Role of Managerial Incentives and Discretion in Hedge Fund Performance

Using a comprehensive hedge fund database, we examine the role of managerial incentives and discretion in hedge fund performance. Hedge funds with greater managerial incentives, proxied by the delta of the option-like incentive fee contracts, higher levels of managerial ownership, and the inclusion of high-water mark provisions in the incentive contracts, are associated with superior performance. The incentive fee percentage rate by itself does not explain performance. We also find that funds with a higher degree of managerial discretion, proxied by longer lockup, notice, and redemption periods, deliver superior performance. These results are robust to using alternative performance measures and controlling for different data-related biases.     

Managerial Stock Ownership and the Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt

This study documents that managerial stock ownership plays an important role in determining corporate debt maturity. Controlling for previously identified determinants of debt maturity and modeling leverage and debt maturity as jointly endogenous, we document a significant and robust inverse relation between managerial stock ownership and corporate debt maturity. We also show that managerial stock ownership influences the relation between credit quality and debt maturity and between growth opportunities and debt maturity.     

Foreign Acquisitions and Managerial Discretion

Foreign acquisitions have been growingdramatically since the 1980s despite academic studiesshowing that shareholders of acquirers generally donot realize any significant gain. In this paper, weinvestigate whether foreign acquisitions aremotivated by managerial self-interest. Logisticregressions are performed to establish a link betweenforeign acquisitions and the acquirer's free cashflow. The results show that foreign acquisitions oflow-Q firms are strongly influenced by managerialdiscretion. In addition, acquisitions of low-Q firmsare conducted without consideration of theperformance of the acquirers. Foreign acquisitions ofhigh-Q firms, however, do not representoverinvestments.     

Taking Stock: Equity-Based Compensation and the Evolution of Managerial Ownership

We investigate the impact of stock-based compensation on managerial ownership. We find that equity compensation succeeds in increasing incentives of lower-ownership managers, but higher-ownership managers negate much of its impact by selling previously owned shares. When executives exercise options to acquire stock, nearly all of the shares are sold. Our results illuminate dynamic aspects of managerial ownership arising from divergent goals of boards of directors, who use equity compensation for incentives, and managers, who respond by selling shares for diversification. The findings cast doubt on the frequent and important theoretical assumption that managers cannot hedge the risks of these awards.     

CEO Ownership and Discretionary Investments

Abstract:  This study investigates empirically the relationship between CEO ownership and discretionary investments such as R&D and capital expenditures. We assert that the under-investment problem is high for R&D-intensive projects, while the over-investment problem is high for capital expenditures because of differences in risk between the two types of investments. Building on the linkages between investments and investment-related agency problems, we hypothesize that the relationship between CEO ownership and investments depends on whether increasing ownership mitigates or exacerbates the under- or over-investment problem. We find a non-linear association between CEO stock ownership and R&D investments; R&D investments increase and then decline across increasing levels of ownership. Further, we find that R&D investments and CEO stock options are positively associated at high levels of option holdings. In contrast, capital expenditures do not vary with CEO ownership (stock or options). Finally, consistent with our underlying assumption, we find that the influence of R&D investments on future firm risk is significantly larger than that of capital expenditures. Our findings indicate that managerial risk aversion affects discretionary investments.     

产权性质差异、管理层过度自信与会计稳健性

本文从行为金融角度,利用沪深两市A股上市公司2008-2012年的经验数据,实证检验了管理层过度自信对会计稳健性的影响,以及不同产权性质下二者影响程度的差异。研究结果表明,管理层的过度自信心理会显著降低公司的会计稳健性水平。进一步区分产权性质,国有上市公司由于存在所有者缺位和债务软约束,管理层过度自信对会计稳健性的影响较民营上市公司更强。文章的结论为完善上市公司管理层权力约束和监督机制提供了一定借鉴意义。     

Managerial Ownership and Corporate Hedging

Abstract:  Using information on 443 UK non-financial companies, this work provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that managerial risk aversion is an incentive to deviate from the optimal hedging position. Conflicts of interest between shareholders and managers are at the centre of the decision about the firm's risk profile but are not relevant as determinants of the decision to hedge. This is rather associated with factors enhancing the firm's expected value (underinvestment, scale economies, tax savings).     

Managerial Ownership and Accounting Conservatism

In this paper we examine the effect of managerial ownership on financial reporting conservatism. Separation of ownership and control gives rise to agency problems between managers and shareholders. Financial reporting conservatism is one potential mechanism to address these agency problems. We hypothesize that, as managerial ownership declines, the severity of agency problem increases, increasing the demand for conservatism. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that conservatism as measured by the asymmetric timeliness of earnings declines with managerial ownership. The negative association between managerial ownership and asymmetric timeliness of earnings is robust to various controls, in particular, for the investment opportunity set. We thus provide evidence of a demand for conservatism from the firm's shareholders.     

Corporate Real Estate and Stock Market Performance

An interesting question in corporate real estate literature is whether real estate can improve the stock market performance of property-intensive non-real estate firms. Using a data set comprising 75 non-real estate corporations that own at least 20 percent properties, this paper empirically assesses and compares the pair-wise return, total risk, systematic risk and Jensen abnormal return performance of composite (with real estate) and hypothetical business (without real estate) firms. We employed Morgan Stanley Capital International world equity index instead of a local market index to provide some insights into the performance of the local market relative to the global market during the 1997–2001 volatile periods experienced by many Asian countries. Our results suggest the inclusion of real estate in a corporate portfolio appears to be associated with lower return, higher total risk, higher systematic risk and poorer abnormal return performance. It is therefore likely that non-real estate firms own properties for other reasons in addition to seeking improvement in their stock market performance. Further research is needed to explore the main factors contributing to corporate real estate ownership by non-real estate firms.     

股权结构和信息非对称:中国股市的经验证据

本文首先采用1分钟的高频数据和MRR(Madhavan,Richardson＆Roomans,1997)模型测算出沪深股市的信息非对称程度;然后引入上市公司的股权结构因素,实证分析了股权结构对市场信息非对称程度的影响.研究结果表明:内部人持股比例、流通股比例、股价及成交量与信息非对称程度呈正相关关系;机构持股比例、股权集中度、管理层持股比例及股权转让比例与信息非对称程度呈负相关关系.文章在实证研究的基础上,提出了相关政策建议.     

股权质押、员工持股计划与大股东自利行为

现阶段,作为激发员工积极性及实现效率提升的员工持股计划出现了大量的"倒挂"现象.本文以我国2013-2017年全部A股上市公司为研究样本,研究探析倒挂现象背后的大股东行为逻辑和利益链条.研究发现员工持股计划的信号作用很可能成为大股东进行自利的工具.具体表现为:股权质押情况越多,则大股东自利动机越大,员工持股计划实施的次数越多、范围越大.其次,在股权质押企业中,员工持股计划能够短期拉升股价,并且当股权质押面临平仓风险时,员工持股计划的动机越大.第三,股权质押会增加股票来源于定向转让员工持股计划的实施,继而达到大股东减持的目的,同时大股东会把通过减持获得的资金用于赎回质押股票.上述结论对员工持股计划"倒挂"的现象给出了一种解释,在存在股权质押的企业中,员工持股计划的实施可能是大股东自利的工具,即为了实现大股东利益最大化.     

Can Managerial Discretion Explain Observed Leverage Ratios?

This article analyzes the impact of managerial discretion andcorporate control mechanisms on leverage and firm value withina contingent claims model where the manager derives perquisitesfrom investment. Optimal capital structure reflects both thetax advantage of debt less bankruptcy costs and the agency costsof managerial discretion. Actual capital structure reflectsthe trade-off made by the manager between his empire-buildingdesires and the need to ensure sufficient efficiency to preventcontrol challenges. The model shows that manager-shareholderconflicts can explain the low debt levels observed in practice.It also examines the impact of these conflicts on the cross-sectionalvariation in capital structures.     

Market Misvaluation,Managerial Horizon,and Acquisitions

This paper analyzes the impact of managerial horizon on mergers and acquisitions activity. The main predication is that acquiring firms managed by short-horizon executives have higher abnormal returns at acquisition announcements, less likelihood of using equity to pay for the transactions, and inferior postmerger stock performance in the long run. I construct two proxies for managerial horizon based on the CEO's career concern and compensation scheme, and provide empirical evidence supporting the above prediction. Moreover, I also demonstrate that long-horizon managers are more likely to initiate acquisitions in response to high stock market valuation.     

Stock option vesting conditions,CEO turnover,and myopic investment

Corporations have been criticized for providing executives with excessive incentives to focus on short-term performance. This paper shows that investment in short-term projects has beneficial effects in that it provides early feedback about Chief Executive Officer (CEO) talent, which leads to more efficient replacement decisions. Due to the threat of CEO turnover, the optimal design of stock option vesting conditions in executive compensation is more subtle than conventional views suggest. For example, I show that long vesting periods can backfire and induce excessive short-term investments. The study generates new empirical predictions regarding the determinants and impacts of stock option vesting terms in optimal contracting.     

公司特征、股权结构与股票流动性

股票流动性是金融市场微观结构的核心议题,其影响因素问题受到了人们的广泛关注。然而,以往的研究存在两个方面的重要缺陷:一是多数研究仅关注了股权结构对股票流动性的影响,而忽略了公司特征因素的作用;二是以往股权结构视角的研究由于存在研究设计上的问题,使得实证结论的可靠性不高。本文使用2003-2009年沪深两市仅发行了A股的上市公司为样本,采用高频交易数据构造买卖价差以衡量股票流动性,考察了公司特征、股权结构与股票流动性之间的关系,以及股权分置改革对这一关系的影响,得到了与以往研究不同的实证结论。针对这些结论,本文给出了符合我国制度背景的理论阐释。     

CEO Stock Options and Equity Risk Incentives

Abstract:   We test the hypothesis that the risk incentive effects of CEO stock option grants motivate managers to take on more risk than they would otherwise. Using a sample of mergers we document that the ratio of post‐ to pre‐merger stock return variance is positively related to the risk incentive effect of CEO stock option compensation but this relationship is conditioned on firm size, with firm size having a moderating effect on the risk incentive effect of stock options. Using a broader time‐series cross‐sectional sample of firms we find a strong positive relationship between CEO risk incentive embedded in the stock options and subsequent equity return volatility. As in the case of the merger sample, this relationship is stronger for smaller firms.     

所有权结构、产品市场竞争与股价信息含量

股价信息含量的决定因素研究是目前资本市场领域实证研究的热点问题,本文以2001—2007年间深沪证券交易所上市的制造业公司为研究样本,实证分析了产品市场竞争、所有权结构对股价信息含量的影响。结果表明,有效的产品市场竞争和合理的所有权结构能够提升公司的股价信息含量。而在不同的所有权结构下,产品市场竞争对公司股价信息含量的影响无显著差异。这一研究结论意味着,在中国资本市场公司治理整体上存在着诸多问题,在相应改革进展缓慢这一既定的前提下,虽然市场竞争和所有权结构之间存在互补的关系,市场竞争可以在一定程度上起到约束大股东和管理层的作用,但所有权结构对市场竞争发挥作用的强有力的补充作用没有发挥出来。     

Capital Structure, CEO Dominance, and Corporate Performance

We use agency theory to investigate the influence of CEO dominance on variation in capital structure. Due to agency conflicts, managers may not always adopt leverage choices that maximize shareholders’ value. Consistent with the prediction of agency theory, the evidence reveals that, when the CEO plays a more dominant role among top executives, the firm adopts significantly lower leverage, probably to evade the disciplinary mechanisms associated with debt financing. Our results are important as they demonstrate that CEO power matters to critical corporate outcomes such as capital structure decisions. In addition, we find that the impact of changes in capital structure on firm performance is more negative for firms with more powerful CEOs. Overall, the results are in agreement with prior literature, suggesting that strong CEO dominance appears to exacerbate agency costs and is thus detrimental to firm value.     

新上市股票异常报酬与经营绩效研究

以1994年到1999年深、沪两市的新上市A股为样本，采用单(配对)样本t-检验、非参数的Wilcoxon配对符秩检验等研究方法，研究了新上市公司股价的异常报酬和财务绩效的关系。研究结果表明新上市公司的股价有短期正异常报酬，而且上市后当年财务经营绩效比上市前要差，上市后第二年财务经营绩效更差。