Australian Journal of Management

An analysis of a proprietary dataset reveals that non-trivial proportions of directors, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Financial Officers in Swedish listed companies have been convicted or suspected of crimes. Based on prior literature, we argue that directors and senior executives who have been convicted or suspected of crimes are more prone to take risk. Consistent with this argument, we find that firms with more criminally convicted/suspected directors and CEOs report more volatile earnings, engage more in goodwill writeoffs due to more unsuccessful acquisitions, and recognize bad news in earnings in a less timely manner. We also find that these firms are, on average, smaller and less profitable. These findings highlight the role personal characteristics of directors and senior management play in managerial decisions.

This study investigates the governance attributes of firms that have been subject to securities class actions (SCAs). There has been a recent sizable increase in the number of firms subject to SCAs in Australia. We examine a sample of firms that have been subject to SCAs due to disclosure breaches and match the firms by industry and size to a control sample. First, we examine the compliance culture of the SCA firms via the frequency of Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) queries of the firm and find that the frequency of ASX queries is positively associated with the occurrence of a SCA. Secondly, we provide evidence that SCA firms exhibit weaker levels of corporate governance than the matched control sample. In addition, we contribute to the understanding of firms subject to SCAs and their corporate governance attributes. Our results suggest the presence of a nomination committee may be associated with higher agency costs and that the influence of CEO duality may reduce the effectiveness of a nomination committee.

Given the nature of East Asia’s economic structure, interregional exchange rate stability is an essential requirement for regional economic integration. One way to achieve exchange rate stability is for the region to adopt an anchor currency. However, the choice of a potential anchor is an important question for policy planners. This paper examines the role of 5 major currencies as candidates for an anchor currency in the East Asian region. In particular, the paper examines the dynamic linkages between a selected sample of East Asian currencies with each potential anchor currency, the Australian dollar, Japanese yen, euro, US dollar and Chinese renminbi. Utilizing a recently developed test procedure which distinguishes the long-run Granger non-causality from that in the short-run, this paper does not find any support to the much debated emergence of a yen bloc, euro bloc, or koala bloc. The empirical evidence brought forward in this paper suggests that the US dollar is still a dominant currency in the East Asian region.

This paper attempts to uncover the determinants of the dealer bid-ask spread in the foreign exchange market. Prior research has examined the Huang–Masulis model wherein the spread is modelled as a function of dealer competition and volatility. We first extend this model to a much larger set of quote data covering several currencies over five years. A more recent model of the bid-ask spread has been proposed (BSW) wherein the spread is modelled as a function of order-processing costs, inventory-holding costs, adverse selection and competition. This model has not previously been tested in the foreign exchange market and this study conducts such a test. We find general support for both models using individual currency samples and a pooled sample. Of note, we find strong evidence for the relevance of the inventory-holding premium on the size of the dealer bid-ask spread. To compare the two models we undertake out-of-sample forecasts of the spread and find evidence that favours the BSW model in the aggregated sample, while the evidence is mixed in relation to individual currencies.

In this paper we categorise accruals on the basis of how they are generated, and empirically evaluate whether this categorisation provides additional insights into future earnings and is relevant to the estimation of firm value. Specifically, we categorise accruals on the basis of whether the underlying cash flows lead or lag earnings recognition, and whether the accruals are initiating or reversing (i.e. a four-way categorisation). We demonstrate that these accrual categories are not homogeneous, have differing implications for earnings persistence and are relevant for firm valuation. Significantly, where cash flows lag earnings recognition (e.g. sales made on credit) they have greater implications for future earnings than where cash flows lead earnings (e.g. unearned revenues) and depreciation. Similarly, initiating accruals have greater implications for the persistence of earnings than reversing accruals. Paradoxically, while depreciation exhibits high persistence, it has less of an implication for the persistence of earnings than either lag or initiating earnings categories. These findings enhance our understanding of the properties of accounting income and how it is impounded into share prices.

This study extends an examination of Quality investing in the US to the Australian market. Specifically, a Quality score is computed as the aggregate of eight fundamental accounting metrics. An investment strategy investing in the highest (lowest) quality stock quintile, that is, Quintile 5 (1) generates an average annual Daniel, Grinblatt, Titman and Wermers (DGTW)-adjusted alpha of 6.37% (−7.98%), which is significant at the 5% level over April 2000–March 2010. A two-way segmentation based on size first, and quality second, reveals that the strong positive quality effect is primarily driven by small stocks, as the average DGTW-alpha for the top-quality tercile of small stocks is 14.02%, significant at the 5% level. Statistically significant positive DGTW-alphas are also determined for quality micro and large stocks. The quality analysis is also applied to a sample of Active Equity Mutual Funds’ stock holdings. Weak evidence of the quality return premium is detected at the fund level.

Our study considers whether ethical investments are also good investments. In contrast with previous studies, we utilize long-run event study methodology to examine abnormal returns associated with firms being included in, and dropped from, the MSCI KLD400 Social Index (MSCI KLD400). We find that there are positive and statistically significant long-run abnormal returns for firms being included in the MSCI KLD400. These abnormal returns are associated with higher shareholdings by institutional investors (who are subject to higher public scrutiny), higher analyst coverage and higher growth opportunities.