Duration Measures for Corporate Project Valuation

Sensitivity analysis is a very common exercise performed with the forecasting of project cash flows. In this paper, a duration-type measure is generated that provides a single number for the assessment of project cash flows relative to changes in the discount rate (or adjusted for changes in a particular cash flow model parameter). The calculation is no more difficult than the duration measures that already exist for bonds. Yet, the calculation provides valuable insight that many times is lost when performing sensitivity analysis. Further, at a minimum, the measure provides a gauge for the consequences of mis-specifiying the discount rate for a project

Do CEOs and Principal Financial Officers Take a Bath Separately or Together?: An Investigation of Discretionary Accruals Surrounding Appointments of New CEOs and PFOs

This study presents the first targeted examination of changes in financial reporting surrounding the appointment of both new CEOs and Principal Financial Officers (PFOs). We identify companies that appoint new CEOs and PFOs in the period 1995 to 2002 and find that the change in discretionary accruals is negative and significant in the year of hire (from t-1 to t) for firms appointing a new CEO or both a new CEO and PFO (i.e., the big bath ), but not for firms appointing only a new PFO. We also find that firms appointing both executives in the same year report significant increases in discretionary accruals in the subsequent year (from t to t+1) and for the combined two-years surrounding the joint appointments (from t-1 to t+1). However, similar increases are not found for firms hiring only one of these executives. Additional analyses indicate that our results are robust when examining other discretionary financial reporting choices (i.e., special items, extraordinary items and discontinued operations), and that the type of compensation contract offered by the firm (i.e., having a high bonus component ) is not significantly related to the changes in discretionary accruals surrounding these appointments. Our findings contribute to the corporate governance and executive turnover literature and provide evidence of a heightened financial reporting effect when firms concurrently appoint both new CEOs and PFOs

Improving Pro Forma Analysis through Better Terminal Value Estimates

Basic pro forma analysis often estimates the terminal value input using a simple growing perpetuity assumption. While this assumption is easy to implement, it potentially creates an upward bias in some inputs leading to lower firm or project value outputs. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a more accurate way to estimate the terminal value input. Further, by allowing for multiple sales growth rates and by not restricting other input variables to necessarily grow at these same rates, a more accurate, flexible, compact, and thorough analysis is possible

Tackling concentrated worklessness: integrating governance and policy across and within spatial scales

Spatial concentrations of worklessness remained a key characteristic of labour markets in advanced industrial economies, even during the period of decline in aggregate levels of unemployment and economic inactivity evident from the late 1990s to the economic downturn in 2008. The failure of certain localities to benefit from wider improvements in regional and national labour markets points to a lack of effectiveness in adopted policy approaches, not least in relation to the governance arrangements and policy delivery mechanisms that seek to integrate residents of deprived areas into wider local labour markets. Through analysis of practice in the British context, we explore the difficulties of integrating economic and social policy agendas within and across spatial scales to tackle problems of concentrated worklessness. We present analysis of a number of selected case studies aimed at reducing localised worklessness and identify the possibilities and constraints for effective action given existing governance arrangements and policy priorities to promote economic competitiveness and inclusion

Are Cover Stories Effective Contrarian Indicators?

Headlines from cover stories are collected over a twenty year period from Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes to determine if positive stories are associated with superior future performance and if negative stories are associated with inferior future performance for the featured firm (when compared to an index or to another firm within the same industry and of the same size). Statistical testing implies that positive stories generally indicate the end of superior performance and negative news generally indicates the end of poor performance

Relationship of functional gastrointestinal disorders and psychiatric disorders: Implications for treatment

This article revisits the links between psychopathology and functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), discusses the rational use of antidepressants as well as non-pharmacological approaches to the management of IBS, and suggests guidelines for the treatment of IBS based on an interdisciplinary perspective from the present state of knowledge. Relevant published literature on psychiatric disorders, especially somatization disorder, in the context of IBS, and literature providing direction for management is reviewed, and new directions are provided from findings in the literature. IBS is a heterogeneous syndrome with various potential mechanisms responsible for its clinical presentations. IBS is typically complicated with psychiatric issues, unexplained symptoms, and functional syndromes in other organ systems. Most IBS patients have multiple complaints without demonstrated cause, and that these symptoms can involve systems other than the intestine, e.g. bones and joints (fibromyalgia, temporomandibular joint syndrome), heart (non-cardiac chest pain), vascular (post-menopausal syndrome), and brain (anxiety, depression). Most IBS patients do not have psychiatric illness per se, but a range of psychoform (psychological complaints in the absence of psychiatric disorder) symptoms that accompany their somatoform (physical symptoms in the absence of medical disorder) complaints. It is not correct to label IBS patients as psychiatric patients (except those more difficult patients with true somatization disorder). One mode of treatment is unlikely to be universally effective or to resolve most symptoms. The techniques of psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy can allow IBS patients to cope more readily with their illness. Specific episodes of depressive or anxiety disorders can be managed as appropriate for those conditions. Medications designed to improve anxiety or depression are not uniformly useful for psychiatric complaints in IBS, because the psychoform symptoms that sound similar to those seen in psychiatric disorders may not have the same significance in patients with IBS

Releasing Information in XBRL: Does It Improve Information Asymmetry for Early U.S. Adopters?

Information released in XBRL is intended to improve the quality and accessibility of SEC filings, leading to less information asymmetry in the equity market. Research findings on the effects of XBRL on information asymmetry in the US., however, are mixed. Kim et al. (2012) reports that XBRL reduces information asymmetry while Blankespoor et al. (2012) reports that XBRL increases information asymmetry. In contrast to these prior studies, we report that the answer as to whether XBRL affects information asymmetry is matter of firm size. In this study we examine shifts in two measures of information asymmetry for early adopters of XBRL in the US. Specifically, we find that the bid-ask spreads of early XBRL adopters significantly decrease after they adopt XBRL; yet, we find no overall change in trading volume associated with XBRL filings for early adopters. However, when examining the larger early adopting firms, we find evidence of reduced information asymmetry (bid-ask spreads significantly decrease and trading volume significantly increase). Our results generally support the SEC requirement of XBRL formatted financial information on the grounds that it may reduce information asymmetry of large filers in the US. equity market

Episodic memories among irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients: An important aspect of the IBS symptom experience

Objective: Some IBS patients possess detailed memories of the events surrounding their bowel symptom onset ( episodic memories ). In this exploratory study we sought to: (1) examine memory relationship with gastrointestinal (GI) symptom severity, extraintestinal symptoms, and mood; (2) qualitatively explore memory valence and content in IBS patients with or without episodic memories. Methods: Referral IBS patients Results: 14/29 (48.3%) of IBS subjects endorsed episodic memories of IBS symptom onset, often GI infections/enteritis (35.7%). Recall of the exact year (69%) and month (60%) of symptom onset were common. Episodic memories were associated with greater IBS symptom severity/bother, higher anxiety/depression, and poorer HRQOL. Though AMT and SCEPT memory specificity were not different based on episodic memories, overgeneralization to negatively-valenced cues in the AMT was associated with more severe IBS in those without episodic memory. Qualitative analysis revealed no observable differences in topic focus of IBS patients with and without episodic memories. Conclusions: IBS patients often endorse episodic memories associated with symptom onset, and this recall seems to associate with more severe symptoms. Overgeneralization responses to negative stimuli may lead to worse bowel symptoms in those without episodic memories. IBS memory specificity may associate with qualitative differences in processing psychosocial experiences and might be important to IBS pathophysiology

Automated Prediction of Preferences Using Facial Expressions

We introduce a computer vision problem from social cognition, namely, the automated detection of attitudes from a person's spontaneous facial expressions. To illustrate the challenges, we introduce two simple algorithms designed to predict observers’ preferences between images (e.g., of celebrities) based on covert videos of the observers’ faces. The two algorithms are almost as accurate as human judges performing the same task but nonetheless far from perfect. Our approach is to locate facial landmarks, then predict preference on the basis of their temporal dynamics. The database contains 768 videos involving four different kinds of preferences. We make it publically available

The influence of inlet modifications, geologic framework, and storms on the recent evolution of Masonboro Island, NC

Masonboro Island is a 13 km long undeveloped barrier island located within a sand deficient southwestern portion of Onslow Bay. The island is situated along major storm tracks and is chronically impacted by tropical and extra-tropical storm events (HOSIER and CLEARY, 1977). The response of the island to storms is a function of the pre-storm condition of the island, the lack of sand in the offshore environment, the influence of adjacent inlets, and the underlying geology (CLEARY et al., 1999). Masonboro Island provides an exemplary setting to study changes in barrier island morphology and shoreline change in response to inlet modifications, geologic framework, and storm impact because the island is undeveloped, remains relatively unnourished, and is flanked by two modified inlets. A GIS based study utilizing aerial photography was used to ascertain shoreline change occurring during 1938 – 2002. The island was divided into a northern, central, and southern segment based on distinct erosional characteristics. Masonboro Island experienced island wide erosion during the 64-year study period. The northern segment, which includes the fillet adjacent to Masonboro Inlet, eroded an average distance of 43 m. The central segment had net shoreline erosion of 110 m, while an area of shoreline within the central reach that was perched on a paleo-interfluve eroded only 106 m. The greatest amount of shoreline change was 164 m of erosion, which occurred along the southern segment of the island adjacent to Carolina Beach Inlet. Short-term analysis (1.3 yr.) of a 2.5 km section of the island/estuary related the influence of a small Pleistocene interfluve to morphological changes within the area. Vibracore data from the estuary behind this area indicate that the Holocene fill is relatively shallow and ranged in thickness from greater than 4 m over the infilled valleys to less than 1.5 m over the interfluves. The network of interfluves extends from the mainland, beneath the estuary, and is overridden by the island. Survey data indicate that the shoreline perched on the interfluve was restricted to ~17 m of erosion compared to an average of ~30 m to either side. The profile of this entire section was lowered in elevation, and approximately 53,000 m3 of material were removed from the area. The lowered profile made this section of the island increasingly vulnerable to overwash. The coarse grained nature of existing washover fans prevented the regrowth of new dunes. Petrologic analyses indicated that the source of the coarse grained material was a sandy limestone found along the shoreface of the southern two-thirds of the island. Further analyses indicated that the limestone was similar in nature to the coquina facies of the Neuse Formation intermittently exposed in the region