Price Performance Following Share‐Repurchase Announcements by Closed‐End Funds

We investigate the price performance of closed‐end funds that announce share‐repurchase programs. Closed‐end funds experience positive average stock‐price reactions to the announcements. The long‐run buy‐and‐hold abnormal returns of repurchasing funds over the subsequent three years are significantly higher than a nonrepurchasing control sample matched by size, type, investment style and geographic diversification. Funds with larger discounts, international funds, equity funds, and funds that announce larger repurchases or frequently announce repurchases, experience more positive stock‐price reactions. Except for larger repurchases, the same characteristics are associated with more positive long‐run buy‐and‐hold returns.     

Intra-industry and inter-country effects of European mergers

We empirically test the valuation effects of European M&A announcements on rivals within the target's country (intra-industry effects) and on other European rivals (inter-country effects), for the period of 1996 to 1999. We find evidence of inter-country effects that has not previously been documented, suggesting that the ongoin integration of European economies, supported by the introduction of the euro, facilitates the transmission of private information across country boundaries in Europe. We also conduct a cross-sectional analysis to isolate potential sources of intra-industry and inter-country effects. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A00DH017 00007     

Ethics Education and the Role of the Symbolic Market

This study responds to suggestions that business-school faculty are promoting distorted views of human nature and out-dated notions of ethics. Specifically, the paper examines in-depth interviews with a sample of 15 faculty centrally-positioned within the field’s symbolic market, namely, academics who completed their Ph.D. programs in the same institutional space as the editors of five top accounting journals. The paper finds that ethics are for the most part important to these individuals, but that the field’s general adherence to the neoclassical economic model creates pressures that militate against a deeper concern for and more adequate treatment of the topic. Jeff S. Everett teaches financial accounting at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business. Along with his research on accounting education, Jeff has also conducted research in the areas of professional ethics, environmental accounting, and corruption.     

Predictor relevance and extramarital affairs

We revisit Fair's ( 1978 ) ‘theory of extramarital affairs’ using robust nonparametric methods developed for the analysis of categorical data. We find evidence suggesting that the number of years married is not a relevant predictor of the propensity to engage in extramarital affairs having controlled for other factors. This finding runs counter to the prevailing wisdom gleaned from misspecified parametric models. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The associations among accounting program attributes, 150-hour status, and CPA exam pass rates

This study contributes to the extant literature by providing a better understanding of the associations among attributes of schools providing accounting education, 150-hour status, and CPA exam pass rates. We model program-level pass rates as a function of the state’s 150-hour status and several program-specific attributes, including: the level of AACSB accreditation, student selectivity, the percentage of candidates with advanced degrees, and faculty research productivity. We examine the average pass rates of 520 accounting programs that provided 43,711 first-time candidates for CPA exams given in 1998 and 1999. Similar to most prior studies we find that candidates from more selective schools, candidates with advanced degrees, and candidates who attended schools located in jurisdictions with the 150-hour requirement fully in place have higher average pass rates. However, we also find a significant decline in average pass rates during the 150-hour transition period, and in contrast to the strong positive effects of accreditation reported by [Grant, C. T., Ciccotello, C. S., &; Dickie, M. (2001). Barriers to professional entry: how effective is the 150-hour rule? Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 21, 71–93], we find only weak evidence of an association between program-level pass rates and college-level or separate AACSB accounting program accreditation.     

Satisfaction,organizational commitment and future action in charity sport event volunteers

• Charity sport events (CSEs) are a key revenue source for nonprofit organizations (NPOs) with large numbers of volunteers needed for success and cost‐effectiveness. This study explored determinants of CSE volunteers' satisfaction, organizational commitment and intended future actions (CSE, other NPO activity/event volunteering, donating money). Relay for Life volunteers (N = 290) from one Australian state completed a cross‐sectional survey. Significant pathways were found from socializing/enjoyment (β = 0.17), fighting cancer (β = 0.29), financial support (β = 0.21) motives and social norm (β = 0.23) to satisfaction; 52% variance was explained. Age (β = ?0.09), survivorship (β = 0.09), region (β = 0.07), fundraising goal (β = 0.08), advocacy (β = 0.15), financial support (β = 0.25), social/enjoyment (β = 0.23) motives, social norm (β = 0.23) and satisfaction (β = 0.21) were linked with commitment; 63% variance was explained. Paths between satisfaction, commitment and intended future actions (CSE, NPO activity/event volunteering) were significant (βs = 0.17–0.43). Future targets to increase CSE volunteer satisfaction and commitment involve similar (social/enjoyment) and diverse (action‐oriented) motives, with satisfaction and commitment key contributors to future actions supporting NPOs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Consolidation in the financial services industry: Are there industry gains for acquisitions of security firms?

We examine the revaluation of target security firms, their respective acquirers, both banks and non-banks, and their corresponding rivals before and after the major consolidation wave of 1994 to 1997. We find that target security firms as well as their respective acquirers are favorably revalued at the time of their acquisitions. The valuation effects are more favorable for non-bank acquirers and for acquirers with more growth potential and a lower degree of financial leverage. This suggests that investors expect greater synergies for mergers by better capitalized, faster growing, non-bank acquirers. In contrast to previous merger studies that generally find negative wealth effects for acquiring firms, cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) are on average positive for acquirers, targets, and portfolios of competing security firms, with the highest positive CARs for targets.     

Environmental Management and the Competitiveness of Nature-Based Tourism Destinations

Environmental management at nature-basedtourism destinations includes a private and apublic component. The former refers tovoluntary environmental protection activitiescarried out by individual (and groups of)tourism operators. These activities aremotivated by the dependence of the productprovided by the tourism industry on the qualityof the natural environment. Public sectormanagement, on the other hand, refers to theenvironmental regulations imposed on tourismbusinesses. The overall environmentalmanagement structure has a dual effect on thecompetitiveness of the tourism industry atnature-based tourism destinations. While theindustry may benefit from environmentalmanagement through demand stimulation, thetourism businesses also incur the associatedmanagement related costs. In this paper, theoverall effect of environmental management oncompetitiveness, as measured by aggregatetourism industry profitability, is estimated ina case study of Tropical North Queensland.     

The economic benefits of FASB's recommended disclosures: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry

Prior research has documented an association between disclosure quality and various economic benefits, most notably between the cost of equity capital and market liquidity. We extend this literature by investigating whether pharmaceutical firms that comply with recommended voluntary disclosures of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) exhibit lower bid-ask spreads, greater market depth, and lower cost of equity capital. Cross-sectional analysis using pharmaceutical firms reveals a negative association between disclosure quality and bid-ask spreads (both the total spread and its adverse-selection component), but no association between disclosure quality and either market depth or the ex ante cost of equity capital. Overall, our findings provide some evidence of benefits accruing to pharmaceutical firms that comply with the FASB's recommended voluntary disclosures under the assumption that lower bid-ask spreads reduce the cost of capital and strong evidence that complying with FASB's recommended disclosures provide a direct benefit to small investors, those who bear the entire weight of bid-ask spreads.