This experiment examines the effects of financial reporting bases (GAAP and income tax) and service levels offered by external accountants (audits and reviews) on loan officers. The effects are measured using a loan approval decision and four perceptions: (1) appropriate interest premium, (2) likelihood of default, (3) confidence in the financial report, and (4) usefulness of the financial report. Analysis of variance techniques are used to ascertain the effects of accounting reports on the perceptions of loan officers; legit model development is used to isolate the effects on loan approval decisions. Reviews result in higher interest premiums than audits. Loan officers also associate higher default risks with reviews and tax-basis financial reports. Loan officers are most confident with audited GAAP-basis financial reports and least confident with audited income tax basis financial reports. In addition, loan officers indicate that GAAP-basis financial reports are more useful than income-tax-basis financial reports. Neither reporting basis nor service level affected their loan-approval decisions, however. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses are used to develop surrogates for decision usefulness using Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts (SFAC) Number 2. The most dependable surrogate for decision usefulness developed involves two characteristics that SFAC Number 2 suggests as being nonessential to accounting information: certainty and precision. The reporting basis affected this surrogate and decision usefulness itself in the same manner; in both cases, GAAP-basis financial reports are more useful than tax-basis financial reports. Managers, accountants, and loan officers should be aware that using income-tax-basis financial reports can detrimentally affect loan officer perceptions of default risk, confidence, and decision usefulness. Further, using a review rather than an audit may affect loan officer perceptions of confidence and interest rates. Future research could introduce additional independent variables. These variables include the effects of a statement of changes in financial position, financial ratios, industries, or differential reporting. Research using qualitative characteristics of accounting information could lead to strong measures of decision usefulness that would be beneficial in ascertaining effects on loan-officer perceptions and decisions. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed February 28, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis purpose was to examine to what extent and why loan officers’ judgment influence mortgage credit decisions. A mixed method was used to collect primary data from loan officers’ at a Swedish commercial bank. Quantitative data were collected from 39 loan officers answering an identical mortgage application, and qualitative data were collected from interviews held with five loan officers. The findings showed a considerable inconsistency among the loan officers' mortgage credit decisions and that judgment plays a vital role in the decision-making process. The credit amount granted ranged from SEK 4.25 million to 5.6 million, whereas the charged interest rate ranged from 40 to 51 basis points across four fixed interest periods. Overall, the findings can be understood by loan officers’ lacked explicit rules controlling the relationship between assessing data presented in the mortgage application and which credit decisions they should make. The theoretical contribution of the thesis is to enhance our understanding of how loan officers make credit decisions and the role of judgment in the process. The research findings imply that households should expect large variations in offered credit amounts and interest rates, depending on which loan officer managing their loan application.

The problem with which this study is concerned is that of the income concepts used by bank loan officers in dealing with financial information, as compared to the income concepts used by the accounting profession. A series of twenty different financial situations were designed which required the loan officer to make a decision as to an income concept before he could compute the answer to the questions in income, profit, gain, and change in wealth which were asked for in each situation. The loan officers' answers to each situation were then compared with the accountants' answers, using generally accepted accounting principles. In addition, comparisons were made between the income concepts used by the different classes of loan officers and sixteen environmental factors to determine what influence, if any, these factors might have on the answer given by the bank loan officers. The two purposes of the study were to show that bank loan officers do not calculate net income by the same methods as accountants, and to determine if there are environmental factors which would influence the method the loan officer used to compute his answers.

The research attempts to determine how an effective loan officer training program should be designed and implemented in Texas Commerce Bank. A comprehensive program would prepare newly hired college graduates for positions as commercial lending officers as quickly, thoroughly, and effectively as possible. In order to accomplish this objective, three steps are necessary in the research. The first step is to determine the generally accepted principles of training and development. Application of these principles in a program certainly increases the likelihood of successful training results. The second step is to survey a sample of the banking industry to determine what approaches to this problem are currently in use by other banks. If successful procedures, techniques, or ideas are now working for banks similar to Texas Commerce, perhaps they can be adapted to work in this bank. The final step in designing the program is to tailor the gathered information for the specific needs of Texas Commerce. The purpose of this step is to assure that the principles of step one and the successful approaches from step two are realistically and specifically matched with the training needs at Texas Commerce Bank.

The audit expectation gap, generally known as the differences between what users of financialstatements expect from the auditor and what the auditor actually provides, is present andresulting to a widespread concern. This thesis aims to investigate the level and nature of the audit expectation gap betweenauditors and commercial loan officers. In addition, this thesis also asks the question ifeducation is a mean to reduce commercial loan officers’ audit expectation gap. A questionnaire containing seven-point Likert scales with bipolar adjectival statements wassent to auditors and commercial loan officers. The respondents were asked to choose anumber from the scale which identified their level of agreement to either one of thestatements. The results revealed substantial evidence of an audit expectation gap particularly on issuesconcerning auditors’ responsibilities in fraud detection and prevention. Education oncommercial loan officers could reduce the audit expectation gap.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 189-190).

Housing prices have risen a lot in recent years, and many who have been outside the market may find it difficult to enter. Mortgage lending is something that can drive home prices. The credit officer grants the mortgage and makes the decision according to models that exist within the credit institution. There are many risks with lending, which the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, the Basel Committee and other organizations are trying to minimize by placing demands on banks and households. One risk that seems difficult to assess is the credit officer´s human factor that influences decision-making. Previous international research has pointed out that the human factor in lending exists and that it needs to be eliminated to improve the credit process. The uncertainty about the repayment ability can sometimes be difficult to assess and the creditor is forced to make decisions under uncertainty. Does the individual lender have the opportunity to give out loans if the future borrower does not fit the models and calculations that are set up in the organization or is that opportunity minimized in Swedish commercial banks today? A qualitative interview study has been done to try to map this out with the conclusion that the possibility exists, albeit in a very limited form.

O processo de diversificação da topologia bancária brasileira iniciado na década de 1990 com o Plano Real foi ancorado numa política de privatização e desnacionalização dos entes financeiros e chegou ao ápice no ano de 2003, mediante a Resolução n. 3.156, emitida pelo Banco Central do Brasil, propiciando o uso dos serviços de correspondentes no País a qualquer instituição financeira. Se por um lado, tal medida estava estreitamente ligada à política de bancarização levada a efeito pelo Governo Federal (que passaria a fazer uso da rede de correspondentes para distribuição de recursos a segmentos da população que historicamente viviam à margem do sistema bancário tradicional), por outro, serviu de alavanca a diversas instituições financeiras, especialmente os bancos de pequeno e médio portes que, desprovidos de uma rede de agências, encontraram no correspondente uma forma de ampliação de sua capilaridade. Nesse sentido, a prestação do serviço bancário com distintos níveis de capital, tecnologia, organização e trabalho expressa novas relações de complementaridade entre os circuitos (superior, superior marginal e inferior) da economia urbana, ao mesmo tempo em que altera o papel exercido pelo banco, anteriormente único responsável pelas atividades do circuito superior. Nessa perspectiva, buscou-se, no presente trabalho, entender as relações entre o sistema bancário e os circuitos da economia urbana no processo de autonomização da esfera financeira no território brasileiro, tomando como exemplo o estado de Alagoas. Para tanto, fez-se necessário uma avaliação das topologias que expressam a rede bancária no território alagoano, considerando-se a base material, os produtos financeiros e a prestação dos serviços. A partir de pesquisa de campo nos municípios de Girau do Ponciano, Campo Grande e Traipu foi possível identificar que a concessão de crédito consignado se realiza através de novos nexos entre o circuito superior (o banco), o superior marginal (as promotoras de crédito e os correspondentes, que são empresas terceirizadas) e o inferior (o agente de crédito, que representa a garantia dos lucros de uma parte considerável de bancos que vendem seus produtos sem possuir uma única agência no estado). Dessa forma, desvelou-se o acirramento da divisão do trabalho bancário e o processo de espoliação, centrado no aumento vertiginoso do consumo de dinheiro concomitante ao crescente endividamento. Esse processo denota a perpetuação do circuito inferior, tanto no que concerne ao consumo quanto à própria prestação do serviço, ou seja, a realização do trabalho. / The process of diversification of the Brazilian banking topology started in the 1990s with the Real Plan, was anchored in a privatization and denationalization policy of the financial entities which came to a head in 2003, by Resolution no. 3156, issued by the Central Bank of Brazil, allowing the use of corresponding services in the country by any financial institution. On one hand, such a measure was closely linked to the banking policy carried out by the Federal Government (which would make use of the matching network for the distribution of resources to segments of the population that historically lived on the margins of the traditional banking system) in the other, served as a lever to various financial institutions, especially small and medium banks devoid of a network of agencies, met in the corresponding a way to expand its capillarity. In this sense, the provision of banking services with different levels of capital, technology, work and organization express new relations of complementarity between the circuits (upper, upper marginal and lower) of the urban economy, while amending the role played by the bank that was previously solely responsible for the activities of the upper circuit. In this perspective, we sought in the present work, to understand the relationship between the banking system and the circuits of the urban economy in the process of empowerment of the financial sphere in Brazil, taking as an example the state of Alagoas. To do so, it was necessary an evaluation of topologies expressing banking network in Alagoas\' territory, considering the base material, financial products and provision of services. From field research in the counties of Girau Ponciano, Campo Grande and Traipu was possible to identify that the granting of payroll loans is done through new connections between the upper circuit (the bank), the upper marginal (promoters and credit correspondents, who are subcontractors) and the bottom (lower) (the loan officer, who is the guarantee of the profits of a considerable part of banks that sell their products without having a single agency in the state). Thus, was unveiled the intensification of the banking division of labor and dispossession process, centered on the rise of money consumption concomitant with increasing debt. This process denotes the perpetuation of the lower circuit, both as regards consumption as to provide the service itself, in other words, the work realization.

How do experienced lenders make decisions? This dissertation addresses this question by investigating judgment and decision-making behavior of loan officers in banks as well as credit managers in supplying companies. The dissertation applies an integrated economic-psychological perspective and consists of seven parts: a comprehensive literature review and six separate empirical papers. Reviewed areas are research on judgment and decision-making (JDM), research on expert decision-makers, and earlier empirical work on experienced lenders. The six papers shed light on: (1) desirable personal attributes of expert credit analysts; (2) the use of software to track JDM behavior; (3) differences between novices' and experienced loan officers' JDM behavior; (4) the relationships between information acquisition, risk attitude, and experience; (5) attitudes towards credit decision support systems; and (6) attitudes towards requesting collateral. Employed methods were in-depth interviews, a nation-wide survey, and a computer-based experiment.On the whole, the empirical findings give an ambiguous picture of the alleged superiority of experienced lenders' judgment and decision-making behavior. On the one hand, experienced lenders seem to be capable, careful, and conscious of their responsibility. On the other hand, they tend to disagree and make contradictory judgments and decisions. The applied perspective and methodology are not only aimed at providing better insights into how experienced lenders make decisions, but can also stimulate future research on how professionals in other domains than credit granting make decisions. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001