Relative efficiency and price discovery in the two-tier Brussels stock exchange.

Until the mid-90s, the more active among the Brussels-listed stocks were traded in parallel segments: "spot" (that is, with t + 3 settlement) and "forward" (with periodic settlement at the end of a two- or three-week period). The forward market was cheaper, deeper, unhampered by price limits, convenient also for shortsales, and played by the pros; so it looks likely to be the more efficient tier. Yet a simple variance comparison, after correcting for settlement effects,finds no such effect; in fact, the forward market may actually have been the more noisy one. Going on to the issue of price discovery, which is a more formal way of testing whether the forward market is less noisy, we extend the Margrabe-Silber price-discovery model to take into account the asynchronism in the opening forward and spot prices. Although the presence of the latent true morning return in our extended model precludes us from estimating explicitly the price adjustment coefficients, we can still identify the sign of the estimated difference of these coefficients and the lower and upper bounds of its t-statistic. This information enables us to conclude on the significance of the test. Also, our results reject the potential price discoverer status of the forward market: spot prices seem more informative than forward prices. This result raises the issue of how far the financial markets perform their central function of price discovery and how far the conventional wisdom can be trusted (e.g. the more trading volume the less noise the observed price contains).

The dynamics of price discovery in the two-tier Brussels stock exchange.

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of price discovery in the Brussels Stock Exchange for the spot and forward stock markets. Specifically, we quantitatively analyze each market's process in impounding new fundamental information about a stock's value into its market price. Similar to the permanent-transitory decomposition procedure put forward by Gonzalo and Ng (2001), we use a vecm (Vector Error Correction Model) and decompose the vecm residuals into the permanent and transitory innovations. However, we adjust their procedure to accommodate for the asynchronism problem in the Brussels forward and spot stock exchange. From the impulse response functions of the derived structural cointegration model after the decomposition, we apply the price discovery measure proposed by Yan and Zivot (2007), which is the absolute magnitude of cumulative price errors in the process of reflecting a one-unit change in the permanent innovation. In particular, we investigate which market makes less errors while incorporating the full one-unit increase in the permanent innovation into its price. Our finding is that the spot market outperforms the forwards one in the price discovery process. This result contradicts the price discovery role conventionally ascribed to the forward market.price discovery; brussels stock exchange;

A note on time value in spot and forward prices on the Brussels stock exchange.

Until the mid-90s, the more active among the Brussels-listed stocks were traded in parallel segments: "spot" (that is, with t + 3 settlement) and "forward" (periodic settlement at the end of a two- or three-week period). The forward market was cheaper, deeper, unhampered by price limits, convenient also for shortsales, and played by the pros; so it looks likely to be the more efficient tier. In the forward markets, where the signal is stronger, we do find that time value affects prices. In spot markets there is very little evidence in favor or against a settlement effect, perhaps because the time value item has a very small variability. As expected, the time value signals are somewhat stronger in forward prices and noticeably so in forward premiums,but the estimates remain below our theoretical priors. We also find that price discrepancies are autocorrelated, probably indicating market inefficiency. A closer look reveals that positive forward premiums are persistent whereas negative ones vanish overnight. This is consistent with a market-imperfection explanation, where problems with raising cash (shorting money)are more important than problems with shorting stocks, thus creating preferred habitats for purchases (forward) and for sales (spot).dual markets; price discovery; settlement effect; microstructure;

In-depth functional analysis of heterochromatin protein 1 in Plasmodium falciparum

The most severe form of malaria, caused by Plasmodium falciparum, is an enormous burden for the endemic countries without any commercial vaccine available currently. P. falciparum possesses a complex life cycle, changing from different hosts and environmental conditions, and hence requires intensive and essential mechanisms for regulation of gene expression to survive and take advantage from external environments. In recent years, epigenetic control of gene expression emerged as an important mechanism to regulate expression of genes involved in virulence and sexual differentiation. Among epigenetic histone marks, histone 3 lysine 9 trimethylation (H3K9me3), which is considered the hallmark of heterochromatin formation, is recognized by an evolutionary conserved silencing factor called heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1). HP1 is a small protein consisting of three domains: two conserved domains at the N and C-terminus, namely the chromo domain (CD) and chromoshadow domain (CSD), respectively, and a variable hinge or linker domain in between them. The CD recognizes and binds to H3K9me3 to establish heterochromatin while the CSD interacts with a large number of effector proteins. HP1 possesses a number of posttranslational modifications, among which phosphorylation is highly important in regulating its functions. P. falciparum encodes only one HP1 isoform in contrast to most other eukaryotes that contain two to five HP1 paralogs. Although HP1 has been well studied in model eukaryotes, the detailed functions of each PfHP1 domain as well as PfHP1 phosphorylation in P. falciparum are poorly understood. My PhD project aimed to investigate PfHP1 function in detail using CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing combined with the DiCre/loxP system for conditional mutagenesis. The two specific objectives were (1) to uncover the roles of the individual PfHP1 domains in PfHP1 function and (2) to understand if and how phosphorylation of PfHP1 regulates its function. Both objectives focused on the three known PfHP1-dependent cellular processes: (1) the maintenance of heritable silencing and mutually exclusive expression of var genes, (2) mitotic progression of asexual blood stage parasites, and (3) sexual commitment. In the first project, I aimed to analyse the functional contribution and conservation of the CD, Hinge and CSD domains of PfHP1 using the approach mentioned above to generate PfHP1 truncation and hybrid mutant lines. I found that nuclear localization ability of PfHP1 is underlined in the N-terminal 29 amino acids (1-29) and the C-terminal 76 amino acids (191-266). The former polypeptide is supposed to have weak ability of nuclear delivery while the later one is necessary for fully targeting PfHP1 to nucleus. I also showed that an intact PfHP1 containing all three structural domains is required for heterochromatin localization and the normal asexual growth pathway of blood stage malaria parasites. Third, I successfully generated a PfHP1 knock out cell line with more pronounced phenotype that allowed massive production of more than 82% of sexual commitment rate once induced and suggested a PfHP1-independent regulatory pathway of var gene silencing during gametocytogenesis. Finally, I showed that the HP1 Hinge and CSD domains are functionally conserved between human – and rodent malaria parasites. In the second project, I aimed to address (1) the kinases phosphorylating PfHP1 and their target residues and (2) the role of selected phosphorylated residues in regulating PfHP1 function using similar approach mentioned above to generate conditional PfHP1 phosphomutant cell lines. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis of immunoprecipitated native PfHP1 showed that PfHP1 is phosphorylated mostly in the CD and hinge domains. In vitro kinase assays revealed that PfHP1 is a substrate of P. falciparum CK2 (PfCK2). LC-MS/MS analysis showed that PfCK2 targets three clustered serine residues within the PfHP1 hinge region in vitro. By generating conditional PfHP1 phosphomutant cell lines using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing and the DiCre/LoxP system, I found that PfCK2-dependent phosphorylation of PfHP1, and phosphorylation of the PfHP1 hinge domain in general, is dispensable for proper PfHP1 localization, gene silencing, parasite growth and sexual conversion. In summary, for the first time, in-depth function and functional conservation of PfHP1domains as well as phosphorylation of PfHP1 have been studied in detail in the three main PfHP1-dependent processes (var gene silencing, mitotic proliferation, sexual commitment). The experimental pipeline established in this study provides an elegant approach to interrogate function of other essential proteins. In addition, the study also provides a tool for robust production of gametocytes used in further studies on gametocyte biology or high-throughput anti-malaria gametocyte drug screen. This study is highly relevant to study pathogenesis and transmission as well as underlying epigenetic mechanisms in some other unicellular pathogenic eukaryotes since they also share common features such as changing living environments and mutually exclusive expression of surface antigens

Impact of Internal Control on the Quality of Accounting Information at Enterprises Listed on the Stock Market in Vietnam

Purpose: This study is intended to show the impact of internal control on the quality of accounting information at companies listed on the stock market in Vietnam.   Theoretical framework: We using the multivariate linear regression model between the five independent variables according to five components of internal control in the framework of the COSO 2013 and the dependent variable - accounting information quality according with four attributes namely: appropriateness, reliability, consistency and comparability, completeness and ease of understanding which was presented Susanto in 2016.   Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative research methods are used through questionnaires sent to directors and chief accountants of enterprises. The sample size is 193 valid questionnaires for the period from 2021-2022. Statistical analysis tools, testing the reliability of the scale, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple linear regression are used to evaluate the impact of internal control on the quality of accounting information.   Findings: The research results have proved that all hypotheses are accepted and internal control factors have a positive impact on the usefulness of accounting information. In which, the control environment variable has the strongest impact with the coefficient β5 = 0.276, followed by the monitoring activity variable with the coefficient β5 = 0.258. The risk assessment variable has the impact level of β2 = 0.201; the information, communication and control variables have the lowest impact with the coefficients of β4 = 0.175 and β3 = 0.141, respectively.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The study has provided a basis to confirm the relationship and direction of impact of internal control on the quality of accounting information at companies listed on the stock market in Vietnam. Thereby, this research gives some recommendations for improving the internal control of enterprises in order to improve the quality of accounting information.   Originality/value: The findings reveal that the quality of internal control plays an important role in increasing the quality of accounting information, ensuring the safety of enterprises' assets, reducing financial fraud, and improving risk prevention

Forecast of factors affecting the fair value accounting in Vietnamese listed companies

This study aims to assess the adoption of fair value accounting in Vietnam, and to forecast factors affecting the fair value (FV) application in Vietnamese listed companies. So, we used multivariate regression analysis to assess the impact of each factor on the application of fair value accounting in Vietnam, by implementing a survey of 203 accountants and directors of Vietnamese listed companies in the period from 2017 to 2019. The research results show that: for both small and medium sized enterprises and large enterprises, human resource factors have the strongest positive impact on FV application, followed by benefit factor. The factors of difficulties negatively affect this application. And, the active market factors have contradictory impacts between these two groups of enterprises. Our findings provide the significant perspectives of applying FV in Vietnamese companies, as well as different recommendations to Vietnamese policy makers in developing the legal accounting framework

The Impact of Corporate Governance on the Quality of Accounting Information: Research Based on Listed Companies on Vietnam's Stock Exchange

Purpose: This research aims to evaluate the impact of corporate governance on the quality of accounting information in listed companies on the Vietnamese stock exchange.   Theoretical framework: Corporate governance focuses on the structure of ownership, the characteristics of director and supervisory boards. The quality of accounting information is evaluated under the perspectives of information users and information auditors.   Design/methodology/approach: This research analyzes primary and secondary data from 193 listed companies as of 2021 and uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods.   Findings: The results show that the factors affecting corporate governance that have a proportional impact on the quality of accounting information include: Government ownership, Supervisory Board ownership, major shareholders ownership, number of board members, professional qualifications of the association board of directors, and that have an inverse impact is the duality between the Board of directors and the managing directors, and that have no impact are the number of members in the supervisory Board and professional qualifications of the supervisory board.   Research, Practical & Social implications: From the research results, the authors propose recommendations to improve the quality of accounting information through corporate governance.   Originality/value: The value of the study is pointing out the impact of corporate governance on the quality of accounting information in listed companies on the Vietnamese stock exchange meaningful in creating trust among users to attract investment domestically and internationally