Accounting →
- 31 May 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Stock Price Synchronicity and Material Sustainability Information
This paper seeks to understand and provide evidence on the characteristics of emerging accounting standards for sustainability information. Given that a large number of institutional investors seek sustainability data and have committed to using it, it is increasingly important to develop a robust accounting infrastructure for the reporting of such information.
- 13 Mar 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey
Survey data from more than 400 senior investment professionals provides insights into why and how investors use environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information as well as the challenges in using this information. This study also documents what investors believe will be important ESG styles in the future.
- 01 Sep 2016
- Cold Call Podcast
Behind Apple's Tax Situation, an Unprecedented Financial Policy
The European Union recently hit Apple with a $14.5 billion tax bill, but that’s hardly the first or worst financial challenge the technology giant has faced. Mihir Desai explains the financial wiring behind the inventors of the iPhone. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Aug 2016
- Research & Ideas
Retail Execs Underplay Current Performance to Investors--but Why?
In quarterly earnings calls with investors and analysts, some retail managers may underplay how their companies are actually performing, according to recent research by Kenneth Froot and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Oct 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Applications of Fractional Response Model to the Study of Bounded Dependent Variables in Accounting Research
This paper discusses key features of the fractional response mode developed by economists Leslie E. Papke and Jeffrey M. Wooldridge.
- 08 Oct 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Market Reaction to Mandatory Nonfinancial Disclosure
How does the equity market respond to the adoption of mandatory nonfinancial disclosure? Research by George Serafeim and colleagues.
- 16 Sep 2015
- Op-Ed
The Real Duty of the Board of Directors
Robert G. Eccles and Tim Youmans argue that a board's primary duty is not to the shareholders, but to the corporation itself. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Aug 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Banks’ Risk Exposures
Since the financial crisis, there has been renewed interest in documenting how much risk financial institutions are exposed to. This paper shares the important goal of that scholarship: to come up with a method that summarizes banks' positions in a meaningful way so that it will inform the theoretical modeling of these institutions and offer insights for policy decisions. Specifically, the paper measures banks' exposures to macroeconomic risk through their fixed income positions by representing those positions in terms of simple factor portfolios. Factor portfolios provide measures of exposure that are easy to interpret and compare across positions. The results help elucidate the evolution of bank risk taking over the last 20 years. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Jun 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Accounting Data, Market Values, and the Cross Section of Expected Returns World
Over the past 30 years, the central question in asset pricing is understanding what drives the variation in expected returns. Despite its importance, empirical research in this area has remained problematic because the key variable, expected returns, is not observable. This paper promotes an accounting-fundamentals-based approach to estimating expected returns. It contributes to the stream of empirical studies devoted to developing the estimation of, and understanding the behavior of, expected returns. It also provides a practical tool that can be used to analyze investment choices in international equity contexts. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Apr 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Implied Materiality and Material Disclosures of Credit Ratings
Materiality—a concept at the core of financial, sustainability, and integrated reporting—means the "reportability" of economic, environmental, social, and governance (risk) issues. Using the lens of materiality, the authors of this paper examine principles underlying the methodologies and business models of credit reporting agencies (CRAs), finding that CRAs have potential governance shortcomings that need to be addressed by the boards of the CRAs themselves. The governance remedies recommended here aim to restore credit rating institutions to their historic role in the proper functioning of the global capital markets. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Feb 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Auditor Lobbying on Accounting Standards
Understanding the political process that leads to accounting standards may provide insights into both their procedural legitimacy and how they will eventually be used. In a study of the role of major auditors in the accounting standard-setting process, the authors provide a systematic characterization of auditors' changing incentives. They also examine how those incentives influence auditor lobbying across nearly every financial reporting standard issued from 1973 through 2006. Overall, results suggest that the auditors' own incentives play a prominent role in their lobbying activities for the rules of U.S. GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Jan 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
The Rise and Fall of Demand for Securitizations
At the heart of the recent financial crisis were nontraditional securitizations, especially collateralized debt obligations and private-label mortgage-backed securities backed by nonprime loans. Demand for these securities helped feed the housing boom during the early and mid-2000s, while rapid declines in their prices during 2007 and 2008 generated large losses for financial intermediaries, ultimately imperiling their soundness and triggering a full-blown crisis. Little is known, however, about the underlying forces that drove investor demand for these securitizations. Using micro-data on insurers' and mutual funds' holdings of both traditional and nontraditional securitizations, this paper begins to shed light on the economic forces that drove the demand for securitizations before and during the crisis. Among the findings, variation across securitization types and investors is key to understanding the crisis. Beliefs appear to have been an important driver of mutual fund holdings of nontraditional securitizations. Results also underscore the importance of optimal liquidity management in the context of fire sales. Key concepts include: Inexperienced mutual fund managers invested significantly more in these products than experienced managers. Beliefs-shaped by past firsthand experiences-played an important role. Managers who had suffered through the market dislocations of 1998 invested substantially less in nontraditional securitizations than those who had not. For insurance companies, incentives appear to have played an important role, though the nature of the relevant incentive conflict seems to have varied across small and larger insurance firms. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Dec 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
International Trade, Multinational Activity, and Corporate Finance
This article surveys research at the intersection of international economics and corporate finance. Recent research illustrates how international trade and multinational activity are affected by the credit constraints firms face and by firms' ability to make use of internal capital markets. Differences in access to financial capital explain variation in trade participation at the country, industry, and firm level. Firms need to fund fixed and variable costs of cross-border transactions, and these transactions often tie up capital for longer periods of time than domestic transactions and involve distinct risks. Credit constraints also play a role in determining which firms choose to conduct operations in multiple countries and what kinds of activities they perform in different jurisdictions. Through their internal capital markets, multinational firms can raise funding in one location and deploy it elsewhere. Internally available financial capital gives multinationals an advantage over purely domestic firms in some circumstances. Financial considerations often shape the extent to which multinationals generate spillovers for local firms. Key concepts include: The ability to access financial capital to pay fixed and variable costs affects choices firms make regarding export entry and operations, and, as a consequence, influence aggregate trade patterns. Multinationals may use internal capital markets to pay for fixed costs, address managerial moral hazard, and exploit differences in access to capital across countries. As a result, financial frictions shape multinational decisions regarding production location, integration, and corporate governance. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Nov 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Crony Capitalism, American Style: What Are We Talking About Here?
In essence, crony capitalism conveys a shared point of view-sometimes stretching to collusion-among industries, their regulators, and Congress. The result is business-friendly policies and investments that serve private interests at the expense of the public interest. In this research paper, the author's goal is to add precision and nuance to our understanding of this form of corruption. He does so first by exploring definitions of crony capitalism. He then outlines the toolkit of crony capitalism including 1) campaign contributions to elected officials, 2) heavy lobbying of Congress and rule-writing agencies, and 3) a revolving door between government service and the private sector. The paper next describes the costs of cronyism and concludes with innovative ideas for curbing the excesses of crony capitalism. As the author notes, thorny problems remain: for example, the fact that "the public interest" in matters involving subsidies, tax preferences, and legislative loopholes is often difficult to discern and agree on. Key concepts include: The line between corrupt cronyism and legitimate bargaining among self-interested parties in the halls of government may be blurry. Although the costs to taxpayers of direct and even indirect subsidies can be measured, quantifying the cost of violations of the principle of equal treatment by government, the distortion of market mechanisms, and the undermining of public trust in government and business is vastly more difficult. The US has a long history of attempted campaign finance reform, which is critical to curbing crony capitalism. In the absence of meaningful reform, one corrupting feature of federal campaigns has not changed. Today 85 percent of funding for congressional campaigns comes from large contributors-mainly wealthy individuals and corporations. Among other necessary reforms, we need to take seriously the need to minimize trust-destroying conflicts of interest in Congress and privileged access by influential business interests to Congress and regulatory agencies. In the absence of such reform, the many benefits of the espoused system of democratic capitalism cannot endure. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 May 2014
- Research & Ideas
Managing the Family Business: Survival’s Secret Sauce
The secret sauce for surviving from generation to generation, says family-business expert John Davis, has three main ingredients: growth, talent and unity. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 May 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective
Corporate reporting plays two functions. The first is an "information function" that enables counterparties, such as investors, employees, customers, and regulators, to enter into an exchange of goods and services under specific terms. Companies also benefit from the information function by comparing their performance against peers, thereby informing internal resource allocation decisions. The second is a "transformation function," the result of a company engaging with stakeholders to get their input on the company's resource allocation decisions. The authors argue that integrated reporting is more likely to perform effectively these two functions than separate financial and sustainability reporting. Moreover, as the authors argue, these two functions vary in terms of how important the role of regulation is. Regulation and standard setting is likely to improve the information function but could well impede the transformation function. If regulation is too prescriptive and "rules-based," the risk is that integrated reporting becomes more of a compliance exercise. Key concepts include: Investors need a better understanding of how companies are managing the relationships between financial and nonfinancial performance. Separate financial and sustainability reports are no longer adequate for performing either the information function or the transformation function. Companies need integrated reporting in order to make sure that their corporate reporting process effectively performs the information and transformation functions. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 29 Apr 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Comparing the Cash Policies of Public and Private Firms
Industrial firms listed on stock markets in the United States held $1.5 trillion in cash at the end of 2011. Many commentators and policymakers observed that this so-called "dead money" might be one reason behind the sluggish performance of the United States and other developed economies since the Great Recession. But evidence on such cash-hoarding behavior is limited to listed (or 'public') firms, which account for a relatively small part of the US economy. Do private firms also hold large cash balances? Using a rich panel of over 200,000 non-SEC-filing private US firms, the author finds that the average public firm holds twice as much cash as the average large private firm over the 2002-2011 period. Results are most consistent with the hypothesis that differences in the extent to which public and private firms engage in market timing are a key driver of public firms' higher demand for cash, as the risk of misvaluation induces public firms to raise capital and accumulate precautionary cash reserves when they perceive their equity to be overvalued. Consistent with this hypothesis, the author finds that the cash difference between public and private firms is larger in industries with a higher prevalence of misvaluation shocks. In addition, public firms in these industries tend to save a larger fraction of their equity issuance proceeds than private firms, particularly in times when they have reasons to believe that their equity is overvalued. Key concepts include: Private firms are a large and underexplored part of the US economy. This paper underscores the limitations of extrapolating what we know about public firms to private firms. The much-debated cash-hoarding behavior of public firms has not been followed by their private counterparts. Public firms' greater access to capital explains about one-quarter of the cash difference between public and private firms. The remainder can be explained by differences in the extent to which public and private firms engage in market timing in response to misvaluation shocks. Unlike their public counterparts, private firms do not hold large precautionary cash reserves. This is surprising, particularly in light of the fact that, among public firms, those that are small and have worse access to capital (that is, those that look the most like private firms) hold the most precautionary cash. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Apr 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Payout Policy
Payout policy is at the core of many key questions in corporate finance. In a world in which financial markets are not frictionless, how much firms pay out and which vehicle they choose to distribute cash to their shareholders may affect their valuation, has a potential impact on how much taxes investors pay, may affect management's investment decisions, and may inform the market about how good the firm is relative to its peers. In this paper the authors review the academic literature on payout policy, with a particular emphasis on developments in the past two decades. Scholarship on payout policy has made significant advancements in the last 20 years, and we now know much more about the importance of taxes, agency, and signaling motives for payout policy. Perhaps the most important change in corporate payout policy in the last two decades has been the secular increase of stock repurchases and the apparent triumph of buybacks over dividends as the dominant form of corporate payouts. Looking at the bigger picture, the authors observe that, until recently, most scholarship has analyzed payout policy in isolation. An important recent development in the payout literature has been to consider the interaction between payout and other corporate policies, such as compensation or investment. The fact that payouts are not simply residual free cash flows underlines the importance of taking seriously the interdependence of financing, investment, and payout decisions. Key concepts include: Studies centered on the 2003 dividend tax cut confirm that differences in the taxation of dividends and capital gains have only a second order impact on payout policy. Signaling theories have found only weak support, both empirically and in survey evidence, which likely explains why the notion of dividends as costly signals of firm quality to the market has become less popular. Agency has often prevailed as the alternative explanation in the horse race against signaling theories. A number of factors other than the level of free cash flow determine the level and form of payouts. More research is needed to understand even the basic elements of the corporate financial 'ecosystem', which includes financing, investment, and payout policies. Analyzing these interactions can play a key role in advancing the payout literature in the years to come. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Mar 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
The Use of Broker Votes to Reward Brokerage Firms’ and Their Analysts’ Research Activities
Broker votes are one of the most pervasive yet least understood reporting practices on Wall Street. The votes are essentially ratings of the value of brokers' investment research services. These ratings are produced by institutional investors (the "buy side") and solicited by broker dealers (the "sell side"). Little research to date, however, has examined the determinants of broker votes, their consequences, and their economic function. In this paper the authors use data gathered from a mid-sized investment bank for the years 2004 to 2007 in order to study how broker votes are related to institutional investors' commission payments and analysts' client services and compensation. Results overall suggest that broker votes help to facilitate implicit contractual relationships between sell-side brokers, their affiliated analysts, and their buy-side clients. Broker votes are neither mere popularity contests nor a simple reflection of trading in analysts' covered stocks. Instead, they appear to be a key component of the investment research industry's contracting technology, acting as the nexus for a set of relationships between sell-side brokers, their affiliated analysts, and their buy-side clients. The findings thus deepen our understanding of how information is exchanged on Wall Street and help to explain why the practice of collecting and aggregating client votes—a costly internal reporting procedure—has stood the test of time and has been replicated across countless sell-side research departments. Key concepts include: Broker votes facilitate a set of implicit contractual relationships between sell-side brokers, their affiliated analysts, and their buy-side clients. These voluntary contracting arrangements help to resolve inter- and intra-firm coordination problems. Broker votes may represent real efforts by buy-side clients to reward analysts for providing information that is difficult to reward through contemporaneous trading in analysts' covered stocks. Broker votes influence resource allocation within brokerage divisions, aligning analysts' incentives with their clients' objectives and hence the brokerage firm. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
The Real Exchange Rate, Innovation and Productivity
Addressing debates on the effects of real exchange rate (RER) movements on the economy, this study examines manufacturing firm-level effects of medium-term fluctuations, in particular firm-level productivity across a wide range of countries. RER changes have different impacts depending on the export and import orientation of regions and the prevalence of credit constraints. Effects are non-linear and asymmetric, suggesting that the link between RER changes and macroeconomic performance might be much more nuanced than usually thought.