Credit rating agencies play an essential role in the modern financial system and are relied on by creditors and investors on the market. In the recent financial crisis, their power and reliability were often questioned, yet a simple rating downgrade could threaten to bankrupt a whole country. This book examines the governance of credit rating agencies, as expressed by their ability to fairly, ethically and consistently assign higher rates to issuers having lesser default risks. However, factors such as the drive for increased revenue and market share, the inadequate business model, the inadequate methodology of assessing risk, opacity and inadequate internal monitoring have all been identified as critical governance failures for credit agencies. This book explores these issues, and proposes some potential solutions and improvements. This will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of corporate finance, finance, financial economics, risk management, investment management, and banking.

European venture capital (VC) funds have historically underperformed their US counterparts. This has resulted in reduced investment into European VC by the traditional institutional investors. This book investigates the factors that give rise to the performance difference. It is based on the author's research at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow which involved a qualitative study of some 64 VC firms in the UK, continental Europe and the US, supplemented by 40 interviews with other stakeholders, including limited partner investors, corporate venturers, entrepreneurs and advisors. Readers will gain an in-depth understanding of the various structural, operational and wider environmental factors that impact on the performance difference between UK/European and US VC funds. The study is unique in that it provides, for the first time, a holistic and extensive analysis of the entire investment process from sourcing deals to exiting deals specifically contrasting Europe and the US in terms of the variables pertaining to the investment process and the impact on the fund performance. Factors impacting on the performance differential are structural, resulting from characteristics of the funds themselves, operational such as the investment practices of the VC firms which manage the funds and environmental such as culture and attitude to risk and the wider ecosystem in which the funds operate. These factors are set out clearly for the reader. The characteristics of the better performing funds in Europe and the US are also investigated. The book is aimed at academics who are researching venture capital fund performance and investment practices and also at practitioners, advisors and policymakers who want to learn about best VC investment practices. Whilst the book is focused on European and US VC investing, the best practices are also pertinent for VC firms and funds setting up in other geographies, particularly in emerging markets. To this end, best practice guidelines based on the research are included.

‘Packed with insights and details that will both amaze and appal you’ – Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland and Butler to the World From journalist Chris Blackhurst, Too Big to Jail unveils how HSBC facilitated mass money laundering schemes for brutal drug kingpins and rogue nations – and thereby helped to grow one of the deadliest drugs empires the world has ever seen. While HSBC likes to sell itself as ‘the world’s local bank’ – the friendly face of corporate and personal finance – it was one decade ago hit with a record US fine of $1.9 billion. In pursuit of their goal of becoming the biggest bank in the world, between 2003 and 2010, HSBC allowed El Chapo and the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most notorious and murderous criminal organizations in the world, to turn its ill-gotten money into clean dollars. How did a bank, which boasts ‘we’re committed to helping protect the world’s financial system on which millions of people depend, by only doing business with customers who meet our high standards of transparency’ come to facilitate Mexico’s richest drug baron? And how did a bank that as recently as 2002 had been named ‘one of the best-run organizations in the world’ become so entwined with one of the most barbaric groups of gangsters on the planet? Too Big to Jail is an extraordinary story, brilliantly told by writer, commentator and former editor of The Independent, Chris Blackhurst, that starts in Hong Kong and ranges across London, Washington, the Cayman Islands and Mexico, where HSBC saw the opportunity to become the largest bank in the world, and El Chapo seized the chance to fuel his murderous empire by laundering his drug proceeds through the bank. It brings together an extraordinary cast of politicians, bankers, drug dealers, FBI officers and whistle-blowers, and asks what price does greed have? Whose job is it to police global finance? And why did not a single person go to prison for facilitating the murderous expansion of a global drug empire?

This essential research review discusses the most important articles on executive compensation published in the twenty-first century. Beginning with an overview of executive compensation, this comprehensive review includes analyses of the growth and magnitude of executive compensation, its relationship with corporate governance, pay and performance, managing assets, and managing liabilities.

Women-owned firms represent an increasingly important segment of the small business sector. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 7.8 million women-owned firms in the United States in 2007, generating $1.2 trillion in revenues and providing employment for 7.6 million people. "A Rising Tide" presents the financial strategies that have helped today's bold and creative women entrepreneurs to succeed.
The authors take a lifecycle approach in discussing the issues and strategies for different types of women-owned firms, from nascent and home-based firms to growth-oriented and technology-based enterprises. Each chapter includes real-world cases studies featuring women entrepreneurs as a way to bring the book's lessons to life.
Uniquely, this book ties together the latest research on financing women-owned businesses and its implications for actual or potential entrepreneurs. Drawing on the Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal survey of over 4,000 new firms, the authors are able to provide particularly useful conclusions, making this a must read for the thousands of women who are starting or may start businesses in the next few years.
Click here to view the book trailer.

Women-owned firms represent an increasingly important segment of the small business sector. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 7.8 million women-owned firms in the United States in 2007, generating $1.2 trillion in revenues and providing employment for 7.6 million people. "A Rising Tide" presents the financial strategies that have helped today's bold and creative women entrepreneurs to succeed.
The authors take a "lifecycle approach" in discussing the issues and strategies for different types of women-owned firms, from nascent and home-based firms to growth-oriented and technology-based enterprises. Each chapter includes real-world cases studies featuring women entrepreneurs as a way to bring the book's lessons to life.
Uniquely, this book ties together the latest research on financing women-owned businesses and its implications for actual or potential entrepreneurs. Drawing on the Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal survey of over 4,000 new firms, the authors are able to provide particularly useful conclusions, making this a must read for the thousands of women who are starting or may start businesses in the next few years.
Click here to view the book trailer.

Drawing on the principles of welfare economics and public finance, this second edition of Cost-Benefit Analysis: Theory and Application provides the theoretical foundation for a general framework within which costs and benefits are identified and assessed from a societal perspective. With a thorough coverage of cost-benefit concepts and their underlying theory, the volume carries the reader through the steps of a typical evaluation process, including the identification, measurement, and comparison of costs and benefits, and project selection. Topics include alternative measures of welfare change, such as the concepts of consumer surplus and compensating and equivalent variation measures, shadow pricing, nonmarket valuation techniques of contingent valuation and discrete choice experiment, perspectives on what constitutes a theoretically acceptable discount rate, the social rate of time preference, income distribution, and much more. The book also focuses on real-world applications of cost-benefit analysis in two closely related areas-environment and health care-followed by an examination of the current state of the art in cost-benefit analysis as practiced by international agencies.

First published in 1992, The Efficiency of New Issue Markets provides a comprehensive overview of under-pricing and through this assess the efficiency of new issue markets. The book provides a further theoretical development of the adverse selection model of the new issue market and addresses the hypothesis that the method of distribution of new issues has an important bearing on the efficiency of these markets. In doing this, the book tests the efficiency of the Offer for Sale new issue market, which demonstrates the validity of the adverse selection model and contradicts the monopsony power hypothesis. This examines the relative efficiency of the new issue markets which demonstrates the importance of distribution in determining relative efficiency.

This comprehensive new study examines the impact of the 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act on firms that file under Chapter 11 and on investors who own shares or bonds in financially distressed corporations. Demonstrating that high average returns often accompany wise investment choices concerning bankrupt firms, the authors explain how to spot potential investment targets, assess investment risk, and profit from investing in firms undergoing reorganization following a bankruptcy filing. Both individual and institutional investors looking for new investment opportunities and students of corporate finance and financial management will find important new insights into the investment potential of financially distressed firms. Investing in Financially Distressed Firms represents a good buy for those who would like to hunt bargains in the broken angel sector of the market. "Journal of High Yield Bond Research"

This comprehensive new study examines the impact of the 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act on firms that file under Chapter 11 and on investors who own shares or bonds in financially distressed corporations. Demonstrating that high average returns often accompany wise investment choices concerning bankrupt firms, the authors explain how to spot potential investment targets, assess investment risk, and profit from investing in firms undergoing reorganization following a bankruptcy filing. The legal issues involved in investing in bankrupt firms, the environment within which the bankrupt firm operates, and the relationship between stock market efficiency and bankrupt firms also receive thorough coverage. Both individual and institutional investors looking for new investment opportunities and students of corporate finance and financial management will find here important new insights into the investment potential of financially distressed firms.

The volume begins with an introduction which sets the stage for the discussion that follows by describing the reasons for the increasing rates of corporate bankruptcy in the 1980s. The authors go on to explore the incentives for investing in bankrupt firms and offer pointers for investors considering such a move. In order to provide the reader with the tools necessary to evaluate potential investment opportunities, the authors also describe the reasons for corporate financial failure, the effects of reorganization on a firm, the differences between old and new bankruptcy laws, and the legal settlement of bankruptcy claims. An analytical model for predicting successful reorganization--and thus a potentially lucrative investment target--is described and illustrated as are models of stock market efficiency. The study concludes with four detailed case studies that illustrate the process of bankruptcy and the possible investment outcomes. The text is accompanied by numerous explanatory tables and figures.

First published in 1992, The New York Stock Exchange is an informative library resource. The book begins with a history of the stock exchange, and offers a series of annotated bibliographies devoted to dictionaries and general guides, directories, bibliographies, general histories, and statistical sources. The book provides important coverage of the stock market crashes of 1929 and 1987 and the appendices offer a useful collection of data, including a directory of serial publications, listings of abstracts and indexes, online databases, and CD-ROM products. This book will be of interest to libraries and to researchers working in the field of economics and business.

The acknowledged bible on investor relations

Investor relations is an essential facet of any publicly traded company, inevitably affecting its stock price, investments, and liquidity. Maximizing Your Investor Relations provides practical guidance needed to master this complex undertaking and advocate persuasively on your company's behalf to achieve greater recognition and value. Comprehensive and thoughtful, it focuses on controlling the day-to-day mechanics of investor relations to more effectively compete for capital.

BRUCE W. MARCUS (Easton, Connecticut) has held senior executive positions with Mobil Corporation, Arthur Young & Co., and Coopers and Lybrand. SHERWOOD LEE WALLACE (Northbrook, Illinois) is President and CE of the Investor Relations Company.

This book addresses the impact of the vast international debt on the position and volatility of the Eurodollar and provides a unique insight into the economics surrounding the Eurodollar. It is intended for those working or studying in the fields of business and economics.

This book critically analyses how arbitration cases, institutional rules and emerging codes of conduct in the international arbitration sector have dealt with a series of key arbitrator duties to date. In addition, it offers a range of feasible and well-grounded proposals regarding investment arbitrators' duties in the future. The following aspects are examined in depth: the duty of disclosure the duty to investigate the duty of diligence and integrity , which in turn may be divided into temporal availability, a non-delegation of responsibilities, and adhering to appropriate behaviour the duty of confidentiality, and other duties such as monitoring arbitration costs, or continuous training . Investment arbitration is currently undergoing sweeping changes. The EU proposal to create a Multilateral Investment Court incorporates a number of ground-breaking developments with regard to arbitrators. Whether this new model of permanent "members of the court" will ever become a reality, or whether the classical ex-parte arbitrator system will manage to retain its dominance in the investment arbitration milieu, this book is based on the assumption that there is a current need to re-examine and rethink the main duties of investment arbitrators. Apart from being the first monograph to analyse these duties in detail, the book will spark a crucial debate among international scholars and practitioners. It is essential to identify arbitrators' duties and find consensus on how they should be reshaped in the near future, so that these central figures in investment arbitration can reinforce the legitimacy of a system that is currently in crisis.

Written by leading experts in the field of business, finance, law and economics, this edited volume brings together the latest thoughts and developments on turnaround management and business rescue from an academic, judiciary and turnaround/insolvency practitioner perspective. Turnaround Management and Bankruptcy presents different viewpoints on turnarounds and business rescue in Europe. Presenting a state-of-the-art review of failure research in finance, such as on bankruptcy prediction, causes of decline, or distressed asset valuation. It also presents the latest insights from turnaround management research as well as giving a contemporary insight into law debates on insolvency legislation reform, cross-border judicial issues, bankruptcy decision-making by judges and competition policy in distressed economies. Finally, the book provides a regional and sector perspective on how the current crisis affects Europe, its government policies and industry performance. In this way, the volume presents a modern, interdisciplinary and scholarly overview of the latest insights, issues and debates in turnaround management and business rescue, developing a European perspective in an attempt to redress the predominance of an American orientation in the academic literature. It aims at a wider audience interested in turnarounds and failure, such as faculty and students in the fields of law, business, economics, accountancy, finance, strategic management, and marketing, but also at judges, insolvency practitioners, lawyers, accountants and turnaround professionals, as well as the EU and government officials, staff of trade unions and employer's associations.

This book presents a wide range of tools and techniques used in entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets. Among them, venture capital is perhaps the best known, understood, and researched mode of entrepreneurial finance. However, a significant focus of the book is dedicated to other modes of entrepreneurial finance such as 'bootstrapping,' angel financing, bank financing, and other alternative means of financing, which could include government assistance programs, business incubation, technology parks, or family financing. In addition, the book highlights how new and innovative financial technologies (comprised of software, business processes, and other modern technologies), known under the term of FinTech, may support, enable, and enhance the provision of different modes of entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets. The book also discusses entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets in the context of women entrepreneurs. A comprehensive analysis of entrepreneurial finance in emerging market countries, this book will appeal to academics, researchers, and students of entrepreneurial finance, venture capital and private equity, entrepreneurship, and international business.

From bestselling author Glen Arnold, this is a jargon-busting book that describes how financial markets work, where they are located and how they impact on everyday life. It assumes no specialised prior knowledge of finance theory and provides an authoritative and comprehensive run-down of the workings of the modern financial system. Using real world examples from media such as the "Financial Times," Arnold gives an international perspective on the financial markets with frequent comparisons in the workings of major financial centres such as the Bank of England and the City, the Federal Reserve System and Wall Street, the Japanese Central Bank, the European Central Bank and IMF and World Bank.

The role of information is central to the academic debate on finance. This book provides a detailed, current survey of theoretical research into the effect on stock prices of the distribution of information, comparing and contrasting major models. It examines theoretical models that explain bubbles, technical analysis, and herding behavior. It also provides rational explanations for stock market crashes. Analyzing the implications of asymmetries in information is crucial in this area. This book provides a useful survey for graduate students.

This volume presents the proceedings of the 4th International Scientific and Practical Conference on Digital Economy and Finances (DEFIN22) at the Saint-Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics (UMTE), which took place in March 2022. It includes the newest research on the impact of new digital technologies on the growth and capitalization of companies and the labor market. The volume discusses the problems of situational modeling of economic processes and the creation of "digital twins" of enterprises. The contributions analyse how big data and artificial intelligence technologies are shaping the financial markets.

Jim Paul's meteoric rise took him from a small town in Northern Kentucky to governor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, yet he lost it all -- his fortune, his reputation, and his job -- in one fatal attack of excessive economic hubris. In this honest, frank analysis, Paul and Brendan Moynihan revisit the events that led to Paul's disastrous decision and examine the psychological factors behind bad financial practices in several economic sectors.

This book -- winner of a 2014 Axiom Business Book award gold medal -- begins with the unbroken string of successes that helped Paul achieve a jet-setting lifestyle and land a key spot with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It then describes the circumstances leading up to Paul's $1.6 million loss and the essential lessons he learned from it -- primarily that, although there are as many ways to make money in the markets as there are people participating in them, all losses come from the same few sources.

Investors lose money in the markets either because of errors in their analysis or because of psychological barriers preventing the application of analysis. While all analytical methods have some validity and make allowances for instances in which they do not work, psychological factors can keep an investor in a losing position, causing him to abandon one method for another in order to rationalize the decisions already made. Paul and Moynihan's cautionary tale includes strategies for avoiding loss tied to a simple framework for understanding, accepting, and dodging the dangers of investing, trading, and speculating.

This volume analyses corporate insolvency law as a coherent whole, stemming from common fundamental principles and amenable to being justified or criticised on that basis. The author explains why consistency of principle must be sought and how it might be found in the relevant statutory and case law. He then constructs an egalitarian theory for the analysis of corporate insolvency law, based on the premise that all the parties affected by this law are to be treated as equals. He argues that this theory can reconcile the dictates of fairness with the demands of economic efficiency. The theory is employed to analyse some of the most important aspects of insolvency law. Why should the individualistic method of enforcing claims against solvent companies give way to a collective method during insolvency? Why are there different formal mechanisms for dealing with troubled companies? What role does the pari passu principle play in the distribution of an insolvent company s assets? The controversial issues of whether and when secured creditors should be accorded priority over others receive detailed consideration. The functional role of the floating charge and its relationship with receivership are also analysed in this context. The many questions relating to the operation of the new administration procedure introduced by the Enterprise Act 2002 are considered in the light of principle. The book also analyses the role of the wrongful trading provisions. It examines, finally, why insolvency law objects to certain transactions at an undervalue and those having a preferential effect. This volume aims to enhance understanding of this important branch of the law, and to suggest principled solutions to problems which have not yet received judicial attention.

Over the past decades, the total value of executive compensation packages has been rising dramatically, contributing to a wider pay gap between the chief executive officer and the average worker. In the midst of the financial turmoil that brought about a massive wave of corporate failures, the lavish executive compensation package has come under an intense spotlight. Public pressure has mounted to revise the levels and the structure of executive pay in a way that will tie more closely the executive wealth to that of shareholders. Merger and acquisition (M&A) activities represent an opportune setting for gauging whether shareholder value creation or managerial opportunism guides executive compensation. M&As constitute major examples of high-profile events prompted by managers who typically conceive them as a means for achieving higher levels of pay, even though they are frequently associated with disappointing returns to acquiring shareholders. Mergers and Acquisitions and Executive Compensation reviews the existing empirical evidence and provides an integrative framework for the growing body of literature that is situated at the intersection of two highly debated topics: M&A activities and executive compensation. The proposed framework structures the literature along two dimensions, such as M&A phases and firm's role in a M&A deal, allowing readers to identify three main streams of research and five different conceptualizations of causal relationships between M&A transactions and executive compensation. The book makes a comprehensive review of empirical studies conducted to date, aiming to shed more light on the current and emerging knowledge in this field of investigation, discuss the inconsistencies encountered within each stream of research, and suggest promising directions for further exploration. This book will appeal to researchers and students alike in the fields of organizational behavior and governance as well as accounting and accountability.

This book provides coherent theoretical and empirical analysis of firms' investment and financing decisions. It assesses the role of uncertainty, financial imperfections, corporate governance and taxation. Evidence is obtained using several unique and high quality microeconomic data-sets, which explore features seldom addressed. Overall, the empirical results confirm theoretical precedents. Some firms are indeed financially constrained, for fixed investment as well as for R&D projects. The 'free cash-flow' hypothesis holds, that is managers divert excess funds away for their own interests, but less so in closely controlled companies. In accordance with the real option theory, the results suggest that uncertainty leads firms to adopt a 'wait and see' strategy which eventually reduces investment, especially for irreversible investment. Corporate governance features are shown to affect managers, discipline and companies' restructuring plans. Finally, different tax reforms are evaluated, and an alternative tax structure that would stimulate growth is proposed. Scholars, including those with an interest in microeconomics and econometrics, and staff within central banks and national and international organisations will also find the book of interest, as will policymakers and decision-makers concerned with the role of financing, corporate governance and taxation on firm's decisions.

This package includes MyLab Finance. Students, if MyLab Finance is a recommended/mandatory component of the course, please ask your instructor for the course ID. MyLab Finance should only be purchased when required by an instructor. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information. Taking an international perspective to corporate finance, the latest edition of Corporate Finance and Investment is a highly-regarded and established text for students who want to understand the principles of corporate finance and develop the key tools to apply it. With its focus on strategic issues of finance in a business setting, this text uses the latest financial and accounting data, articles and research papers to effectively demonstrate how, and to what extent, the theory can be applied to practical issues in corporate finance.

A clear and accessible guide to finance, which provides the ideal introduction for the non-specialist. Packed with examples and case studies, the book features numerous real-world demonstrations of key concepts and ideas. This new edition includes coverage of ESG investing, a brand new chapter on digital currencies and electronic payments, and new case studies on sustainability versus profit maximization, environmental financing, socially responsible investing, the rise of fintech, the perils of cryptocurrency, global debt pressures and 'the rise of the South' in finance. The fourth edition will be supplemented by useful digital resources in the form of instructor PowerPoint slides and a testbank of questions for students.