Finance Students Research Articles

Chinese students’ groupwork practices and experiences in China

Chinese students constitute the most rapidly growing international cohort of students enrolled in many Western tertiary settings, and it is important to understand more about their preparation for engaging with commonly used teaching approaches such as groupwork. This study investigated their attitudes and experience of groupwork while enrolled at a large Chinese university. Semi-structured and video-stimulated recall interview data were collected from 16 third-year Finance students over a 5-week field study. Results showed that this group of Chinese students experienced more out-of-class than in-class groupwork activities. These out-of-class groupwork sessions fell into three categories: (1) student initiated, (2) student league initiated and (3) teacher initiated. Students identified both individual and collective benefits from groupwork, highlighting that Chinese students value groupwork and actively seek to engage with it in the Chinese tertiary context. This study contributes to the understanding of Chinese students’ group practices in Chinese tertiary settings.

The role of ESP courses in general English proficiency

The purpose of the present paper is the study of the interaction between learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP), in particular, English for the Financial Sector, and general English proficiency. The research examines the effects of an ESP course being taught for a year on the students' general English proficiency.Two sets of tests were prepared for that purpose and administered to 30 first-year students of finance and law. The students took the placement test twice, at the beginning and at the end of the school year. To monitor test performance over a research period, a parallel form measuring the same competences was administered at the beginning of the second semester. In the test development process a special consideration has been paid to the level of difficulty and its relation to the students' prior educational context. Drawing on the National State Matura exams the test is set at Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) Level B2. As regards its content the test is comprised of reading comprehension tasks (multiple matching, multiple-choice cloze, gapped text) and grammar tasks aiming to examine lexical and grammatical competence.There were two major assumptions in this study: 1) Learning ESP can improve students' general English proficiency, and 2) There is a more substantial improvement in lexical competence as compared to the improvement in grammatical competence.There is strong evidence in support of the first hypothesis, whereas for the second one the results were ambiguous. After major findings are presented and discussed, implications for ESP teaching are given in closing.

A Practice-Based Statement of Cash Flows Learning Experience: An Initial Public Offering for Contempri Homes?

ABSTRACT This case presents intermediate-level accounting and finance students with the task of constructing a U.S. GAAP-based statement of cash flows and performing financial and non-financial analysis to inform a decision about whether a company—Contempri Homes—should undertake an IPO. Students use a rich data set of recent financial statements, financial disclosures, and financial and operating data to prepare the company's statement of cash flows, conduct analysis, and make written recommendations regarding the proposed IPO. Case learning objectives include (1) simulation of accounting practice in a realistic setting, (2) development of a holistic view of the financial statements, (3) practice in cash flows financial reporting and analysis, and (4) practice in analyzing financial and non-financial factors for decision making. The case is designed specifically for the second intermediate financial accounting course and is well suited for use in other intermediate- or advanced-level financial accounting or finance courses.

Financial Literacy and Undergraduates: A Question of Aptitude?

Our study tests whether differing profiles of students - measured according to standard socio-demographic characteristics and their financial aptitude - show different levels of financial literacy at the beginning of their university careers. It is widely acknowledged that financial literacy among the young is influenced by socio-demographic characteristics. Levering on the results of studies estimating the influence of genetic factors on financial behavior, we argue that along with demographics and experience there are unobservable variables, such as aptitude, that help explain a student’s financial literacy. We surveyed 366 Business Studies freshmen during their first few weeks at a large Italian university: in other words, our sample is composed of freshmen with no prior educational exposure to financial matters except, in some cases, a high school diploma in commercial studies or a personal interest in financial issues. After controlling for education, gender, work and financial experience, parents’ educational attainment, students of Finance showed a higher level of financial literacy with respect to their peers: thus confirming the role of financial aptitude

Financial Data Mining with Stata

Many public web sites provide valuable financial data. Twentynine Stata commands are provided for financial data mining purposes. Each command is open source and customizable. Examples are provided. These commands are of interest to investors, researcher and students of finance.

Financial Technical Analysis with Stata

Four Stata commands are provided as financial technical analysis tools: dl BollingerBands, dl MACD, dl MovingAverage, and dl RSI. Examples are provided. These commands allow researchers to backtest their own investment strategies, and will be of interest to investors, researcher and students of finance.

Sustainability + Accounting Education: The Elephant in the Classroom

Despite the growing importance of sustainability and the sustainable development agenda, and despite the growing presence of papers recognising the critical interaction between sustainability and accounting and finance (and, indeed, with all social science), there has been a relatively muted response apparent within the accounting education literature itself. This relative lack of literature may well be unexpected but what is not unexpected is the difficulty that accounting and finance teachers have in developing such demanding new ideas with accounting and finance students in the classroom. Without in any sense gainsaying the considerable impediments to innovation, this explicitly polemical essay seeks to address a more fundamental difficulty: that of the way in which sustainability is approached and represented in both the literature and the classroom itself. The contention is that, unless sustainability is ‘keeping you awake at night’, you do not understand it. The paper seeks to support this contention and then offers an example of one undergraduate course that is explicitly designed to stop students sleeping peacefully.

IDENTIFYING THE KEY CHALLENGES FACED BY INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE STUDENTS ON A WORK BASED LEARNING PROGRAMME AT A UK UNIVERSITY AND ESTABLISHING THE ACTIVES THAT WILL ADD VALUE TO THE WORK BASED LEARNING PROGRAMME FOR THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT Previous research by Falconer and Pettigrew (2003) suggests that Work Based Learning (WBL) is an effective tool in equipping students with important skills and personal qualities sought by employers and therefore WBL helps to bridge the skills gap. This study is twofold; it takes forward the work of past research by initially, investigating the key challenges faced by international (non-UK) Chinese accounting and finance students on a Work Based Learning (WBL) programme at a UK University. Secondly, it establishes and suggests the actives that will add value to the WBL experience of international students. A focus group methodology was successfully applied to collect data and information for this research study. The data from the focus group were effectively analysed using the simplified grounded theory technique which teased out key themes from the information collected. The identified themes were categorised as results for the study which forms the theory for WBL. This research found that before commencing the Work Based Learning (WBL) programme international Chinese students perceive the programme as a worthwhile experience which will enhance their future employability prospects. In anticipation of the WBL programme, the students’ two main worries are firstly, the language barrier and secondly, how easily they will fit into the working culture of a British organisation. On completion of the programme the majority of the international students concluded that WBL is an effective, active medium for the development of skills which they could not acquire in a classroom environment. They enjoyed their experience and regarded the host organisations as pleasant and friendly places in which to work. A significant number of the international Chinese students confirmed that they faced two main key challenges whilst on placement. The two challenges are firstly having insufficient language skills to communicate effectively both in writing and verbally. Secondly, their challenge was taking a longer period than they would have wished to understand and complete the tasks assigned to them. In order to add value to the experience of the international Chinese students this research suggests that the following should be embedded into the Work Based Learning experience of students; initially WBL tutors should enhance the induction programme for WBL to ensure that significant language skills are imparted to the international Chinese students, both skills of verbal and written communication should be taught to the students. Secondly, WBL tutors should provide international Chinese students with additional support while they are on placement to ensure that the students understand the tasks that have been assigned to them by placement employers. Thirdly, WBL tutors should continuously evaluate the progress of students during the placement period and establish the additional language training required and provide the training accordingly. Keywords Work Based Learning (WBL), accounting education, international students

AKM Mortgages, Inc.

ABSTRACT This case uses a real mortgage company that was once the tenth largest mortgage loan originator in the U.S. The case sheds light on some important accounting issues in the mortgage bank industry and on industry-specific business risks. Students are required to read AKM's financial statements; identify business risks associated with its business practices; find red flags from the multiple-period cash flow statements; and, finally, comment on its accounting of mortgage loans held for sale, mortgage loans held for investment, and securities. This financial statement analysis case can help senior-year accounting majors or graduate-level accounting or finance students to understand related accounting standards for the mortgage industry and probable earnings misstatements at mortgage banks. It also can serve as timely reading for students who are interested in the recent credit crisis.

A Cognitive Elaboration Model of Sustainability Decision Making: Investigating Financial Managers’ Orientation Toward Environmental Issues

This empirical paper examines individual-level cognitive factors associated with developing an orientation to sustainable development issues among a population of business practitioners from France. Across two studies, we survey 180 financial managers and 83 finance students, as well as 144 managers from other business disciplines and 117 non-finance business students. We consider ability and motivation variables integrated and adapted into a cognitive elaboration model for sustainable decision making. Specifically, we examine the degree of influence of two factors on the ethical sensitivity to sustainability: the moral maturity of the individual, and the perceived moral intensity of a sustainability issue. Our investigation offers insights into how financial managers perceive the importance of sustainability for corporate strategy.

The Benefits of Multidisciplinary Learning in Clinical Practice for Law, Finance, and Social Work Students: An Australian Experience

In July 2010, the faculties of Law, Business and Economics, and Medicine at Monash University, Australia commenced placing law, finance, and social work students in a multidisciplinary clinic at a community legal service operated by the University. Students from the three disciplines began seeing legal service clients at the same time as a team. Clients who agreed to participate were interviewed by the team of students made up of the three disciplines in order to address client issues holistically. This article canvasses some of the perceived learning benefits of this project for students and their supervisors. It investigates how and why supervision within this clinic is a unique experience for students and supervisors alike. It raises the issues of dealing with the different ethical and professional guidelines of the three disciplines. Ultimately, we conclude that multidisciplinary training may have a wide range of advantages for all parties.

Interest Groups in Electoral Politics: 2012 in Context

The paper uses data from the Wesleyan Media Project and the Wisconsin Advertising Project to compare the levels of ad spending from outside groups and traditional party organizations across seven federal election cycles. The data show clearly that outside groups advertised at historic levels in 2012. Such intense efforts send two important signals to students of American campaign finance. First, the system of limited donations to candidates and party committees faces a crisis moving forward, its efficacy and purpose challenged by huge investments from outside interests. The second lesson refers to the long debate in political science about whether parties or candidates should be the center of our electoral process. The debate is old, but it now risks irrelevancy as a collection of well-funded outside groups has asserted its role as the primary pivot point in many competitive election campaigns. The paper concludes with a consideration of possible reforms that might help restore parties and candidates to the center of issue debates in competitive federal elections.

Identifying Differences in Business Students’ Salary Expectations

The authors investigated preparedness variables affecting business students’ salary expectations by utilizing a sample of 209 finance students from a regional university and 51 students attending the Financial Management Association Leaders’ Conference in New York in 2011. Students who network more, are applying for a higher level job, and perceive their mathematical ability to be higher expect to earn more 1 and 5 years after graduation. However, students who perceive the difficulty of finding a job to be higher have lower expectations for salaries when graduating. These relationships are more pronounced for men than for women. However, female finance students expect to earn higher salaries than male finance students, holding these variables constant.

Knowledge of the Business Environment: Exploring Engagement With and Discrimination Between Business Media Among First-Year and Final-Year Students

Students’ broad knowledge of the business environment offers opportunities to lecturers to bring realism and context to disciplinary concepts; however, greater understanding of existing student practices is needed. This study compares first- and fourth-year Accounting and Finance students’ knowledge of the business environment, and their engagement with and discrimination between various business media. Using a survey methodology, data were collected from first- and fourth-year students at one university. The findings indicate fourth years have greater knowledge of the business world and levels of engagement with business media. There was no difference between years as to the level of discrimination between different media sources. The findings also indicate that males have greater knowledge of the business world than females, although there is little difference in their levels of engagement and discrimination.

Financing technology startups: an entrepreneur's dilemma

Subject area Entrepreneurship, finance, technology and innovation, general management. Study level/applicability This case is suitable for students in finance, entrepreneurship and general management. The case seeks to understand the challenges of funding in technology startups and how they vary from product to service areas. Case overview Availability of capital, short term and long term, is a major constraint faced by entrepreneurs. In India, in the technology sector, services companies have been able to innovate and grow whereas product-based companies that survived the challenges of funding have been scarce. Aluru Karthik Prasanth is presented in the case as a young entrepreneur with passion and drive to pursue the commercialization of an idea he developed during his undergraduate studies in engineering. Leaving behind the beaten paths ofMTech and employment, he decides to pursue MS entrepreneurship at IIT Madras. As he starts with his program, he analyses the challenges faced by previous technology start ups, Karthik has a dilemma – deciding whether to follow a product idea or change his plans to a technology service. Expected learning outcomes A detailed analysis of the case would help students address the following questions in entrepreneurial decision making: should an entrepreneur in technology in India pursue a product idea or service idea?. What are the pros and cons of each choice in financing? How can an entrepreneur pursue a product idea and minimize his/her risks? How does an entrepreneur's personal attributes influence his/her course? (e.g. family background, need for control) What are the challenges and opportunities in each kind of funding: debt, venture, angel, etc. in the Indian context? Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Book Review: Financing American Higher Education in the era of Globalization

William Zumeta, David W. Breneman, Patrick M. Callan, & Joni E. Finney. (20 1 2). Financing American Higher Education in the era of Globalization. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. 288 pp. $29.95 (paper). ISBN 978- 1 -6 1 250- 1 25-3 $49.95 (cloth). ISBN 978- 1 -6 1 250- 1 26-0.With the current financial crisis facing American public higher education, one is always anxious to see an analysis of what is going on and suggestions on how the crisis might be resolved. This is especially true when we realize that the four respected authors of this new volume have spent most of their professional lives thinking and reflecting on these issues. When you add to this the fact that the research underlying the volume was supported by the Lumina and Gates Foundations (it advances their access and completion agendas) and that it carries the imprint of the Harvard Education Press, we are put on notice that we should all pay attention to what these pages hold.This volume contains a good summary of our current state of knowledge about financing, not just of public higher education, but of all higher education, including the private nonprofit and for-profit colleges and universities. Much of this analysis has been presented in previous writings, but it is brought together here in a concise, readable book that could serve as a supplemental text for a course in higher education finance. Books of this nature often leave out community colleges but this one does not.The first two chapters are rich with data and go over some familiar ground. In them we see the standard arguments that global competition and changes in technology require a better-educated population. And, while the United States was a world leader in the past, it has fallen behind in recent years. Moreover, ethnic groups with historically attainment rates will need to be significantly raised up if the United States is to regain its competitive edge. Clearly, the postsecondary sector faces significant challenges in meeting these needs. In all of this, the community colleges and less-selective 4-year colleges are expected to shoulder the burden of meeting the increased demand for higher education and training but are disadvantaged because they are more constrained in their ability to raise tuition and pursue external sources of revenue.Chapter Three presents a historical perspective on the financing of higher education, concentrating on the period from 1945 to 1980, whereas Chapter Four brings that analysis up to the present. The authors show that over this 60-year period, the dominant philosophy of finance shifted from a no or low tuition policy to one promoting a greater share being borne by students or their parents and direct aid in the form of grants and loans based on the grounds of both efficiency and equity . Students of higher education finance will find that the global movement toward increased cost sharing is addressed in greater detail in Johnstone and Marcucci's, Financing Higher Education Worldwide (2010), whereas the struggle to find the right balance between revenue-generating activities and academic missions (a topic not covered in the book under review here) has been skillfully explicated in Weisbrod, Ballou, and Asch's, Mission and Money (2008).The first four chapters of Zumeta et al. set the stage for a more detailed discussion of policy issues surrounding the physical, fiscal, political, and motivational challenges confronting the financial future of higher education in the United States. Throughout, the emphasis is on broad recommendations directed at creating incentives to achieve specific goals.Chapter Five, written with the assistance of William Doyle, highlights the diversity in states systems and financing policies and identifies the key levers available to improve performance. A useful typology for grouping states with common problems is presented. Chapter Six focuses on the educational capacity of the U. …

Basic mathematics for economics, business, and finance

This book can help overcome the widely observed math-phobia and math-aversion among undergraduate students in these subjects. The book can also help them understand why they have to learn different mathematical techniques, how they can be applied, and how they will equip the students in their further studies. The book provides a thorough but lucid exposition of most of the mathematical techniques applied in the fields of economics, business and finance. The book deals with topics right from high school mathematics to relatively advanced areas of integral calculus covering in the middle the topics of linear algebra; differential calculus; classical optimization; linear and nonlinear programming; and game theory. Though the book directly caters to the needs of undergraduate students in economics, business and finance, graduate students in these subjects will also definitely find the book an invaluable tool as a supplementary reading. The website of the book – ww.emeacollege.ac.in/bmebf – provides supplementary materials and further readings on chapters on difference equation, differential equations, elements of Mathematica®, and graphics in Mathematica®, . It also provides materials on the applications of Mathematica®, as well as teacher and student manuals.

Os estilos de aprendizagem influenciam o desempenho acadêmico dos estudantes de finanças?

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/198346594544This article aims to determine whether exists a relationship between the learning styles of students of Business from Higher Education Institutions of Joao Pessoa city and academic performance in Finance disciplines. The sample consisted of 114 students and data collection was conducted through a questionnaire of closed questions. For data analysis, we used descriptive statistics, chi-square tests of independence and ANOVA. According to the results, it was found that academic performance in Finance disciplines is independent of the learning styles of students surveyed. In contrast, we found that student performance differs with the type of educational institution. On the other hand, as predicted by the literature, we found that the professional experience interferes in the learning styles of students. Therefore, although we have not revealed a dependence relation between learning styles and academic performance of students of Finance, one can conclude that the results of this study are consistent with the assumptions of Kolb (1984), whose focus on Experiential Learning.

Coping with the first fail: a strategic approach to student retention

This short report presents the findings of a pilot study conducted to tackle student attrition within year 1 undergraduate business school programmes. The approach tracks across a year of study 13 Accounting and Finance students (the business programmes with distinctly the worst attrition statistics) from a cohort of 92 who failed their very first assessment in higher education. A variety of interventions were used within an action research approach, including interviews, coaching and general academic skills support classes. 12 of these 13 ‘at risk’ students successfully passed their year of study and continued their studies within the institution. Ultimately, the study presents an alternative and strategic micro-level approach that could prove useful in the continuous efforts towards improving student retention.

Financial Innovation, Structuring and Risk Transfer

These lecture notes are about financial innovations. We ask why are there some innovation and how is an innovative idea realized. This forces us to consider practical and structural aspects (regulations, taxation, markets) as key drivers of innovations and also basic formal aspects in valuation. The notes are taken from lectures to master students in finance at the Universities of Zurich, ETH Zurich and the University of Basel.