The effect of pension accounting on corporate pension asset allocation

We examine the impact of new pension disclosures and subsequent full pension recognition under FRS 17 and IAS 19 in the United Kingdom and SFAS 158 in the United States on pension asset allocation. These standards require recognition of net pension surplus/deficit on the balance sheet and actuarial gains/losses in other comprehensive income. Therefore, these standards introduce volatility into comprehensive income and balance sheets. We identify a disclosure period during which UK companies disclosed all the required data under FRS 17 in the notes without recognition. We also identify a full recognition period starting 1 year before until 1 year after the adoption of FRS 17/IAS 19 (UK) and SFAS 158 (US). We predict and find that UK companies, on average, shifted pension assets from equity to debt securities during both the disclosure and the full recognition periods. We also find that while before the adoption of SFAS 158 US companies maintained a stable allocation to equities and bonds, these companies, on average, shifted funds from equities to bonds around the adoption of SFAS 158. Cross-sectional analysis shows that the shift away from equities is related to changes in funding levels, shorter investment horizons, increased financial leverage, and the expected impact of the new standards on shareholders’ equity.     

The selection of multinational equity portfolios: forecasting models and estimation risk

The problem considered is the selection of a portfolio of international assets, particularly the forecasting of the inputs to a selection algorithm. Four models of the asset return generating process are considered, two of which ignore the international nature of the universe of assets, two which exploit it in different ways. Several estimation methods are considered for each component: expected return, variance and covariance of returns. The combinations of model and estimation method are first evaluated in terms of their forecasting performance for the components mentioned for the individual assets. The universe used is the components of the Financial Times Eurotrack 100 Index. Significant differences were found between the forecasting accuracy of the methods considered for each component. In the final stage of the analysis, a comparison of the returns on portfolios chosen using each combination showed a significant difference. The analysis suggests that the choice of estimation method is more critical than the choice of pricing model.     

The effect of unfunded pension liabilities on corporate bond ratings,default risk,and recovery rate

Unfunded pension liabilities lower ratings of non-senior secured bonds but do not affect ratings of senior secured bonds due to their higher seniority. Pension funding improvement (deterioration) is associated with bond rating upgrade (downgrade). Moreover, large unfunded liabilities increase bond default risk and reduce the recovery rate of bondholders after controlling for credit ratings, suggesting that bond ratings do not fully capture pension underfunding risk. Overall, our results highlight the important effects of unfunded pension obligations on bond ratings, default risk, and creditors’ payoff, and suggest that investors should look beyond bond ratings in making investment decisions.     

Managerial risk taking incentives and corporate pension policy

We examine whether the compensation incentives of top management affect the extent of risk shifting versus risk management behavior in pension plans. We find that risk shifting through pension underfunding (and, to a lesser extent, through pension asset allocation to risky securities) is stronger with compensation structures that create high wealth-risk sensitivity (vega) and weaker with high wealth-price sensitivity (delta). These findings are stronger for chief financial officers (CFOs) than for chief executive officers (CEOs), suggesting that pension policy falls within the CFO’s domain. Risk shifting through pension underfunding is also lower when the CFO’s personal stake in the pension plan is larger. Overall, these findings show that top managers’ compensation structure is an important driver of corporate pension policy. They also highlight firms within which the moral hazard concerns fueled by Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation insurance are most relevant.     

Earnings management and the allocation of net periodic pension costs to interim periods

We examine the pattern of reported quarterly net periodic pension costs. Quarterly pension costs are one of the largest single expense items for firms with pension plans (around 15% of income before extraordinary items in our sample). Under ASC 270, net pension costs should be recognized as incurred, or as the benefit provided by the expense is realized. We find that over the period of 2004–2010, there is significant variation in the amount of quarterly pension cost firms report. In addition, we find that income-increasing changes in pension costs are significantly associated with meeting or beating analysts' forecasts in a given quarter. We also show that income-decreasing changes to net periodic pension costs that would cause a firm to miss its earnings forecast are extremely rare. Finally, we find evidence that income-increasing and income-decreasing changes in quarterly pension costs are “settled up” in the fourth quarter (e.g., they are reversed).     

The effect of corporate diversification on credit risk: new evidence from European credit default swap spreads

This article investigates the impact of corporate diversification on credit risk. To our best knowledge, this is the first paper to use credit default swap (CDS) spreads instead of bond yield or revalued book values to test the risk‐reduction hypothesis. The analysis relies upon a sample of STOXX^® EUROPE 600 index members and covers the years 2010–2014. After controlling for various CDS‐ and firm‐specific variables, we find that diversification strategies do not significantly lower CDS premiums. Multilevel mediation analysis further shows that information asymmetries overcompensate the risk‐reducing effects resulting from corporate diversification.     

The effect of risk on intertemporal choice

The strong similarities between intertemporal and risky choice raised the possibility that risk and time delay were psychologically interchangeable in the way they influence preference. Consistent with the single‐process view, several previous studies have indicated that introducing uncertainty to intertemporal choice could decrease the degree of discounting future rewards just as adding time delay to it. However, the opposite effect has been observed in other cases. The present study examined the role of risk in intertemporal choice using the choice titration procedure. The results of two experiments indicated that risk and time delay had opposite effects on the preference in intertemporal choices. That is, the external uncertainty increased the degree of discounting future, whereas the opposite is true for time delays. Thus, our results were unfriendly to the single‐process theory. In addition, the present study demonstrated the presence of an immediacy effect as well as a magnitude effect in intertemporal choice regardless of whether or not the reward is certain.     

The business case for regulation of corporate social responsibility and accountability

This paper develops an alternative (or supplementary) theoretical justification for the regulation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social and environmental accounting and reporting (SEAR) to the justification contained in the extant academic literature. It does this by demonstrating how, contrary to the dominant business discourse, increased regulation designed to protect the social and environmental interests of a range of stakeholders can also serve to enhance corporate economic performance and shareholder value.

The theoretical perspectives developed in this paper are drawn from Beck's and Giddens’ theories on reflexive modernity, and indicate that reflexively appropriated knowledge can be a key factor in developing socially constructed understandings of the social and environmental risks to a range of stakeholders inherent in business operations.

In situations where voluntary self-regulation of CSR and SEAR has been ineffective in preventing corporate actions and decisions that have resulted in damaging social and environmental consequences, processes of reflexivity can substantially increase public awareness of the level of risk they face from corporate operations. Such increased perceptions of risk can lead to a loss of trust in an individual corporation or a whole industrial sector, and this can be exacerbated where stakeholders begin to actively seek out alternative risk discourses to inform themselves about possible risks of which they were previously unaware. We argue that effective statutory regulation could avoid these outcomes, and the loss of shareholder economic value that can flow from these outcomes.     

On the nature of mean-variance spanning

Asset spanning tests are very useful tools for the determination of which asset classes belong to an investor's portfolio. There are numerous applications of such tools in the finance literature. What is not so obvious is the proper decision an investor should make if the extra asset classes are spanned by some existing assets. Should the investor make a conscious decision not to invest in them as they add no value? Should the investor invest in them anyway as they do no harm? This study provides an analytical solution to the puzzle and also offers an economic rationale.     

A model of optimal portfolio selection under liquidity risk and price impact

We study a financial model with one risk-free and one risky asset subject to liquidity risk and price impact. In this market, an investor may transfer funds between the two assets at any discrete time. Each purchase or sale policy decision affects the rice of the risky asset and incurs some fixed transaction cost. The objective is to maximize the expected utility from terminal liquidation value over a finite horizon and subject to a solvency constraint. This is formulated as an impulse control problem under state constraints and we characterize the value function as the unique constrained viscosity solution to the associated quasi-variational Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman inequality. We would like to thank Mihail Zervos for useful discussions.     

Flexible distribution functions,higher-order preferences and optimal portfolio allocation

In this paper we show that flexible probability distribution functions, in addition to being able to capture stylized facts of financial returns, can be used to identify pure higher-order effects of investors' optimizing behavior. We employ the five-parameter weighted generalized beta of the second kind distribution—and other density functions nested within it—to determine the conditions under which risk averse, prudent and temperate agents are diversifiers in the standard portfolio choice theory. Within this framework, we illustrate through comparative statics the economic significance of higher-order moments in return distributions.     

Difference in interim performance and risk taking with short-sale constraints

Absent much theory, empirical works often rely on the following informal reasoning when looking for evidence of a mutual fund tournament: If there is a tournament, interim winners have incentives to decrease their portfolio volatility as they attempt to protect their lead, while interim losers are expected to increase their volatility so as to catch up with winners. We consider a rational model of a mutual fund tournament in the presence of short-sale constraints and find the opposite: Interim winners choose more volatile portfolios in equilibrium than interim losers. Several empirical works present evidence consistent with our model. However, based on the above informal argument, they appear to conclude against the tournament behavior. We argue that this conclusion is unwarranted. We also demonstrate that tournament incentives lead to differences in interim performance for otherwise identical managers and that mid-year trading volume is inversely related to mid-year stock return.     

Choosing the optimal annuitization time post-retirement

In the context of decision making for retirees of a defined contribution pension scheme in the de-cumulation phase, we formulate and solve a problem of finding the optimal time of annuitization for a retiree having the possibility of choosing her own investment and consumption strategy. We formulate the problem as a combined stochastic control and optimal stopping problem. As criterion for the optimization we select a loss function that penalizes both the deviance of the running consumption rate from a desired consumption rate and the deviance of the final wealth at the time of annuitization from a desired target. We find closed-form solutions for the problem and show the existence of three possible types of solutions depending on the free parameters of the problem. In numerical applications we find the optimal wealth that triggers annuitization, compare it with the desired target and investigate its dependence on both parameters of the financial market and parameters linked to the risk attitude of the retiree. Simulations of the behaviour of the risky asset seem to show that, under typical situations, optimal annuitization should occur a few years after retirement.     

The impact of assets-in-place on corporate financing and investment decisions

In a dynamic setting with asymmetric information we consider firms’ debt-equity choice and investment timing. We extend recent research by adding an abandonment option and assets-in-place and we show that these extensions make debt more attractive. This implies, e.g., that mature firms (with larger assets-in-place) mainly use debt financing, whereas young high-growth firms (without assets-in-place) frequently use equity financing and signal their type by early investment. Simulation analyses confirm this and our model is thus able to explain empirical patterns which contradict the static pecking order theory.     

The market reaction to corporate governance regulation

This paper investigates the market reaction to recent legislative and regulatory actions pertaining to corporate governance. The managerial power view of governance suggests that executive pay, the existing process of proxy access, and various governance provisions [e.g., staggered boards and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-chairman duality] are associated with managerial rent extraction. This perspective predicts that broad government actions that reduce executive pay, increase proxy access, and ban such governance provisions are value-enhancing. In contrast, another view of governance suggests that observed governance choices are the result of value-maximizing contracts between shareholders and management. This perspective predicts that broad government actions that regulate such governance choices are value destroying. Consistent with the latter view, we find that the abnormal returns to recent events relating to corporate governance regulations are, on average, decreasing in CEO pay, decreasing in the number of large blockholders, decreasing in the ease by which small institutional investors can access the proxy process, and decreasing in the presence of a staggered board.     

The effect of legislation on corporate disclosure practices

This article investigates the effect of the Financial Reporting Act of 1993 (FRA) on mandatory disclosure practices of companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange Limited. The FRA gave statutory backing to financial reporting standards in New Zealand and made non-compliance illegal. Using both univariate and multivariate analyses, we examine the association between (a) the levels of compliance with mandatory disclosure by the companies in our sample, and (b) disclosure regulatory regimes that prevailed in New Zealand before and after the implementation of the FRA. We find that mean corporate disclosure compliance levels in the periods after the enactment of the FRA are significantly higher than those in the periods before the enactment of the legislation. After controlling for the effects of other mandatory disclosure-related variables documented in prior studies, we also find that the improvement in corporate disclosure compliance behaviour is the result of the implementation of the FRA. Alternative specifications of the primary regression model indicate that those findings are robust.     

中国外汇储备资本化风险管理分析

进入二十一世纪以来,外汇储备的投资趋势和资本化目标的不断强化成为全球外汇储备风险管理的新特点,并推动外汇储备由宏观风险管理向微观风险管理转变。各国货币当局在对外汇储备进行数量和质量双重管理的过程中,都力争通过合理的目标选择、投资结构调整、治理结构安排以及风险技术应用,最大限度地降低外汇储备风险,最优化地实现外汇储备资本化的收益。因此,中国在运营巨额外汇储备的过程中,应该建立并完善以＂多层次＂的外汇储备风险管理治理结构安排、＂多元化＂的外汇储备投资运营手段,以及＂多样化＂的外汇储备风险管理技术为三大支柱的外汇储备资本化的风险管理框架。     

Art as an investment: risk, return and portfolio diversification in major painting markets

The present paper examines risk, return and the prospects for portfolio diversification among major painting and financial markets over the period 1976–2001. The art markets examined are Contemporary Masters, French Impressionists, Modern European, 19th Century European, Old Masters, Surrealists, 20th Century English and Modern US paintings. The financial markets comprise US Treasury bills, corporate and government bonds and small and large company stocks. In common with the published literature in this area, the present study finds that the returns on paintings are much lower and the risks much higher than conventional investment markets. Moreover, while low correlations of returns suggest that opportunities for portfolio diversification in art works alone and in conjunction with equity markets exist, the construction of Markowitz mean‐variance efficient portfolios indicates that no diversification gains are provided by art in financial asset portfolios. However, diversification benefits in portfolios comprised solely of art works are possible, with Contemporary Masters, 19th Century European, Old Masters and 20th Century English paintings dominating the efficient frontier during the period in question.     

The effect of tax avoidance crackdown on corporate innovation

To constrain the use of intangible assets in tax-motivated state income shifting, many U.S. state governments adopted addback statutes. Addback statutes reduce the tax benefits that firms can gain from creating intangible assets such as patents. Using a sample of U.S. public firms, we examine the effect of addback statutes on corporate innovation behavior. First, the adoption of addback statutes leads to a 4.77 percentage point decrease in the number of patents and a 5.12 percentage point decrease in the number of patent citations. Second, the “disappearing patents” resulting from addback statutes have significant economic value. Third, after a state adopts an addback statute, a firm with material subsidiaries in that state assigns fewer patents to subsidiaries in zero-tax states, whereas the number of patents assigned to the other states does not change. Overall, our findings suggest that addback statutes impede corporate innovation.