I examine the influence of ownership structure on labor decisions by comparing how public and private banks manage their labor costs. I find that, compared to private banks, public banks grow their labor force by more when activity increases. However, due to capital market pressure, managers of public banks reduce labor costs to avoid reporting earnings declines while private banks increase labor costs around the same benchmark. In particular, I find that managers of public banks reduce labor costs to avoid reporting an earnings decline when they have diversified lines of business or when they do not make use of alternative methods of earnings management. Furthermore, public banks that reduce labor costs and report a small earnings increase experience improved subsequent performance. Overall these findings suggest that financial reporting pressure in public firms can constrain empire building by incentivizing managers to make strategic cost cuts.

For entrepreneurs it can be difficult to attract investors. The business plan is a well-known document for that purpose, and is used widely by entrepreneurs and companies. With this in mind, several questions arise. What information in a business plan is important? Do the criteria for information in a business plan differ between banks, venture capital companies, and business angels? What is the perception of a business plan to these investors? These are questions future entrepreneurs have to deal with before taking action and start searching for investors. This thesis investigates the investors’ perspective on the issue of entrepreneurship and business planning.The purpose of this thesis is to broaden the understanding of the business plan as a mean to attract capital for new ventures. It further aims to investigate the relevance of the business plan and the optimal composition of information, according to the investors. A qualitative method has been used in this thesis. Empirical findings have been captured from interviews with relevant actors in the investing market, and thereafter been analyzed with existing theories. The overall conclusion in this thesis is that there is a very broad view of the business plan as a concept. There are different aspects of the business plans roles as a formal mean to attract capital. Obvious differences between how the three different investors evaluate a business plan have been found as well as that the investors find other things than the business plan to be important in a decision. The investors do not look solely on the business plan and then make the decision whether to invest or not. The third conclusion is that all three investors enter a company with different roles, affecting the business’ activities in different ways. Finally, the business plan as a document is never as formal as the theory states. It is surprisingly different from the theory which claims that formality is an important issue in this kind of documents.

Magistro darbe yra vertinami ir sisteminami teoriniai komercinių bankų investicinės veiklos formavimo ir valdymo kriterijai bei efektyvaus investicinio portfelio sudarymo metodai. Analizuojamos fizinių asmenų investavimo Lietuvos komerciniuose bankuose (AB SEB bankas, AB bankas „Hansabankas“ ir AB DnB NORD bankas) galimybės 2002-2007 metais, bei sudaromi fizinio investuotojo investicinio portfelio subalansuotos, rizikingos ir nerizikingos strategijos, investuojant ilgame ir trumpame perioduose, optimistinis bei pesimistinis variantai, siekiant nustatyti optimaliausią investicinį portfelį. Darbo pabaigoje pateikiamos išvados ir rekomendacijos fiziniams investuotojams. Magistro darbe iškelta hipotezė, kad naudingiausia investuoti ilgesniam laikotarpiui į rizikingiausias investicines alternatyvas, pasitvirtino iš dalies. Ilgesniam laikotarpiui investuoti yra naudingiau nei trumpesniam, tačiau, jei akcijų rinkų krizė ir toliau veiks investicinių fondų investicinių vienetų kainas tokiomis pat tendencijomis, tai investuojant į rizikingiausias alternatyvas galima patirti labai didelių nuostolių. Todėl šiuo metu reikėtų investuoti pagal subalansuotą investavimo strategiją, t.y. kuo labiau diversifikuoti savo portfelio riziką. / There are analyzed the theoretical aspects of the investment activity of the commercial banks and the methods of the effective investment portfolio. Also there are analyzed the investment opportunities of private persons in the Lithuanian commercial banks (SC SEB bank, SC bank “Hansabankas”, SC DnB NORD bank) in the period of 2002-2007. There are set the optimistic and pessimistic version of the persons’ investment risk, non-risk and balanced strategy in long and short periods for the reason to set the most optimal investment portfolio. The hypothesis, that the most useful version for investment is to invest to the risk strategy for the long period, was validated partially. To invest for the longer period is more useful. However, if the crisis of the stock market would be run on, it would be better to invest to the balanced strategy investment portfolio.

<p>QC 20100813</p>

Magistro darbe yra apibrėžtos pagrindinės komercinių bankų kreditų portfelio rizikos valdymo problemos. Išnagrinėjus Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių literatūrą, pateikti paskolų portfelio sudarymo, rizikos valdymo metodai ir jų praktinės pritaikymo galimybės komerciniuose bankuose. Analitinėje darbo dalyje pateikiami DnB NORD banko paskolų portfelio formavimo bei rizikos valdymo ypatumai. Taip pat pateikiamos paskolų portfelio rizikos valdymo tobulinimo kryptys, akcentuojant kredito, likvidumo ir palūkanų normos kitimo rizikas. / In this master’s final paper are defined main problems of commerce banks in credit portfolio risk management. Due to analyze of Lithuanian and foreign authors, principles of credit portfolio formation, risk management methods and practical appliance in commerce banks are proposed in this work. Peculiarities of credit portfolio formation and risk management in DnB NORD bank are introduced in analytical part of the work. Ways of improving credit portfolio risk management emphasizing credit, liquidity and change of interest rate risks are also offered.

Magistro darbe nagrinėjama Lietuvos komercinių bankų aktyvų apimtis bei struktūra. Išanalizuoti ir susisteminti įvairių Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių teoriniai aktyvų struktūros tyrimai, jų formavimo principų ir valdymo tyrimai. Pateikti ir išnagrinėti reikšmingiausi finansiniai rodikliai bei jų skaičiavimo metodikos. Darbe pateikiama Lietuvos komercinių bankų aktyvų apimties ir struktūros dinamika, o taip pat atlikta ekonominė analizė bei pateikiamas jos vertinimas. Atskleisti dinamikos ypatumai, siekiant pabrėžti aktyvų struktūros pokyčius. Be to dėmesio skiriama ir bankų pelningumui bei likvidumui, turintiems įtakos bankų veiklos rezultatams. Nagrinėjamos ir aktyvų kitimą lėmusios priežastys. / This work analyses assets and structure of commerce banks in Lithuania. Theoretical assets’ structure, their formation principles’ and possession researches of various Lithuania’s and foreign authors has been analyzed and organized here. Besides, the most significant finance indexes and their calculation methodologies has been presented and analyzed here too. This work presents assets amount and structure dynamics of Lithuania’s commerce banks as well as accomplished economics analysis and its assessment. Dynamics peculiarities have been revealed trying to accent assets’ structure variations. Moreover, attention has been brought to bank profitability and liquidity, which have influence on bank activity results. Finally, reasons that determined assets variation have been analyzed.

Magistro darbe yra suformuluotos gyventojų nemokumo Lietuvos bankams problemos, išanalizuoti ir susiteminti įvairių Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių teoriniai ir praktiniai namų ūkių nemokumo kreditinėms institucijoms tyrimai, įvardinti veiksniai, darantys įtaką šalies gyventojų mokumo būklei, įvertinta finansinių įsipareigojimų komerciniams bankams našta, pateiktos prevencinės priemonės padėsiančios sumažinti gyventojų nemokumą šalies bankams. Išsamiai analizuojami makroekonominiai ir kiti faktoriai, veikiantys Lietuvos gyventojų nemokumą. Atlikta Lietuvos komercinių bankų paskolų gyventojams portfelio analizė. Patvirtinama autorių suformuluota mokslinio tyrimo hipotezė, kad Lietuvos gyventojų, turinčių paskolas, nemokumo mastai auga priklausomai nuo makroekonominių ir kitų rodiklių pokyčių. / This master‘s final paper formulates problems of people insolvency for Lithuanian banks; it analyzes and systemizes theoretical and practical research into insolvency for credit institucions conducted by various Lithuanian and foreign authors; presents factors which influence on insolvency contition of country’s population. It also evaluates burden of financial liabilities for comercial banks and produces precautionary means to reduce people insolvency. The paper presents a detailed analysis of Lithuanian comercial banks loans portfolio for citizens. The authors formulated scientific research, that Lithuanian’s insolvency grows because of macroeconomics and other factors variation, is confirmed.

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This thesis proposes an original framework for the analysis of third world informal finance. It will be supported by a comprehensive survey of the associated literature. Specifically, most mainstream interpretations of informal finance adhere to a dualist paradigm that revolves around three key assumptions. First that informal firms are less efficient than formal firms in conducting financial transactions, second that their activities are protected from formal competition due to segmented financial markets, and finally that the economic impact of informal finance is inferior to an overall formal system. Yet much of the qualitative evidence of informal finance contradict these assumptions and limit the validity of dualist interpretations. The dualist conclusion that informal finance is a transitory phenomenon can therefore be derailed, leaving room for a more open ended interpretation of contemporary financial informality.