Financial Community Research Articles

Enhancing Road Infrastructure Financing in Malawi: A Comprehensive Analysis & Recommendations

Purpose: This research study aims to critically analyze the effectiveness of Malawi’s road funding model, identify its strengths and weaknesses, and propose sustainable and innovative road funding model for improving road infrastructure financing in the country. Background: The inadequate state of road infrastructure in Malawi has hindered economic growth, connectivity, and social well-being. The existing road funding model faces challenges in generating sufficient funds for infrastructure development, maintenance, and rehabilitation. This study seeks to address these challenges and provide insights for a more effective and sustainable road financing approach. Methodology: A comprehensive mixed-methods approach was employed, combining qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Stakeholder perceptions were collected through surveys and interviews to assess the current road conditions and funding model’s performance. Budgetary evaluations and expert interviews were utilized to analyze the financial dynamics and governance aspects of road infrastructure financing in Malawi. Results: The evaluation of the road funding model highlighted a significant perception gap between desired and actual infrastructure quality, with stakeholders rating road conditions as poor. The research projected a substantial funding shortfall of US$3.5 Billion by 2037, equivalent to 28% of Malawi’s GDP, due to growing demand and inadequate financing. Despite efficient revenue collection mechanisms, the model struggled to meet infrastructure development needs. Given the critical findings of this study, the study recommends the integration of Public – Private Partnership (PPPs) to leverage private investment thereby reducing the fiscal burden on the government. Additionally, introducing a dedicated road fund sourced from multiple revenue streams such as fuel taxes, road tolls, and international donor funds could diversify and stabilize funding sources. A governance oversight committee comprising financial experts, policymakers, and community representatives should be instituted to ensure transparency and effectiveness in fund allocation and utilization

Blockchain Tokens for Enterprise Knowledge Sharing

Virtual knowledge communities have become essential platforms for enterprises to facilitate knowledge sharing. However, due to the lack of effective incentive mechanisms, the traditional virtual knowledge community is generally inefficient in attracting high-quality content and maintaining enthusiasm for users' long-term participation. To address these problems, we theoretically explore the characteristics and economic ecology of enterprise knowledge sharing based on blockchain tokens to promote its sustained development. Specifically, we examine the application scenarios of token-economy activities through system-dynamics simulation and discuss the development status and path of the economic ecology. In addition, we studied the blockchain token-based incentive and penalty mechanisms for virtual knowledge communities to better stimulate knowledge sharing. Finally, the research method is applied to the GienTech supply chain finance community website to validate the proposed model and analysis. The findings contribute to the existing literature and point enterprises in a new direction in designing more effective incentive mechanisms to improve knowledge-sharing in virtual knowledge communities.

A Life Course Perspective of Community (Non)Investment: Historical Financial Service Trajectories and Community Outcomes

A Life Course Perspective of Community (Non)Investment: Historical Financial Service Trajectories and Community Outcomes

Blockchain in Financial Services: Current Status, Adoption Challenges, and Future Vision

Blockchain is undoubtedly considered one of the most innovative technologies in financial services from the past decade. Interests in blockchain technology continue to grow on a daily basis, while many promising blockchain-enabled applications and services continue to draw financial interest in the industrial sector and the broader financial services communities. Blockchain technology has the potential to streamline lending services and banking, decrease counterparty risk, and reduce settlement times and issuance. It indeed enables authenticated documentation and anti-money laundering (AML)/Know Your Client (KYC) data, minimizing operational ventures and allowing real-time/online validation of financial documents. Furthermore, as blockchain matures, it increases the value of a diversified range of industries and institutes with a better return on investment. However, such organizations must continue to adopt rigorous approaches to enhance their financial services and regulate their policies. In this article, we discuss the current status of blockchain-enabled financial services and applications, in addition to the impacts, implications, and regulations of incorporating blockchain technology in the finance industry. We further tackle the adaptation model for blockchain technology in global banking and provide a vision for the next generation of financial services based on this emerging technology.

Online portfolio selection with predictive instantaneous risk assessment

Online portfolio selection (OPS) has received increasing attention from machine learning and quantitative finance communities. Despite their effectiveness, the pioneering OPS methods have several key limitations. First, price predictions are usually based on predetermined trends, which is inadequate for a fast-changing market patterns. Second, each asset is treated individually, ignoring the pervading relevance among the assets. Third, the risk terms are usually missing or inappropriate in optimizations. This paper proposes a novel OPS method, namely, the online low-dimension ensemble method, to overcome the limitations. Motivated by the stylized facts for the co-movements of assets, the financial market is regarded as a high-dimensional dynamical system (HDS), and a large number of low-dimensional subsystems (LDSs) are randomly generated from the HDS to extract the correlation information among the assets. The assets’ price predictions are first made using these LDSs and then aggregated to formulate the final prediction using ensemble learning techniques. Thanks to the particular merits brought by our predicting scheme, we also develop a novel high-dimensional covariance matrix estimation/prediction method for short-term data, efficiently assessing the instantaneous risk of the projected portfolios. Compared with state-of-the-art methods, our approach obtains more accurate predictions as the correlation information is fully exploited. With the predictive instantaneous risk assessment, a more appropriate optimization problem is proposed, substantially improving the OPS setting and leading to significantly better investment performance. Therefore, this study develops a flexible and promising approach to learning fast-changing market patterns and demonstrates that the high-dimensional feature of the market is a crucial information source for financial modeling with short-term data rather than a barrier in the conventional sense. Extensive experiments on real-world datasets are conducted to illustrate our method further.

Funding Models for Community-Driven Madrasah Programs in Islamic Boarding Schools

This study aims to examine the funding models for community-driven madrasah programs within Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) and how these models contribute to enhancing the quality of madrasah education. Unlike public schools, which primarily depend on government funding, madrasahs often rely on diverse sources, encouraging greater community involvement. The background of this research stems from the need to explore sustainable funding strategies that integrate contributions from various stakeholders, including the community, to ensure the continuous improvement of educational services in madrasahs. Field research was conducted at two Islamic boarding schools in Aceh Besar district with using data collection methods such as documentation, observations, and interviews. The findings show that funding for these madrasahs comes from multiple sources, including parental contributions, community support, government aid, educational foundations, independent school initiatives, and religious giving (zakat, infaq, sadaqah, and waqf). The management of these funds follows principles of transparency and accountability, which has strengthened community engagement and trust in madrasah education. This research contributes to understanding how effective financial management and community collaboration can enhance the sustainability and quality of education in madrasahs.

Digital Transformation of Zhongtian Iron and Steel Group

The overall traditional business model finds it challenging to suit customer expectations and the market for businesses as a result of the advancement of current information technology. Hence, digital reform is well-liked in the financial community. In order to fulfill the demands of customers and the market, many businesses at the forefront of the global economy have engaged in digital innovation, focusing on scientific and technology forces and working in a variety of ways for different branches including manufacturing, sales, and management. According to a brief analysis of the Chinese steel market, there is still much room for development in China's steel industry, especially in the digital transformation of China's private steel enterprises. By digitizing Zhongtian Iron and Steel Group, it can improve efficiency, increase production, and reduce costs. This paper will provide several suggestions based on the welfare analysis of digital transformation, through the three elements of digitization and in combination with the digital transformation stage of Zhongtian Iron and Steel Group itself.

Mudharabah Contract as Economic Strengthening in Indonesia (Literature Study on Islamic Financial Institutions and Community Economic Activities)

Mudharabah contracts are one of the most common Islamic finance partnerships. The mudharabah contract is currently widely used in Islamic financial institutions. However, in Indonesian society, especially in the context of local economic traditions and practices, it may not be as widely implemented as in formal Islamic financial institutions. This paper uses a type of normative research. However, it also applies a library research method that examines the literature, which is analyzed qualitatively using statutory, fiqh, and sociological approaches and Sharia economic contextual approaches in society. The main principle is that Islamic banking must be able to provide profit sharing to depositors of funds at least equal to or greater than the interest rates prevailing in conventional banks. Mudharaba contracts in financial institutions and society generally aim to achieve fairness, transparency, and sustainability in economic activities based on Islamic principles. The paper tries to find out how the concept of mudharbah contracts, both in financial institutions and in practice in society, is to ensure fairness regarding mudharabah contracts.

Gold and CoVid-19: Uncovering the safe haven hypothesis with dynamic MSR modeling

During the catastrophic Covid-19 era, numerous assets experienced a decline in their original values, leaving the financial community grappling with the implications of the pandemic. A significant concern arising from this context is whether gold emerged as the ultimate safe haven during the pandemic and whether there were any shifts in investor behavior between the two waves of the pandemic. To address these concerns, we employed relevant analytical approaches, utilizing a dynamic Markov-Switching Regression (MSR) model. Our findings indicate that during both waves of Covid-19, gold exhibited characteristics of a safe haven asset against bonds, providing a hedge against economic turmoil. However, when it comes to stocks, gold's role slightly changed. It acted as a diversifier, offering a different pattern of returns compared to equities. This highlights gold's ability to adapt to evolving market characteristics.These results emphasize the importance of conducting further research on this topic to gain deeper insights into the factors influencing gold's behavior during periods of crisis. By expanding our understanding, we can refine risk management strategies and enhance portfolio performance in turbulent market conditions.

Community- and individual-level correlates of HIV incidence in HPTN 071 (PopART).

Universal HIV testing and treatment aims to identify all people living with HIV and offer them treatment, decreasing the number of individuals with unsuppressed HIV and thus reducing HIV transmission. Longitudinal follow-up of individuals with and without HIV in a cluster-randomized trial of communities allowed for the examination of community- and individual-level measures of HIV risk and HIV incidence. HPTN 071 (PopART) was a three-arm cluster-randomized trial conducted between 2013 and 2018 that evaluated the use of two combination HIV prevention strategies implemented at the community level to reduce HIV incidence compared to the standard of care. The trial, conducted in 21 communities in Zambia and South Africa, measured HIV incidence over 36 months in a population cohort of ∼2000 randomly selected adults per community aged 18-44. Multilevel models were used to assess the association between HIV incidence and community- and individual-level socio-demographic and behavioural risk factors, as well as prevalence of detectable virus (PDV) defined as the estimated proportion of the community with unsuppressed viral load. Overall HIV incidence was 1.49/100 person-years. Communities with less financial wealth and communities with more individuals reporting having sex partners outside of the community or two or more sexual partners had higher HIV incidence. PDV at 2 years of study was 6.8% and was strongly associated with HIV incidence: for every 50% relative reduction in community PDV, there was a 49% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 37%-58%, p < 0.001) relative decrease in HIV incidence. At the individual level; socio-economic status, AUDIT score, medical male circumcision and certain sexual behaviours were associated with HIV risk. Using data from the PopART randomized trial, we found several associations of HIV incidence with community-level measures reflecting the sexual behaviour and socio-economic make-up of each community. We also found a strong association between community PDV and HIV incidence supporting the use of PDV as a tool for monitoring progress in controlling the epidemic. Lastly, we found significant individual-level factors of HIV risk that are generally consistent with previous HIV epidemiological research. These results have the potential to identify high high-incidence communities, inform structural-level interventions, and optimize individual-level interventions for HIV prevention. ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01900977, HPTN 071 [PopArt].

The impact of COVID-19 on UK community finance institutions – Implications for local economic development

UK community finance institutions play an important role in deprived neighbourhoods by serving households and businesses unable to access mainstream finance. This paper analyses the short-term effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the activities and sustainability of the community finance sector by analysing longitudinal survey data for 40 providers and follow-up interviews with 25 organisations. COVID-19 resulted in an acceleration of the shift to online service delivery and temporary and permanent branch closures among community finance institutions. Further, the demand for, and volume and value of lending fell significantly during the first lockdown only recovering by the end of the summer 2020. This resulted in lower income, greater costs and lower regulatory ratios. Smaller providers in a weak financial position with more financially vulnerable customers were worst affected by the pandemic. We argue the pandemic may reduce access to finance for the financially excluded through the intensification of the shift to online services and by increasing the risk of providers serving the poorest folding or being merged with larger providers.

Improving Understanding of Digital Financial Literacy for Pondok Pesantren Anwar Futuhiyyah Students

. Pondok Pesantrens have an important role in providing holistic education to students, covering aspects of religion, morals, academics, and daily life. Life balance in Pondok Pesantrens can support community empowerment. Exploring the potential of the pesantren community can be a valuable resource in improving literacy, especially in digital finance. The service carried out at the Pondok Pesantren Anwar Futuhiyyah was in the form of providing material and training on digital financial literacy. This service activity is expected to increase the understanding of digital financial literacy for students as an effort to increase for life skills. The implementation of service is carried out in three stages, namely initial planning, implementation of training and then conducting evaluation and feedback. In the end, it was found that more than 90% of students demonstrate a high level of comprehension when actively engaging in digital financial literacy community service programs.

EKSPLORASI PRAKTIK AKUNTANSI BERBASIS TEKNOLOGI INFORMASI DI KELURAHAN PLERET BANTUL YOGYAKARTA

Abstract This study aims to explore the information technology-based accounting practices in Pleret Village, Bantul, using an ethnomethodological approach. The research investigates the implementation of information technology, its benefits, and the challenges faced in the accounting practices of the village. The study's theoretical framework incorporates theories of social interaction and accounting practices, meaning negotiation and the use of information technology, social construction and the reality of accounting, as well as local context and accounting practices. The research employed a qualitative research design, utilizing interviews, observations, and document analysis as data collection methods. The informants included employees from the local government office, accountants or financial consultants, system users, and community stakeholders. Through an in-depth analysis of the data, the study reveals several findings. The findings of this study contribute to both empirical and theoretical knowledge. Empirically, the research provides insights into the specific context of information technology-based accounting practices in Pleret Village. Theoretical implications include a deeper understanding of the role of social interaction in shaping accounting practices, the negotiation of meaning in the adoption and use of information technology, the social construction of accounting reality, and the influence of local context on accounting practices.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Do Farmers Demand Innovative Financial Products? A Case Study in Cambodia

This study examines Cambodian farmers’ demand for weather index insurance (WII), an innovative financial product, for managing climate change-related risks. Rice and cassava farmers in Battambang Province of Cambodia were interviewed to understand their preferences for WII. We applied a binary logistic model to quantify the factors that influence farmers’ WII demand. We discovered that farmers’ marital status and off-farm labor are crucial factors that impact the demand for WII. More importantly, we also investigated gender differences, considering the critical role of women in the agricultural sector and personality differences between men and women. Our findings indicated that for male respondents, being married and having an additional off-farm laborer increase the probability of demand for WII by 72.6% and 36.8%, respectively. For female respondents, the education level is the most significant factor in making purchase decisions. An additional year of education increases the probability of WII demand by 5.0%. Generally, our results are consistent with some prior studies but inconsistent with others. This suggests that further research is necessary to understand the barriers associated with WII schemes and how to overcome them. Regardless, our study provides valuable insights for various stakeholders in implementing WII schemes, including financial professionals, insurance companies, communities, and governments, for designing more flexible WII products, improving farmers’ financial literacy, and providing effective post-event support to enhance farmers’ resilience to climate change.

Evaluating the Importance of Community Financing Schemes in Promoting Business in Financial Markets: An Analytical Study

Evaluating the Importance of Community Financing Schemes in Promoting Business in Financial Markets: An Analytical Study

Mediation and Facilitation of the Poor Society Financing Access to Microfinance Institutions

Microfinance offers loans to the poor with the aim of improving their living standards. Empowerment of microfinance becomes important and strategic through the formulation of policies and programs that are right on target. However, in its development there are still problems faced, especially the difficulty of accessing capital and financing. This study aims to examine how perceived benefits mediate the effect of microfinance accessibility on the utilization of microfinance. This study utilized a quantitative approach by using a structured questionnaire developed for the purpose in consultation with experts in the field. Survey was conducted in 2021 of 629 microfinances at Banten Province, Indonesia. Moderated regression analysis was used in data analysis. The result shows that the impact of microfinance accessibility on increasing the utilization of microfinance when the perceived benefit is maximized. This study recommends other constructs such as financial literacy, community, and population density as factors which driving microfinance growth. The results can be a reference for policy makers to further improvement of the existing policy framework and provide more opportunities for microfinance to improve its service strategy to the community.

Analisis Efektivitas Pengelolaan Anggaran Pendapatan Dan Belanja Desa (APBDes) Desa Purwosari, Kabupaten Magetan Tahun 2019-2022

This study aims to analyze the realization of the management of the Village Revenue and Expenditure Budget. Village Revenue and Expenditure Budget is an important financial instrument in managing village finances to finance various development activities and public services at the village level. In this study, we use methods to study the implementation of Village Revenue and Expenditure Budget management in different contexts. The data used includes the budget that has been allocated, the realization of expenses, and related financial reports. Apart from that, we also involved interviews with related parties such as village financial managers, village heads, and community members. The results of this study indicate that there are still some problems in managing the Village Revenue and Expenditure Budget. Some of them are a lack of understanding of the budgeting process, weaknesses in monitoring and evaluating budget use, and low community participation in decision-making processes related to Village Revenue and Expenditure Budget. In addition, there were also indications of misuse of funds and corrupt practices that needed to be followed up by the competent authorities. This study provides recommendations for improving the management of village budgets, including strengthening the capacity of village financial managers, increasing transparency and accountability in village financial reporting, and increasing participation the community in making decisions related to the management of the APBDes. It is hoped that the results of this research can provide valuable input for the village government and related stakeholders to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of Village Revenue and Expenditure Budget management in order to realize sustainable development at the village level.

A systematic literature review on community financing: Avenues for further research

A systematic literature review on community financing: Avenues for further research

Package AdvEMDpy: Algorithmic variations of empirical mode decomposition in Python

AbstractThis work presents a $\textsf{Python}$ EMD package named AdvEMDpy that is both more flexible and generalises existing empirical mode decomposition (EMD) packages in $\textsf{Python}$ , $\textsf{R}$ , and $\textsf{MATLAB}$ . It is aimed specifically for use by the insurance and financial risk communities, for applications such as return modelling, claims modelling, and life insurance applications with a particular focus on mortality modelling. AdvEMDpy both expands upon the EMD options and methods available, and improves their statistical robustness and efficiency, providing a robust, usable, and reliable toolbox. Unlike many EMD packages, AdvEMDpy allows customisation by the user, to ensure that a broader class of linear, non-linear, and non-stationary time series analyses can be performed. The intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) extracted using EMD contain complex multi-frequency structures which warrant maximum algorithmic customisation for effective analysis. A major contribution of this package is the intensive treatment of the EMD edge effect which is the most ubiquitous problem in EMD and time series analysis. Various EMD techniques, of varying intricacy from numerous works, have been developed, refined, and, for the first time, compiled in AdvEMDpy. In addition to the EMD edge effect, numerous pre-processing, post-processing, detrended fluctuation analysis (localised trend estimation) techniques, stopping criteria, spline methods, discrete-time Hilbert transforms (DTHT), knot point optimisations, and other algorithmic variations have been incorporated and presented to the users of AdvEMDpy. This paper and the supplementary materials provide several real-world actuarial applications of this package for the user’s benefit.

The role of CEO accounts and perceived integrity in analysts’ forecasts

Although holding oneself accountable is deemed important for effective leadership, CEOs tend to demonstrate a self-serving tendency when reporting their company’s performance to the financial community. Leaders do so by providing internal accounts for favorable performance and external accounts for unfavorable performance. The effects of this strategy on the financial community’s judgments of a company’s value, however, is frequently mixed. Guided by the actor-observer perspective, we propose that observers (i.e., analysts) are likely to provide higher forecasts for firms whose CEOs attribute unfavorable organizational outcomes to internal factors and favorable outcomes to external factors. Integrating this conceptual perspective with attribution theory, we predicted that CEO accounts will have a stronger influence on analysts’ forecasts when the company performs unfavorably versus favorably. Results of archival data analysis (N = 35,676 quarterly earnings conference calls) generally supported our hypothesis, and were then replicated in a pre-registered follow-up field experiment (Study 2; N = 307), showing that analysts’ perceptions of the leader’s integrity mediated the effects of CEO accounts on analysts’ evaluation of the company. The mediating role of leader integrity was only significant when the company performed unfavorably (versus favorably). The present research adds to theory on causal accounts and perceived leader integrity, while offering guidance on how leaders’ accounts can relate to observers’ evaluations of those leaders and their companies.