Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Stakeholder Capitalism: An Investigation Of The Linkage Between Corporate Social Responsibility And Financial Performance, Cynthia Walsh

College of Business Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing a large sample of firms over a 13-year period, we examine the impact of ESG Score on profitability. While we fail to find a significant effect for the continuous ESG Score variable, we find conditions where Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plays an important role in financial performance. Specifically, after controlling for relevant firm characteristics and fixed effects, we find that the highest quartile of ESG Scores experience an average increase in return on assets of 4%. This effect is amplified for the CSR-sensitive energy industry. Additionally, CSR can play an important role in mitigating loss during times of economic …

Frameworks Used To Measure The Societal Influences & Effectiveness Of Impact Investing, Mya E. Baptiste

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The purpose of this thesis is to learn how capital generates positive returns for society through impact investing. I address the different forms of impact investments along the spectrum and examples of companies that are grouped into each category. Afterward, I highlight the various pre-existing frameworks being used by the industry to properly measure their social returns and then provide insight into my personal experience working with Citigroup, Inc. Impact Fund. This paper includes an empirical study to address my hypothesis that companies who invest in producing social returns receive a positive impact on their financials. It was concluded that …

Coinbase Global Inc. Strategic Audit, Decker Bobin

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in the U.S during 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. Coinbase’s application allows users to buy, sell, and exchange different cryptocurrencies on the open market. Cryptocurrencies are digital assets used as a medium to quickly transfer value, globally, without any middleman. Some cryptocurrencies have different technology than others, but all are based on blockchain, and cryptography. Blockchain technology allows transactions to be built into a chain that is forever accessible, hence the name “public ledger.” Cryptography is what ensures ultimate ownership, through seed phrases, and security through encryption. Coinbase has several large competitors …

Case Studies In Accountancy, Michael Keene

Honors Theses

Case Studies in Accountancy is a compilation of case studies completed in fulfillment of ACCY 420. My cases are titled as followed: A Tale of Two Cities, Financial Statements, Presidential Debate, Tax Cuts and Job Act and Taxodus, Professional Interview, Financial Crisis, Case Competition Amazon Overview, Case Competition Amazon Audit Analyst, Case Competition Amazon Tax Advisor, Case Competition Amazon Advisory Consultant and Case Competition Amazon’s Equity Position. These cases covered a variety of topics in the world of accountancy as well as touching on our personal lives. In the first semester of the course, cases were typically individual before moving …

Accounting Case Studies, Jack Mcinnis

Honors Theses

Accounting Case Studies is a compilation of independent case studies performed during the Honors Accounting 420 class. The case studies consisted of multiple performed individually, and a case competition with an assigned group. The case studies I performed individually consist of an assessment between the two cities I was interested in beginning my career in, a case study about the presidential debate in 2020, an evaluation of the optimal corporate tax, a mentorship interview, and an analysis of the 2008 housing crisis in the United States. My group for the case study included my fellow classmates; Francena Sekul, Caitlyn Henry, …

The Importance Of Process Documentation In The Workplace, Alisha Chatlani

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper focuses on the benefits of process documentation in the workplace and how individuals can go about creating documentation that best suits their business needs. The author of this paper explains how they went about researching, developing, and creating process documentation for a team at J.B. Hunt Transport Services and the methodology behind the entire process through an internship.

Altering Overdraft Fee Policies To Promote Consumer Financial Health, Nadia Barbarawi

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of this study is to describe the traditional overdraft practices, explain the reaction of the banking industry from the pressure coming from consumers, regulators, and innovative companies to reduce or eliminate overdraft fees to promote consumer financial health.

Colgate-Palmolive Customer Development Finance Internship: A Collection Of Journals Entries & Testimonials Of Professional Development, Braden Byrum

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This is a collection of journal entries and testimonials to professional development that I received from my internship with Colgate-Palmolive on the Walmart team. Over the span of three months it serves as a reflection on my purpose and inflictions throughout my day to day during my internship. The skills developed during this experience are monumental in professional development but also expand into my personal life. These themes are relevant to the life ahead of me and this collection will serve as an endorsement to that.

Esg Activities, Political Contributions, And Firm Performance, Ahmed W. Alam

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two distinct empirical papers which I document in two separate chapters. In the first chapter, I empirically examine the impact of banks’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on banking efficiency. Using a sample of 578 international banks over the years 2011-2019, I employ a data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to estimate banks’ technical efficiency scores. My baseline Tobit regressions reveal that high ESG performance significantly reduces banks’ efficiency. Further, I find that this relationship is non-linear at very high levels of ESG scores. These findings are consistent across the social (S) and governance (G) …

The Relationship Between Political Contributions And Federal Earmarks And The Impact Of State-Owned Enterprises On U.S. Competition, Tahsin I. Huq

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

With the reintroduction of hard earmarks in the U.S., it is essential to understand the factors that drive earmark receipt. Legislative earmarks have historically represented a significant source of revenue for several firms. We examine the relationship between political expenditure, federal earmarks, and subsequent firm performance. Using a sample of earmarks from 2008-2010 Appropriations bills, we demonstrate that Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions by firms to Senators and Representatives strongly predict both the size and number of earmarks directed to these companies. We also show that PAC contributions to a member of Congress increase the probability that a politician writes …

Finance And Accounting Dual-Degree Proposal, Meghan Finley

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Project Foresight Annual Report, 2020-2021, Paul J. Speaker

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Project FORESIGHT is a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across the globe. The participating laboratories represent local, regional, state, and national agencies. Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty provide assistance, guidance, and analysis. Laboratories participating in Project FORESIGHT have developed standardized definitions for metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks, and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission of Project FORESIGHT is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not.

The benchmark data for the 2020-2021 performance period includes laboratory submissions for a variety of fiscal …

Economic Opportunity And Community Development Financial Institutions In Clark County, Ar And Beyond: An Analysis, Magdalena Hopkins

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Arkansas is home to one of the greatest projects in the world of Community Development Financial Institutions: Southern Bancorp. Founded with the help and support of Bill Clinton, it pre-dates The Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994, which is now used to fund similar Community Development Financial Institutions. According to the Opportunity Finance Network (2022), there are more than 1,200 Community Development Financial Institutions in the United States. These institutions span the country and operate in unique communities. The CDFI Coalition (2017) cites Arkansas as having 19 Community Development Financial Institutions in the state. It is important …

2022 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report

The Pepperdine private cost of capital survey was originally launched in 2007 and is the first comprehensive and simultaneous investigation of the major private capital market segments. This year’s survey specifically examined the behavior of senior lenders, asset‐based lenders, mezzanine funds, private equity groups, venture capital firms, angel investors, privately‐held businesses, investment bankers, business brokers, limited partners, and business appraisers. The Pepperdine survey investigated, for each private capital market segment, the important benchmarks that must be met in order to qualify for capital, how much capital is typically accessible, what the required returns are for extending capital in today’s economic …

Esg Investing: From Fad To Force, Erin Cullen

Senior Theses

ESG Investing is the application of environmental, social, and governance factors to identify material investment risks and growth opportunities. Though traditionally viewed as non-financial factors, this paper asserts that ESG factors are indeed financially material. This work first surveys the current state of ESG Investing, its shortcomings, and its success despite these inherent issues. Section II adds a new perspective to ESG research by examining the applications of ESG scores in portfolio management. The study conducts t-tests to answer whether the typical holdings of an ESG mutual fund are more sustainable than those of traditional funds. The paper then focuses …

Employee-Friendly Practices And Innovation, Saeyoung Chang, Hoje Jo, Jo-Ellen Pozner

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

We examine the inter-relationships among employee-friendly policies (EFP), innovation through R&D investment, and firm value. We hypothesize that firms with higher levels of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit are more likely to utilize EFP. Furthermore, we speculate that the value-EFP association is more pronounced in firms with high R&D intensity. Consistent with these assertions, we find that EFP is significantly and positively related to R&D investment and the number of patents. EFP is also associated with increased firm value at high levels of R&D investment and high numbers of patents. Furthermore, we find that firms investing more in R&D are more …

Fintech And Anti-Money Laundering Regulation: Implementing An International Regulatory Hierarchy Premised On Financial Innovation, Nicholas A Roide

Texas A&M Law Review

Innovations in financial technology (“fintech”) have rippling effects across global markets. Fintech firms utilizing virtual assets and disintermediating blockchain technology continue to rapidly grow in strength and number. As systemic risk mounts due to the inter-jurisdictional nature of fintech, antimony laundering (“AML”) regulators must search for an international answer to maintain global financial stability and protect consumers against illicit activities. A variety of solutions have appeared within local AML regulatory frameworks. These frameworks tend to function as a hierarchy with three ordered objectives: market integrity, rule clarity, and innovation. However, frameworks often place too much emphasis on market integrity and …

Green, Blue Or Black, But Washing–What Company Characteristics Determine Greenwashing?, Silvia Ruiz-Blanco, Silvia Romero, Belen Fernandez-Feijoo

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The purpose of this paper is to study what are the characteristics that make firms less or more prone to greenwashing. We collect data from sustainability disclosures of the S&P top 100 companies, to investigate the determinants of greenwashing. We use content analysis to measure the level of reporting of the companies. We define the “greenwashing” variable as the difference between what the company says it does in terms of commitment to sustainability, and what the company actually does as evaluated by external parties (Bloomberg ESG scores). Our results show that companies in environmentally sensitive industries greenwash less than their …

Securing Repo: Counterparty Risk And Collateral Supply Effects In The Tri-Party Repo Market, Stephen H. Frank

Doctoral Dissertations (DBA)

I examine the co-variance between tri-party repurchase agreement (repo) spreads and proxies for collateral values and counterparty risk. Since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 (GFC), the Federal Reserve (Fed) has taken measures to mitigate repo market instability. These measures have collectively placed the Fed astride repo markets as ongoing borrower, lender and purchaser of US Treasury and Agency securities. By analyzing the relationships between repo spreads, the US 10-year yield and the TED spread, I assess the effectiveness of Fed measures to mitigate repo market instability. Using multiple breakpoint Bai-Perron regression and Markov Switching tests, I find that these …

Uncertainty And Banks’ Security Holdings, Van Dan Dang, Hoang Chung Nguyen

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

The paper enriches the existing literature on financial intermediaries’ operations in the face of uncertainty by empirically examining the impact of banking uncertainty on banks’ security holdings. Using bank-level data in Vietnam during 2007–2019 to compute a micro uncertainty proxy based on the dispersion of bank shocks, we document that banking uncertainty tends to enhance total security holdings at banks. Decomposing aggregate securities into disaggregate components, we find that safer investments (including government bonds and financial institution bonds) dominate the overall impact of banking uncertainty on security holdings, which completely offset a drop in the volume of riskier investments (including …

The Impact Of Geopolitical Risk On Corporate Investment: Evidence From Turkish Firms, Omer Faruk Tan, Hakan Cavlak, Yasin Cebeci, Necati Güneş

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

This study analyzes the effects of geopolitical risk on the corporate investment of 164 Turkish manufacturing firms listed in Borsa Istanbul (BIST). The time covers the period from 2005 to 2019, applying the system Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) estimator. The results indicate that geopolitical risk hurts corporate investment in Turkey. Under uncertainty induced by geographical risk, firms prefer to decline their investment. Additionally, financially constrained (non-dividend, small, young) firms are more negatively affected than financially unconstrained firms. Our findings are robust under alternative measures of geopolitical risk. Overall, this study reveals that geopolitical risk is a significant uncertainty affecting …

Cash Flow And Accrual Anomalies: Evidence From Borsa Istanbul, Emine Kaya

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

This study aims to determine the persistence of earning and its components and whether investors accurately evaluate the information related to the earning and its components. The study covers the firms operating in Borsa Istanbul between 2005-2017 time period. We sort the accruals and cash flows into five portfolios. Then, we employ linear regression and Mishkin test estimations. Moreover, we compare the asset pricing models with nine metrics in explaining the cash flow and accrual anomalies. Linear regression and Mishkin test estimations show that the persistence of earning is high. The other finding is that cash flow and accrual do …

Effect Of Covid 19 Pandemic On Pharmaceutical Industry In Terms Of Inventory And Logistics Management, Shubhabrata Basu, Rimu Chaudhuri

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 11^th March 2020, after the outbreak that was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic affected world economy including the pharmaceutical sector. The health crisis unleashed in the world because of this pandemic and the attempts of various countries and organizations in the world to contain it have also fuelled the greatest economic crisis in modern history. This significant fall in world trade in goods and services have been triggered by the interruption and break down of local and global supply chains, generating high levels …

Redefining Banking Through Defi: A New Proposal For Free Banking Based On Blockchain Technology And Defi 2.0 Model, Francesco Spinoglio

Journal of New Finance

This article aims to offer a new free banking proposal with a 100% cash ratio that uses the DeFi 2.0 model. The current monetary system, based on Central Banking with fractional reserve, has created a huge debt spiral and has distorted the entire production system, which produces deep recurring socioeconomic crises that increasingly impoverish citizens. This paper presents an innovative proposal that aims to take advantage of blockchain technology using the Defi 2.0 model. It would be a first attempt to merge centralized finance with the DeFi world, laying the foundation for a fairer and more decentralized monetary society.

Spacs: Is It For Real Estate?, Melvyn Teo, Ronald Tan, Indran Thana, Yin Mei Lock

Perspectives@SMU

SPACs are gaining popularity but investors should do their homework

When The Social Networks And Internet Come To The Rescue Of Entrepreneurs: The Problematic Of Crowdfunding In Africa, Omenguele Rene Guy, Mbouolang Yimpi Cedric

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Since 2007, crowdfunding platforms have abounded on the web. It is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars the potential of the crowdfunding market in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025. The objective of this paper is to make an inventory of Crowdfunding activities in Africa, region with a most restrictive access to bank loan by SMEs, start-ups and young entrepreneurs. It appears from the economic and socio-cultural realities that Africa is a region with more potential catalyst for crowdfunding industry takeoff. However, there are many factors which are presented in this study as potential inhibitors of African CF market competiveness. This study has …

Islamic Profit And Loss Sharing Contracting Versus Regular Equity In Entrepreneurial Finance: Risk Sharing And Managerial Incentives, Abdulali Hadizada, Peter Nippel

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

An entrepreneur shares business risk with the investors providing capital for her firm. Risk sharing is per se beneficial, but also results in an agency problem from diminished incentives for the entrepreneur. This classical trade-off depends on the financial contracting between the entrepreneur and the financier. As an alternative to debt or equity, we consider musharaka financing, an Islamic profit and loss sharing contract. First, we show that debt is inferior to equity or musharaka even though debt financing ensures first best efforts in our model. Whether financing with equity or by use of musharaka results in higher utility for …

The Way Digitalization Is Impacting International Financial Markets: Stock Price Synchronicity, Chen Chen, M. Mahdi Moeini Gharagozloo, Layla Darougar, Lei Shi

Finance Faculty Publications

This paper investigates whether and how the development level of a country's digital economy affects stock price synchronicity. The results indicate that countries with high levels of digital economy development exhibit low stock price synchronicity. Additionally, by decomposing stock price synchronicity into systematic and firm‐specific stock return variations, we find that systematic (firm‐specific) variations of stock returns decrease (increase) with the level of a country's digitalization. These findings shed light on the future trend of stock price synchronicity in financial markets around the world and support the information‐based interpretation of stock price synchronicity.

Are Ceos To Blame For Corporate Failure? Evidence From Chapter 11 Filings, Rajib Chowdhury, John A. Doukas

Finance Faculty Publications

This study examines whether chief executive officers (CEOs) are to blame for corporate failures. Using alternative CEO managerial ability measures, we document that high-ability (low-ability) CEOs are less (more) likely to be associated with bankruptcy. We also find that reorganized firms run by high-ability incumbent CEOs experience improved financial performance after filing for Chapter 11. Firms that hire high-ability CEOs with bankruptcy experience also realize improved financial performance. Our evidence indicates that the likelihood of corporate bankruptcy is unrelated to the presence of high-ability managers and that bankruptcy does not adversely affect the post-bankruptcy careers of high-ability CEOs.

Minimization Of Multiproduct Fabrication Cost Featuring Rework, Commonality, External Provider, And Postponement, Peng Cheng Sung, Chia Ming Lai, Yunsen Wang, Yuan Shyi P. Chiu

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study presents a multiproduct fabrication cost-minimization model featuring external providers, commonality, rework, and postponement in the supply chain environment. Customers’ requirements simultaneously emphasize quality, variety, and fast response time in current markets. To satisfy customer needs, most manufacturers in various industries (e.g., clothing, household goods, automotive, etc.) plan their multiproduct fabrication by incorporating a postponement strategy, rework process, and an outsourcing option. Motivated by the viewpoints above, this study offers a decision support system to address customers’ external expectations while optimizing internal operating expenses and machine utilization. We propose a single-machine, two-stage delayed differentiation system under a rotation cycle …