Accountancy and Finance
With internationally recognised undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, diverse research expertise, strong links with industry and recognition by a number of international associations and institutes, Otago has proven excellence in Accountancy and Finance education and research.
First taught at Otago in 1912, Accountancy is the oldest discipline in the School of Business. Together with Finance it is now part of the newest School of Business Department, the Department of Accountancy and Finance, established 2011.
With more than 20 academic staff and around 1300 students majoring in Accountancy or Finance, the Department is one of the largest in the School of Business.
For further information go to the Department of Accountancy and Finance.
Recent Deposits
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Closing Price Manipulation and Market Quality
This thesis examines the impact of closing price manipulation (“marking the close”) on several dimensions of equity market quality, including both the efficiency and integrity of equity markets. Marking the close is an ... -
The Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Accounting Education
This thesis presents the findings from three studies which investigate the role of self-efficacy beliefs within accounting education. Non-cognitive variables including self-efficacy have been shown to improve learning ... -
The Effect of Information Disclosure on Corporate Governance and Mutual Funds
This thesis consists of three empirical essays that investigate the impact of information disclosure on firm corporate governance and mutual fund investment. The first essay studies the direct association between media ... -
Empirical Essays on Finance and Economic Development in Ethiopia
Access to financial services has been shown to be associated with faster growth and the promotion of economic development. However, most developing countries have a fragile and under-developed financial sector that provides ... -
The relative information content of fair values and historic costs reported by U.S. banks 1986 – 2013
This thesis examines the difference in value and risk relevance of historical cost and fair value accounting information pertaining to banks in the United States of America (U.S.) between 1986 and 2013. Under U.S. Generally ... -
How Do US Options Traders "Smirk" on China? Evidence from FXI Options
Motivated by the rising attention to the Chinese equity and equity options markets, we investigate the shape and dynamics of the implied volatility (IV) curve of options written on the FXI, the FTSE/Xinhua China 50 Index ... -
VIX Futures ETNs and Their Derivatives
This thesis studies the VIX futures exchange-traded notes (ETN) (2 and 3) and their derivatives (Chapter 4). In Chapter 2, we examine the VIX futures ETN market's tracking performance, price consistency and price discovery. ... -
Creating a Modified Monopoly game for promoting students’ higher-order thinking skills and knowledge retention
While a deep understanding of basic accounting concepts is fundamental for students to fully comprehend the discipline, research has consistently found that students struggle with understanding accounting concepts and tend ... -
Performance evaluation, social influence and academics’ performance behaviours
The research detailed in this thesis analysed the performance evaluation (PE) of academics in eight New Zealand (NZ) universities. Academics are employees in these universities that are involved in teaching and research ... -
Securities Class Actions as Disciplinary Mechanisms: Debt Financing, Political Lobbying and Innovation
This thesis examines the role of securities class actions (SCAs) in corporate governance. Three empirical chapters are presented examining the relationship SCAs have with debt financing, lobbying and firm innovation. Chapter ... -
Equilibrium Asset Prices and Variance Risk Premia
This thesis studies equilibrium asset prices and variance risk premia (VRP) with three classes of models: consumption-based (Chapter 2), production-based (Chapter 3) and demand-based (Chapter 4) asset pricing models. In ... -
Microfinance Institutions’ Transparency, Governance and Risk in Sub-Saharan Africa
Several microfinance crises (e.g., in 2010 in India) and the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (2014) survey results have identified some of the major challenges facing the microfinance industry. Over-indebtedness, ... -
Process-based theory of value: a naïve approach to the axiomatic foundations of statistical activity cost analysis (SACA)
This thesis revisits the axiomatic foundations of Statistical Activity Cost Analysis (SACA). This entails discussing the applicability of Representational Theories of Measurement to accounting with the view of revising ... -
Essays on Skewness
This thesis is devoted to the study of the higher-moment risk, in particular, the skewness risk. In Chapter 2, we provide an exact formula for the skewness of stock returns implied in the Heston (1993) model by using a ... -
Design Appropriateness of Strategy Map Frameworks, Relations Underlying Early-stage Business Models, and Narrative Tests
The objectives of this research are threefold: i) assessing the design appropriateness of a strategy map framework, considering an organization’s unique strategic context, ii) identifying the types of relations existing ... -
Stock and Bond Returns, Insider Trading and Debt Covenant Violation Disclosures
This thesis investigates the effectiveness of debt covenant violations in applying disciplinary pressure onto management to protect bondholder wealth. By examining price behaviour for both bonds and stocks around debt ... -
The Impact of Risk Factors and Regulatory Change in the Returns of European Energy Utilities
This thesis examines the risk factors affecting the returns of European energy utilities. Since 1996, European energy utilities have been impacted by changing commodity dynamics and European Union (EU) -induced policy ... -
Motivation and Satisafction at Work: a study of information technology professionals
This study examines the job satisfaction, motivation, pay satisfaction and performance of information technology (IT) professionals. Situated in a large organisation, this study uses expectancy theory, adapting Nadler and ... -
Time to call noise control? The determinants of non-GAAP earnings disclosure in New Zealand and IFRS adoption
I hand-collect non-GAAP earnings disclosures made by New Zealand firms to consider whether the characteristics of disclosers are consistent with informative or opportunistic (turning up the noise) disclosure incentives. I ... -
Modeling the Dynamics of Correlations Between International Equity Volatility Indices
I show that volatility indices are more volatile than equity indices, and correlation is higher during periods of high market uncertainty. In this thesis, I consider correlation between volatility markets around the world. ...