Tests of technical trading rules and the 52-week high strategy in the corporate bond market

This article presents the first tests of technical trend-following rules (TTRs) and the 52-week high strategy in individual corporate bonds, along with comparisons to corresponding stocks. Over the 2002–2015 period, TTR and the 52-week strategy are unprofitable in both bonds and stocks. Short legs of these trend-following strategies lead to significant losses in corporate bonds, which can be interpreted as evidence of bond investors' overreaction to bad news. Thus, short-term contrarian strategies, the profitability of which is viewed as the reward to liquidity provision, are more rewarding in corporate bonds. TTR buy signals can predict lower-volatility days in bonds as in stocks, despite the low/negative return correlations between the two.     

Effect of derivative accounting rules on corporate risk-management behavior

I examine the effect of the accounting standard for derivative instruments (SFAS No. 133) on corporate risk-management behavior. I classify a derivative user as an “effective hedger” (EH firm) if its risk exposures decreased after the initiation of the derivatives program, and as an “ineffective hedger/speculator” (IS firm) otherwise. I find that volatility of cash flows and risk exposures related to interest rate, foreign exchange rate, and commodity price decrease significantly for IS firms but not for EH firms, suggesting that IS firms engaged in more prudent risk-management activities after the adoption of SFAS No. 133.     

The impact of accounting restatements on corporate innovation strategy

This study examines the effect of accounting restatements on corporate innovation strategy. Using a sample of restating firms and propensity-score-matched non-restating firms from 2000 to 2009, we find that, after restatements, restating firms experience a greater increase in exploratory innovation and a greater reduction in exploitative innovation compared to non-restating firms. These results suggest that restating firms are associated with an increased risk appetite as managers believe the upside potential may yield corporate improvement. The results also differ between fraudulent and non-fraudulent restatements, and among restatements of varying severity. The results of this study shed light on a previously unexplored consequence of accounting restatement and highlight its real impact on corporate business strategy.     

Balancing corporate power: a new Federalist paper

In an effort to govern their increasingly complex organizations, chief executives in some of today's largest corporations are turning to one of the world's oldest political philosophies-federalism. Given that organizations are seen more and more as minisocieties, the prospect of applying political principles to management makes a great deal of sense. Federalism is particularly appropriate because it offers a well-recognized system for dealing with paradoxes of power and control: the need to make things big by keeping them small; to encourage autonomy but within bounds; and to combine variety and shared purpose, individuality and partnership, local and global. As London Business School professor Charles Handy explains it, federalism responds to these paradoxes by balancing power among those in the center of the organization, those in the centers of expertise, and those in the center of the action--the operating businesses. The centers of federal organizations meet regularly, but they do not need to live together. Doing so would concentrate too much power in one place, whereas federalism gets its strength and energy from spreading responsibility across many decision points. Guided by five principles, federalism avoids the risks of autocracy and the overcontrol of a central bureaucracy. It ensures a measure of democracy and creates a "dispersed center" that is more a network than a place. That's why Asea Brown Boveri CEO Percy Barnevik calls his sprawling "multi-domestic" enterprise of 1,100 separate companies and 210,000 employees a federation. It succeeds because the independent bits, be they individuals, clusters, or business units, know they are part of the greater whole.     

Lean against the wind: The effect of policy uncertainty on a firm's corporate social responsibility strategy

We examine the effect of policy uncertainty on firms' strategy of corporate social responsibility (CSR). During uncertain times, firms strategically increase their commitment to CSR causes. Policy uncertainty is positively associated with CSR performance regardless of the estimation method. CSR strategy can substitute for lobbying when firms attempt to manage policy uncertainty. Improved CSR performance can reduce firms' exposure to policy uncertainty which indicates that CSR commitment can deliver insurance-like benefits. The findings highlight the value of CSR commitments during uncertain times.     

The role of accounting devices in performing corporate strategy

The paper’s aim is to examine the role of accounting in shaping corporate strategy. Our inquiry is built on a case-based ethnography. Drawing on Michel Callon’s generic notion of performativity, we show how accounting shapes the strategic options and the external economic conditions of the corporation. The analysis reveals how accounting devices rejects, defends, and changes corporate strategy by mobilizing lay people and concerned groups. We summarize our findings by emphasizing the active role of accounting in relation to strategy formulation, the configuration of the identity of the key strategic actor, and in constituting strategy and strategic change.     

海外上市:规则变迁折射新阶段

中国企业海外上市始于20世纪80年代.当时,随着市场经济发展,对资本市场认识的加深,企业越来越深刻地认识到资本市场对于企业发展的重要作用,中国企业开始积极利用资本市场筹集资金,促进公司治理水平提高.但是由于中国内地资本市场当时刚刚起步,而且主要定位于配合国有企业脱困,能够在A股市场上市融资的企业数量相对于有意上市的企业数量有限,难以在A股市场融资的企业于是开始选择其他资本市场.     

Retiree health care benefits: new rules, new strategies.

Two recent court decisions in a retiree health care benefits age discrimination case are likely to bring changes to employer-sponsored retiree health care. After reviewing the cases and how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has responded to them, this article discusses employer implications. Although the court decisions add complexity to retiree health plan design, they also provide employers with the valuable opportunity to analyze the match between their retiree health plans and business needs.     

Testing the profitability of moving-average rules as a portfolio selection strategy

One of the main difficulties in evaluating the profits obtained using technical analysis is that performance of trading rules depends upon the judicious choice of rule parameters. In this paper, popular moving-average (or cross-over) rules are applied to a cross-section of Australian stocks and the signals from the rules are used to form portfolios. The performance of the trading rules across the full range of possible parameter values is evaluated by means of an aggregate test that does not depend on the parameters of the rules. The results indicate that for a wide range of parameters moving-average rules generate contrarian profits (profits from the moving-average rules are negative). In bootstrap simulations the return statistics are significant indicating that the moving-average rules pick up some form of systematic variation in returns that does not correlate with the standard risk factors.     

Investor protection and corporate cash holdings around the world: new evidence

We provide new evidence that firms under weak governance regimes hold less cash than firms operating under strong governance, contrary to previous literature. Our findings also establish that there are two independent effects for the de jure and de facto aspects of governance that protect minority shareholders. Consistent with managerial empire building prediction, our study reveals that firms deplete their excess cash by overinvesting and this effect is exacerbated in countries with weak governance. The excess cash depletion has an adverse impact on firm performance, more so in countries with weak investor protection which is in support of the agency costs explanation.     

The effect of corporate social responsibility on stock performance: new evidence for the USA and Europe

This paper provides new empirical evidence for the effect of corporate social responsibility on corporate financial performance. In contrast to former studies, we examine two different regions, namely the USA and Europe, and disentangle firm and sector specific impacts. Our econometric analysis shows that environmental and social activities of a firm compared with other firms within the industry are valued by financial markets in both regions. However, the respective positive effects on average monthly stock returns between 2003 and 2006 are more robust in the USA and, in addition, non-linear. Our analysis furthermore points to biased parameter estimates if incorrectly specified econometric models are applied: the seemingly significantly negative effect of environmental and social performance of the industry to which a firm belongs strongly declines and mostly becomes insignificant if the explanation of stock performance is based on the Fama–French three-factor or the Carhart four-factor models instead of the simple Capital Asset Pricing Model.     

Digitalization,competition strategy and corporate innovation: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing listed companies

Digital transformation is permeating from the service sector to the manufacturing industry and is becoming an increasingly important factor in enterprise operating decisions. Based on data from A-share listed Chinese manufacturing companies, this study examines the nexus between the digitalization of the manufacturing industry and corporate innovation investment. Empirical evidence indicates that manufacturing enterprises have significantly increased their investment in innovation activities in the process of digital transformation, and this conclusion is still valid after employing a series of robust analyses to overcome endogeneity. Digital transformation also has an indirect effect on manufacturing enterprises' market competition strategy. Manufacturing digitalization significantly promotes enterprises to implement differentiated competitive strategies, while inhibiting the implementation of a cost-competitive strategy. Manufacturing enterprises with higher viability are more adaptable to digital transformation and tend to implement differentiated competitive strategies. Hence, the innovation incentive effect is greater for high-viability enterprises, regardless of the scale of operation, the ownership, or productivity. These findings provide useful policy implications for promoting the integration of digital transformation and innovative development in the manufacturing industry.     

The impact of corporate governance on corporate performance: Evidence from Japan

Employing a unique data set provided by Governance Metrics International, which rates firms using six different corporate governance dimensions, we analyze whether Japanese firms with many governance provisions have a better corporate performance than firms with few governance provisions. Employing an overall index, we find that well-governed firms significantly outperform poorly governed firms by up to 15% a year. Using indices for various governance categories, we find that not all categories affect corporate performance. Governance provisions that deal with financial disclosure, shareholder rights, and remuneration do affect stock price performance. The impact of provisions that deal with board accountability, market for control, and corporate behavior is limited.     

Firm- and country-level determinants of corporate leverage: Some new international evidence

This research analyzes the determinants of capital structure across 37 countries. Institutional arrangements matter for capital structure decisions; however, firm-level covariates drive two-thirds of the variation in capital structure across countries, while the country-level covariates explain the remaining one-third. The observed relationships between the country-level determinants and leverage provide strong support to the predictions of both the trade-off and the pecking-order theories. Country-level determinants serve as substitute mechanisms for the firm-level, industry-level, and macroeconomic determinants by moderating their marginal impact on leverage.     

Educational interventions for teaching the new auditor independence rules

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 brought sweeping changes to the accounting profession. One important mandate was for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to strengthen the rules of auditor independence. To meet its legal responsibility, the SEC issued Final Rule No. 68 [United States Securities and Exchange Commission (USSEC) (2003). Final Rule 68: Strengthening the commission’s requirements regarding auditor independence. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office [Issue Date: January 28, 2003 (www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-8183.htm and Retrieval Date: January 25, 2004)]], thereby adopting new independence rules for auditors of public companies.     

新会计准则与商业银行的公司治理研究：简短回顾与展望

从广义上讲,公司治理是通过一套包括正式和非正式的、内部和外部的制度或机制协调公司与利害相关者之间的关系,以保证公司决策的科学化,维护公司各方的利益（李维安,2001）。2006年2月15日,财政部发布了包括1项基本准则38项企业会计准则和48项注册会计师审计准则在内的企业会计准则体系。2006年10月30日,财政部又发布了相关的企业会计准则应用指南和审计准则指南。新会计准则体系于2007年1月1日起在所有上市银行实施。     

e动交行在新技术挑战下的创新战略——访交通银行股份有限公司电子银行部总经理张常胜

在网络经济时代,银行的优势不再仅限于网点、地理位置及金融产品的价格上,而是转向提高信息服务能力与电子分销能力。因此,电子银行的发展要注重渠道特点,同时进行渠道整合,统一各渠道用户体验,推动各渠道产品同质化,用渠道的同质化来应对产品的同质化。     

Modeling the business risk of financially weakened firms: A new approach for corporate bond pricing

Most structural models of default risk assume that the firm's asset return is normally distributed, with a constant volatility. By contrast, this article details the properties that the process of assets should have in the case of financially weakened firms. It points out that jump-diffusion processes with time-varying volatility provide a refined and accurate perspective on the business risk dimension of default risk. Representative Arrow-Debreu state price densities (SPD) and term structures of credit spreads are then explored. The credit curves show that the business uncertainties play a major in the pricing of corporate liabilities.     

Auditor quality,corporate risk,and the valuation of new issues

This paper tests two hypotheses derived from the Data et al. (1991) theoretical model of auditor choice by companies newly listing on the stock exchange. The results offer support to their predictions of the demand for auditor quality. In particular, higher-risk companies are associated with the selection of a high-quality auditor, as proxied by a Big Eight firm of accountants. Additionally, companies who employed Big Eight firms had higher market valuations of their stock at the time of listing.