published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation comprises three essays. In the first essay, I develop a contingent-claims model to investigate the impact of managerial entrenchment on corporate policies and security valuation. The model emphasizes the role that managerial agency issues play in determining both a firm's dividend payout and capital structure. I show quantitatively that self-interested managers' leverage choices deviate from those ex ante maximize firm values. The results suggest that dividend yields are negatively affected by both leverage ratios and managerial entrenchment. They provide implications for empirical research attempting to relate dividend policy to capital structure. In addition, the model offers a new framework to measure managerial entrenchment using observed leverage and dividend payout. / In the second essay, we use a set of structural models to evaluate the price of default protection for a sample of US corporations. In contrast to previous evidence from corporate bond data, CDS premia are not systematically underestimated. In fact, one of our studied models has little difficulty on average in predicting their level. For robustness, we perform the same exercise for bond spreads by the same issuers on the same trading date. As expected, bond spreads relative to the Treasury curve are systematically underestimated, consistent with their being driven by significant non-default components. This is not the case when the swap curve is used as a benchmark, suggesting that previously documented underestimation results may be sensitive to the choice of risk free rate. / In the third essay, we develop a valuation model that simultaneously captures credit risk and interest rate risk, and apply it to study the valuation of putable corporate bonds. We ask what risks put features provide insurance against in practice - credit risk, liquidity risk or interest rate risk - and to what degree? We find that they reduce the components of all three risks in bond spreads. The most important, perhaps surprisingly is default or spread risk, followed by term structure risk. The reduction in the liquidity component is present but rather small.

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Many organisations today are still not making use of Management Accounting tools to assist in providing sustainability information for decision-making and the influence this can have on the financial performance of an organisation. This may have a negative impact on the financial performance of organisations, the result of the number of errors and miscalculations that can occur, including obsolete cost drivers; miscalculated business decisions, inaccurate information and human errors. Without applying Management Accounting tools, managers of organisations may find it difficult to improve the day-to-day operations and to take decisions to enhance the financial performance of their business. In this study, information was collected from interviews to determine whether Management Accounting tools could provide sustainability information for decision-making, and how this would influence the financial performance of an organisation. The research was carried out in organisations listed on the JSE. This study found that Management Accounting tools are important in providing sustainability information for decision-making and in determining how this information influences the financial performance of JSE listed organisations. Furthermore, Management Accounting tools provide strategies that influence decision-making and performance, although decision-making is the responsibility of executives or directors of the organisations. The study also found that Management Accounting tasks are performed by financial managers who focus solely on financial statements and reporting. Hence future research should focus on the importance of devolving Management Accounting roles to financial accountants or managers to enable the organisation to focus on different reports for different outcomes. / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Management Accounting)

Many organisations today are still not making use of Management Accounting tools to assist in providing sustainability information for decision-making and the influence this can have on the financial performance of an organisation. This may have a negative impact on the financial performance of organisations, the result of the number of errors and miscalculations that can occur, including obsolete cost drivers; miscalculated business decisions, inaccurate information and human errors. Without applying Management Accounting tools, managers of organisations may find it difficult to improve the day-to-day operations and to take decisions to enhance the financial performance of their business. In this study, information was collected from interviews to determine whether Management Accounting tools could provide sustainability information for decision-making, and how this would influence the financial performance of an organisation. The research was carried out in organisations listed on the JSE. This study found that Management Accounting tools are important in providing sustainability information for decision-making and in determining how this information influences the financial performance of JSE listed organisations. Furthermore, Management Accounting tools provide strategies that influence decision-making and performance, although decision-making is the responsibility of executives or directors of the organisations. The study also found that Management Accounting tasks are performed by financial managers who focus solely on financial statements and reporting. Hence future research should focus on the importance of devolving Management Accounting roles to financial accountants or managers to enable the organisation to focus on different reports for different outcomes. / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Management Accounting)

This paper studies foreign currency adjustments in executive compensation (i.e. exclusionof foreign currency impacts from accounting-based performance metrics). In light of recent debates on the pros and cons of using non-GAAP adjustments in compensation, I propose a rational explanation for adjusting foreign currency concerning firm’s operating decisions. I employ real options theory to study foreign currency fluctuations in decision making. I show, both analytically and empirically, that Integration Level, the extent of coordinated activities or cross-border transactions between the parent and its foreign subsidiaries, can serve as an explanation. Firms with a high level of integration are less likely to adopt foreign currency adjustments. On average, firms consider foreign currency fluctuations to make corporate decisions; the usage of foreign currency adjustments in executive compensation is less likely to be a result of managerial opportunism.

The literature on agency theory has generally modelled and tested the firm’s dividend and capital structure decisions separately. In this dissertation, a model is developed based on agency cost considerations and dividends as a means of controlling equity agency costs, which simultaneously determines the optimal capital structure and payout rate for firms. However, to the extent that alternative, non-dividend mechanisms exist across industries and industry groups that may either diminish or nullify the effect of dividends in controlling equity agency costs, simultaneity is not predicted to be universal but a function of industry characteristics. This central hypothesis is tested on three industry groups: industrial firms, banks and electric utilities. Banks and utilities are regulated. Industrials are not regulated but are subject to other equity agency cost controlling mechanisms like the threat of takeover and incentive-based compensation packages. As hypothesized, the results for industrials show no simultaneity in the subsample where these other mechanisms are present, and simultaneity in the subsample where dividends are the dominant mechanism. For banks and utilities no simultaneity is found since regulation, through its effect on the debt agency cost curve of firms in these industries effectively precludes its occurrence. / Ph. D.

This study examines how the investment opportunity set of the firm affects financing choices the firm makes. In a two-period, one decision, no-tax model, we show that firms characterized by a high level of investment opportunities in future periods issue equity and convertible securities while firms with fewer investment opportunities in future periods issue straight debt. Our empirical design improves upon previous studies in two important ways. First, we treat convertible debt separately from straight debt. Second, in addition to examining the correlation between investment opportunity and debt-asset ratios, we examine the incremental financing decision using discrete choice analysis. We find that the level of investment opportunities of firms making public issues of equity and convertible debt are higher than those issuing straight debt. Also, there is a negative correlation between investment opportunities and debt-asset ratios. We interpret these results to mean that investment opportunities are an important determinant of the firm’s financing policy. The direction of this relationship is the same as that predicted by the tax models of DeAngelo and Masulis (1980) and Dotan and Ravid (1985), and agency models of Myers (1977), Jensen (1986) and Stulz (1990). / Ph. D.