Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Changing And/Or Funding Opeb Promises: A Typology Of Local Government Responses To Gasb 45 And The Realization Of Opeb Liabilities, Juita-Elena Yusuf, Thomas Musumeci

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

GASB Statement No. 45 addresses how governmental units account for employees' other post-employment benefits (OPEB), requiring government employers to replace OPEB reporting on a pay-as-you-go basis with an accounting of the cost of current and future benefits. This requirement and the resulting OPEB liability may prompt government employers to reconsider key questions regarding their OPEB provision. The size of the OPEB liability depends on both the benefit promises made to employees and the assets to fund these promises. We propose a typology that defines four approaches for governments to respond to GASB 45 and their OPEB liabilities. These approaches represent …

Determinants And Consequences Of Risk Management Committee Formation, Chris Hines

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the determinants and consequences of financial institutions voluntarily forming risk management committees (RMCs). Specifically, I determine whether RMCs are related to a change in risk outcomes, an increase in profitability, a change in hedging and trading derivative structures, and greater financial reporting quality during the post-committee formation period compared to a control group. I use a sample of financial institutions that form a RMC in any year from 1994 through 2008 and a control sample of financial institutions that do not form a RMC during the sample period. The results provide evidence to suggest that financial institutions …

Are Us Economic Variables Useful For Chinese Stock Market Forecasts?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

It is commonly thought that the economic systems of the world's two largest economies distinct, and so one's experience may not necessarily inform the other. Yet, a new study that compares and analyses stock market data from both countries offers a contrarian view. Undertaken by a PhD candidate at SMU's Lee Kong Chian School of Business, this study was recently presented at the HU-HUE-SKBI Tripartite Conference.

Two Essays On The Sell-Side Financial Analysts, Xi Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first essay titled "The Information Role of Analysts' Contrarian Revisions," I study a special group of revisions: contrarian revisions, defined as recommendation changes that are inconsistent with sizable stock price movements during the past week. I find that contrarian revisions are relatively more informative than trending revisions. In particular, contrarian revisions are associated with a both statistically and economically larger post-announcement drift. I also find contrarian downgrades are less likely to be issued by all-star analysts and analysts with more experience. After implementation of Regulation RD, the market reaction to contrarian revisions issued by all-stars significantly decreases, indicating …

Attributes For Successful Fund Management: Experience Or Education?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Successful fund management is no longer about having “rock star” fund managers, but a team, made up of mutually respecting members bringing them with a mix of the right education, and the relevant experience, said Simon Davies, executive chairman of Threadneedle Investments, at a seminar at SMU.

Credit Card Act Of 2009: The Impact On College Student Credit Card Responsibility, Siobhan Costello

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study aimed to find out if the rules regarding college students and credit cards implemented by the Credit CARD Act of 2009 improved student credit card responsibility.

The Impact Of Quantitative Easing On Inflation In The United States, J. Bryan White

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the current and potential impact of the Federal Reserve’s non-traditional monetary policy known as Quantitative Easing on inflation in the United States. It examines the events and rationale behind the Federal Reserve’s policy actions as well as the theoretical implications for inflation. However, theory and reality do not seem to coincide. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has shown no correlation to what many refer to as the “printing of money” that has occurred during Quantitative Easing. This is in opposition to the basic economic principle of the Quantity Theory of Money which …

Accounting For Goodwill Pre&Post Sfas 142 And The Implications For Earnings Management, Liang Jian Wu

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis explores how impairment charges driven by management assessment have led to the possibility of earnings management under the SFAS 142 standard. The goal of carrying out this research is to help the user understand the implications behind allowing management to judge impairment charges (US GAAP) versus pre SFAS 142 when intangibles such as a goodwill were amortized (currently IFRS).

How has SFAS 142 opened the door for earnings management? If there is evidence to prove this assumption, then what factors drive management's impairment decisions. This information is pertinent to investors when analyzing a potential investment as goodwill can …

Film Financing: Thrilling Scenes And Investing Schemes, Charlotte Moore

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis discusses investing in independent films and researches whether or not it is a scam by looking at techniques to draw in investors, accounting practices, and professional advice.

F.A.C.E.S. (Faculty Academic Community Education Showcase): Professional Growth Experiences In A Career University, Paul J. Colbert, Ph.D.

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

Institutes of higher education exist for the purpose of developing, fostering, nurturing, and stimulating the intellectual growth and development of students. The core values of a college education provide students conceptual and practical educational opportunities that focus on improving their skills and knowledge. These skills and knowledge translate into purposeful, real-life learning experiences. However, in the academic community, learning is not restricted to students. Faculty, too, must be supported and provided opportunities for personal and professional growth and development. Although professional development is not a novel concept in the education profession, schools often take up the gauntlet, but fall short …

Markowitz 2.0: Innovations For Asset Allocation, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

The idea of conducting financial analysis on asset classes, while widely accepted today, was a new concept in the 1950s. It was so new that Nobel Prize winner in economics Harry Markowitz almost did not receive his doctorate because his thesis on portfolio optimisation was deemed as “not economics” by his supervisor. Dr Paul Kaplan, quantitative research director at Morningstar, introduces an updated model of Markowitz’s portfolio optimisation model at a seminar in SMU.

Do External Financial Statement Auditors Sufficiently Adjust Their Audit Plans For Automated-Control Deficiencies?, Daniel D. Selby

Accounting Faculty Publications

Shelton (1999) found that experience, based on rank, mitigates the influence of less-than diagnostic evidence in going concern assessments. But, numerous studies (e.g., Abdolmohammadi and Wright 1987) question the external validity of studies that use rank to determine experience. I suspect that specialized domain experience is a better measure because all auditor ranks do not have procedural knowledge in going concern decisions but many auditors may have procedural knowledge in audit planning (AICPA 2008) and automated controls (Hunton et al. 2004). I investigate whether external financial statement auditors (henceforth auditors) sufficiently adjust their audit plans for material-automated-control-weaknesses. I determine the …

Walking The Talk Of Wall Street, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Years after he theorised that a blindfolded monkey throwing darts at stock listings can select a portfolio that would perform as well as one chosen by experts, Princeton economist Burton Malkiel is sticking by it. In the tenth edition of his investment classic, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Malkiel explains why the experts are overrated, and why sticking with a buy-and-hold strategy using a broad stock market index fund will outperform the professionally managed ones.

Hedge Funds And Analyst Conflict Of Interest, Sung Gon Chung, Melvyn Teo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Are sell-side analysts reluctant to go against the investment views of their hedge fund clients? We show that analysts tend to upgrade stocks recently bought and downgrade stocks recently sold by hedge funds. Relative to other buy and strong buy recommendations, similar recommendations on stocks predominantly held by hedge funds parlay into poorer three-month and six-month stock returns. Hedge funds concurrently offload their stock holdings when analysts issue flattering reports. In line with an agency based explanation, our results are more pronounced for important brokerage clients such as high dollar turnover hedge funds and hedge funds who are prime brokerage …

Analysis Of The Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) Industry, Frederic Juillet

MBA Student Scholarship

In 2009, most REITs opted for the recapitalization of their balance sheets in order to respond to the recent global credit crisis, thus reducing their leverage and strengthening their financial statements (REIT, 2011b). In 2011, the REIT industry represented $54.3 billion in revenue and a profit of $7.8 billion. The industry annual growth expectation for the next 5 years (from 2011 to 2016) is 5.1% or $69.7 billion (IBISWorld, 2011b). The Hotel & Motel industry counted 14 REITs in the lodging/resort sector in the U.S. (REIT, 2011c) and represented 10.5% of the equity REIT Industry (IBISWorld, 2011b). The REIT structure …

Large Mutual Fund Families: Bigger May Not Always Be Better, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Investments are vital to one’s financial freedom. But investment strategy is an art which not everybody can master. Those who are new to investing may see mutual funds as an easy tool to make money. It has been traditionally thought that larger mutual fund families tend to perform better than their smaller counterparts. Do they really?

The Party's Over: The Role Of Earnings Guidance In Resolving Sentiment-Driven Overvaluation, Nicholas Seybert, Holly I. Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper shows that an important link between investor sentiment and firm over valuation is optimistic earnings expectations, and that management earnings guidance helps resolve sentiment-driven overvaluation. Using previously identified firm characteristics, we find that most of the negative returns to uncertain firms in months following high-sentiment periods fall within the three-day window around the issuance of management earnings guidance. Comparisons of guidance months to nonguidance months show that guidance issuance affects the magnitude and not just the daily distribution of negative returns. There is also some evidence of negative returns around earnings announcements for firms that previously issued guidance, …

Risk Management In A Volatile Market, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

The September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers was the 9/11 on Wall Street. Since then, the global risk landscape has changed and swings in the equity markets have become more volatile Now, a study of statistically significant changes in global financial risks and sharp increases in conditional Value-at-Risk after September 2008 has suggested a technically superior technique for effective risk management.

Beating Market Expectations, Analysts’ Forecasts Dispersion And The Pricing Of Credit Default Swaps, Mauricio A. Melgarejo

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of beating analysts’ forecasts and the impact of analysts’ forecast dispersion on the pricing of firms’ credit default swaps (CDSs). CDS premium is the compensation required by investors for bearing firms’ credit default risk. Sell-side analysts collect market, industry and firm information and provide important information in the form of stock recommendations, stock price targets and accounting number forecasts. For that reason, the information contained in their forecasts may provide additional information to investors to price CDSs. My results show that firms that beat analysts’ earnings and revenue forecasts, and …

Ua94/5/4 Student/Alumni Personal Papers Bowling Green Business University W.A. Whitlow, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Accounting books created by W.A. Whitlow for courses taken at the Bowling Green Business University.

2011-2012 Financial Summary, Morehead State University. Budget & Financial Planning Office.

Morehead State University Financial Summaries Archive

2011-2012 Financial Summary of Morehead State University.

Hedging Effectiveness Under Conditions Of Asymmetry, Jim Hanly, John Cotter

Articles

We examine whether hedging effectiveness is affected by asymmetry in the return distribution by applying tail specific metrics, for example, Value at Risk, to compare the hedging effectiveness of short and long hedgers. Comparisons are applied to a number of hedging strategies including OLS, and both symmetric and asymmetric GARCH models. We apply our analysis to a dataset consisting of S&P500 index cash and futures containing symmetric and asymmetric return distributions chosen ex-post. Our findings show that asymmetry reduces out-of-sample hedging performance and that significant differences occur in hedging performance between short and long hedgers.

Financial Literacy And Numerical Ability: Keys To Better Mortgage Outcomes, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

The US mortgage crisis and its dire after effects have highlighted the criticality of financial literacy. And while most people would have picked up fundamental mathematical principles in schools, not everyone appreciates how arithmetic translates within the complex world of finance. Yet, given what has transpired with the subprime crisis, is it important for borrowers to appreciate complicated financial concepts before taking up a loan? A study of the US mortgage market, presented at a SMU School of Economics Seminar Series, provides some clues as it uncovers links between basic numerical skills and financial fate.

Venture Capital In Ireland In Comparative Perspective, Frank Barry, Clare O'Mahony, Beata Sax

Articles

This paper assembles the most comprehensive set of data available to offer a comparative perspective on venture capital in Ireland. The paper charts the emergence of the sector and the co-evolution of the demand and supply sides of the market. On the demand side, a flow of investment opportunities emerged – particularly from the indigenous software sector – for which venture capital represented an appropriate financing vehicle. Concurrently, on the supply side, publicly provided funding and other elements of public policy dramatically enhanced its availability. State support to the demand-side has been a multiple of state support to the supply …

Ceos, Cfos, And Accounting Fraud, Douglas M. Boyle, Brian W. Carpenter, Dana Hermanson

Faculty Articles

The article focuses on fraudulent financial reporting, which has been a long-standing concern for the U.S. investors. It discusses the findings of a study that provides valuable insights into the role of chief executive officers (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) in the prevention of such situation. Also provided are key anti-fraud resources including a fraud risk management program, the assessment of fraud risk exposure and prevention techniques.

The Impact Of National Culture On Cost Of Equity Capital In Cross-Listed Firms, Kathy F. Otero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the GLOBE cultural dimensions of institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance to evaluate the impact of national culture on cost of equity capital for firms cross-listing on two stock exchanges. In addition to evaluating the direct effect of culture on cost of equity capital, the study examines the moderating effect of national culture on impact of the political/regulatory environment and disclosure on cost of equity capital. Limited support was found for both the direct effect and the moderating effect of national culture on cost of equity capital.

The Smartest "Guise" In The Room: Why America Is Doomed To Repeat An Enron-Like Scandal, Shayne Reddington

Honors Theses

There is no question that Enron has brought change to the landscape surrounding business practices both domestically and globally. After the Emon Scandal occurred, Congress passed a very controversial and groundbreaking legislative act known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as a means of stopping the conditions that made this widespread scandal possible. There are several reasons why another Emon-type Scandal is prone to repeat itself in the near future. One of the reasons is that Sarbanes-Oxley is not the perfect bill. Although the controversial Sarbanes-Oxley is a valiant effort to reform the environment that fostered Enron, there are major gaps and …

Opportunities And Challenges For The Asset Management Industry, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Singapore, with its open economy and stable business environment, is host to some of the world's largest asset management companies. It has been observed, however, that local asset management firms are lagging far behind; somehow unable to capitalise on the same opportunities available to the global giants. Speaking at a conference organised by SMU's Centre for Asset Securitisation and Management in Asia, a panel of industry experts shared their views on what it would take to get both local and Asia-based firms into the big league.

W.E. Bowers Ans Associates, Inc. Financial Operations Manual For Construction Cost Accounting, Stephen E. Brown

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

W.E. Bowers and Associates, Inc. typically hires experienced project managers eager to

diversify their work experience. W.E. Bowers and Associates, Inc. verbally instructs

project managers to properly utilize the companies forms and the processes for financial

management of projects. The verbal training typically occurs in a piecemeal fashion. It

occurs only when a new project manager asks

“How To” perform specific tasks. The

project managers all come with different backgrounds and with different backgrounds,

come different business management strategies. The creation of this financial operations

manual will aid in the training of project managers and provide the company with a …

Designing A More Efficient And Fairer Tax System, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

A competent tax system should meet an economy's fiscal needs, but that cannot exist without a tax design that understands, pre-empts, and ultimately shapes human behaviours. Drawing from the UK's Mirrlees Review, Richard Blundell, research director at the London-based Institute of Fiscal Studies, delivered a lecture at Singapore Management University's School of Economics on the principles of the tax reform, and the challenges that await governments in formulating a coherent and economically efficient tax structure.