Multinational enterprises (MNEs) engage in tax-planning strategies between their related parties that affect their profit and consequently their tax liability. Transfer pricing (TP) legislation addresses these tax planning strategies of MNEs resulting in increased tax revenues. Despite the updated 2006 TP legislation, shifting of profit and taxes is still occurring by MNEs; therefore, the implications of this legislation need to be examined. The purpose of this study was to compare the reporting of profit, before and after change in legislation, as well as to examine the cost of services mediation of the relationship between the status of the legislation and profit reported. The study's theoretical framework was a combination of economic and strategic management theories. This ex-post facto quantitative study addressed two research questions with the first examining the difference in the reporting of operating profit before and after the updated TP legislation. The second assessed how the cost of services mediates the relationship between the status of the TP legislation and the reporting of operating profits. Data collected on a sample of tax returns, representing 32 industry sectors for each of 14 years, from the Internal Revenue Service were used in applying statistical tests for answering these research questions. The results indicated that the updated TP regulations influenced MNEs for reporting greater profit than before the update as well as possibly inconsistent mediation with the proposed mediator of cost of services. These results support having TP legislation since it would increase tax revenues resulting in positive economic and social changes as well as contributing to achieving sustainable development.

Consumer research has indicated that financially uneducated adults who live in rural areas often make poor financial decisions that plague them for decades. As a result of increased home foreclosures, student loan defaults, and bankruptcies, policymakers at the state and federal level, business leaders, academic communities, and non-profit agencies have identified a need for quality financial education programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a financial literacy program created for financially uneducated adults living in a rural community, as measured by participants' perceptions of their financial concepts knowledge and financial management ability after program completion. The conceptual framework was guided by the transtheoretical model of change theory, which holds that an individual's behavior and beliefs affect his or her surroundings and self-perceptions. Data were collected from 36 former program participants through a mailed 3-part survey developed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Company. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one-sample chi-square tests to determine whether responses to 3 survey items measuring knowledge gain and improved ability to manage finances were equally distributed. The tests were significant and indicated that all participants (100%) agreed/strongly agreed that they were more financially knowledgeable after the financial literacy program and could use what they learned independently. Most participants (86%) also reported that, after completing the financial literacy program, they were better able manage their finances on their own. Implications for positive social change include providing research-based findings to the program administrators, which may assist in promoting the program and improving the financial literacy of the adults in this rural community.

Despite policies for U.S. federal agencies to use open competitive procedures that increase small business participation in federal contracting, some small businesses do not win open competitive federal contracts. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies some leaders of small businesses in the service industry have used to win open competitive U.S. federal contracts. The conceptual framework for this study was agency theory. The participants in this study were 6 leaders of small businesses in the state of Washington who successfully implemented strategies to win open competitive U.S. federal contracts. Data were collected through face-to-face, semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-phase cycle of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding the data, resulting in the 3 key themes: opportunity identification strategy, requirements strategy, and bid submission strategy. The findings indicated that leaders of small businesses win U.S. federal contracts by identifying contracting opportunities that meet their business model and risk tolerance, strengthening their knowledge of contract requirements, and increasing their participation in competitive public procurements. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential for leaders of small businesses to lower the unemployment rate through the creation of jobs, increased innovation, and contribution to the economic growth of the local community.

In the United Staes, until recently, the inheritance tax has been employed principally as a war measure. The first one imposed was the stamp act of July 6, 1797, which was repealed five years later. The war revenue act of July 1, 1862, was repealed July 14 1870. The revenue act of August 27, 1894 was declared unconstitutional because of its income tax feature. The war revenue act of June 13, 1989 was repealed April 13, 1902. The present federal estate tax was formed September 8, 1916. It was later amended March 3, 1917, and was altered appreciably in the revenue act of October 3, 1917. The amendment increased the rates of the tax. The revenue acts of 1918, 1921, and 1924 changed the rates in varying ways and also changed many of the fundamental provisions. The revenue act of 1926, however, contains a retroactive provision which has the effect of nullifying the rates of the 1924 act and makes the rates of the 1921 act applicable until the effective date of the act of 1926 after which lower rates apply.

The purpose of this study was to examine the socio-demographic and financial characteristics that were associated with the likelihood of a discharge among Chapter 12 bankruptcy filers in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. Previous bankruptcy studies conducted in Utah have looked at the same associations in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. This study contains individual filer-level data from 158 Chapter 12 bankruptcy cases filed in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming between 1997 and 2005. These cases were accessed through the Web-PACER system, a database of imaged court documents filed in district bankruptcy courts. Free access to this system was given by the Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming bankruptcy trustees to the researcher. The principal finding in this study is that filers with longer repayment plans and those that live in the states of Idaho and Wyoming are more likely to attain a discharge. The local legal culture of Idaho and Wyoming may promote plans that are more feasible and the debtors are more likely to reach a discharge. However, debtors in Utah are more likely to reach a discharge in a shorter time than those living in Idaho or Wyoming. Studies have found that debtors who started making payments were more likely to assure that their plans were successful. Discharge is the most common outcome for cases open for a number of years. Debtors who have reached a Chapter 12 confirmation are more likely to continue on a payment schedule and receive a discharge.

The topic of corporate sustainability reporting has seen rapid growth in the past couple of years as more firms are placing a greater emphasis on becoming sustainable. However, the true impact of sustainability reporting on firm value has been widely debated, often due to the nature of the qualitative data in sustainability reports. This thesis uses a normalized sustainability scoring system to examine the effects of sustainability reporting on firm value. In particular, this paper analyzes these effects during the Great Recession to note if there was any change in the effects on a year-by-year basis due to macroeconomic differences. This study finds that not only is superior corporate sustainability reporting positively correlated with increased firm value, but also that the degree of the impact greatly drops during the recession. These findings suggest that sustainability could be an advantageous business tool during stable economic times but not nearly as important in terms of increasing firm value during times of recession. Therefore, the results of this thesis have important practical uses and serve as a basis for analyzing the financial effects of corporate sustainability initiatives as this type of reporting becomes more prevalent in the future.

Having a special interest in banking through her close associates with bankers and practical banking activity, the writer quite naturally gravitated to the field of finance in her search for a thesis problem. While some aspects of the economic history of Cache Valley had been studied, nothing had been done with its financial history. On the eve of Cache Valley's Centennial year, BANKING AND FINANCE IN CACHE VALLEY was thought to be an especially timely subject since source material, much of which time is daily erasing, was available for the study.

In this study we contribute to the ongoing research on the rationales for corporate diversification. Using plant-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we examine whether combining several lines of business in one entity leads to increased productive efficiency. Studying the direct effect of diversification on efficiency allows us to discern between two major theories of corporate diversification: the synergy hypothesis and the agency-cost hypothesis. To measure productive efficiency, we employ a non-parametric approach—a test based on Varian’s Weak Axiom of Profit Maximization (WAPM). This method has several advantages over other conventional measures of productive efficiency. Most importantly, it allows one to perform the efficiency test without relying on assumptions about the functional form of the underlying production function. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first application of the WAPM test to a large sample of non-financial firms. The study provides evidence that business segments of diversified firms are more efficient compared to single-segment firms in the same industry. This finding suggests that the existence of the so-called ‘diversification discount’ cannot be explained by efficiency differences between multi-segment and focused firms. Furthermore, more efficient segments tend to be vertically integrated with others segments in the same firm and to have been added through acquisitions rather than grown internally. Overall, the results of this study indicate that corporate diversification is value-enhancing, and that it is not necessarily driven by managers’ pursuit of their private benefits.

ABSTRACT TWO ESSAYS ON INVESTOR SENTIMENT AND EQUITY OFFERINGS BY HSIN-HUI CHIU May 2, 2006 Committee Chair: Dr. Jason T. Greene Major Department: Finance Using monthly open-end mutual fund flows as a proxy for investor sentiment, I am able to examine the impact of sentiment on IPO volume and underpricing. I find that issuers’ filing decisions are significantly affected by the predicted future sentiment around the expected IPO dates. Furthermore, sentiment has an impact on the final offer price setting and over-allotment options exercised. While previous research documents IPO cycles with respect to other proxies for investor sentiment, I am able to examine IPO cycles and underpricing with respect to sentiment along with investor risk preferences. I hypothesize that a going public firm will try to issue its IPO when investor risk preferences are favorable to the firm’s own risk characteristics. Empirical results based on 5,661 initial public offerings between 1986 and 2004 are consistent with my hypotheses that issuers not only time the market with sentiment in general, but also attempt to incorporate investor risk preferences into their going public decisions. Furthermore, underpricing is more severe when firms issue equity during months with large inflows into equity mutual funds. In my second essay, I find that SEO firms appear to time market efficiently because of the shorter filing periods compared to the average 2-3 months of the IPOs. Also, sentiment not only affects a SEO offer price setting but also affects the over-allotment options exercised. I examine two subgroups of the SEO samples: shelf registration and non-shelf SEOs. I find that shelf-registered SEOs incorporate investor sentiment into offering price to a greater degree compared to regular SEOs. Lastly I find that investor risk preference plays a role in firms’ decision to file prospectuses with the SEC. In other words, firms rationally decide the timing of filing based on the predicted investor preference and try to match firm characteristics with investor preference around the expected SEO date.

ABSTRACT Deposit Insurance: Is it good for the development of Financial Markets? BY Kaysia Therese Campbell April 25, 2006 Committee Chair: Dr. Stephen Smith and Dr. James Owers Major Department: Finance The literature on deposit insurance has focused primarily on the role it plays in promoting banking sector stability and growth, while little attention has been placed on its possible effect on the development of other markets. Failure to examine the impact of deposit insurance on other markets could lead to premature conclusions about the full effect it has on total financial market development and, in turn, economic growth. Using panel data and cross sectional averages on 96 countries covering the time period 1975 – 2004 to distinguish between short run and long run effects, and including a host of controls, I find evidence that deposit insurance is associated with greater long run, total financial market development, as measured by the size and activity of banks, equity markets, bond markets and non-bank financial intermediaries. This indicates that it is able to accelerate banking sector development without necessarily retarding the development of other markets so that overall financial market development is improved. It is important to note that this is primarily evident for countries with a strong legal and contracting environment. The results also suggest that the immediate impact of deposit insurance is greatest for middle income economies but over time there is no clear evidence that this persists. Using design features thought to contribute to the generosity and ability of the scheme to curb moral hazard and provide a credible guarantee, I construct two indices to summarize the various design features and examine their impact on financial market development. I find that countries adopting more credible schemes appear to have smaller and less active markets over time. However the results also indicate that more credible and generous design features are better able to promote total market activity in the long run. The hopeful conclusion to be made from this study is that the positive influence of deposit insurance on the banking sector is translated into the entire financial market system over time and may be irrespective of a country’s particular stage of economic development.