Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Does It Pay To Be Different? Relative Csr And Its Impact On Firm Value, David K. Ding, Christo Ferreira, Udomsak Wongchoti

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Conventional aggregation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) raw scores and its interpreted impact on firm value have provided mixed evidence in the literature. We show that the value impact of CSR activities relies heavily on the industry-specific relative position of the firm. Only firms that distinguish themselves over their peers are associated with increased firm value. This finding is robust and holds for both responsible and irresponsible behaviors. Information concerns and portfolio construction can allude to a possible CSR clientele, suggesting the existence of an optimal CSR level. Our peer-effect results are robust to unobserved heterogeneity along the lines of …

Is Cash-Return Relation Risk Induced?, Chenxi Liu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Corporate cash holding is found to be able to predict stock return. Some scholars attribute this to the association of cash with systematic risk with respect to growth options. Others find that the relation is a mispricing effect. In this paper, I try to test whether the relation between cash and return is driven by systematic risk that captured by cash. The empirical results do not support the risk explanation of cash-return relation. First, the risk loading on CASH factor cannot predict returns, which is not consistent with rational frictionless asset pricing models. Second, CASH factor cannot reflect future GDP …

Sociability, Golf Courses, And The Performance Of Institutional Investors, Chi Shen Wei, Lei Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We hypothesize that prestigious golf courses attract golfers and visitors from across the country, providing greater opportunities for nearby investors to build social connections. Our evidence suggests that institutional investors located near prestigious golf courses earn significantly better benchmark- and risk-adjusted returns. This reflects the benefits of sociability as our findings are stronger for golf courses with reciprocal guest policies that allow wider participation and increase when major golf championships rotate to the state. Their portfolios reveal hallmarks of active trading – higher concentration, greater selectivity, more frequent turnover – and include more distant stocks. To establish a causal link, …

Why Do Countries Matter So Much In Corporate Social Performance?, Ye Cai, Carrie Pan, Meir Statman

Finance

Why do levels of corporate social performance (CSP) differ so much across countries? We answer this question in an examination of CSP ratings of more than 2,600 companies from 36 countries. We find that firm characteristics explain very little of the variations in CSP ratings. In contrast, variations in country factors such as stages of economic development, culture, and institutions account for a significant proportion of variations in CSP ratings across countries. In particular, we find that CSP ratings are high in countries with high income-per-capita, strong civil liberties and political rights, and cultures oriented toward harmony and autonomy. Furthermore, …

Long Term Optimal Portfolio Selection Problem In Different Models, Bowen Hu

Mathematics Theses and Dissertations

In this project, we mainly focus on how to set up a complete methodology for finding the best investment portfolio which is meeting investor's risk preferences. In order to consider different aspects of their risk preferences, we use a combination of several risk and performance metrics in the ranking function. After applying this ranking system to select most suitable funds from a large pool, we use different models to optimize the portfolio. Past 5-10 years data set has been extracted from Bloomberg. We find out that the asymmetric multivariate t-distribution can dominate the multivariate normal distribution and the symmetric t-distribution …

2016-2017 Operating Budget: Form Bor-10, Salaries Of Non-Classified Employees; Form Bor-11, Salaries Of Classified Employees, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

The Southern University System 2016-2017 Operating Budget. FOR BOR-10 Salaries of Non-Classified Employees, FORM BOR-11 Salaries of Classified Employees.

An Examination Of The Efficacy Of Christian-Based Socially Responsible Investment Funds, Richard Stultz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This applied doctoral research project examined the efficacy of Christian-based socially responsible investment funds. The researcher performed quantitative analysis of the risk-adjusted yields of the funds as compared to the S&P 500 Index as well as other types of socially responsible investment funds to accomplish this task. The timeframe for the study was 1995 to 2015. An examination of the differences in the performance of funds within the Christian-based category was also completed. Overall, the Christian-based funds underperformed the S&P 500 Index. The difference was statistically significant at the α = .10 level for each time period (i.e., 1-, 3-, …

Sentiment And Stock Returns: Anticipating A Major Sporting Event -- Online Appendix, Geoffrey C. Friesen, Brian C. Payne, Jiri Tresl

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

Table 3 (Appendix): Average Daily Raw Returns around NFL Super Bowl Events for Firms Headquartered in Losing, Winning, Favored, and Non-Favored States and the S&P 500

Table 5 (Appendix): Average Daily Abnormal Returns around NFL Super Bowl Events for Firms Headquartered in Losing, Winning, Favored, and Non-Favored States

Table 6 (Appendix): Average Daily Abnormal Returns around NFL Super Bowl Events for Firms Headquartered in Losing, Winning, Favored, and Non-Favored States Conditioned on whether the Firm is in a Losing or Winning State

Table 7 (Appendix) : Sample Split into Size Quintiles

Table 8 (Appendix) : Characteristics of the Matched Sample …

Can Information Be Locked Up? Informed Trading Ahead Of Macro-News Announcements, Gennaro Bernile, Jianfeng Hu, Yuehua Tang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Government agencies routinely allow pre-release access to information to accredited news agencies under embargo agreements. Using high-frequency data, we find evidence consistent with informed trading during embargoes of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) scheduled announcements. The E-mini Standard & Poor’s 500 futures’ abnormal order imbalances are in the direction of subsequent policy surprises and contain information that predicts the market reaction to the policy announcements. The estimated informed trades’ profits are arguably large. Notably, we find no evidence of informed trading prior to the start of FOMC news embargoes or during lockups ahead of nonfarm payroll, US Producer Price Index, …

Textual Analysis And Machine Leaning: Crack Unstructured Data In Finance And Accounting, Li Guo, Feng Shi, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In finance and accounting, relative to quantitative methods traditionally used, textual analysis becomes popular recently despite of its substantially less precise manner. In an overview of the literature, we describe various methods used in textual analysis, especially machine learning. By comparing their classification performance, we find that neural network outperforms many other machine learning techniques in classifying news category. Moreover, we highlight that there are many challenges left for future development of textual analysis, such as identifying multiple objects within one single document.

Asset Pricing With Financial Bubble Risk, Ji Hyung Lee, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper characterizes systematic risk stemming from the possible occurrence of price bubbles and measures the impact of this additional risk factor on asset prices. Historical stock market behavior and recent empirical experience have led economists and policy makers to acknowledge that price bubbles in financial markets do occur and need to be accounted for in risk analysis. New econometric tools for analyzing mildly explosive behavior (Phillips and Magdalinos, 2007; Phillips et al., 2011) have made it possible to detect the presence of bubbles in data and to date stamp their origination and collapse, providing empirical confirmation of such episodes …

Will Analysts Learn From Other Analysts Who Possess Superior Private Information, Hangyuan Shi

Lingnan Theses

Based on a valuable testing venue in China where listed companies are required to disclose corporate site visit records of financial analyst to the public, this study examines whether analysts will learn from visiting analysts' forecasts that contain superior private information. I find that visiting forecasts tend to attract more analysts to issue forecasts in their aftermath than the prior forecasts issued by the same analysts but without conducting corporate site visit (non-visiting forecasts). The following effect is weaker when the visiting forecasts are more informative. In addition, other analysts’ forecasts following the visiting forecasts tend to move closer to …

Tipping The Scales: Is Right-To-Work Legislation On The Path To Prosperity?, Jessica Canada

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With West Virginia having just become the twenty-sixth state to pass right-to-work (RTW) legislation, the U.S. labor relations movement is at a tipping point. Other policy makers are closely watching the recent revival of RTW laws that has occurred over the last five years and are analyzing relevant studies to determine whether passing legislation that would outlaw union shops in their states might be worth a second look.

With this paper I intend to examine one of the dominant arguments against enacting RTW legislation in a state, which is that this legislation results in a greater degree of state-level income …

Two Essays In Corporate Finance, Youngha Ki

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

For more than a decade, to reduce the agency problem, various ways have been examined on how to align the interest of manager with shareholders. Evidence and empirical findings are conflicting on the agency problem. Recently, deferred compensation as one incentive compensation draws the attention as a means to incentivize CEOs to make them work for the firm. However, it is still not evident if deferred compensation has effect on aligning CEOs with the firm’s goal possibly due to the issue on data. Therefore, the first essay investigates if deferred compensation has the effect on the agency problem and on …

B.E.I.B. And Financial Inclusion In Northwest Cameroon, Kareen Ngendape Atchala

Capstone Collection

The Bee Effect Initiative Bank uses an integrated approach to foster financial inclusion in the North West region of Cameroon. This paper has several services under three main themes; economic wellbeing, capacity building, and insurance. Its theory of change and objectives while seeking to make profit centers on creating social change. The mechanics in the paper seek to evoke sustainable economic change in cross sectors- savings, credit, capacity building, and insurance with ROSCAs as target clientele.

How Does Fintech Drive, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Banks could learn from fintech companies’ use of unstructured data to extend financial services to do good and turn a profit

Working With Fintech, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

The rise of financial technology in China has transformed how businesses operate, as Japan eases into it amidst existing cultural and institutional norms

2016 Q3 Private Capital Access Index Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Access Report

The Pepperdine Private Capital Access Index (PCA) is a quarterly indicator produced by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, and with the support of Dun & Bradstreet. The index is designed to measure the demand for, activity, and health of the private capital markets. The purpose of the PCA Index is to gauge the demand of small and medium sized businesses for financing needs, the level of accessibility of private capital, and the transparency and efficiency of private financing markets.

Systemic Risk In Financial Networks, Peng-Chu Chen

Open Access Dissertations

This thesis extends the literature of systemic risk in financial networks in two directions.

First, we develop a majorization-based tool to compare financial networks in terms of systemic losses with a focus on the implications of liability concentration. Specifically, we quantify liability concentration by applying the majorization order to the liability matrix that captures the interconnectedness of banks in a financial network. We develop notions of balancing and unbalancing networks to bring out the qualitatively different implications of liability concentration on the system's loss profile. An empirical analysis of the network formed by the banking sectors of eight representative European …

Errors Spell Checkers Do Not Correct And Style Sheet: 5 Years Later, Charles J. Higgins

Finance Faculty Works

This updated listing of words that are often confused by spell checkers is the most downloaded article among my works and those at my university. After 5 years, it has been frequently revised and added to with more than a thousand new words.

In Fair Value We Trust, Or Not, Joyce Tang, Nick Leong, Pan, Gary, Keng Kevin Ow Yong, Chu Yeong Lim, Tee Yong Jeffrey Ng

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The objective of financial reporting is to provide financial information that is useful to existing and potential investors, lenders and other creditors (IASB’s Conceptual Framework ED/2015/3). General purpose financial reports provide information about the financial position of a reporting entity, as well as information about the effects of transactions and other events that will change a reporting entity’s economic resources and claims (para 1.12 ED/2015/3). Investor confidence and trust in the financial statements is a crucial component for financial markets to function smoothly. This report presents the attitudes and concerns of over 700 respondents toward fair value accounting. The survey …

Newsvendor Models With Monte Carlo Sampling, Ijeoma W. Ekwegh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Newsvendor Models with Monte Carlo Sampling by Ijeoma Winifred Ekwegh The newsvendor model is used in solving inventory problems in which demand is random. In this thesis, we will focus on a method of using Monte Carlo sampling to estimate the order quantity that will either maximizes revenue or minimizes cost given that demand is uncertain. Given data, the Monte Carlo approach will be used in sampling data over scenarios and also estimating the probability density function. A bootstrapping process yields an empirical distribution for the order quantity that will maximize the expected profit. Finally, this method will be used …

Profit Based Simulation Model For The Rail Transportation Industry, Mark Patrick Doran

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Schedules often conflict in the rail transportation industry. Operations managers assign resources and make scheduling decisions with no visibility of the revenue, cost, and profitability characteristics of the route they are manipulating. Transit speed decisions focus on ensuring trains safely reach their destination on time with little regard given to the actual service needs of the customer. Although all customers want on-time deliveries, few actually pay a premium to garner this level of preferential treatment. Operating in this type of environment results in decisions that severely erode profits.

In this dissertation, a simulation model referred to as the Rail Profit …

Capital Structure And Political Risk In Asia-Pacific Real Estate Markets, George D. Cashman, David M. Harrison, Michael J. Seiler

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

This study investigates the determinants of capital structure decisions by real estate firms, with a specific focus on the impact of political risk on leverage. Using a sample of Asia-Pacific REITs and listed property trusts, we find those firms with properties located in countries characterized by relatively high degrees of political risk, such as political instability, and/or greater uncertainty in the ability to repatriate and monetize profits from international investment activities, employ less debt than their counterparts operating in more politically stable environments. This core finding remains robust to alternative sample selection criteria including the division of the sample into …

The Timeliness Of State And Local Governments By Gasb: An Evaluation Of Efficacy Of Financial Reports, Achraf Seyam, Alexander Hinners, Lauren Freire, Victor Parbat

Publications and Research

In March 2011, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued a research brief titled “The Timeliness of Financial Reporting by State and Local Governments Compared with the Needs of Users.” This study formally exposed an apparent gap between the time-of-issuance of governmental financial reports and their usefulness according to a large and diverse group of survey participants. According to the GASB in the aforementioned report, nearly a quarter of the government entities take longer than six months to issue their annual reports, with many evidencing release times of a year or more. Comparatively, the users surveyed indicated that report usefulness …

Desha, Joseph, 1768-1842 (Sc 3030), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3030. Letter, 28 April 1830, of Joseph Desha, Cynthiana, Kentucky, to Adam Beatty, Washington, Kentucky. In response to Beatty’s inquiry, the former Kentucky governor writes that, despite facing personal financial loss, he is unable to advise on current debt relief measures directing Beatty to accept payments to “the Bank,” presumably the Bank of Kentucky, in discounted notes of the Bank of the Commonwealth.

The Impact Of Rural Pensions In China On Labor Migration, Karen Eggleson, Ang Sun, Zhaoguo Zhan

Faculty Articles

We study the impact of China’s new rural pension program on promoting migration of labor by applying a regression discontinuity analysis to this new pension program. The results reveal a perceptible difference in labor migration among adult children whose parents are just above and below the age of pension eligibility: The adult children with a parent just attaining the pension-eligible age are more likely to be labor migrants compared with those with a parent just below the pension-eligible age. We also find that with a pension-eligible parent, the adult children are more likely to have off-farm jobs. These abrupt changes …

The Integrity Of Financial Analysts: Evidence From Asymmetric Responses To Earnings Surprises, Rui Lu, Wenxuan Hou, Henry Oppenheimer, Ting Zhang

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the integrity of financial analysts by examining their recommendation responses to large quarterly earnings surprises. Although there is no significant difference in recommendation changes between affiliated and unaffiliated analysts in response to positive earnings surprises, affiliated analysts are more reluctant than unaffiliated analysts to downgrade stock recommendations in response to negative earnings surprises. The evidence implies that conflicts of interest undermine the integrity of financial analysts. We further examine the effects of reputation concern and the Global Research Analyst Settlement as informal and formal mechanisms, on restoring analysts’ integrity. The results show that the positive bias in …

A Case Study In The Use And Potential Misuse Of Non-Gaap Financial Measures, Benoit Boyer, Ralph Lim, Bridget M. Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

Firms reporting under US GAAP are allowed to supplement financial information with non-GAAP measures. We examined 6 Firms in the chemical industry and looked at what information was presented (Dow, Du Pont, Monsanto, FMC, PPG, Praxair). We use the 2014 Annual Report so that we would have comparable data for all companies. For 2 firms we looked at numbers presented in Cap IQ and in Bloomberg and compared them to the numbers presented by the company (Dow and Du Pont). The numbers reported by the firms and the analysts differed greatly.

The Impact Of Nasd Rule 2711 And Nyse Rule 472 On Analyst Behavior: The Strategic Timing Of Recommendations Issued On Weekends, Yi Dong, Nan Hu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Amendments to NASD Rule 2711 and NYSE Rule 472, enacted in May 2002, mandate that sell-side analysts disclose the distribution of their security recommendations by buy, hold and sell category. This regulation enhances the transparency of analysts' information and mitigates the long-recognized optimistic bias in their recommendations. However, we find that analysts are more likely to issue sell recommendations or downgrade revisions on weekends when investors have limited attention after these rule changes. This pattern is more pronounced for prestigious analysts, who are more likely to influence stock prices. Market reaction tests reveal an incomplete immediate response and a greater …