THE EFFECTS OF BORROWING ON THE RATE OF GROWTH OF CAPITAL AND THE RISK OF RUIN OF A FIRM

The research reported in this paper used Monte Carlo simulation to study the long term effects of borrowing policy on the rate of growth of capital and the risk (probability) of ruin of hypothetical firms, operating in explicitly described, realistic capital budgeting environments. The capital rationing environment is described explicitly. The debt policies modeled were based on the results of interviews with senior financial executives in eight major firms. The results indicate that three intuitively appealing ranking procedures performed equally well and all out-performed a random selection decision procedure: yielding higher rates of capital growth with lower risks of ruin. In general, an aggressive borrowing policy resulted in a higher average capital growth rate for a firm but a conservative borrowing policy resulted in a lower risk of ruin. It is believed that the results provide some interesting insights which indicate that a computer simulation model could be used to aid management in the evaluation of their capital budgeting procedures and borrowing policies.     

THE EFFECT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MULTIDIVISIONAL STRUCTURE ON SHAREHOLDER'S WEALTH: THE CONTINGENCY OF DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY

This paper presents evidence on the price effect of US firms announcing the implementation of a multidivisional management structure (M-form) and whether these effects are contingent on the existing diversification strategy (either unrelated, related, or vertical integration). Differnt patterns of excess returns and systematic risk (beta) changes are associated with different diversification strategies.     

THE IMPACT OF THE QUALITY OF EARNINGS ON THE VALUATION RELEVANCE OF CASH FLOW DISCLOSURES

This study investigates whether the ‘quality of earnings’, defined as the relationship between profitability and cash generating ability, is a conditioning factor with regard to the valuation relevance of cash flow disclosures. The study is performed on a sample of 197 British firms employing data over a 23-year period. The results of the study support the contention that the valuation relevance of cash flow disclosures is conditional upon the ‘quality of earnings’, as previously defined. Specifically, the decomposition of unexpected earnings into its cash flow and accruals components provides incremental information content to earnings when the firm-specific time-series correlation between earnings and cash flows is low. Furthermore, the cash flow ‘surprise’ is valued more than the accruals ‘surprise’ when the firm-specific time-series correlation between earnings and cash flows is low.     

THE INTEGRATION OF EUROPEAN STOCK MARKETS: THE CASE OF THE BANKS

This paper presents an analysis of the degree of integration in the security market for European banks' stock using daily data for the period 30th November, 1987-28th October, 1988. In particular we study eight banks located in four European states, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Some degree of integration might be expected to be present as a consequence of a common regulatory regime incorporated in the Second European Banking Directive and common capital adequacy requirements. We find strong evidence that a high degree of integration does exist, at least amongst EC states. This suggests that the benefits claimed for capital market deregulation, with its associated 'convergence criteria' requirements, may already be being enjoyed by EC states.     

THE EFFECTS OF THE INSIDER TRADING SANCTIONS ACT OF 1984: THE CASE OF SEASONED EQUITY OFFERINGS

Previous empirical research indicates that corporate insiders tend to increase (decrease) their shareholdings before events that increase (decrease) firm value. More recent evidence suggests, however, that passage of the Insider Trading Sanctions Act of 1984 (ITSA) may have deterred this behavior. Our results indicate that before passage of the ITSA, insiders exploited their access to nonpublic information by selling shares before the announcement of equity issues. However, after passage of the ITSA insiders no longer displayed this behavior. We conclude the ITSA has a deterrent effect, which is more heavily concentrated on insiders at the highest level of the firm who are most visible to regulators and other market participants.