Drivers for the voluntary adoption of consolidated financial statements in local governments

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates consolidated financial statements (CFS), which have been implemented by several countries. In Italy, CFS implementation was preceded by a testing period in which local governments could participate on a voluntary basis. This paper explains why this was a useful preliminary step to implementing CFS: the local governments that took part in the testing period were able to enhance their knowledge of the topic while improving their employees’ skills.     

MENA stock market volatility persistence: Evidence before and after the financial crisis of 2008

The global financial crisis began with a financial meltdown in the United States in early 2008 and then it had spread to the rest of the world. In this paper we test whether the MENA equity market volatility presents a different behavior before and after the financial crisis of 2008. Using long range dependence techniques we test for long memory in the returns, absolute and squared returns of the MENA equity markets. We subject the series to unit root tests that allow for structural breaks and use the Bai and Perron (1998, Econometrica, 66, 47; 2003a, J. Appl. Econometrics, 6, 72; 2003b, Econometrics J., 18, 1) to test for multiple breaks in the mean returns. The results indicate that the volatility measures represented by absolute and squared returns show evidence of long memory for the full and subsample periods, while the returns show a weak evidence of long memory. Considering the shift dates and corresponding to the 2008 financial crisis, the returns and volatility measures display less evidence of long memory in the after crisis period as opposed to the before crisis period. The change in the returns and volatility dynamics of these markets was due to financial and economic conditions that took place in the MENA region after the crisis.     

The impact of terrorism on financial markets: An empirical study

The main focus of this paper is to study empirically the impact of terrorism on the behavior of stock, bond and commodity markets. We consider terrorist events that took place in 25 countries over an 11-year time period and implement our analysis using different methods: an event-study approach, a non-parametric methodology, and a filtered GARCH-EVT approach. In addition, we compare the effect of terrorist attacks on financial markets with the impact of other extreme events such as financial crashes and natural catastrophes. The results of our analysis show that a non-parametric approach is the most appropriate method among the three for analyzing the impact of terrorism on financial markets. We demonstrate the robustness of this method when interest rates, equity market integration, spillover and contemporaneous effects are controlled. We show how the results of this approach can be used for investors’ portfolio diversification strategies against terrorism risk.     

Accounting student characteristics: Results of the 1992 federation of schools of accountancy (FSA) survey

This paper updates a special study on accounting student quality, including provenance (“Where do our accounting graduates come from?”) and scholastic rankings, initiated in 1991 by the Data Base Committee of the Federation of Schools of Accountancy (FSA). Initial findings, based on a survey of accounting majors at 29 FSA schools administered during spring semester 1991, appeared in the fall 1992 issue of the Journal of Accounting Education (Vol. 10, pp. 25–37). Findings of the 1992 survey, which involved responses from accounting majors at 26 FSA schools, appear in a comparative format below. In general, the 1992 data show only minor variations from the 1991 data.     

Turkey’s Distressing Dance With Capital Flows

In the aftermath of the 2001 crisis, Turkey took important steps toward achieving macroeconomic and financial stability. Together with favorable international financial conditions, this helped to achieve a high per capita GDP growth. The high-growth period failed to be sustainable, however. From 2008 to 2013, Turkey had a volatile and low growth. In this article, I aim to analyze the underlying reasons of high volatility of growth and discuss short-term economic policy alternatives to mitigate such undesired fluctuations.     

The city summit: The lessons of Istanbul

Global summits have been frequent over the past four years — on environment and development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992; on population and development in Cairo in 1994; on social development in Copenhagen in 1995; and on women in Beijing in 1995. The last of this series was the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) which took place in Istanbul in June 1996. After reminding us of the speed of urbanization and the enormous stakes involved in the development of megalopolises, the author gives his account of this ‘summit on cities’ and seven lessons he learned from it.     

Directing strategically financial management education and training

Competence, capability and capacity in financial management are crucial for the success of all commercial organizations. Financial literacy is required of most if not all of the significant decision makers within organizations, no matter what their official status might be, if those organizations are to function effectively. Traditionally, developing this literacy has been seen as just another training issue on the agenda for the company's training department. This paper will argue that financial literacy is so important to organizations that financial management education and training should be seen more as part of the financial management control system of the organization than as a self development issue.

Directors of finance need to become involved in the financial education and training process, particularly at a strategic level, so as to ensure that the company's competence, capability and capacity in financial management are appropriate to the pace and direction of company development.     

Is ex-post credit risk affected by the cycles? The case of Italian banks

The objective of this research is to empirically examine if both credit and business cycle affect the ex-post credit risk (i.e. non-performing loans) in the banking system of Italy for the period 1995Q1–2014Q1. The increase in NPLs post-2008 has put into question the robustness of many European banks and the stability of the whole sector. It still remains a serious challenge, especially in Italy which is one of the countries that hit by the financial crisis. By employing fixed and random effects and a dynamic GMM estimation as econometric methodologies I find results that underline common causes for NPLs. Higher NPLs in Italy are mostly due to worse macroeconomic conditions (i.e. bad phase of business cycle) and due to excess credit. Through a Granger causality test, my arguments found even more support. Such findings can be helpful when designing macro-prudential as well as NPL resolution policies.     

Bank dividends,risk, and regulatory regimes

This paper investigates the relation between bank dividends and bank risk over the period 1984–2011, and assesses the existence of risk-taking and risk-shifting in the US commercial banking sector subject to regulatory regime changes. The introduction of PCA in 1992 and TARP in 2008 constitute significant regulatory regime changes, and provide the necessary framework to explore whether regime-dependent risk-shifting or risk-taking is present. We find strong evidence of risk-shifting and risk-taking over the post-PCA regime spanning the period 1992–2008. We interpret this evidence as indication of ineffectiveness of PCA in controlling risk-taking and risk-shifting. The finding of risk-taking just prior to the recent financial crisis suggests that risk-taking may be a factor contributing to this crisis. As risk-taking and risk-shifting are important aspects of bank behavior (Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, 2009), these results are of interest to bank regulators and important to Basel III.     

The industry effect and the decision to integrate vertically in a crisis context

ABSTRACT

The objective of this work is twofold: firstly, to study if the characteristics of the industry affect certain financial and strategic decisions of manufacturing firms and, secondly, to determine if the strategy of diversifying the activity through vertical integration generates good financial results in times of crisis, depending on the industry. To this end, an analysis is carried out with panel data from 9,523 firms in the period between 2008 and 2013. The results show that there are different strategies that firms must follow, depending on the industry to which they belong. In sectors with lower operational risk, those firms characterized by greater specificity and better product quality obtained higher profitability. However, in riskier sectors, firms with more specific assets assumed too many risks and in times of crisis have seen their profitability fall. Likewise, it is observed that the decision to integrate vertically has mitigated the weak points of each sector, allowing firms to better weather the economic–financial crisis in which this research is framed.     

Which factors support trust in the recommendation process of pension products? Trust and pension products

During the financial crisis of 2008/2009, financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies have lost trust of their customers. In the recommendation process of pension products, trust plays an important role since cash flows from retirement products accrue decades ahead. Using the results from a survey, we find that financial institutions still struggle to deliver trust to their customers when they recommend different categories of retirement products. Other recommending parties such as academic financial experts or close friends, however, are able to establish a high level of trust. We therefore investigate factors of alternative channels to establish trust such as the recommendation process or product features.

     

Corporate governance in the 2007–2008 financial crisis: Evidence from financial institutions worldwide

This paper investigates the influence of corporate governance on financial firms' performance during the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Using a unique dataset of 296 financial firms from 30 countries that were at the center of the crisis, we find that firms with more independent boards and higher institutional ownership experienced worse stock returns during the crisis period. Further exploration suggests that this is because (1) firms with higher institutional ownership took more risk prior to the crisis, which resulted in larger shareholder losses during the crisis period, and (2) firms with more independent boards raised more equity capital during the crisis, which led to a wealth transfer from existing shareholders to debtholders. Overall, our findings add to the literature by examining the corporate governance determinants of financial firms' performance during the 2007–2008 crisis.     

后改革时期中国农村金融体系发展的战略定位

中国后改革时期农业经济发展的不平衡,即二元经济结构的存在,决定了区域金融市场的二元化。从后改革时期农村金融发展的现实来看,中国农村金融体系已无法满足不同地区不同收入的农户多元化、多层次的金融需求。后改革时期农村金融体系的定位,其核心不是农村金融机构设置的多元化,而是适应不同收入阶层的农户在不同经济发展阶段上的金融需求,建立“城乡协调、统筹兼顾、资金回流、扶助三农”的农村金融体系,最终实现农村金融的全面、协调、可持续发展。     

Macro news and bond yield spreads in the euro area

This paper analyses the effects of newspaper coverage of macro news on the spread between the yield on the 10-year German Bund and on sovereign bonds in eight countries belonging to the euro area (Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) using daily data for the period 1999–2014. The econometric analysis is based on the estimation of a VAR-GARCH model. The results can be summarized as follows. Negative news have significant positive effects on yield spreads in all GIIPS (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain) countries but Italy before September 2008; markets respond more to negative news, and their reaction has increased during the recent financial crisis. News volatility has a significant impact on yield spread volatility, the effects being more pronounced in the case of negative news and bigger in the most recent crisis period, especially in the GIIPS countries. Further, the conditional correlations between yield spreads and negative news increase in absolute value during the financial crisis (especially in the GIIPS countries), indicating a higher sensitivity of the former to the latter.     

并购目标识别:来自中国证券市场的证据

如何利用公开信息在并购公告发布前识别并购目标是并购研究的热点问题之一。本文以中国A股市场2001年至2008年股权并购且控制权转移的目标公司为样本,采用单因素方差分析、多重共线性诊断和Logistic回归技术筛选变量并建立并购目标预测模型。研究发现,中国市场上的并购目标公司具有高财务杠杆、低偿债能力、盈利能力差、增长乏力、股权分散且股份流动性强等特点。虽然该模型解释能力较强,但其预测准确率不高,说明在中国市场上预测并购目标是难以实现的。     

Financial Development and Total Factor Productivity Growth: Evidence from China

Abstract

In this article, we estimate the effect of China’s regional financial development on total factor productivity (TFP) growth using large provincial panel data for the years 1990 to 2009. Using the nonparametric stochastic frontier data envelopment approach, we analyze how financial development is related to efficiency improvement and technological progress, the two components of TFP. The study shows that Chinese financial development plays a significant role in promoting TFP growth via technological progress rather than efficiency change. The faster the financial development takes place, the better it could correct the mismatch of resource allocation, thus promoting TFP growth. The results imply that China needs to both further optimize the allocation of financial resources and perfect the regional financial system.     

Financing Gaps of Public Pension Schemes and Market Potential for the Private Retirement Market

Abstract

Increasing longevity, declining birth rates, and high unemployment severely threaten the financial basis of many public pension plans. These problems are most pronounced in continental Europe, where public pension plans tend to be relatively generous and are usually funded on a pay-as-you-go basis. Given the demographic development, future pension payments exceed the expected contribution payments. The resulting financing gaps can be seen as implicit public debts (net pension liabilities), which often exceed the value of GDP figures and are in many cases higher than the explicit public debt figures. If people would decide to cover these financing gaps via life insurance, life insurance premiums would triple in Germany, more than double in Italy, and double in Canada and France. The increase would be only moderate in the U.S. and particularly small in the U.K.     

Barriers to Interpretation—A Case Study of Philips Electronics NV

Philips Electronics NV, a very large European company, went through considerable upheaval in the period 1980 to 1994. Accounting disclosures did not seem to be very helpful to statement readers who wanted to evaluate Philips' progress and position. The company's financial condition and income results deteriorated significantly during most of the period, and large losses were shown in 1990 and 1992. Prior to the huge loss recorded in 1990, there were few indications in the annual reports that troubles were mounting. In earlier periods a series of accounting changes were made, the effect of which typically was to increase income. The most significant change came in 1992, when Philips abandoned current cost accounting. We investigated financial analysts' reactions to company disclosures and found that they had problems interpreting the effects of Philips' accounting changes. In addition to accounting changes, Philips also used a somewhat arbitrary restructuring charge (or credit) to adjust income amounts. Finally, the absence of full explanations from the directors at some points could have resulted in users of the annual report being misled. Over the period studied, Philips lost a significant portion of its stockholders' equity. The effect of its reporting practices was to obscure the impact of the unfavorable economic events that affected the company. Financial reporting, at least for this company, fell short of providing disclosures that told a clear story of what was taking place. In the periods before large losses were recorded, few hints were provided of impending disasters. Overall, the results of this study are disturbing. Although the study is restricted to one company, the results deserve the thoughtful consideration of both academics and practising accountants.     

意大利公共养老金制度发展和改革研究

经历了私有属性的养老金制度的前期发展以后,意大利建立了主导性的以职业分割的卑斯麦式的公共养老金体系。待遇和缴费层面上的权利义务不对等,经济人口发展的不利因素以及国内国际的政治金融多重压力促使意大利开始改革公共养老金体系,恢复公共财政的可持续发展。意大利的公共养老金改革不仅建立了待遇和缴费的对应关系,也扩大了养老金的福利融资渠道并鼓励了私有属性的公共体系外养老金制度的发展。另外,发展阶段针对非雇佣关系或自雇业者的公共养老金体系的非政府的管理方式在改革中得到了保留。发展与改革阶段的一系列举措深刻的影响和塑造了意大利公共养老金制度的现有功能和形态,对于正处在发展改革过程中各国的公共养老金制度建设也是重要的启示。