Corporate Finance Commons^™

Strengthening The Foundations Of The Accountability Profession, Sridhar Ramamoorti, Sam M. Mccall, Relmond P. Van Daniker

Accounting Faculty Publications

Article discusses the conceptual foundations of the accountability profession in government. The role of the Academy for Government Accountability in strengthening the accountability profession and advancing research and education initiatives in government financial management is described. The author suggests that government accountability needs to be about stewardship, transparency, accountability and citizen-centric government.

Insider Trading And Voluntary Disclosures, Qiang Cheng, Kin Lo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We hypothesize that insiders strategically choose disclosure policies and the timing of their equity trades to maximize trading profits, subject to the litigation costs associated with disclosure and insider trading. Accounting for endogeneity between disclosures and trading, we find that when managers plan to purchase shares, they increase the number of bad news forecasts to reduce the purchase price. In addition, this relation is stronger for trades initiated by chief executive officers than for those initiated by other executives. Confirming this strategic behavior, we find that managers successfully time their trades around bad news forecasts, buying fewer shares beforehand and …

The Effect Of The Options Backdating Scandal On The Stock-Price Performance Of 110 Accused Companies, Gennaro Bernile, Gregg A. Jarrell, Howard Mulcahey

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Since academic scholars and the Wall Street Journal reported widespread evidence indicating that option grants to executives were backdated, an avalanche of news stories followed documenting this ever-widening corporate scandal. In this study we ask: "How do disclosures of backdating affect shareholder value?" We closely examine 110 companies listed in the Wall Street Journal's Perfect Payday webpage, collecting all news stories related to options backdating. We find that shareholders of these 110 companies suffer on average significant stock-price declines, ranging between 20% and 50%. Moreover, these losses do not seem to be due to temporary overreactions (at least so far). …

Number Of Independent Board Directors And Training Hours And Financial Performance Of Tsec [Taiwan Securities Exchange Corporation] Electronic Companies, Fu-Huei Yang

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

In February 2002, the regulation of appointing independent directors in the boardroom was set forth in "Corporate Governance Best-Practice Principles for TSEC/GTSM Listed Companies" (CGBPP). Since the enactment of the amended "Security and Exchange Act" in 2006, all listed companies are required to appoint independent directors, not less than two in number and not less than one-fifth of the total number of directors.

In addition to implementing the independent directors system, in order to enhance director competencies and director behavior, the TSEC announced the "Guideline for Promotion of Advanced Study by Directors and Supervisors of TSEC/GTSM Listed Companies." In this …

Transparency In Financial Markets And Institutions: A Catholic Social Thought Perspective, Bridget Lyons, Lucjan T. Orlowski

WCBT Faculty Publications

We argue that transparency, or information disclosure by public and private sector institutions should be viewed as an important component of the Catholic Social Thought process. A higher degree of transparency by a single institution denotes revealing a greater magnitude of truthful information that leads to optimization of actions by other individuals and institutions, thus ultimately, to maximization of social welfare. Based on the precepts of Catholic Social Thought, more detailed and unbiased information allows individuals to make more truthful observations of reality that subsequently rationalize their judgment and actions. This is particularly relevant for financial markets and institutions that …

Institutional Holdings And Analysts’ Stock Recommendations, Qiang Cheng, Xia Chen

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Prior studies document that institutional investors outperform the mar- ket. We investigate whether this superior performance is partly derived from institutional investors use of sell-side analysts stock recommenda- tions. First, we find that the quarterly change in institutional ownership is positively correlated with consensus recommendations. After control- ling for other determinants of institutional holdings, the quarterly change in institutional ownership is on average 0.90 percent higher for firms with favorable recommendations than for those with unfavorable recommendations. Second, using large trades to proxy for institutional trading, we find that there are more buyer-initiated than seller-initiated large trades around favorable recommendations …

Six Levels Of Financial Knowledge, George E. Manners Jr.

Faculty Articles

With the appropriate framework to shape financial knowledge, the management accounting function should become an organization's principal decision-support platform. The framework consists of six levels of financial knowledge, and the word "financial" is most operative here. The Level 1 knowledge base connects a business to the outside world. When you have output volume and variable cost per output unit, you have the basis for Level 2 vocabulary. When a business transitions to Level 3, it has learned that return on assets must be employed as the enterprise's guiding profitability gauge. There is a very distinct increment in knowledge when moving …

The Association Between Audit Quality And Abnormal Audit Fees, Jong-Hag Choi, Jeong-Bon Kim, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a sample of 9,820 firm-year observations over the 2000-2003 period, this paper examines whether, and how, audit quality proxied by unsigned discretionary accruals is associated with abnormal audit fees, i.e., actual audit fees in excess of expected, normal audit fees. The results of various regressions reveal that the association between the two is insignificant for the full sample, significantly positive for the subsample of clients with positive abnormal fees, and insignificantly negative for the subsample of clients with negative abnormal fees. The above results suggest that auditors’ incentives to compromise audit quality differ systematically for more profitable clients (with …

Corporate Financial Policy And The Value Of Cash, Michael Faulkender, Rong Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the cross-sectional variation in the marginal value of corporate cash holdings that arises from differences in corporate financial policy. We begin by providing semi-quantitative predictions for the value of an extra dollar of cash depending upon the likely use of that dollar, and derive a set of intuitive hypotheses to test empirically. By examining the variation in excess stock returns over the fiscal year, we find that the marginal value of cash declines with larger cash holdings, higher leverage, better access to capital markets, and as firms choose greater cash distribution via dividends rather than repurchases.

The Importance Of Issues Management In International Mergers And Acquisitions, Mark Chong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Issues management is the strategic use of issues analysis and strategic responses to help organizations make adaptations needed to achieve harmony and foster mutual interests within the communities in which they operate (Heath, 1997, p. 3). It seeks to build, maintain and repair relationships with an organizationÆs stakeholders by keeping surveillance for threats and opportunities in the environment that can affect success in achieving organizational mission and goals (Heath, 2002). Accordingly, organizations modify corporate policy, shape legislation or influence public opinion to synchronize themselves with the prevailing or emerging climate of public opinion and sensitivity

Investments And Risk Management Under The New Pension Scheme, Atedo A. N. Peterside

Bullion

The Pension Reform Act 2004 ("the Act"), a compul sory contributory pension scheme ("the scheme ' or CPS") has been established for all the categories of workers in the Federal public service, Federal Capital Territory , and in the private sector ( 'applicable sectors'). This paper attempt to discuss and examine the issues of investment and risk management that are essential to the success of the new Scheme, and highlight some of the benefits and limitations of the contributory pension scheme and its investment and risk management framework. The study concluded that, the new CPS, it is also pertinent to …

Investments And Risk Management Under The New Pension Scheme., Luka A. Dalang

Bullion

Pension today, has become a topical issue. one that has engaged the commitment of government, attention of employers and workers not only in Nigeria but also in many developing and emerging economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America This paper discuss the trend of investments and pension schemes with its risks and challenges in Nigeria. The study however confirmed the non applicability of the financial reform theory hypothesized by McKinnon and Shaw in Nigeria.' . The National pension Commission guidelines as mentioned earlier, are designed to ensure transparency, integrity and objectivity in the vestment process. and to ensure that the …

Personal Taxes, Endogenous Default, And Corporate Bond Yield Spreads, Sheen X. Liu, Howard Qi, Chunchi Wu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Term structure models have often been criticized for failing to explain satisfactorily the yield spread between corporate and Treasury bonds. A potential problem is that the personal tax effect is ignored in these models. In this paper, we employ a structural model to investigate the role of personal taxes on both debt and equity returns in capital structure decisions and assess their impact on corporate bond yield spreads. It is shown that personal taxes affect the firm's optimal capital structure, and the tax premium explains a substantial portion of yield spreads, especially for high-grade bonds. The predictive ability of the …

Monitoring A Game Of Winks, Nods, And Risk: Derivatives Regulation In The E.U. And Poland, Robert F. Schwartz

Brigham Young University International Law & Management Review

No abstract provided.

How To Use The Changing Components Of The Corporate Annual Report, Deborah S. Archambeault, John G. Fulmer Jr., Richard A. Turpin

Accounting Faculty Publications

The amount of information required in a corporate annual report continues to increase. Most recently, additional reporting requirements brought about by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOA), the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) increase the number of component reports that must be included in the annual report package. Lenders need to be familiar with the additional information that these new components provide. Therefore, this article summarizes the required component reports, discusses the information conveyed in each report and gives some examples of the types of significant new information that can be obtained.

Hip-Hop: The New Answer?, April N. Watson

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Hip-Hop: The New Answer? analyzes a total of nine companies from different industries that have used Hip-Hop, whether via advertisements with artists or symbols of the music’s culture, as a part of company marketing. Through marketing, firms are able to obtain new consumers of different demographics or more from its core customer base and thus raise sales. More and more corporations that are well established in their industries are incorporating some influence from Hip-Hop. This seems to say mature companies have found a way to increase market share and sales. Therefore, this paper looks at the changes in annual sales …

Venture Capital Due Diligence: Issues & Processes, Nick Jordan

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper discusses the areas and methods by which venture capitalists need to concentrate their efforts when assessing the attractiveness of an investment. The information is additionally valuable for entrepreneurs seeking funding to expand their businesses and academics researching the topic. A series of books, trade journals, articles and interviews were referenced in an effort to present a thorough and unbiased investigation of the topic. The research is significant given that private equity has remained an understudied area in comparison to larger public equity markets. Additionally, the traditionally shorter periods of operating history of private companies add a layer of …

Anheuser-Busch And The Eu, Keith Tolbert

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The following paper provides analysis of Anheuser-Busch, its current position within the European Union (EU), and its opportunities/threats that exist in the EU. Included is background information about Anheuser-Busch containing its products, financial condition, and major competitors within the EU. I have provided extensive analysis o f the areas of concern for Anheuser-Busch in the EU as well as recommendations for the company to consider. The major market for opportunity covered is Germany. Anheuser-Busch is not a current competitor in Germany, however, possible expansion opportunities into the country is addressed. Additionally, a realistic outlook of Anheuser-Busch’s future other EU countries …

Enhancing Long-Term Savings Culture In Nigeria Through National Savings Certificate., S. O. Alade

Bullion

In Nigeria's economic history, the strides of the last five years, which have been internationally acclaimed, are unprecedented. The many reforms that have engendered the current success have largely included those in the financial sector, particularly, the positive policy shifts in the domestic money market as first steps towards a more robust and enduring face-lift for the sector. Part of the expectations are that the improved enabling environment from the reforms would continue to make more investment funds readily available, as well as attract droves of foreign direct investment. The challenges that remain include the need to deliver on the …

Using Gmm To Flatten The Option Volatility Smile, Tom Arnold

Finance Faculty Publications

By using an over-identified Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation procedure with careful consideration for data biases existing in the previous literature, parameters are estimated for a stochastic volatility jump diffusion option pricing (SVJ) model. The estimated parameters indicate a statistically significant highly negative infrequent jump process in the underlying security return distribution consistent with market crashes. When comparing to a stochastic volatility (SV) option pricing model, the SVJ is more robust but not always the superior model. The robustness of the models is further gauged by evaluating performance up to a year beyond the estimation data.

Government Ownership And The Performance Of Government-Linked Companies: The Case Of Singapore, James Ang, David K. Ding

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In an emerging economy, the alternative to government control is often no governance. We investigate the governance structure of government-linked companies (GLCs) in Singapore under the ownership/control structure of Temasek Holdings, the government holding entity, which typically owns substantial cash flow rights but disproportional control rights and exercises no operational control. We compare the financial and market performance of GLCs with non-GLCs, where each has a different set of governance structure, the key difference being government ownership. We show that Singaporean GLCs have higher valuations and better corporate governance than a control group of non-GLCs. The results hold even when …

Semi-Strong Form Market Hypothesis: Evidence From Cnbc's Jim Cramer's Mad Money Stock Recommendations, Elizabeth Dodson

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Mad Money has become one of the most popular shows on CNBC. The host, Jim Cramer, has an outlandish style and personality that viewers find intoxicating. Cramer's goal for the show is to make people money. Does he succeed? This paper finds that investors can expect to gain above-average, risk adjusted returns by following Cramer's stock recommendations and trading accordingly. These findings challenge the semi-strong form market hypothesis. According to this hypothesis investors should not recognize gains trading on public information since it states that the market has already adjusted prices for that information. It also contributes to current literature …

Under-Pricing And Long-Run Performance Of Initial Public Offerings In Developing Markets, Sze Wei Daniel Ong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The transition from being a private company to a public one is one of the most important events in the life of a firm. It is also one of particular interest to institutional investors, and the transition is facilitated through the initial public offering (IPO) process. The IPO provides a fresh source of capital that is critical to the growth of the firm and provides the founder and other shareholders such as venture capitalists a liquid market for their shares. From an institutional investor's perspective, the IPO provides an opportunity to share in the rewards of the growth of the …

A Note On The Instability Of The Unprojected Individual Level Premium Cost Method, Pierre Devolder, Valerie Goffin

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

We compare the unit credit and the unprojected individual level premium cost methods in a continuous time environment and show that the latter may produce unstable contribution rates in a dynamic environment. Specifically, assuming there are no unfunded liabilities, we prove that the unprojected individual premium cost method may produce non-bounded contributions if benefits change too close to the normal retirement age.

Journal Of Actuarial Practice - Volume 13 (2006) - Contents And Masthead

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Contents

Editorial Policy: Topics suitable for this journal include AIDS, annuity products, asset-liability matching, cash-flow testing, casualty rate making, credibility theory, credit insurance, disability insurance, expense analysis, experience studies, FASB issues, financial reporting, group insurance, health insurance, individual risk taking, insurance regulations, international issues, investments, liability insurance, loss reserves, marketing, pensions, pricing issues, product development, reinsurance, reserving issues, risk-based capital, risk theory, social insurance, solvency issues, taxation, valuation issues, and workers' compensation

Review Process

Editor - Colin Ramsay, University of Nebraska

Associate Editors: Robert Brown, University of Waterloo ○ Cecil Bykerk, Mutual of Omaha ○ Ruy Cardoso, Actuarial Frameworks ○ …

Estimation Of Large Insurance Losses: A Case Study, Tine Buch-Kromann

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper demonstrates an approach to analyzing liability data recently developed by a Danish insurance company. The approach is based on a Champernowne distribution, which is corrected with a non-parametric estimator. The correction estimator is obtained by transforming the data set with the estimated modified Champernowne cdf and then estimating the density of the transformed data set by using the classical kernel density estimator. Our approach is illustrated by applying it to an actual data set.

Solvency Of Life Insurance Companies: Methodological Issues, Rosa Cocozza, Emilia Di Lorenzo

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

The paper deals with solvency assessment for life insurance business; some methodological issues concerning the solvency of life insurance companies, particularly connected to the investment risk, are suggested. Considerations about the technical equilibrium of an insurance portfolio and the financial regulation lead to a dynamic system involving risk measure and solvency assessment. The formal model is applied to a life annuity cohort in a stochastic context in order to exemplify the potential of the model, especially referred to the need to frame solvency assessment in a dynamic perspective.

On Some Risk-Adjusted Tail-Based Premium Calculation Principles, Edward Furman, Zinoviy Landsman

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper explores two tail-based premium calculation principles, the tail standard deviation (TSD) premium and the tail conditional expectation (TCE) premium, in their risk-adjusted and unadjusted forms. They are risk-adjusted using so-called distortion functions. We prove that the proportional hazard (PH) risk-adjusted TCE premium is larger than the unadjusted TCE premium. Additionally, given a risk distribution with location and scale parameters, we prove that the PH risk-adjusted TCE premium reduces to the unadjusted TSD premium.

Bayesian Analysis Of A Health Insurance Model, Helio S. Migon, Edison M.O. Penna

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

We consider the problem of determining health insurance premiums based on past information on size of loss, number of losses, and size of population at risk. The size of loss and the number of losses are treated as mutually independent random variables. The number of losses is assumed to follow a Poisson process, and the loss sizes are independent and identically distributed non-negative random variables, and the population at risk is assumed to follow a non-linear growth model. An expression for the premium is obtained through maximization of the insurer's expected utility under a Bayesian model. The parameter estimation process …

Analysis Of An Insurance Risk Model With Thinning Dependence And Common Shock, Lai Mei Wan, Kam Chuen Yuen, Wai Keung Li

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

We consider a continuous-time insurance risk model with m dependent classes of business with dependent claim number processes due to thinning dependence and a common shock. The impact of the dependence is studied via the adjustment coefficient. The case m = 2 is investigated analytically for exponential claim distributions and via simulation for non-exponential claim distributions.