Corporate Finance Commons^™

Modeling Size-Of-Loss Distributions For Exact Data In Winbugs, David P.M. Scollnik

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper discusses how the statistical software WinBUGS can be used to implement a Bayesian analysis of several popular severity models applied to exact size-of-Ioss data. The particular models targeted are the gamma, inverse gamma, loggamma, lognormal, (two-parameter) Pareto, inverse (two-parameter) Pareto, Weibull, and inverse Weibull distributions. It is possible to implement additional size-of-Ioss models (including those for truncated data) using methods analogous to those described herein.

Model Risks And Surplus Management Under A Stochastic Interest Rate Process, Jennifer L. Wang, Rachel J. Huang

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper uses simulations to explore the effects of incorrectly identifying the underlying interest rate process on assets, liabilities, and surplus levels. We show that mismodeling the interest rate (called model risk) could not only lead to a misstatement of the company's surplus, but could also cause a mismatch between the company's assets and liabilities. Our simulations demonstrate that three aspects of interest rates affect model risk: (i) volatility, (ii) level of long-term interest rate, and (iii) the speed at which the drift rate adjusts. We conclude that asset-liability managers should not ignore the impact of the model risks, regardless …

Unearned Premiums And Deferred Policy Acquisition Expenses In Automobile Extended Warranty Insurance, Joseph Cheng

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

A prorata formula is commonly used to calculate unearned premium reserves in property-casualty insurance. I believe, however, that an exposure-adjusted formula is more appropriate in automobile extended warranties. This paper describes the exposure-adjusted approach to calculate the unearned premium reserves of an automobile extended warranty insurance program, to test the adequacy of the calculated reserves, and to determine the allowable deferred policy acquisition expenses from an insurance company's perspective.

Journal Of Actuarial Practice Volume 10 (2002) -- 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, …

Can Utility-Maximization Models Assist With Retirement Planning?, Zaki Khorasanee

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Utility-maximization models for optimizing portfolio choices can be subdivided into two classes: those based on maximizing the expected utility of lifetime consumption and those based on maximizing the expected utility of retirement wealth. It is argued that the first type of model, which optimizes both saving and investment decisions, is difficult to apply in practice because of inadequate (or unreliable) information about individual preferences. Although the second type of model only optimizes investment decisions, it is of greater practical value because fewer data on individual preferences are required. The second type of model is used to derive formulae for the …

Some Comments On The Pricing Of An Exotic Excess Of Loss Treaty, Jean-Francois Walhin

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper uses a multivariate analog of Panjer's algorithm to develop a method for pricing a complex excess of loss treaty. The treaty is such that some layers inure to the benefit of other layers. The structure of this treaty is discussed. Numerical examples are provided.

Communicating Effectively With Words, Numbers, And Pictures: Drawing On Experience, Karolina Duklan, Michael A. Martin

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

In this paper, we discuss techniques for developing effective communication skills, focusing in particular on technical writing, the use of graphics, and presentation. The key principles of effective communication that we propose to actuaries are as follows:

• Identify your audience and consider their needs and abilities;

• Focus on substantive content;

• Choose appropriate communication tools;

• Use language that is simple, concrete, and familiar;

• Integrate text, numbers, and graphics;

• Respond to information complexity creatively.

We focus in particular on the use of graphics as a communications tool as they are an efficient and potentially highly effective …

Further Remarks On Risk Sources Measuring: The Case Of A Life Annuity Portfolio, Mariarosaria Coppola, Emilia Di Lorenzo, Marilena Sibillo

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

The paper considers a model that allows the actuary to measure the riskiness connected to the randomness of projected mortality tables in evaluating a portfolio of life annuities, obtaining a measure to reflect the risk associated with the randomness of the projection. The coherence of the risk parameters with the specific nature of the considered risk sources is also discussed. Numerical examples illustrate the results, showing the importance of the risk components in terms of the number of policies and comparing measure tools obtained by means of two procedures.

A Note On The Parallelogram Method For Computing The On-Level Premium, David P.M. Scollnik, Wai Man Sara Lau

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper discusses the differences appearing in the descriptions of the parallelogram method for the determination of earned premium at current rate levels given by McClenahan (1996) and Brown and Gottlieb (2001). It observes that the former is consistent with the method of extending exposures while the latter is not. An illustration is provided. This paper also discusses two other approaches to the determination of the earned premium.

Dynamic Funding And Investment Strategy For Defined Benefit Pension Schemes: A Model Incorporating Asset-Liability Matching Criteria, Shih-Chieh Chang, Cheng-Hsien Tsai, Chia-Jung Tien, Chang-Ye Tu

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper studies the dynamic funding policy and investment strategy for defined benefit pension plans using one of the most comprehensive dynamic pension models to date. The model includes three investable assets: one risk free and two risky. The optimal plan decisions are formulated as a stochastic control problem that is solved using dynamic programming. The objective function uses performance measures to take into account the stability and solvency of the plan. The model is then applied to a Taiwanese pension.

Adr Risk Characteristics And Measurement, Tom Arnold, Lance Nail, Terry D. Nixon

Finance Faculty Publications

While a healthy empirical literature exists on international diversification and its benefits, surprisingly few studies have examined the risk characteristics and efficacy of asset pricing models for one avenue of international diversification – investments in American Depository Receipts (ADRs). Originating in approximately 1927, ADRs provide an opportunity for investors to indirectly purchase shares of foreign firms. ADRs represent a claim to a given number of shares of a foreign firm held by a U.S. financial institution (e.g., Bank of New York). With the increasingly significant presence of ADR trading in the American stock markets – increasing six-fold between 1990 and …

Cash Flow Statement : An Empirical Study Of Voluntary Disclosure Practices Of Malaysian Companies, K. Ranchethamalar K.

Student Works (2000-2009)

Cash flow is a critical business solvency measure. The mandatory disclosures on cash flow statements do not provide all the necessary information to evaluate an entity's performance, liquidity and solvency. No prior studies so far, have thoroughly discussed the merits of providing additional information and relating it to firm specific variables. This study has two purposes. The first purpose is to provide empirical evidence on direct and indirect method of presenting operating cash flows. The second part of the study provides empirical evidence on the voluntary disclosure practices of Malaysian companies as encouraged by MASS 5 and relating it to …

Bond Rating Of Upgrades And Downgrades : The Impact On Stock Returns, C. Thaneswary Chelliah

Student Works (2000-2009)

This paper examines the share market reactions to bond rating changes of upgrades and downgrades. In term of analysis the upgrade and the downgrade category has been divided into changes based on the investment and speculative groups. The market model was used in determining abnormal returns for the study. This research provides the relation of changes taken place within the group and across the group. In addition, this paper is also examining the impact of rating changes due to financial prospect and the companies' leverage. All the analysis is based in Malaysian scenario . The result suggests that there were …

Persistence Of Profits : Intra-And Inter-Sector Comparisons, Liew Toh Peng

Student Works (2000-2009)

The dynamics of the competition in a market economy is expected to function continuously to eliminate the profit differentials among different firms or industries in the· long run. The persistence of profit rates differentials was estimated with an autoregressive model for a sample of firms listed in 9 sectors of the Main Board of Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). We applied the methodology proposed by lm et al. ( I 997) to test for the persistence of profits in a panel data structure. A few specifications were considered and the autoregressive model without a lagged difference term was the best …

Risk-Based Audit Approach In The Internal Audit Department Of A Financial Institution : A Qualitative Study, Jans Mei Lin Lim

Student Works (2000-2009)

Traditionally, the internal auditing approach has been very procedures or process driven. Lately, however, there is greater emphasis on the risk-driven approach in an attempt to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency in internal auditing. This new approach which is risk-driven is called Risk Based Auditing. A risk­based audit focuses on the organization's business risks, that is, risks which can affect a company's profitability and which hold the key to its survival. To analyze this risk, the internal auditor has to look into the working of the company to understand how it operates, and the short and long term business risks …

Performance Of Islamic Banking Scheme At Foreign Banks : A Malaysian Case Study, Luqyan Tamanni

Student Works (2000-2009)

Using trend and ratio analysis, this study analyses the performance of Islamic banking operations at three foreign banks in Malaysia i.e. HSBC, OCBC and SCB:MB. Using the data from 1996-2000, it is possible to track progress and evaluate performances of the Islamic Banking Scheme (IBS) versus its conventional counterpart at these banks. It is also possible to examine the impacts of the Asian Crisis in 1997-98 to the Islamic banking operations, especially at the foreign banks. This study concludes that, during 1996-2000, Islamic banking operations at foreign banks have been performing considerably well, during and post the crisis. On average, …

A Comparison Of Perceived Social Responsibility Standards With Perceived Social Responsibility Performance In The Australian Banking Industry : A Stakeholder Analysis, William J. Phillips

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study is to investigate extent to which Australian banking corporations embrace social responsibility. It endeavours to establish the meaning of social responsibility generally and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in particular. In view of the multiple definitions of the concept of ‘social responsibility’ offered by various authors Such.1 Boatright (1993), Freeman (1994), Walters (1977), and Wheeler (1998), the views of power dependent Australian bank stakeholders were solicited to form an operational definition for the study. This created a collective conception of social responsibility as it is applied to Australian banks, allowing corporate social responsibility standards to be …

Venture Capitalists And Closely Held Ipos: Lessons For Family-Controlled Firms, Joseph H. Astrachan, Daniel L. Mcconaughy

Faculty Articles

This study examines how the presence of venture capitalists (VCs) in closely held IPOs relates to their performance. It also identifies other factors that are related to the performance of closely held IPOs. Closely held firms in this study had an average of 88% insider ownership before the IPO. In general, we find that closely held IPOs benefit from associations with VCs. This finding suggests that VCs' outside expertise and connections are valuable assets. Because it takes time for VCs to effect changes and because beneficial changes generally occur gradually, firms contemplating IPOs must plan well in advance to maximize …

Corporate Investment Activity, Industrial And Global Diversification And Internal Capital Markets, Ozgur Berk Kan

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Recent empirical studies document the average industrially diversified firm trades at a discount than a portfolio of comparable single-segment firms while geographically diversified firms are shown to face similar, if not higher, discounts. They attribute the diversification discount to inefficient allocation of capital in diversified firms. Most of this literature uses aggregate capital expenditures and cash flows data across divisions obtained from Compustat industry-segment and geographic-segment data tapes. In our first paper, we employ firm-specific data to examine the pre- and post-acquisition performance of firms engaging in diversifying and non-diversifying investments in order to determine whether the diversification discount may …

What Is Eva?, Joel Stern

IIMB Management Review

There is no way to measure your performance contemporaneously, period by period. The way people try to incentivize net present value is by using stock options or restricted shares or something like that. But we have taken net present value, which is what the accountants call a stock concept, and converted it into a flow concept, one that can be measured contemporaneously year-by-year. We have put the incentives and the tools in place, to reinforce that. So on acquisitions, for example, you will not be the one to drop out of the bidding contest. I will show you how we …

Stern Measures: In Conversation With Joel Stern, S Venkatesh

IIMB Management Review

The financial evaluation tool that his company devised and grew. Elaborating on how it differs from the accountants’ measure of value and is an accurate measure of shareholder value, Stern claimed that EVA was emerging as a strong consulting practice in India, thanks to the sharpness of the quantitative side of the Indian brain. Defending EVA against Prof Zimmerman’s criticism, Stern strongly positioned EVA as a tool for evaluation, incentivization, and strategic decision making

Eva: Cutting To Fit, S Venkatesh

IIMB Management Review

No abstract provided.

Institutional And Other Constraints To Non-Oil Exports., R. O. Madaki

Bullion

This paper examines the non-oil exports sector in Nigeria which had witnessed a lacklustre performance despite the several statements of government's interest in export-biased growth strategy and the establishment of several export facilitating institutions. The paper further observes that a major problem with Nigeria's non-oil export sector is that it is not predicated on the design and implementation of appropriate and coherent economic policies as there is no clear export promotion blue print in Nigeria. Consequently, the sector is facing a number of institutional and other domestic and external problems. The remaining part of the paper briefly highlight some of …

Emerging Trends In External Reserve Management, Nnadi C. Ben

Bullion

This paper tries to identify some of the main trends in central Banks reserve management in recent years. lt describes some significant changes, which have taken place, with regard to the objectives and investment policies of central banks, while pointing out some elements that could noticeably slow or even reverse the trends identified. The study reveals reserve management has continued to evolve broadly in the areas of securitisation, return maximization, use of derivates and performance measurement. Secondly, in response to the increasing volatility of financial variables, central banks have at the same time continued to place emphasis on liquidity constraints.

An Investigation Of Goodwill Accounting Policy Choice Within A Specific Knowledge Framework, Pearl H. N. Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study, using Singapore data, investigates the relationship between Chief Executive Officers' (CEO) specific knowledge and the accounting method choice on capitalisation of goodwill. International Accounting Standard 22 (1987), applicable in Singapore in 1996, the year of the study, permits a choice between capitalisation with subsequent amortisation and immediate write-off of goodwill to reserves. This study proposes a positive relationship between human capital specificity of CEOs and the recognition of purchased goodwill on the balance sheet. Specific knowledge is unique to firms and is acquired through experience. Given that specialised assets arise from firm-specific circumstances, firm-specific knowledge potentially explains the …

Alternative Corporate Governance Systems In Japanese Firms: Implications For A Shift To Stockholder-Centered Corporate Governance, Toru Yoshikawa, Phillip H. Phan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In Asia, the recent catastrophic decline in regional stock markets, continuing currency crisis and failures of major financial institutions and industrial corporations have increased domestic and international interest in corporate governance. Nowhere is this greater than in Japan where financial institution reform has catapulted this to the fore. Agency theory and institutional theory, together with comparative case examples, are used in a study to derive some propositions on the dynamics of changing corporate governance systems in Japanese firms. The study argues for the co-existence of stakeholder and shareholder-centered corporate governance systems in Japan. This argument has an important implication for …

Top 10 Audit Deficiencies, Mark S. Beasley, Joseph V. Carcello, Dana R. Hermanson

Faculty Articles

The article focuses on financial statement fraud based on cases wherein the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sanctioned auditors for their association with fraudulent financial statements. All of the cases involved public companies, most of which engaged ill fraudulent financial reporting. Only a few engaged in misappropriation of assets or defalcation. The most common problem, alleged in 90% of the cases, was the auditor's failure to gather sufficient evidence. In some instances, this failure was pervasive throughout the engagement while in other instances the allegations were more specific. For example, many of the cases involved inadequate evidence in the areas …

Net-Present-Value Return On Marketing Investment Model For Arrowhead Credit Union, Tracy Jay Judy

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Fitting Loss Distributions In The Presence Of Rating Variables, Farrokh Guiahi

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper focuses on issues and methodologies for fitting alternative statistical models-parametric probability distributions-to samples of insurance loss data. The interactions of loss distributions, deductibles, policy limits, and rating variables in the context of fitting distributions to losses are discussed. Fitted loss distributions serve an important function in pricing insurance products. The methodology developed in this paper is applied to a sample of insurance loss data that has the lognormal as the underlying loss distribution.

Linear Empirical Bayes Estimation Of Survival Probabilities With Partial Data, Mostafa Mashayekhi

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

In this paper we consider linear empirical Bayes estimation of survival probabilities with partial data from right-censored and possibly left-truncated observations. Such data are produced by studies in which the exact times of death are not recorded and the length of time that each subject may be under observation cannot exceed one unit of time. We obtain asymptotically optimal linear empirical Bayes estimators, with respect to the squared error loss function, under the assumption that the probability of death under observation in a unit time interval is proportional to the length of observation. This assumption is sometimes implied by Balducci's …