Roughly 40 million American active and retired workers are covered by local, state or federal pension systems. The most recent financial crises has caused many of these pension systems to go up in flames, leaving politicians and economists puzzled as to where the money to pay off their future pension liabilities will come from. To add to the nightmare situation, we can expect the retirement of the baby-boomers over the next decade to exacerbate the conflagration. With less contributions coming in from the reduced number of active public employees, and more to pay out to retirees, many localities and states find themselves in the middle of the fire. This issue finds itself at the crossroads of politics, labor economics, accounting, and finance, and it will take a full-fledged effort from parties within all these fields to correct the mistakes of the past. The aim of this paper is to zero-in on the origins of this dilemma, diagnose the situation we find ourselves in today, and prescribe a solution or number of solutions to implement in the near future. To accomplish this, I will examine accounting standards, legislation, public policies, and labor demographics and attempt to provide insight as to how all of these affect the state of public pension plans. To this date we have already seen the effects pensions can have on governmental entities and it is important that people act now to prevent this issue from growing more widespread.

It is well understood through previous literature that strategies, which buy past winning stocks and sell past losing stocks, can generate significant positive returns. This phenomenon is known as the momentum effect in the stock market. Furthermore, there is a common accounting practice used by portfolio managers called tax loss harvesting.Tax loss harvesting is the practice of selling a security in order to create a benefit for tax purposes. This paper attempts to build upon previous literature by explaining why the momentum effect is different at the beginning of the calendar year than in the middle and assessing whether or not tax loss harvesting may play a role. A trading strategy was created which calculates the returns of winning and losing portfolios intra industry groups, around different months of the year, in attempt to explain fluctuations in the momentum effect. Evidence in support of the hypothesis that tax loss harvesting played a role in impacting momentum strategies did not prove to be statistically significant.

Abstract Islamic Banking, a growing banking segment related consistent with Sharia law and principles. Since its establishment in 1983, the use of Islamic Banking has grown rapidly in Malaysia as a result of the Malaysian government active effort to make “Malaysia, Asia’s Islamic finance hub.” This study investigates the impact of various regulation changes – applicable to both conventional and Islamic Banking – in Malaysia, on the volume of financing of Islamic Banks. The main way to accommodate for possible omitted variable bias was by including control variables including the production index, real effective exchange rate, price index against the return on assets, return on equity and net income margin ratio. This study was conducted using an autoregressive-distributed lag model, and an event study. Ultimately, the abnormal returns for Islamic vs. Conventional Banks – though statistically significant individually during the event studies, on average were not statistically significant. The implication is that were the sample size to be larger, we may be able to find more statistical significance, but given that the bank population in Malaysia is so small, it is hard to find a statistically significant trend.

There seems to be a definite need for financial literacy education and training, especially under young people. The lack of financial literacy seems to be from a lack of sufficient financial education. A lack in personal financial skills seems to be an international problem. The primary aim of this research is to evaluate the financial literacy competencies of university students, and to make recommendations on improving their competencies, if necessary. Financial literacy was defined as: "a financially literate individual should have a positive attitude towards his/her finances and learning, the understanding to take control of his/her own finances; the ability to discern good from bad financial decisions, and the skills to make it practical." The advantages of being financially literate seem to be overwhelming. Financial education or training seems to have a positive effect on individuals. The timing of financial literacy education, what and how to provide financial literacy education about, seems to play a vital role. It seems to have a positive impact if this training is provided early in life. There seems to be certain topics that form a vital part when compiling a personal finance curriculum, such as financial planning, budgeting, credit, investments and retirement A questionnaire was completed by third-year students from the North-West University's Potchefstroom Campus. Respondents in this study indicated that they viewed learning more about personal finance as important. Also, the respondents in this study do not appear to be financially competent in all areas. They lacked knowledge in the fields of banking, taxation, financial planning, interest rates, inflation and legal matters in terms of financial matters. Students from the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences performed best and students from the Faculty of Health Sciences performed worst. Students who did a short course in personal finance had an advantage and students who were only exposed to this at school level performed worst. The challenge to educate scholars and students to be responsible, economic participants is great and a call is made to role players to attend to this as soon as possible. / Thesis (M.Com. (Forensic Accountancy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

There seems to be a definite need for financial literacy education and training, especially under young people. The lack of financial literacy seems to be from a lack of sufficient financial education. A lack in personal financial skills seems to be an international problem. The primary aim of this research is to evaluate the financial literacy competencies of university students, and to make recommendations on improving their competencies, if necessary. Financial literacy was defined as: "a financially literate individual should have a positive attitude towards his/her finances and learning, the understanding to take control of his/her own finances; the ability to discern good from bad financial decisions, and the skills to make it practical." The advantages of being financially literate seem to be overwhelming. Financial education or training seems to have a positive effect on individuals. The timing of financial literacy education, what and how to provide financial literacy education about, seems to play a vital role. It seems to have a positive impact if this training is provided early in life. There seems to be certain topics that form a vital part when compiling a personal finance curriculum, such as financial planning, budgeting, credit, investments and retirement A questionnaire was completed by third-year students from the North-West University's Potchefstroom Campus. Respondents in this study indicated that they viewed learning more about personal finance as important. Also, the respondents in this study do not appear to be financially competent in all areas. They lacked knowledge in the fields of banking, taxation, financial planning, interest rates, inflation and legal matters in terms of financial matters. Students from the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences performed best and students from the Faculty of Health Sciences performed worst. Students who did a short course in personal finance had an advantage and students who were only exposed to this at school level performed worst. The challenge to educate scholars and students to be responsible, economic participants is great and a call is made to role players to attend to this as soon as possible. / Thesis (M.Com. (Forensic Accountancy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Using private firm financial data, I compare operational improvements in public-to-private and private-to-private leveraged transactions in Western Europe between 2003 and 2010. Results are consistent with the recent literature and find operational gains to be significantly smaller then when buyouts were originally analyzed by Jensen (1989) and Kaplan (1989). Public firms experience an increase in raw EBITDA margin of 7.2 percentage points three years post-buyout, while a doubling of firm size yields an increase in EBITDA margin of 4.6 percentage points in year three post-buyout. Using industry-adjusted data, prior corporate form is positive and significant in year two post-buyout. Contrary to prior literature’s expectations, governance state does not impact increases in net profit margin or return on assets. My analysis offers support for the free cash flow theory, as the positive and significant effect of a public structure on EBITDA margin suggests that public firms have greater growth potential for private equity investors and more agency costs than their private counterparts.

This paper empirically explores how the introduction of Credit Default Swap (CDS) trading affects firm systematic risk. By treating the introduction as an event study and imploring propensity score matching and difference-in-differences analysis, this research finds that firm exposure to market risk increases after the introduction of CDS instruments, controlling for higher debt levels. These findings change, however, in times of financial crisis when the impact of CDS trading actually reduces systematic risk. These results show that CDS introduction enables a firm to more dramatically change its exposure to systematic risk in comparison to its counterpart to reflect market conditions.

After a decade of reforming policy, building and developing the multi-sector market economy, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam have developed strongly and contributed to creating employment, increasing GDP, and raising the nation’s volume of exports. However, SMEs have found difficulties on the way to development due to lack of management experience and financial resources, and due to uncertainty within the business environment. As a result, SMEs often faced obstacles during their operations. This thesis examines the relationship between financial management and profitability of SMEs to determine whether financial management practices and financial characteristics impact on SME profitability. Objectives of the thesis are (1) to investigate and describe features of financial management practices and financial characteristics of SMEs in Vietnam, (2) to develop and test a model of SME profitability, and (3) to contribute knowledge of the relationships between financial management and characteristics to improve SME profitability by using tools of efficient financial management. In terms of structure, the thesis has six chapters. The thesis begins by defining the research problem and questions, and providing a justification for the research study. Chapter one also reviews the research background, and presents definitions of terms, significance and scope of the study. Chapter two examines the economic background, business structure and the development of SMEs in Vietnam. This chapter also reviews previous research related to financial management for SMEs in Vietnam to identify gaps between financial management for SMEs in Vietnam and financial management for SMEs worldwide. Chapter three reviews financial management including financial management practices, financial characteristics and profitability of SMEs around the world, especially in the developed economies such as the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), Australia and Canada. This review emphasizes profitability and the impact of financial management practices and financial characteristics on SME profitability. Objectives of this chapter are to review previous research related to the areas of financial management practices, financial characteristics, and profitability of SMEs and to build a model of the impact of financial management practices and financial characteristics on SME profitability. Chapter four discusses aspects of the research methodology including research design, data collection and data analysis methods, and hypothesis testing to support the model. Objectives of this chapter are: (1) to justify the research methodology of this study, (2) to explain research methodology used in the study, and (3) to demonstrate how research design, and data collection and analysis can be utilized in this study to answer the research questions outlined in the chapter 1. Data analysis and findings are presented in chapter five. This chapter presents descriptive findings of financial management practices, financial characteristics and SME profitability and findings of the research study related to testing the model of SME profitability. Objectives of this chapter are (1) to systematically present the descriptive findings of the research study, (2) to interpret significance of these findings based on data analysis, (3) to present the results of testing the model of SME profitability, and (4) to explain how the model, developed from a literature review, was supported by data analysis. Finally, the thesis ends with chapter six where conclusions are summarized and applications of the research findings are indicated for the financial management practitioners. The thesis provides descriptive findings of financial management practices and financial characteristics and demonstrates the simultaneous impact of financial management practices and financial characteristics on SME profitability. In addition, the research study provides a model of SME profitability, in which profitability was found to be related to financial management practices and financial characteristics. With the exception of debt ratios, all other variables including current ratio, total asset turnover, working capital management and short-term planning practices, fixed asset management and long-term planning practices, and financial and accounting information systems were found to be significantly related to SME profitability. With the findings as presented above, this research study provides many implications for financial management practices and contributes to knowledge of financial management of SMEs. The model of SME profitability can be used as guidance for actions to improve the profitability of SMEs in Vietnam.

After a decade of reforming policy, building and developing the multi-sector market economy, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam have developed strongly and contributed to creating employment, increasing GDP, and raising the nation’s volume of exports. However, SMEs have found difficulties on the way to development due to lack of management experience and financial resources, and due to uncertainty within the business environment. As a result, SMEs often faced obstacles during their operations. This thesis examines the relationship between financial management and profitability of SMEs to determine whether financial management practices and financial characteristics impact on SME profitability. Objectives of the thesis are (1) to investigate and describe features of financial management practices and financial characteristics of SMEs in Vietnam, (2) to develop and test a model of SME profitability, and (3) to contribute knowledge of the relationships between financial management and characteristics to improve SME profitability by using tools of efficient financial management. In terms of structure, the thesis has six chapters. The thesis begins by defining the research problem and questions, and providing a justification for the research study. Chapter one also reviews the research background, and presents definitions of terms, significance and scope of the study. Chapter two examines the economic background, business structure and the development of SMEs in Vietnam. This chapter also reviews previous research related to financial management for SMEs in Vietnam to identify gaps between financial management for SMEs in Vietnam and financial management for SMEs worldwide. Chapter three reviews financial management including financial management practices, financial characteristics and profitability of SMEs around the world, especially in the developed economies such as the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), Australia and Canada. This review emphasizes profitability and the impact of financial management practices and financial characteristics on SME profitability. Objectives of this chapter are to review previous research related to the areas of financial management practices, financial characteristics, and profitability of SMEs and to build a model of the impact of financial management practices and financial characteristics on SME profitability. Chapter four discusses aspects of the research methodology including research design, data collection and data analysis methods, and hypothesis testing to support the model. Objectives of this chapter are: (1) to justify the research methodology of this study, (2) to explain research methodology used in the study, and (3) to demonstrate how research design, and data collection and analysis can be utilized in this study to answer the research questions outlined in the chapter 1. Data analysis and findings are presented in chapter five. This chapter presents descriptive findings of financial management practices, financial characteristics and SME profitability and findings of the research study related to testing the model of SME profitability. Objectives of this chapter are (1) to systematically present the descriptive findings of the research study, (2) to interpret significance of these findings based on data analysis, (3) to present the results of testing the model of SME profitability, and (4) to explain how the model, developed from a literature review, was supported by data analysis. Finally, the thesis ends with chapter six where conclusions are summarized and applications of the research findings are indicated for the financial management practitioners. The thesis provides descriptive findings of financial management practices and financial characteristics and demonstrates the simultaneous impact of financial management practices and financial characteristics on SME profitability. In addition, the research study provides a model of SME profitability, in which profitability was found to be related to financial management practices and financial characteristics. With the exception of debt ratios, all other variables including current ratio, total asset turnover, working capital management and short-term planning practices, fixed asset management and long-term planning practices, and financial and accounting information systems were found to be significantly related to SME profitability. With the findings as presented above, this research study provides many implications for financial management practices and contributes to knowledge of financial management of SMEs. The model of SME profitability can be used as guidance for actions to improve the profitability of SMEs in Vietnam.

Cash flow prediction is involved in a number of economic decisions, particularly in investment. Previous research conducted in the United States has provided inconsistency in the results of investigating accounting data, cash flow and accrual accounting data in predicting future cash flows. No published research has studied cash flow prediction in Thailand. The current study investigates the ability of accrual and cash flows accounting data to predict future cash flows of Thai listed companies. Three regression models are constructed namely earnings, cash flows, accrual components and cash flows models. In addition, cash flow ratios are investigated to predict future cash flows by using a stepwise regression. Data used in this study is collected from the financial statements of non-financial companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand from 1994 to 2002. Cash flow data are selected directly from the cash flow statements. The empirical results show that past earnings, cash flows, cash flow and accrual component of earnings can be used to predict future cash flows of Thai listed companies and cash flows have better predictive power than past earnings. Additionally, the cash flow model and the cash flow and accrual components of earnings model have better predictive power than the earnings model. The findings of testing the models in an out-of-sample period suggest that the cash flow model is a better predictor of future cash flows than the other models. Furthermore, additional year lags of accounting data can improve the predictive power of the model. However, the results indicate that cash flow ratios are not a good predictor of future cash flows. In addition, this study finds that the Asian economic crisis had an impact on the predictive power of accounting data.