Staged-financing contracts with private information

This paper studies the use of incentive contracts in the Bolton–Scharfstein model when some agents in the population are technically constrained from falsifying reports and stealing cash [Bolton, P., Scharfstein, D., 1990. A theory of predation based on agency problems in financial contracting. Amer. Econ. Rev. 80, 94–106]. The original Bolton–Scharfstein contract may not be optimal for a large range of parametric values. The optimal contract may induce falsification and stealing in equilibrium and social welfare may be improved. Moreover, the optimal contract does not screen different types of agents. Empirical implications for various types of staged-contracts are discussed.     

Time-Varying Arrival Rates of Informed and Uninformed Trades

We propose a dynamic econometric microstructure model of trading,and we investigate how the dynamics of trades and trade compositioninteract with the evolution of market liquidity, market depth,and order flow. We estimate a bivariate generalized autoregressiveintensity process for the arrival rates of informed and uninformedtrades for 16 actively traded stocks over 15 years of transactiondata. Our results show that both informed and uninformed tradesare highly persistent, but that the uninformed arrival forecastsrespond negatively to past forecasts of the informed intensity.Our estimation generates daily conditional arrival rates ofinformed and uninformed trades, which we use to construct forecastsof the probability of information-based trade (PIN). These forecastsare used in turn to forecast market liquidity as measured bybid-ask spreads and the price impact of orders. We observe thatPINs vary across assets and over time, and most importantlythat they are correlated across assets. Our analysis shows thatone principal component explains much of the daily variationin PINs and that this systemic liquidity factor may be importantfor asset pricing. We also find that PINs tend to rise beforeearnings announcement days and decline afterwards.     

论应收账款的催收管理

应收帐款是企业为了稳定销售渠道,面向客户提供信用业务所累积的款项。它是企业顺利运营的前提,但也增加了企业的经营风险。本文首先通过对应收账款成因的分析,提出了企业应怎样加强应收账款的管理;接着阐述了企业应如何根据自己的实际情况制定良好的信用政策;最后详细介绍了应收账款的催收方案、方法和技巧,以及坏账的预防措施。     

Impact of stakeholder characteristics on voluntary dissemination of interim information and communication of its level of assurance

Equity of access to information for listed entities is a key principle in an efficient and effective market. Direct mailing is a mechanism for achieving this. This study examines equity of access by identifying the half‐yearly financial information, if any, voluntarily mailed out by Australian listed entities and associated stakeholder characteristics. We find that certain stakeholder characteristics (presence of audit committee and shareholder dispersion) are associated with voluntary mail‐out of half‐yearly financial information, along with certain control variables (size of entity, industry and audit opinion). This study further identifies that there are very few instances of the higher level of assurance (audit) being chosen, and where half‐year information is disseminated there are very few instances of the level of assurance on this information being communicated to shareholders.     

Classes of Interest Rate Models under the HJM Framework

Although the HJM term structure model is widely accepted as the mostgeneral, and perhaps the most consistent, framework under which to studyinterest rate derivatives, the earlier models of Vasicek,Cox–Ingersoll–Ross, Hull–White, andBlack–Karasinski remain popular among both academics andpractitioners. It is often stated that these models are special cases ofthe HJM framework, but the precise links have not been fully establishedin the literature. By beginning with certain forward rate volatilityprocesses, it is possible to obtain classes of interest models under theHJM framework that closely resemble the traditional models listed above.Further, greater insight into the dynamics of the interest rate processemerges as a result of natural links being established between the modelparameters and market observed variables.     

Investigation of investors' overconfidence, familiarity and socialization

This study, using a sample of New Zealand investors, investigates three behavioural finance theories: investor overconfidence, socialization and the familiarity effect. We find support for the investor overconfidence theory, using characteristics such as past success, optimism, confidence in one's abilities, investment experience and investment‐related knowledge. Concerning the socialization theory, we observe that the investors actively sought information regarding the stock market, 75 per cent doing this on a weekly basis. Those investors that kept themselves informed daily outperformed other investors by 8 per cent. The familiarity effect was confirmed, showing investors to hold a far too high proportion of local stocks, although the majority of investors believed international equity markets would provide returns that were either better or equal to New Zealand stocks.     

Capital structure and the control of managerial incentives

We present a theory of capital structure based on the power of shareholders, bondholders and managers to control the incentive conflicts in large corporations. The manager–owner conflict produces a trade-off between inefficiency in the low state and rents in the high state, and the shareholder–bondholder conflict produces under-investment as in Myers [Journal of Financial Economics 19 (1997) 147]. Since managers and bondholders both prefer more efficient actions in the low state, the two conflicts are interdependent. With risk-less levels of debt, there are no shareholder–bondholder agency costs, but managerial control over the incentive-setting process produces excessive rents. With risky debt, shareholders focus more on returns in the high state so that shareholder–bondholder agency costs increase but managerial rents decrease. Efficient levels of debt holder protection facilitate a reduction in manager–owner agency costs that outweighs shareholder–bondholder agency costs, and are decreasing in firm performance. The results are consistent with the separate empirical results relating control to both compensation and leverage, and suggest how future studies can be integrated.     

The credibility of self-regulation: Evidence from the accounting profession's peer review program

Following the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, self-regulated peer reviews at accounting firms were replaced by independent inspections conducted by the Public Company Accounting and Oversight Board. Critics of self-regulation had argued that the peer review program lacked credibility. This paper tests whether the opinions issued by the peer reviewers provided credible information to clients about audit firm quality. We find audit firms gained clients after receiving clean opinions from their reviewers and lost clients after receiving modified or adverse opinions. This suggests peer review opinions provided credible information about quality differences between audit firms.     

The role of hostile stakes in German corporate governance

This article uses clinical evidence to show how the German system of corporate control and governance is both more active and more hostile than has previously been suggested. It provides a complete breakdown of ownership and takeover defence patterns in German listed companies and finds highly fragmented (but not dispersed) ownership in non-majority controlled firms. We document how the accumulation of hostile stakes can be used to gain control of target companies given these ownership patterns. The article also suggests an important role for banks in helping predators accumulate, and avoid the disclosure of, large stakes.     

Modeling time series information into option prices: An empirical evaluation of statistical projection and GARCH option pricing model

This paper compares the empirical performances of statistical projection models with those of the Black–Scholes (adapted to account for skew) and the GARCH option pricing models. Empirical analysis on S&P500 index options shows that the out-of-sample pricing and projected trading performances of the semi-parametric and nonparametric projection models are substantially better than more traditional models. Results further indicate that econometric models based on nonlinear projections of observable inputs perform better than models based on OLS projections, consistent with the notion that the true unobservable option pricing model is inherently a nonlinear function of its inputs. The econometric option models presented in this paper should prove useful and complement mainstream mathematical modeling methods in both research and practice.     

The determinants of the price impact of block trades: further evidence

This article extends previous literature which examines the determinants of the price impact of block trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. As previous literature suggests that liquidity exhibits intraday patterns, we introduce time of day dummy variables to explore time dependencies in price impact. Following theoretical developments in previous literature, the explanatory power of the bid–ask spread, a lagged cumulative stock return variable and a refined measure of market returns are also examined. The model estimated explains approximately 29 per cent of the variation in price impact. Block trades executed in the first hour of trading experience the greatest price impact, while market conditions, lagged stock returns and bid–ask spreads are positively related to price impact. The bid–ask spread provides most of the explanatory power. This suggests that liquidity is the main driver of price impact.     

The Australian asset‐pricing debate

Utilising a comprehensive data set for Australian firms, we examine a range of competing asset‐pricing models, including the four‐ and five‐factor models where the equity‐risk premium is augmented by size, value, momentum and liquidity premia, and find that none of the models tested appears to adequately explain the cross section of Australian returns. A model accounting for Australia's integration with the US equity market appears to be the best of the competing models we study. Our argument that a model recognising Australia's integration with the USA is supported when we apply the portfolio and factor construction methodology suggested by Brailsford et al. (2012a,b).     

Accounting tele teaching lectures: issues of interaction and performance

This paper provides empirical evidence on two aspects related to using tele teaching to deliver accounting lectures. The first issue examines student opinion on whether tele teaching lectures provide educational interactions between the learner and the instructor similar to face-to-face teaching. The second issue examines the subject performance of students who were tele taught against a similar group that were lectured face-to-face. Results showed that students viewed the tele taught lectures as lacking in learner–instructor interactions however the performance differences were not significant.     

On the information role of stock recommendation revisions

We examine the information transmission role of stock recommendation revisions by sell-side security analysts. Revisions are associated with economically insignificant mean price reactions and often piggyback on recent news, events, long-term momentum, and short-run contrarian return predictors, typically downgrading after bad news and upgrading after good news. However, the revisions are usually information-free for investors. The findings go against the long-standing view that recommendations are an important means by which analysts assimilate information into stock prices. They disagree with the view of policymakers that analysts’ stock picks materially impact stock prices.     

Conditional and Unconditional Conservatism:Concepts and Modeling

We develop a model that captures the distinct natures of and interactions between conditional and unconditional conservatism. Under unconditional conservatism, the book value of net assets is understated due to predetermined aspects of the accounting process. Under conditional conservatism, book value is written down under sufficiently adverse circumstances, but not up under favorable circumstances. The specification of earnings provided by the model yields hypotheses about how unconditional conservatism and other factors preempt conditional conservatism and so affect the asymmetric response of earnings to positive and negative share returns, both current and lagged, documented by Basu (1995, “Conservatism and the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rochester’ 1997, “The Conservatism Principle and the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings.” Journal of Accounting and Economics 24, 3–37).This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.