Corporate Finance Commons^™

Behavioral Finance: Its History And Its Future, Robert Christopher Hammond

Selected Honors Theses

The field of behavioral finance has attempted to explain a litany of biases, heuristics, and

inefficiencies present in financial markets since its creation in the 1980’s. This paper is structured as a comprehensive literature review of behavioral finance, and includes both the seminal works as well as more recent papers. The various subtopics of behavioral finance will also be analyzed, which include loss aversion, corporate finance, and momentum/contrarian investing. Finally, this paper will draw unique conclusions across behavioral finance and hypothesize about what topics within behavioral finance are likely to yield the most interesting research in the near future.

Assessing The Probability Of Bankruptcy, Jarom Heaps

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

Knowing whether or not a company is financial stable has always been a top concern for analysts and money managers. This paper compares the effectiveness of default prediction using two different types of measures: accounting and market based. Accounting measures have been the most popular even though, according to theory, a market based measure reflects all available information. Theory goes as far to say that accounting measures can add no incremental value to a market based measure. In my research I found that accounting based measures can be effective in their predictive power; the market-based measure (BSM) results were much …

The Effect Of Florida’S Timeshare Resale Accountability Act And Securitization Announcements On Vacation Ownership Shareholder Wealth, James R. Drake, Iii

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The focus of this study deals with the vacation ownership, or timeshare, industry, and is two-fold. First, it examines the passage of a criminal law in Florida that deals with the resale of timeshare properties and measures the law’s effects on the timeshare industry in terms of shareholder wealth. Second, the study examines the effect of the announcement of the sale of asset-backed securities in the timeshare industry, also in terms of shareholder wealth. The cumulative abnormal returns of publicly traded lodging corporations that operate in the timeshare industry are calculated and analyzed for both studies.

The passage of Florida’s …

Fair Value Hierarchy Measures: Post-Implementation Evidence On Ifrs 7, Pearl Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a balance sheet valuation model, this study examines if information on the fair value hierarchy of on-balance sheet financial assets and financial liabilities are incorporated in the market’s valuation of companies’ equities in Singapore. The results of the study show significant associations between as-reported Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measures of financial assets and market values. However, the results are not significant for Level 3 fair value measures of financial assets and each of the three levels of fair value measures of financial liabilities. The results also show that returns are more positively associated with as-reported gains …

The Relevance Of Economic, Institutional And Cultural Determinants For Venture Capital Investments. A Us-Europe Comparison., Nadja Benes

Master's Theses

This study analyzes the determinants of early-stage VC investments by identifying characteristics in the economic, institutional, as well as cultural framework that could explain the diverging levels of early-stage VC investments across countries. Data was assembled for 16 countries during the period from 1995 until 2013. The results indicate that countries that are more open to trade are associated with higher levels in early-stage venture capital. A higher unemployment rate negatively affects a country’s level of early-stage VC funds. Higher R&D expenditures as a proxy for the technological and innovation capacity in a country as well as a higher value …

Inflation Targeting And Dollarization In Bolivia, Hugo Vaca Pereira Rocha

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to test the effectiveness of the IT regime as a nominal anchor (reference for monetary policy) to the Bolivian Central Bank through the use of the Taylor rule. In order to use the Taylor Rule, it will be necessary to collect data from the monetary aggregates, interest rates (preferably US interest rates since the boliviano is pegged to the US dollar), and Bolivian Central Bank international reserves. Depending upon the results of the coefficients found it would be possible to make some initial conclusions. The reason why this amount of data will be required is that this …

The Discreet Trader, Seth Wing

Honors Projects in Finance

This paper examines insider trading, specifically trades by corporate insiders around quarterly earnings announcements. Announcements were broken up into three categories: earnings above analyst expectations, earnings below expectations, and earnings in line with expectations. Trade data was collected from the thirty companies of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 2012-’13. The trades were sorted by purchases and sales by date and analyzed with the earnings report of which the trades were made. Only trades in the interval from twenty days before the announcement date to twenty days after the announcement date were considered. The prediction was that corporate insiders would …

Audit Committees And Financial Reporting Quality In Singapore, Kwong Sin Leong, Jiwei Wang, Themin Suwardy, Yuanto Kusnadi

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.

Financial Health And Corporate Performance Of Listed Manufacturing Companies In Hong Kong And Singapore – A Comparative Study Of The Two Asian Tigers, Foo S.L.

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Hong Kong and Singapore are two leading economies in Asia Pacific. This study examines the relationship between the financial health, as measured by the Altman Z-Score, and corporate performance, as measured by the Return on Equity (ROE), of listed manufacturing companies in these two markets. A linear regression was conducted between these variables to determine the magnitude and direction of their relationships. The trends of Z-Scores over a fourteen-year period are also analyzed. The analysis covers the period from 2000 to 2013(inclusive) and yielded a statistically positive correlation between ROE and the Z-Score for both markets. Singapore and Hong Kong …

Political Connections And Firm Value: Evidence From The Regression Discontinuity Design Of Close Gubernatorial Elections, Quoc-Anh Do, Yen Teik Lee, Bang D. Nguyen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Using the regression discontinuity design of close gubernatorial elections in the U.S., we identify a significant and positive impact of the social networks of corporate directors and politicians on firm value. Firms connected to elected governors increase their value by 3.89%. Political connections are more valuable for firms connected to winning challengers, for smaller and financially dependent firms, in more corrupt states, in states of connected firms’ headquarters and operations, and in closer, smaller, and active networks. Post-election, firms connected to the winner receive significantly more state procurement contracts and invest more than do firms connected to the loser.

An Anatomy Of State Control In The Globalization Of State-Owned Enterprises, Hao Liang, Bing Ren, Sunny Li Sun

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Integrating agency theory with institutional analysis in international business, we propose a state-control perspective to analyze government-control mechanisms in emerging economies’ globalization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). We identify two types of state control that influence SOEs’ globalization decisions and the degree of globalization: state ownership control and executives’ political connections, both of which are contingent upon the home country’s evolving institutional environments. Using a two-step corporate globalization decision model and 17,272 firm-year observations of non-financial, Chinese-listed companies, we find a strong impact of both types of state control on SOEs’ globalization, although the impacts differ between the periods before and …

Determinants Of Capital Structure Of Service And Manufacturing Sectors Of Pakistani Companies Listed In Karachi Stock Exchange, Zahid Ali Channar, Manisha Bai Maheshwari, Piribhat Abbasi

Business Review

Capital structure alludes to how an organization finances its operations whether through shareholders equity, debt or a blending of both. This study was aimed to find out the determinants of capital structure in Manufacturing and Service Sectors of Pakistan and examine which capital structure theory (Trade off theory or Pecking order theory) is relevant in Pakistani context. For study secondary data was collected from financial statements of 30 Companies and then data was analyzed through Correlation and Multi Regression analysis. Results showed that leverage has negative significant relationship with tangibility in both sectors which conformed Pecking order theory is followed …

Macroeconomic Fluctuations As Sources Of Luck In Ceo Compensation, Hsin-Hui Chiu, Lars Oxelheim, Clas Wihlborg, Jianhua Zhang

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Macroeconomic fluctuations in interest rates, exchange rates, and inflation can be considered sources of good or bad “luck” for corporate performance if management is unable to adjust operations to these fluctuations. Based on a sample of 2,091 US firms, we decompose the impacts of macroeconomic fluctuations on three measures of CEO compensation. Our study provides empirical support for the importance of considering macroeconomic fluctuations in designing CEO incentive schemes. It adds to the managerial power literature on moral hazard and CEO compensation by pinpointing the obvious risk that the CEO in an asymmetric and non-linear reward system will be inclined …

Nepali Corporate Culture Of Giving: Investigating Practices Of Corporate Social Responsibility, Taylor Knoop

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research is to explore corporate Nepal’s definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), how these definitions influence corporations’ activities and the motivation and rationale behind giving. Multiple factors are impacting the practice of CSR, such the historical influence, personality of industry sector, post-conflict recovery efforts, and trust and transparency in giving. However, corporations’ definition of CSR contradicts the type and level of activities they engage in. The rhetoric is often stronger than the action undertaken, although there is slight trend towards a more incorporated social responsible business model, particularly in the financial and tourism industries. The primary …

Two Essays On Governance At The National And Corporate Level, Laura Savory Miller

HCBE Theses and Dissertations

ESSAY 1
We examine the effect of governance environment on the composition of a country's external capital structure, specifically foreign equity investment. In addition to the absolute quality of the host country's governance environment, we consider the host country's governance quality relative to that of the source (investor) country. Unlike previous studies, which utilize country totals, we examine foreign investment positions between pairs of individual countries. Our sample includes 3,891 bilateral investment positions among 49 source countries and 69 host countries for years 2009 through 2011. We find that relative governance, rather than absolute governance, plays a role in foreign …

Essays On Moral Hazard, Bank Size, Influence, And Risk At The Federal Home Loan Banks, James Cash Acrey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two chapters of research on the Federal Home Loan Bank advances, bank risk, and influence are presented. Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) advances are a growing source of debt financing for US banks. FHLB advances are not priced according to bank credit risk, creating potential for moral hazard. FHLB advances are positively related to contemporary bank risk, but the relation between prior advances and subsequent risk varies between large vs. small banks depending upon the risk measure used. The relation between FHLB advances and various measures of bank risk varies between pre-crisis (2005-07), crisis (2008-09), and post-crisis (2010-12) periods differently …

Financial System Stability And The Payment System., Olubukola Akinniyi Akinwunmi

Bullion

This article reviews the relationship between payments system and financial stability. lt explores the risks within the payments system and how they impact on financial system stability. Emerging issues in the payments system were highlighted and implications for the financial system stability were examined. The article also proposes sets of payments system indicators that may be adopted within the financial system stability analysis and policy making.

A Study Of Technical Efficiency Of Deposit Money Banks In Nigeria (2007 - 2012), Auwalu I. Fagge

Bullion

This paper examines the technical efficiency of deposit money banks (DMBS') in Nigeria. Measures of technical efficiency are derived in the Nigerian deposit money banks (DMBS') by implementing non-parametric, data envelopment analysis technique on a cross section of 24 banks taken from 2007 to 2013. The efficiency concepts, measurement and methodology were discussed. The existence of technical efficiency is established. The result suggests that the sources of overall technical inefficiency, the observed issues are due to poor input utilization (managerial inefficiency) and failure to operate almost productive scale size. Therefore, in this research the paper suggests or considers some important …

Empirical Studies On Interest Rate Derivatives, Xudong Sun

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Interest rate models are the building blocks of financial market and the interest rate derivatives market is the largest derivatives market in the world. In this dissertation, we shall focus on numerical pricing of interest rate derivatives, estimating model parameters by Kalman filter, and studying various models empirically. We shall propose a front-fixing finite element method to price the American put option under the quadratic term structure framework and compare it with a trinomial tree method and common finite element method. Numerical test results show the superiority of our front-fixing finite element method in the aspects of computing the option …

Ceo Optimism And Incentive Compensation, Clemens A. Otto

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

I study the effect of chief executive officer (CEO) optimism on CEO compensation. Usingdata on compensation in US firms, I provide evidence that CEOs whose option exercisebehavior and earnings forecasts are indicative of optimistic beliefs receive smaller stockoption grants, fewer bonus payments, and less total compensation than their peers. Thesefindings add to our understanding of the interplay between managerial biases andremuneration and show how sophisticated principals can take advantage of optimisticagents by appropriately adjusting their compensation contracts.

Resolution Of Bad Loan Problem: Bank-Level Evidence From A Low-Income Country, Abu S. Amin, Lucy Chernykh, Mahmood Osman Imam

WCBT Faculty Publications

How do banks resolve a severe bad loan problem in a capital-constrained, low income country when a government bailout is not an option? We address this question by examining new evidence of a sharp decline in bad loan ratios in a panel of domestic banks in Bangladesh. On the aggregate level, the share of nonperforming loans in this market has dropped six fold, from above 41% in 1999 to below 7% in 2010. Notably, this dramatic improvement did not involve the creation of any centralized asset management facilities but relied on the bank management and governance reforms. We find that …

Conservatism And Equity Ownership Of The Founding Family, Shuping Chen, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We investigate the impact of founding family ownership on accounting conservatism. Family ownership is characterised by large, under-diversified equity stake and long investment horizon. These features give family owners both the incentives and the ability to implement conservative financial reporting to reduce legal liability and mitigate agency conflicts with other stakeholders. Since CEOs can have different incentives towards conservatism, we focus on ownership of non-CEO founding family members in our investigation. We find that conservatism increases with non-CEO family ownership, supporting our prediction. This relationship becomes insignificant in family firms with founders serving as CEOs, either due to founder CEOs' …

Should Singapore Adopt 'Say On Pay'?, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

SoP may require disclosures that could harm a firm's competitive interests.

Should Singapore Adopt 'Say On Pay'?, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

SoP may require disclosures that could harm a firm's competitive interests.

The Nature Of Lessons Learned From Argentina’S 2001 Financial Crisis, Emma Van Wagenberg

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper makes the argument that though Argentina’s 2001 financial crisis was influenced by several factors, it is the 1991 Convertibility Plan that most strongly pushed the nation to the point of needing outside financial assistance. Its implementation led to and worked in combination with a multitude of unexpected factors. Together, these created economic conditions that chipped away at the stability of Argentina’s economy.

Given the nature of this project, information was gathered solely through research in texts published by both supporters and critics of organizations like the International Monetary Fund. In my readings, I found that there is generally …

Causes And Consequences Of Corporate Asset Exchanges By Listed Companies In China, Fang Lou, Jiwei Wang, Hongqi Yuan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

China's listed companies often exchange corporate assets with their parent companies. We find that listed companies that have been incompletely restructured from former state-owned enterprises and in sound financial condition tend to exchange higher quality assets for lower quality assets (i.e., tunneling). However, when there is a need to avoid reporting a loss and to raise additional capital, listed companies tend to exchange lower quality assets for higher quality assets (i.e., propping). We also find that the market reacts indifferently to asset exchange announcements. Finally, we find asset exchanges motivated by a tunneling (propping) incentive to be associated with poorer …

Lattice Methods For The Valuation Of Options With Regime Switching, Atul Sancheti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis, we have developed two numerical methods for evaluating option prices under the regime switching model of stock price processes: the Finite Difference lattice method and the Monte Carlo lattice method.

The Finite Difference lattice method is based on the explicit finite difference scheme for parabolic problems. The Monte Carlo lattice method is based on the simulation of the Markov chain. The advantage of these methods is their flexibility to compute the option prices for any given stock price at any given time. Numerical examples are presented to examine these methods. It has been shown that the proposed …

Wealth Management In Singapore, Francis Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

As early as 2015, Singapore may oust Switzerland as the world’s top finance hub. But the path forward requires adjustments in the strategic direction of individual firms. Wealth management in Singapore is vibrant, growing, challenging.

Cost Reduction Strategies & Corporate Governance: The Need For A Paradigm Shift In Public Sector Financial Management In Nigeria, Sunny Ekakitie-Emonena

Bullion

This study is on exposition of the imperatives of cost reduction strategies and corporate governance practices as it relates to financial malfeasance. The mechanics for a paradigm shift discussed include: cost reduction techniques, adoption of cost efficiency techniques and maintenance and reportage of accurate financial records, etc.; along with adoption of sound corporate governance policies of accountability, adherence to regulatory framework, and respect for stakeholders' interest. The study concludes by suggesting further initiatives to 'clean-up and reposition' the sector for growth & economic development. These include: effective justice system, stepping up the policy of cashless economy, entrenching protection programs for …

Stewardship In The Interests Of Systemic Stakeholders: Re-Conceptualizing The Means And Ends Of Anglo-American Corporate Governance In The Wake Of The Global Financial Crisis, Zhong Xing Tan

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.