<p> Poor decisions and conflicts of interest by members of company boards of directors have been a factor in the dramatic rise in chief executive officer (CEO) compensation, resulting in a lower return on equity (ROE) for shareholders. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between CEO compensation, CEO duality, and ROE after controlling for CEO age, CEO tenure, and firm size, as measured by total assets. Agency theory was the theoretical framework for this study. The study examined whether a statistically significant relationship existed between CEO compensation, CEO duality, and ROE, after controlling for CEO age, CEO tenure, and firm size. Archival data were collected and analyzed from a sample of publicly traded firms in the United States listed on the 2016 Standard &amp; Poor&rsquo;s 500 Index. Hierarchical multiple regression techniques were used to test the relationship between variables. The results indicated that there was not a statistically significant relationship between CEO compensation, CEO duality, and ROE after controlling for CEO age, CEO tenure, and firm size. The study may contribute to positive social change by increasing the potential for board of directors&rsquo; members to implement best practices, contributing to reduced shareholder conflicts, less litigation, higher ROE, and enhanced investor confidence benefiting emerging economies and local communities.</p><p>

<p> In the United States, 20% of newly established small businesses, including small businesses in the life insurance industry, fail within 2 years, and over 50% of them fail during the first 5 years. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify and explore the strategies that life insurance brokerage owners use to sustain business operations beyond 5 years. Porter&rsquo;s 5 forces model served as the conceptual framework for exploring this subject matter. Owners of 3 separate small life insurance brokerage firms in Texas, who sustained their businesses beyond 5 years, participated in semistructured interviews. A secondary source of data was relevant company documents. Methodological triangulation and member checking assured the reliability and validity of the interpretations. Through thematic analysis and supporting software, 5 themes emerged: exceptional customer service, relationship-building, efficient promotional strategies, regular training of salespersons, and hiring the right employees. The application of the findings of the study could contribute to positive social change by reducing unemployment and thereby catalyzing an economic environment supporting employees, families, and communities. </p><p>

<p> Financial journals have just begun to examine the implications of unsecured fixed-rate loans between lenders and borrowers administered over the internet. This study observes 31,550 loans issued between June 2007 and April 2013 with a 36-month term, that are fully paid or charged off, based on a data set from the largest P2P lending website. Initial findings within peer-to-peer (P2P) lending markets have identified that social disclosures may influence these markets. The result of this analysis unambiguously confirms social disclosures influence lenders and the factors significant for funding a loan are inconsistent with the factors significant to repayment of the loan. Prescriptive filters based on social disclosures can improve the likelihood of selecting a creditworthy borrower and increase the models explanatory power. The study finds that distinct forms of social disclosure and specific content within social disclosures predict the amount of funding received and probability of loan repayment. </p><p>

This dissertation examines the implications of technological advances on the net working capital balance of U.S. firms over the past five decades. I find that the annual mean value of the net working capital balance of U.S. firms has sharply declined, from 28.9% of average total assets in the 1970s to 6.5% in the 2010s. I also show that an increase in IT spending is associated with a reduction in net working capital balance, after controlling for alternative explanations. This real (vis-à-vis accounting) change in net working capital balance has significant implications for practical financial management and accounting research. On one hand, companies have become more efficient in managing their working capital and thus in conserving cash, leading to an increased cash savings at U.S. firms. On the other, the declining working capital balance has reduced accounting current accruals from 18.8% to 5.4% of earnings, which, in turn, has reduced the explanatory power of the Jones (1991) model from 23.7% to 3.7% and increased the correlation between earnings and cash flows from 0.689 to 0.947 over time. Such a structural change is worth noting for accounting research addressing the relationship between accruals, cash flows, and earnings.

Over the study period of 1995 to 2006, performance disparities are reported between mutual funds engaged in socially responsible investing (SRI funds) and non-SRI funds. After introducing a social factor and firm specific risk variables, an extension to the Fama-French-Carhart four-factor model seems able to capture all the cross-sectional variations in returns. The hypothesis that social investing incurs a risk that is priced therefore cannot be rejected for the sample of this study. The first essay also briefly discusses why the recent surge in oil prices cannot fully explain the performance differentials between SRI funds and non-SRI funds. The second essay explores the relationship between environmental and financial performance. It focuses on the question: Does social screening based on environmental sustainability constitute a winning strategy for socially responsible mutual funds? Using the Business Ethics Magazine's Best 100 Corporate Citizens ranking, the study analyzes market returns of the 20 firms on the list with the highest environment scores (the "greenest" group) and those of a control group made up of their closest industry competitors. The "greenest" group underperformed the CRSP market portfolio in excess standard deviation adjusted returns (ESDAR). On the other hand, the control group outperformed the market portfolio in both raw returns and ESDAR. A study of six actual "green funds" indicates that on average these funds did better than the arbitrary "green" portfolios over the study period on a after-fee basis. The third essay explores the measuring of the opportunity cost associated with social screening from a unique angle—by how much the performance ceiling is lowered when a group of stocks of varying characteristics are excluded from the investment pool. Three new measures, the Sharpe-ratio Reduction Cost (SRC), the Opportunity Cost (OC), and the Opportunity Maximization Skill (OMS), are developed to assist in exploring this matter. I conclude that the hypothesis "social screening does involve measurable opportunity cost" cannot be rejected. On the other hand, managers for SRI funds and non-SRI funds do not seem to differ significantly in their ability to reach their performance ceilings.

<p> In this study gender stereotyping is defined as assigning a specific characteristic or trait to an individual based solely on gender. An individual is expected to exhibit behavior according to what is customarily expected of their gender. The perception of gender stereotypical beliefs was explored to determine if it is contributing to the underrepresentation of women in senior leadership within the securities brokerage industry in the United States. To examine the differences in stereotypical beliefs among men and women regarding women in leadership, participants were asked to complete the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS) consisting of 21 Likert-type survey statements. Statements 1-21 were intended to examine participants&rsquo; attitude towards women in leadership in support of Research Question 1: To what extent do male and female Financial Industry Regulatory Association (FINRA) registered representatives differ in perceived gender stereotypical beliefs regarding women in leadership? Survey statements 1-9 were considered ability constructs and were intended to examine participants&rsquo; perception of women&rsquo;s ability to serve in leadership in support of Research Question 2: To what extent do male and female FINRA registered representatives differ in perceiving that women have the ability to serve in senior leadership in United States securities brokerage firms? Survey statements 10-15 were intended to examine participants&rsquo; perceived acceptance of women in leadership in support of Research Question 3: To what extent do male and female FINRA registered representatives differ in perceived acceptance of women serving in senior leadership roles in United States securities brokerage firms? The responses of female participants and the responses of male participants were analyzed for similarities and differences using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to support or deny the hypotheses for the research questions. The results from the analysis indicated that gender was a significant factor related to stereotypical beliefs regarding women in leadership. Males exhibited a more prominent existence of stereotypical beliefs, with the null hypothesis being rejected in all three research questions. The results of this study should benefit females in the financial services industry by providing insight into the reasons women are underrepresented in leadership so that initiatives can be established to explicitly address the problem of gender stereotyping and more effectively promote women in leadership in the U.S. securities brokerage industry. In addition, the study will contribute to the academic knowledge in the area of corporate leadership by providing the data necessary for a better understanding of the impact gender imbalance in leadership has on organizational success.</p>