Natural disasters: blessings in disguise?

This study examines the impact of natural disasters on market returns and on several industries that are likely to be affected by the disasters. We find that different natural disasters have different impacts on the returns of the market and on those of industries. Our evidence suggests that while earthquake, hurricane and tornado could negatively affect market returns several weeks after the events, other disasters such as flood, tsunami and volcanic eruption may have limited impact on market returns. We also find that construction and materials industry is positively affected by natural disasters but nonlife and travel industries are likely to suffer when a natural disaster strikes

Impact of Corporate Governance on Financial Practices of New Zealand Companies

This study examines the effects of firm level corporate governance on financing policiesof New Zealand firms. Using a unique self-constructed corporate governance index andemploying the methodology of Fama and French (1999) of financing of firms, we can reportthat firms with weak corporate governance generally issue more debt and have significantlyhigher cost of capital than do firms with strong governance. It is further observed thatcorporate governance does not have significant impact on dividend policy in New Zealand

RANCANG BANGUN APLIKASI ELECTRONIC STANDARD LESSON PLAN (ESLP) DALAM MENINGKATKAN KETERAMPILAN MEMBUAT PERENCANAAN PEMBELAJARAN

Dalam aspek kompetensi guru profesional terdapat kompetensi pedagogik, di mana guru harus memiliki kemapuan mengelola pembelajaran peserta didik yang salah satunya perancangan dan pelaksanaan pembelajaran. Rencana Pelaksanaan Pembelajaran (RPP) merupakan salah satu komponen dalam perencanaan pembelajaran. Tetapi dari 27 guru hanya 9 orang yang mencapai kriteria cukup dalam penilaian RPP. Dalam penelitian lain terdapat aplikasi yang membantu meningkatkan kompetensi pedagogik dalam aspek pelaksanaan pembelajarannya, dan belum terdapat fitur yang membantu meningkatkan dalam aspek perencanaan. Penelitian ini menjawab masalah diatas. Penelitian ini merancang sebuah aplikasi yang bernama Electronic Standard Lesson Plan (ESLP). Aplikasi ini dapat membantu meningkatkan kemampuan membuat RPP. Aplikasi ESLP telah dilengkapi fitur penilaian RPP, feedback kesalahan yang terjadi ketika pembuatan RPP, serta telah memiliki fitur Application Programming Interface (API). Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah: 1) Aplikasi ESLP dinilai baik digunakan. Didapatkan nilai rata-rata presentase sebesar 75% oleh instruktur Pendidikan Profesi Guru (PPG), sehingga aplikasi ini dapat dikategorikan baik. 2) Peningkatan keterampilan pengguna meningkat setelah menggunakan aplikasi ESLP. Hal ini dibuktikan dengan rerata gain sebesar 0.68 yang di interpretasikan dalam kategori sedang. 3) Penerimaan yang diberikan pengguna terhadap aplikasi ESLP ini sangat baik, antusiasme pengguna dalam menggunakan aplikasi ini pun cukup tinggi, hal ini dapat dibuktikan dari hasil instrumen Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) didapat presentase sebesar 89.9, dapat dikategorikan sangat baik. 4) Aplikasi dapat mengeluarkan data komponen RPP lewat Applicatoin Programming Interface (API) dengan standard API yang dimiliki framework laravel agar bisa berinteraksi dengan aplikasi lain. In the aspect of professional teacher competences, there is pedagogical competence, where teachers must have the ability to manage the learning of students, one of which is the design and implementation of learning. The lesson plan is one component of learning planning. However, there are studies that out of 27 teachers only 9 people reached the criteria sufficient in the assessment of the lesson plan. In other studies, there are applications that help improve pedagogical competence in the aspects of implementing learning, and there are no features that help improve planning aspects. This research answers the problem above. This research designed an application called Electronic Standard Lesson Plan (ESLP). This application can help improve the ability to make lesson plans. The ESLP application has been equipped with an RPP assessment feature, feedback errors that occur when making RPPs, and also has an Application Programming Interface (API) feature. The results of this study are: 1) The application of ESLP is considered good to use. Obtained an average value of 75% by the Teacher Professional Education instructor, so that this application can be categorized with the category of "Good". 2) Improved user skills are increased after using the ESLP application. This is evidenced by the average gain of 0.68 which is interpreted in the medium category. 3) The reception given by users of the ESLP application is very good, the enthusiasm of users in using this application is quite high, this can be proven from the results of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) instrument obtained a percentage of 89.9, which can be categorized very well. 4) The application can issue RPP component data via Applicatoin Programming Interface (API) with standard API owned by laravel framework so that it can interact with other applications

Cross border mergers and acquisitions and default risk

Using a cross-country sample of mergers and acquisitions, we examine the role of cultural, institutional, geographic and managerial factors on post-merger default risk. We find that cultural factors, especially the relative difference in uncertainty avoidance between the acquiring and target country, play a significant role in affecting post-merger default risk. Furthermore, we find that institutional quality affects the post-merger default risk of acquiring firms. In contrast to the prior research we do not find any evidence indicating that managerial incentives drive post-merger default risk changes. Also, we do not find any evidence indicating the relevance of geographic distance on default risk

The role of internal and external certification mechanisms in seasoned equity offerings

When conducting their seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), US firms have been increasingly relying on shelf offering or accelerated offering rather than non-shelf offering or traditional book building, the predominant issuance methods in the past. Previous studies find that the unpopularity of shelf or accelerated offering in the past is due to the under-certification problem. Therefore, the change in firms’ preferred issuance methods suggests that firms must have obtained adequate certification through various ways. In this paper, we study several potential internal and external certification mechanisms that issuers can utilize and explore their roles in the SEO process. We find that the internal certification via sound corporate governance affects firms’ choice of the issuance method between shelf (accelerated) and nonshelf (non-accelerated) offerings, while the external certification through acquiring high-quality auditing services impacts the issuance costs

Corporate governance and the variability of stock returns: evidence from New Zealand companies

In this paper, we document the beneficial impact of firm level corporate governance practices on the riskiness of firms’ stock returns. Using a self-constructed corporate governance index, we show that well-governed New Zealand firms experience lower levels of unsystematic risk, ceteris paribus. In particular, our results show that corporate governance components such as board composition, shareholder rights, and disclosure practices are associated with lower levels of unsystematic risk

PENGARUH MODEL QUANTUM LEARNING BERBASIS PENDEKATAN NILAI TERHADAP PENGUASAAN KONSEP DAN SIKAP SISWA PADA KONSEP SISTEM SARAF

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat pengaruh penerapan model quantum learning berbasis pendekatan nilai terhadap penguasaan konsep dan sikap siswa pada konsep sistem saraf. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah Quassy Experimental dengan desain Pretest-Posttest Nonequivalent Control Group Design. Instrumen penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini terdiri dari dua jenis yaitu tes objektif dan angket skala sikap. Penelitian dilakukan kepada kelas eksperimen yang diberi perlakuan dengan model quantum learning berbasis pendekatan nilai serta kelas kontrol menggunakan metode konvensional. Sampel pada penelitian ini adalah 27 siswa kelas XI IPA 1 (eksperimen) dan 27 siswa kelas XI IPA 4 (kontrol) di SMA Negeri 2 Sumedang. Masing-masing kelas diberikan pretest dan postest. Hasil pretest penguasaan konsep siswa melalui uji U Mann-Whitney menunjukkan tidak terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan antara kedua kelas [sig. (2-tailed) = 0,648 > α /2 = 0,025], sedangkan untuk hasil postest penguasaan konsep siswa melalui uji yang sama menunjukkan adanya perbedaan yang signifikan antara kedua kelas [sig. (2-tailed) = 0,000 α /2 = 0,025], sedangkan untuk hasil postest sikap siswa melalui uji yang sama menunjukkan adanya perbedaan yang signifikan antara kedua kelas [sig. (2-tailed) = 0,000 < α /2 = 0,025]. Untuk N-gain, kelas eksperimen memiliki nilai indeks gain lebih besar daripada kelas kontrol, yakni sebesar 58.81% (kategori sedang) untuk kelas eksperimen dan 25.74% (kategori rendah) untuk kelas kontrol. Dengan demikian dapat disimpulkan bahwa penerapan model quantum learning berbasis pendekatan nilai memberikan pengaruh yang lebih baik terhadap penguasaan konsep dan sikap siswa pada konsep sistem saraf. Kata kunci : quantum learning, penguasaan konsep, pendekatan nila

Perancangan komunikasi visual kampanye periklanan Soundmax Plus Golden Eye

Periklanan adalah sebuah media promo sebuah produk dengan berbagai positioning yang diberikan guna meraih angka penjualan sesuai dengan target yang sudah ditetapkan. Dengan demikian, perancangan komunikasi visual kampanye periklanan Soundmax Plus Golden Eye bertujuan untuk memberikan wawasan kepada masyarakat secar luas sesuai dengan target sasaran yang sudah ditetapkan

Accruals: signalling or misleading? Evidence from New Zealand

Studies on earnings management usually hypothesise that managers manage accruals opportunistically. Few studies however, argue that managers can also use accruals to improve the value relevance of reported earnings to help investors better assess the firm's operating performance. While substantial evidence on managers' opportunistic behaviour on accruals has been documented in the literature, empirical evidence on the informativeness of accruals is scarce and inconclusive. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether managers use accruals to communicate private information regarding the firm's operating performance, or as reported in the literature, use them for their own benefit. This thesis finds that on average, firms reporting high earnings accompanied by high accruals have significantly negative subsequent period stock returns suggesting that these firms manage their accounting earnings. Focusing on stock dividend issues as an incentive to opportunistically increase accruals, the results are found to be consistent with the earnings management hypothesis. Stock dividend issuing firms are reported to significantly increase accruals in the issue year followed by poor earnings and stock price performances in the subsequent year. Moreover, discretionary accruals of the issuing firms are negatively correlated with both future earnings and abnormal stock returns. This evidence attempts to complement the earnings management literature. The analysis on the incentive to decrease accruals related to share repurchases, however, does not provide sufficient evidence to suggest that managers use their discretion to decrease accruals. To investigate the hypothesis that managers use accruals to convey information regarding their firm's future profitability, this thesis employs the contemporaneous earnings and dividend announcements as the research setting. This choice was made to increase the likelihood of detecting the use of accruals as private information communication while simultaneously mitigating the likelihood of the opportunistic income smoothing hypothesis to explain the results. The evidence strongly indicates that managers use both accruals and dividend increases as their private information communication regarding their firm's future profitability. Dividend increasing firms report positive accruals which are positively correlated with future profitability. This finding contributes to the literature by providing evidence on the accrual signalling hypothesis. Overall, the results of this thesis suggest that, depending on the incentives, managers can use the discretion accorded under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in estimating accounting accrual, either to manage accruals opportunistically or to help investors better assess the firms' operating performance

Net Buying Pressure and Informed Trading in the Options Market: Evidence from Earnings Announcements

By employing the modified net buying pressure as a measure of informed option trading, this study tested whether option trading around quarterly earnings announcements is either directionally motivated and/or volatility motivated. We found evidence that is consistent with the idea that option investors have private information prior to positive earnings announcements and use at-the-money options to exploit their informational advantage. In the post-event period, however, informed option investors trade by using deep-out-of-the-money and out-of-the-money options. We documented limited evidence on the volatility-motivated option trading, and our results suggest that this type of option trading could be motivated by hedging purposes only