Corporate Finance Commons^™

Corporate Performance And Cost Of Capital Differentials Of Firms With Different Organizational Forms, Ibrahim Siraj

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In chapter 1, I provide evidence against the claim in the conventional literature on corporate diversification discount that the diversification effect is homogeneous across the industries. I argue that the responsiveness of consumer demand to the changing economic conditions or the product demand sensitivity is an important characteristic of the industries that should be considered to have a more complete understanding of the issue of underperformance of diversified firms compared to single-segment firms. Differentiating industries based on the measure of product demand sensitivity, I show that the diversification effects are not to be homogeneous across the industries. Much of the …

Federal Reserve's Monetary Policies, Asad Choudhry

Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Comparing And Contrasting The Us And German Banking System With Emphasis On The Financial Crisis In 2008, Sarah K. Gleissle

Honors College Theses

This thesis will compare and contrast the Financial Systems of the United States and Germany, the structure, institutions and regulations. Furthermore, we investigated the impacts that the Financial Crisis in 2008 had on Financial Systems, the outcomes and effects. First, we looked at both Systems and the structures more closely, and compared them to each other. Next we looked at the regulations and regulatory agencies in both countries and the work they do. We realized that the different competitive natures the banking systems are under influence their businesses and business decisions.

2014 Q2 Market Pulse Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Market Pulse Report

The quarterly IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse Survey was created to gain an accurate understanding of the market conditions for businesses being sold in Main Street (values $0-$2MM) and the lower middle market (values $2MM -$50MM). The national survey was conducted with the intent of providing a valuable resource to business owners and their advisors. The IBBA and M&A Source present the Market Pulse Survey with the support of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and the Graziado School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

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.

Wealth Effect Of Mergers & Acquisitions In Emerging Market: A Case Of Pakistan’S Banking Sector, Sana Tauseef, Mohammad Nishat

Business Review

This study investigates the short-term market response associated with the announcement of seven merger and acquisition deals in the banking sector of Pakistan during the period 2003 to 2008 using the event study methodology. The results indicate statistically significant investor reactions around the merger announcements. For individual target and bidder banks, the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) range from significant positive to significant negative. The combined mean CAR for the bidder group is significant positive and for target group, the mean CAR is significant negative. The mean CAR for the combined banks in the domestic mergers is also positive but is …

Board Interlock Networks And The Use Of Relative Performance Evaluation, Qian Hao, Nan Hu, Ling Liu, Lee J. Yao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how networks of boards of directors affect relative performance evaluation (RPE) in chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. Design/methodology/approach - In this study, the authors propose that an interlocking network is an important inter-corporate setting, which has a bearing on whether boards decide to use RPE in CEO compensation. They adopt four typical graph measures to depict the centrality/position of each board in the interlock network: degree, betweenness, eigenvector and closeness, and study their impacts on RPE use. Findings - The authors find that firms that have more connected board members …

Managerial Expertise, Corporate Decisions, And Firm Value: Evidence From Corporate Refocusing, Sheng Huang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper investigates how managerial expertise—specifically, industry expertise—affects firm value through divestiture. Using CEOs’ managerial experiences in industries throughout their careers as a measure of their industry expertise, I find that CEOs in diversified conglomerates are more likely to divest divisions in industries in which they have less experience. This finding is consistent with CEOs who divest such divisions in order to refocus on those divisions in which they have specialized—that is, to achieve a better match between their expertise and their firms’ retained assets. Firms that divest for a better CEO-firm match experience significant improvements in operating performance, as …

Corporate Governance And Cash Holdings In Listed Non-Financial Firms In Pakistan, Alina Masood, Attaullah Shah

Business Review

In this study, the relationship between corporate cash holdings and corporate governance variables is tested in Pakistan. The sample consists of 309 non-financial firms listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) over the time span of 2002 to 2010. The study uses several proxies for corporate governance mechanisms such as percentage ownership held by directors, institutional investors, and five largest shareholders, the existence of audit committees and a measure of concentration of ownership. To avoid omitted variable bias, the study also controls for all well-known determinants of corporate cash holdings (market to-book ratio, growth, size, leverage, R&D investments, cash flow …

Societal Trust And Corporate Tax Avoidance, Kiridaran Kanagaretnam, Jimmy Lee, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using an international sample of firms and a country-level index for societal trust, we study how differences in trust across countries relate to corporate tax avoidance. Consistent with our prediction, we find strong evidence that societal trust is negatively associated with corporate tax avoidance by firms, even after controlling for other determinants such as home country tax system characteristics. We also explore the effects of three country-level institutional characteristics – level of investor protection, disclosure requirement, and tax enforcement – on the relation between societal trust and tax avoidance. We predict and find that the effects of trust on tax …

Activist Directors: Determinants And Consequences, Ian D Gow, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin, Suraj Srinivasan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the determinants and consequences of hedge fund activism with a focuson activist directors, i.e., those directors appointed in response to demands by activists.Using a sample of 1,969 activism events over the period 2004–2012, we identify 824 activistdirectors. We find that activists are more likely to gain board seats at smaller firms and thosewith weaker stock price performance. Activists remain as shareholders longer when they haveboard seats, with holding periods consistent with conventional notions of “long-term” institutionalinvestors. As in prior research, we find positive announcement-period returns of around4–5% when a firm is targeted by activists, and a 2% …

Managers' Pay Duration And Voluntary Disclosures, Qiang Cheng, Young Jun Cho, Jae Bum Kim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we examine the effect of managers’ pay duration on firms’ voluntary disclosures. Pay duration refers to the average period that it takes for managers’ annual compensation to vest. We hypothesize and find that pay duration can incentivize managers to provide more bad news earnings forecasts. This result holds after controlling for the level of stock-based compensation and the endogeneity of pay duration. In addition, we find that the effect of pay duration is more pronounced for firms with weaker governance and for firms with a more opaque information environment, where the marginal benefits of additional disclosures are …

The Triangular Relationship Between Audit Committee Characteristics, Audit Inputs, And Financial Reporting Quality, Jae Bum Kim, Benjamin Segal, Dan Segal, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using the exogenous reforms to audit committees mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and a difference-in-difference approach, we examine the impact of changes in audit committee attributes (financial expertise, size, and independence) on firms’ audit inputs and financial reporting quality. Firms directly affected by the reforms experienced a larger improvement in audit inputs (measured by audit fees and the appointment of an industry specialist auditor) and a larger increase in financial reporting quality (measured by restatements of financial reports) relative to firms that were already compliant. Importantly, we find that the decline in restatements is not related to the …

Two Essays In Finance: Analyzing The Value Of Cash To U.S. And Non-U.S. Firms And Institutional Trading In Stock Index Futures, Li Xu

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the first chapter, we analyze the role of market development, risk premium, and transparency as factors influencing the value of cash in firms listed as American Depository Receipts. Based on the method by Pinkowitz and Williamson (2002), our primary results are as follows. The market value of cash is greater on average for ADR firms than for U.S. firms, and within the ADR sample the value of cash is greater for firms based in less developed countries after 2007 financial crisis but not before. Together, the results suggest that the market development is especially important during more volatile periods. …

Impact Of The Ceo Effect On Premiums In Mergers And Acquisitions, Caitlin Duncan

Honors Scholar Theses

The rationale behind a merger or acquisition is to improve the financial performance of the acquiring firm. Many factors go into the the valuation of a company and consequently the premium paid.

This paper will examine what impact upper management, specifically the CEO, has on the valuation of a company during mergers and acquisitions. This impact, called the CEO effect, will be central to the paper. Different valuation methods of this effect, as well as firm valuations, will be analyzed and considered. Specifically, how the CEO effect affects the premium paid by the acquiring firm will be the main focus. …

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 …

Do Market Anomalies Add Up?, Larissa C. Steinfeldt

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This is a study about abnormal characteristics in the stock market and how to successfully use them in personal portfolios. Market anomalies are unexpected excess returns that occur in relation to certain variables. Five commonly known market anomalies (market cap, price-earnings ratio, price-book value, momentum, volatility) are tested to give evidence for their presence. Existing variables are then combined in different portfolios in order to observe whether they generate greater excess returns combined rather than individually. This study will also reveal whether long-term holding is possible and how the anomalies react in bullish and bearish markets.

Short Sellers And Corporate Disclosures, Qiang Cheng, Xia Chen, Ting Luo, Heng Yue

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine how short sellers affect corporate disclosures using a natural experiment. From May 2005 to July 2007, the SEC implemented a pilot program by randomly selecting one third of Russell 3000 stocks and removing the short sale price tests for these stocks (referred to as pilot firms), leading to lower short-selling constraint, without changing the requirement for other firms (referred to as control firms). We compare the change in corporate disclosures between the pilot firms and the control firms during this period. We find that compared to the control firms, the pilot firms are more likely to issue good …

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 …

The Role Of Deferred Pay In Retaining Managerial Talent, Radhakrishnan Gopalan, Sheng Huang, Johan Maharjan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the role of deferred vesting of stock and option grants in reducing executive turnover. To the extent an executive forfeits all unvested stock and option grants if she leaves the firm, deferred vesting will increase the cost (to the executive) of early exit. Using pay Duration proposed in Gopalan, et al., (forthcoming) as a measure of the length of managerial pay, we find that CEOs and non-CEO executives with longer pay Duration are less likely to leave the firm voluntarily. Employing the vesting of a large prior-year stock/option grant as an instrument for Duration, we find the effect …

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.

Incentivizing Credit Rating Agencies Under The Issuer Pay Model Through A Mandatory Compensation Competition, Robert J. Rhee

Faculty Scholarship

Credit rating agencies are important institutions of the global capital markets. If they had performed properly, the financial crisis of 2008-2009 would not have occurred. This article offers the simplest fix proposed thus far, and it is contrarian. This Article accepts the central role of rating agencies in the regulation of bond investments, the realities of a duopoly, and the issuer-pay model of compensation. The status quo is the baseline. The role of regulation should be to create the conditions necessary to induce competition. This article proposes that a small, recurring portion of revenue earned by the largest rating agencies …

Trapped Cash: When Is A Dollar Not Worth A Dollar?, Russell Engel, Bridget Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

During 2013 the concept of “trapped cash” garnered heightened attention as reports of Dell, Apple and other firms holding massive cash levels outside the US surfaced. So called “trapped cash” refers to cash and liquid investments held by subsidiaries located outside the United States. Firms with overseas subsidiaries located in jurisdictions where the tax rate is lower than the rates in the US can reduce taxes by attributing profits to foreign locales. But bringing the cash back to the US subjects the funds to the US corporate tax rate, less credit for foreign income taxes paid.

The House Ways and …

Two Essays On Stock Repurchases And Insider Trading, Noel Pavel Nangatie Jeutang

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The first essay examines how the outcome of prior repurchasing activity influences future repurchasing decisions. We find strong evidence that future decisions to repurchase equity are negatively influenced by poorly timed past repurchases. Specifically, we show that the past losses on stock repurchases reduce the propensity to engage in additional repurchases in the future. We find almost no evidence that past gains on repurchases positively or negatively influence future repurchasing activity. These results are robust to various firm characteristics, estimation and sampling methods. Further analyses show that losses on past repurchases influence dividend policy. We show that the dividend-repurchase substitution …

An Examination Of Earnings Surprises For Urban And Rural Firms, Bok Baik, Jong-Hag Choi, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we examine the association between firm location and management’s opportunistic financial reporting at earnings announcements. Because of investors’ preference for local stocks and the existence of large investment communities in urban areas, firms located in urban areas (i.e., urban firms) tend to have a higher level of visibility and attention. We predict that this tendency in turn motivates urban firms to opportunistically behave in an earnings surprises game. Consistent with our prediction, we find that (1) urban firms are more likely to report non-negative earnings surprises than rural firms; (2) urban firms are more likely to report …

2014 Q1 Market Pulse Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Market Pulse Report

The quarterly IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse Survey was created to gain an accurate understanding of the market conditions for businesses being sold in Main Street (values $0-$2MM) and the lower middle market (values $2MM -$50MM). The national survey was conducted with the intent of providing a valuable resource to business owners and their advisors. The IBBA and M&A Source present the Market Pulse Survey with the support of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and the Graziado School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.