Influencing Factors on the Choice of College Business School Major

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a variety of factors encountered by college students influence choice of college major for undergraduate business students. We examine factors including introductory courses, importance of professors, professor use of classroom resources, professor’s discussion of career and future employment options, employment potential, future earnings potential as well as personal and family characteristics of a student. These findings will provide guidance for department chairs how to staff introductory courses, and professors who have the requisite work experience to emphasize future employment options and benefits of keeping families of students informed on the profession who have interested students

Influencing Factors on the Choice of Accounting Versus Other College Business School Majors

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a variety of factors encountered by college students influence choice of accounting versus other college majors for undergraduate business students. We examine factors that include introduction to financial accounting, opinions of family members and friends of the family, the mentoring of high school teachers on career choice, and the information obtained from business people and recruiters. In addition, there is some evidence that the timing of the first major course taken by students in the sequence of business school courses may have an impact on choosing accounting versus other business majors. These findings will provide guidance for department chairs how to staff introductory courses, and professors who have the requisite work experience to emphasize future employment options and benefits of keeping families of students informed on the profession who have interested students

Airline deregulation and the impact on stock prices of major surviving carriers

This paper examines the effects of deregulation on stock price movements for the major surviving carriers in the airline industry. Linear transfer function model building procedures are used to define the dynamic relationships between price changes in the market and price changes in airline stocks. Analysis confirms that stock price changes in the airline industry are less sensitive to price changes in the market following the industry deregulation of 1978. The importance of the joint estimation of transfer function parameters and outlier effects is also illustrated.

Earnings per share versus cash flow per share as predictor of dividends per share

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the relative power of operating cash flow and earnings in the prediction of dividends. Design/methodology/approach – A linear mixed effects model is used in terms of selected model fit criteria. Findings – Based on the selected model fit criteria, cash flow per share is shown to produce a better fit than earnings per share, but it cannot be said how much better. Research limitations/implications – Quarterly CRSP and Compustat data from 2000 to 2006 for 1,902 dividend-paying firms are analyzed. Future work would need a different methodology to determine how much better cash flow is as a predictor of dividends. Practical implications – Both earnings per share and cash flow per share are found to be reasonable dividend predictors. Social implications – Additional insight is provided on modeling factors that contribute to a firm's decision to engage or disengage in a dividend payment policy. Originality/value – The study described in this paper continues work on predicting dividends per share. Results show cash flow per share is a better predictor than earnings per share. Investors and analysts predict dividends as part of their stock valuation work. This study suggests focusing attention on using cash flow per share as the predictor of dividends.Cash flow, Dividends, Earnings per share, Modelling