of the experiments and studies focused on publishing results of big data technologies development, machine learning algorithms, and data …

A Market Diffusion Potential (Mdp) Assessment Model For Residential Energy Efficient (Ee) Technologies In The U.S., Momtaj Khanam

Dissertations and Theses

The Diffusion of Residential Energy Efficient (EE) Technologies has been studied for many years. Finding ways to bridge the energy efficiency gap and increase the diffusion of these technologies have been of much interest to researchers and practitioners alike. However, in most studies, diffusion is equated to adoption of EE technologies by consumers. The present study tries to break this mindset and develops a model to assess the diffusion of residential EE technologies from the market's perspective. The model assesses diffusion of an EE technology based on the market's ability to provide benefits to customers that are identified to be …

Hopeless Ugly Food? Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects Of Marketing Strategies On Consumer Attitude And Wtp Via Machine Learning Approaches, Ran Li

LSU Master's Theses

Around one-third of food produced for human consumption is wasted every year, partially caused by consumer's unwillingness to purchase ugly food. We explore opportunities to favorably support consumer's considerations for ugly food by analyzing survey responses from 1099 U.S. adults. We find that without any marketing strategies applied, a great discount has to be provided to sell ugly food. By using appropriate marketing strategies, consumer's attitudes and willingness to pay for ugly food can be changed positively. However, the effects of ugly food marketing attributes are heterogeneous among consumers with different attitudes towards ugly food. Consumers with negative attitudes towards …

A Strategic Plan To Thread Genomics Competencies Into Undergraduate Curriculum, Holly Mathis

Dissertations

Problem: Genomics in undergraduate nursing education has experienced slow adoption in the United States. Various approaches have been proposed but do not address barriers to successful implementation.

Methods: A strategic plan was developed to increase the amount of genetics and genomic content in the curriculum of an undergraduate nursing program. A gap analysis was performed on the curriculum revealing a paucity of content. A SWOT analysis informed the strategic plan, which included a faculty education program using the ANA/ISONG’s Essentials of Genetic and Genomic Nursing: Competencies, Curricula Guidelines and Outcome Indicators (2^nd ed.) (2009) as a foundation.

Results: Faculty …

Earnings Management Of Leaders And Laggards, Candice Roche Boucree

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, I examine whether earnings management varies by a firm’s life-cycle stage relative to its industry life-cycle stage. This relationship, measured as Leaders, Match, or Laggards, concerns strategic groups with different operating strategies. Leaders (Laggards) employ a pioneering (an imperfect imitation) strategy. Overall, I find evidence that Leaders engage in less earnings management than do Match firms. Specifically, Leaders (Laggards) engage in less (more) accruals-based earnings management (AEM) than do Match firms, and Leaders engage in less real-activities earnings management (RAM) than do Match firms. Within firm life-cycle stages, I find additional evidence …

What Makes Your Movies More Engaging For Backers? A Text Analysis Of Kickstarter Projects, Shuman Liu

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Crowdfunding has become an increasingly popular channel for entrepreneurs to raise funds from the crowd to support their startup projects. However, the percentage of crowdfunding projects that can reach their funding goals is relatively small among all crowdfunding websites. Although previous studies have examined various factors such as individual project attributes, social ties that might influence the fund-raising outcomes, the project pitches, as a key part of any crowdfunding proposal, have rarely been studied for their role in driving the crowdfunding success.

In this research, we study a corpus of 1559 movie projects from Kickstarter up to the end of …

Justice And Righteousness For Creation, Renita Reed-Thomson

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

A hymn entitled “This Is My Father’s World,” written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock around the year 1901, includes the words: “This Is My Father’s World, O let me ne’er forget…” Unfortunately, many Christians seem to have forgotten that this world belongs to their Heavenly Father. Justice for the poor and the environment has been neglected as Christians pursue economic and material gain, as well as the church’s pursuit of converts over disciples. That the Protestant Evangelical Church may have forgotten the creation may be a surprising point for some given that it has a reputation for caring for the poor …

Interneti I Gjërave Dhe Ndikimi I Tij Në Privatësinë E Të Dhënave, Vullnet Shkodra

Theses and Dissertations

Me ndryshimet e kohëve, ndryshim rrënjësorë i është bërë mjedisit dhe faktorëve që po e përbëjnë mjedisin. Ndryshimi rrënjësor po zhvillohet nga raca njerëzore dhe kjo me krijimin e industrive të reja që për qëllim primarë kanë: lehtësimin e jetesës, rritjen e kualitetit të jetesës dhe jetëgjatësinë. Industria e fundit e krijuar nga njerëzimi po quhet industria 4.0 apo “Internet of Things” kjo industri si qëllim ka digjitalizimin dhe shndërrimin e pajisjeve nga të zakonshme (fizike apo mekanike) në pajisje të mençura. Këto pajisje në momentin që digjitalizohen dhe bëhen pajisje të mençura qëllim kanë komunikim ndërmjet vete dhe ky …