7k word assignment.

Coventry University 385ACC (Part-time)

Advanced Study for Accounting and Finance

ASSIGNMENT 2019

Coursework Submission Coursework should be submitted on given dateline in electronic format, via Turnitin and a hard copy submitted to the Lecturer for second-marking. Coursework Assignment This is an Individual written assignment. Prepare a report for about 7,000 words (+/- 10%)

Learning Outcomes Assessed The intended learning outcomes are that on completion of this project the student should be able to: 1) Work independently, but with tutor guidance, on a project of their choice. 2) Synthesise a wide range of academic literature in order to evaluate critically current

research and contemporary issues in accounting or finance. 3) Utilise and apply relevant accounting and finance models, theories and concepts in order

to produce a properly researched written report. 4) Gather and organise evidence and draw appropriate conclusions based on a sound

understanding of the models, concepts and theories utilised. 5) Produce clear and coherent written work, supported by appropriate references to the

sources used (using the Coventry Harvard method of referencing).

Other Information:

• Assignments should not exceed 7,000 words. Please include a word count at very end of the assignment.

• Title page, TOC, bibliography and further appropriate and relevant appendices do not count towards the word limit. A 10% deduction (pro-rata) will be made from your mark for every 1,000 words over this limit (i.e. 1% if 100 words over limit etc).

• Coursework assignments should not be copied in part or in whole from any other source, except for any clearly marked up quotations. Students found copying from internet or other sources will get zero marks and may be excluded from the university.

• You can refer to the attached marking scheme to understand the criteria for the marking of your courework.

385ACC - Assessment Criteria

Guidelines for what would be expected from a project at each particular level. Note that not every criterion phrase need apply. Your mark will be a matter of balance.

1ST 70 - 100

The project is well structured and communicated. It is coherent and shows an excellent level of synthesis and/or evaluation with clear signs of originality and insight. Has read beyond the immediately relevant reading.

2:1 60 – 69

The project has worthwhile aims and objectives clearly expressed and an appropriate methodology. Clear evidence of independent inquiry and critical judgement in selecting, ordering, analysing and synthesising. Has read the immediately relevant literature and, to a limited extent, beyond.

2:2 50 – 59

Aims and objectives clearly expressed. Some appropriate theory plus an attempt at analysis but with only basic linkages made between theory and analysis. Has read enough of the immediately relevant literature to be credible.

3RD 40 – 49

Makes only a basic attempt to answer a central research question. Lacks focus and only a weak attempt at analysis. Has read some of the immediately relevant literature but their command of the subject area is not thorough. Referencing may be poor but there is no question of plagiarism.

MARGINAL FAIL 35 – 39

Fails clearly to ask a worthwhile central research question. Essentially descriptive work with negligible added value. Shows only limited understanding and application of ideas. Little evidence of having read the immediately relevant literature. Very poor referencing, (e.g. lists of web-sites alone). Weak evidence that relevant subject knowledge has been properly understood. There may be significant errors in logic or fact.

POOR FAIL 0 - 34

Poorly organised, superficial and descriptive with negligible understanding of the issues involved and clearly inadequate analysis. No evidence of having grasped the immediately relevant literature.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, if proved, reduces the mark to zero, but poor referencing also loses many marks.

Students are allowed to use the research topic identified by your earlier

module or they could choose from one of the topic listed below or topics

approved by your supervisor.

385ACC Advanced Study for Accounting and Finance Dissertation Topics

No. Topics

1. Corporate Reporting

2. Finance and Banks

3. Financial Institutions

4. Contemporary Accounting

5. Internal Auditing

6. External Auditors and Fraud

7. Forensic Audit

8. Risk Management Process

9. Corporate Governance

10. Corporate Social Responsibility (Corporate Sustainability) and Stakeholders

11. Accountants’ Ethics (Does Board's Independance Matters?)

12. Impact of interest rates and exchanges rates on stock prices

13. Islamic Banking in the modern world

14. Impact of Non-Audit Services provided by external auditors

15. Fundamentals in stock market

16. Mergers and Acquisitions in various industries

17. Tax impact on countries’ economy

18. Goods and Services tax – a burden to the people?

19. Accounting and Modern Technology

20. Earnings Management

21. Forecasting Exchange Rates

22. Sports Finance

23. Competition, Efficiency and Stability in Banking

24. Personal Finance

25. General Financial Accounting

26. Calendar Effects

Dissertation Topics

Topic 1 Corporate Reporting

Topic Background:

A corporate report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the

preceding year. Corporate reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested

people information about the company's activities and financial performance. The primary

objective of corporate reporting is to provide useful information for decision making.

Example research questions could include:

• To examine the issue of integrated reporting in international reporting regime. • The feasibility of harmonization of financial reporting. • Corporate governance in areas of audit, financial and management reporting, etc. • Executive remuneration corporate governance, discretionary accruals, etc. • Corporate responsibility in environmental and social accounting. • Narrative reporting in qualitative research in social issues.

Topic 2 Finance and Banks

Topic Background:

The aim of Finance and Banks is to provide an outlet for the increasing flow of scholarly

research concerning financial institutions and the money and capital markets within which

they function. The emphasis is on theoretical developments and their implementation,

empirical, applied, and policy-oriented research in banking and other domestic and

international financial institutions and markets. The purpose is to improve communications

between, and within, the academic and other research communities and policymakers and

operational decision makers at financial institutions - private and public, national and

international, and their regulators.

Example research questions could include:

• To investigate the empirical relationships between the effectiveness of financial markets in international and domestic financial and non-financial sectors.

• To examine the role of communication among different stakeholders for effective decision making in banking and finance.

• To assess the impact of internet on banking and finance. • Examine the openness of the banking and financial sectors in your country. • To examine the effect of Brexit on the European Union.

Topic 3 Financial Institutions

Topic Background:

A financial institution is an establishment that conducts financial transactions such as

investments, loans and deposits. Almost everyone deals with financial institutions on a

regular basis. Everything from depositing money to taking out loans and exchanging

currencies must be done through financial institutions.

Example research questions could include:

• Examine the roles and functions financial institutions play in the society. • Choose a financial institution product to examine their features in off-balance sheet

disclosure.

• Opportunistic behaviors in disclosure of intangibles. • Power and rumours in financial sector. • Politics in financial institutions.

Topic 4 Contemporary Accounting

Topic Background:

Contemporary Accounting Research is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research

on all aspects of accounting's role within organizations, markets, or society.

Example research questions could include:

• Firms’ characteristics on average shares returns. • Ownership concentration, family control and audit firm choice. • Political connection and audit quality. • Effects of Asian Financial Crisis on audit quality. • Audit Committee and audit quality.

Topic 5 Internal Auditing

Topic Background:

Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to

add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its

objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the

effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.

Example research questions could include:

• The influence of audit accountability in internal audit. • Expertise, public interest and risk governance in internal audit role. • Management control system – an internal audit perspective. • Corporate governance and internal audit. • Internal audit in developing countries.

Topic 6 External Auditors and Fraud

Topic Background:

In light of the recent economic crises and the corporate scandals of the early 2000’s, the role

of the external auditor as a deterrent to corporate failure has been the subject of much

discussion. Issues like auditor independence, and audit mechanisms /processes are now at the

forefront of debate. Also the role of the external auditors in relation to fraud detection and

reporting is increasingly being challenged, as well the auditor’s liability.

There is also much debate about whether the audit market is functioning effectively and

whether there is adequate competition as the large accounting firms dominate the market.

Example research questions could include:

• Does the audit opinion/report have an impact on share price movements? • Do Audit Committees have a significant role to play in corporate financial reporting? • The cost of the SOX requirements versus audit quality. • Can the audit firms continue in their current form offering audit and consultancy

services to their clients or should audit firms be separate?

• Should the audit market be more closely regulated?

Topic 7 Forensic Audit

Topic Background:

A forensic audit is an examination and evaluation of a firm's or individual's financial

information for use as evidence in court. A forensic audit can be conducted in order to

prosecute a party for fraud, embezzlement or other financial claims.

Example research questions could include:

• A stakeholder view of forensic audit • Empirical evidence of forensic audit on fraud detections. • The effectiveness of forensic audit in financial, management and audit reports. • The effects of forensic audit on audit opinions. • The impacts of forensic audit on share price on the company.

Topic 8 Risk Management Process

Topic Background:

Risk Management is the systematic application of management policies, procedures and

practices to the tasks of establishing the context, identifying, analyzing, assessing, treating,

monitoring and communicating. It is an iterative process that, with each cycle, can contribute

progressively to organizational improvement by providing management with a greater insight

into risks and their impact.

Example research questions could include:

• What was the effect of the financial crisis on bank’s and country’s credit ratings? • What main factors determine the estimation of credit rating models?

Topic 9 Corporate Governance

Topic Background:

Corporate governance continues to be a hugely topical issue in finance. From the corporate

failures of the likes of Polly Peck in the 1980s and Enron in 2001, up to the current

controversy over bankers pay, it is subject rarely out of the news.

The issue of how companies are controlled focuses on mechanisms such as the board of

directors, executive pay structures, the use of consultants, levels of disclosure, regulation and

codes of practice (e.g. Cadbury, Greenbury, Hampel). The underlying idea being that good

governance should ultimately lead to long term gains for shareholders.

Example research questions could include:

• Do firms with larger boards perform better? • Is there a link between the pay of directors and the performance of their company? • What factors determine the level of corporate disclosure? • What can be early fraud detection measures taken by a company?

Topic 10 Corporate Social Responsibility (Corporate Sustainability) and Stakeholders

Topic Background:

There has been increasing attention on the importance of corporate social responsibility

(CSR) reporting worldwide. While the number of academic studies in this area has increased

substantially in recent years, there does not seem to be any clear consensus concerning

whether engaging in outlays on corporate social and environmental reporting, perhaps as part

of the corporate social responsibility agenda of a company, is conducive to augmenting

capital market returns or otherwise (Murray et al, 2006). It is however suggested that on

average, socially responsible firms may yield higher stock returns than socially reprehensible

firms (Brammer et al, 2006). In any case, enhanced capital market performance remains a

strong potential driver for firms to engage in good corporate social performance as well as

CSER activities.

The European Commission (2001) defines corporate social responsibility as "a concept

whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations

and in their interaction with stakeholders on a voluntary basis." The efficient markets

hypothesis suggests that information regarding a company’s social and environmental

performance should be reflected in the stock market. It is also suggested that enhanced

corporate social responsibility should lead to enhanced returns (Brammer & Pavelin, 2006).

A research study that examines CSER practices at the firm level in specific industries will

help shed light on any possible relationship between the quality of a firm’s CSER and its

capital market performance.

Example research questions could include:

• What is CSR reporting? How different is that to conventional corporate reporting? • Does a company’s quality of CSR reporting affect the company’s financial

performance?

• What are the incentives for firms to engage in corporate social activities? • When is it feasible for firms to engage in profit-sacrificing CSR? • How does the interaction of competition and regulation shape the nature of corporate

social responsibility?

Topic 11 Accountants’ Ethics (Does Board's Independance Matters?)

Topic Background:

Accounting ethics is primarily a field of applied ethics and is part of business ethics and

human ethics, the study of moral values and judgments as they apply to accountancy. It is an

example of professional ethics. Accounting introduced by Luca Pacioli, and later expanded

by government groups, professional organizations, and independent companies. Ethics are

taught in accounting courses at higher education institutions as well as by companies training

accountants and auditors.

Example research questions could include:

• Does stakeholder pressure influence company Greenhouse Gas emission? • Audit perspective on under-reporting on time. • Linguistic performance on audit opinions. • The Impact on National Culture on Interpretation of uncertain expressions in financial

and audit reports.

• What makes a board independent?

Topic 12 Impact of interest rates and exchanges rates on stock prices

Topic Background:

Stock exchange and interest rate are two crucial factors of economic growth of a country. The

impacts of interest rate on stock exchange provide important implications for monitory

policy, risk management practices, financial securities valuation and government policy

towards financial markets. Show empirical relationship between stock index and interest rate

for developed and developing countries like Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, Colombia,

Germany, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippine, S. Africa, Spain, or

Venezuela. Stationarity of market return is tested and found none of this stock market follows

random walk model, means not efficient in weak form. To investigate the reasons of market

inefficiency, relationship between share price and interest rate, and changes of share price

and changes of interest rate determined through both time series and panel regressions.

Example research questions could include:

• Firms’ characteristics and risk, distress risk and average stock returns on share prices. • Impacts of monetary and fiscal policies on stock prices. • Continuous disclosure and information asymmetry on forensic accounting

Topic 13 Islamic Banking in the modern world

Topic Background:

Islamic banking is banking or banking activity that is consistent with the principles of sharia

(Islamic law) and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics. As

such, a more correct term for Islamic banking is sharia compliant finance.

Sharia prohibits acceptance of specific interest or fees for loans of money (known as riba, or

usury), whether the payment is fixed or floating. Investment in businesses that provide goods

or services considered contrary to Islamic principles (e.g. pork or alcohol) is also haraam

("sinful and prohibited"). Although these prohibitions have been applied historically in

varying degrees in Muslim countries/communities to prevent un-Islamic practices, only in the

late 20th century were a number of Islamic banks formed to apply these principles to private

or semi-private commercial institutions within the Muslim community

Example research questions could include:

• Audit fee determination and client loyalty in Islamic audit • Audit fee and rotation: An Islamic perspective • Propensity for carbon disclosure in the Islamic world • The concept of risk from the Islamic perspective • Factors associated with students’ performance in accounting and auditing in the

Islamic countries

Topic 14 Impact of Non-Audit Services provided by external auditors

Topic Background:

The emergence of professional service firms in recent years has resulted from a growing

demand from businesses for specialist advice to help them achieve business advantage in an

increasingly competitive market place.

Much of this advice is requested from audit firms, first because auditors are trained to

understand the dynamics of a business from an external perspective and also because

independent viewpoint can often shed light on problems that may appear intractable from

within an organization.

Example research questions could include:

• Services required by legislation or contract to be undertaken by the auditors of the business.

• Services that it is most efficient for the auditors to provide because of their existing knowledge of the business, or because the information required is a by-product of the

audit process.

• Services that could be provided by a number of firms. In this case, the fact that the

firm is the auditor is incidental and it would generally only be chosen because, for

example, it had won a tender process.

Topic 15 Fundamentals in stock market

Topic Background:

The general implication of stock market efficiency is that markets receive new information

about all aspects that affect stock prices but prices adjust with such speed that investors are

not capable of realizing above-average trading profits by trading on that information.

Tests of the validity of the EMH have been carried out in most of the stock exchanges all

over the world. A comprehensive review of the literature illustrates that even when one sort

of test (the serial correlation coefficient test, the run test, the variance ratio test, etc.) rejects

the random walk hypothesis, other tests may not. For example, tests may show monthly

prices follow a random walk, but weekly prices or daily prices may not. Alternatively, the

returns on indexes for a very long period may be shown to be independent whilst the returns

on indexes for sub-period may be dependent. Therefore, applying a variety of tests to

different types of data and comparing the results on the bases of similar sort of data and test

implements will improve the accuracy of the study.

Topics that might be covered in this type of study include tests of the EMH (Weak, Semi

strong or Strong form), stock volatility issues or the implications of behavioral finance.

Example research questions could include:

• Evaluating market efficiency by testing for the random walks in stock prices • Can technical analysts generate abnormal gains? • Do actively managed funds outperform the market?

Topic 16 Mergers and Acquisitions in various industries

Topic Background:

Many firms continue to use mergers and acquisitions as an alternative to organic growth as a

means of expanding company activities. They can be particularly useful when firms seek

entry into new markets (geographic or product) or when the benefits from economies of scale

large. Mergers tend to categorized as vertical, horizontal or conglomerate and can be funded

either from retained earnings, or by issues of either debt or equity.

There is an extensive literature on mergers, ranging from the motivations behind such

activity, the success (or otherwise!) of mergers, to in-depth case studies of particular,

generally high profile mergers.

Example research questions could include:

• Do mergers actually create shareholder value? • Why do mergers fail? • Does the way a merger is funded determine its likely success?

Topic 17 Tax impact on countries’ economy

Topic Background:

The structure and financing of a tax change are critical to achieving economic growth. Tax

rate cuts may encourage individuals to work, save, and invest, but if the tax cuts are not

financed by immediate spending cuts, they will likely also result in an increased federal

budget deficit, which in the long-term will reduce national saving and raise interest rates.

The net impact on growth is uncertain, but many estimates suggest it is either small or

negative. Base-broadening measures can eliminate the effect of tax rate cuts on budget

deficits, but at the same time, they reduce the impact on labor supply, saving, and investment

and thus reduce the direct impact on growth. They may also reallocate resources across

sectors toward their highest-value economic use, resulting in increased efficiency and

potentially raising the overall size of the economy. Results in the literature suggest that not

all tax changes will have the same impact on growth. Reforms that improve incentives,

reduce existing distortionary subsidies, avoid windfall gains, and avoid deficit financing will

have more auspicious effects on the long-term size of the economy, but may also create trade-

offs between equity and efficiency.

Example research questions could include:

• Impact of various forms of tax on the common people. • Impact of various forms of tax on businesses.

• Impact of a country’s economy at Global scale. • Recent examples of major impacts of tax on countries globally.

Topic 18 Goods and Services tax – a burden to the people?

Topic Background:

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a consumption tax imposed on the sale of goods and

services. In some countries it is also called Value Added Tax (VAT). It is a new tax

instrument introduced by the Malaysian government soon, estimated in 2012 would be the

soonest year of implementation (Customs Department, 2010). The introduction of GST in

Malaysia has called many arguments from various parties including academics, professionals

and the nation (would become the taxpayers) on how GST affect goods prices-increase or

decrease. The onus of GST is to replace the current Sales Tax and Service Tax in line with

the government policy of conforming policies of AFTA.

Example research questions could include:

• Counties benefitting from GST, reasons and impacts on the economy. • Recent introduction of GST bill in countries and the future of the country. • Some examples of country with no GST and their global presence.

Topic 19 Accounting and Modern Technology

Topic Background:

The biggest impact IT has made on accounting is the ability of companies to develop and use

computerized systems to track and record financial transactions. IT networks and computer

systems have shortened the time needed by accountants to prepare and present financial

information to management. This system allows companies to create individual reports

quickly and easily for management decision making. Other capabilities of computerized

accounting systems are: Increased Functionality, Improved Accuracy, Faster Processing, and

Better External Reporting.

Example research questions could include:

• The shift from manual to digital storage and calculation of ledgers. • Security threats when data stored on the cloud. • Accuracy of information, manual vs digital. • How modern technology is changing the way accountants work.

Topic 20 Earnings Management

Topic Background:

Earnings management continues to be a topical issue in finance. Why and how companies

manipulate earning figures? Prior studies on earnings management have identified several

reasons, including income smoothing (Moses, 1987; Yoon and Miller, 2002b), management

compensation (Healy, 1985; Gaver et al., 1995; Holthausen et al., 1995), ownership control

(DeAngelo, 1986, 1988; Perry and Williams, 1994), equity offerings (Loughran and Ritter,

1995; Loughran and Ritter, 1997; Rangan, 1998; Teoh et al., 1998; Yoon and Miller, 2002a)

and political costs (Liberty and Zimmerman, 1986; Jones, 1991; Cahan, 1992; Maydew,

1997; Han and Wang, 1998). Previous researches on earning management have focused on

accrual-based earning management and recent studies shift to real transaction-based earnings

management.

Example research questions could include:

• Do firms manipulate earnings through real transaction during the period of seasoned equity offering, and how?

• Is the relationship between accrual-based earnings management and real transaction- based earnings management substitute or complement?

• What is the relationship between earnings management and firm value?

Topic 21 Forecasting Exchange Rates

Topic Background:

The purpose of this research is to investigate the application of different forecasting methods

to predict the exchange rates of advanced, emerging and frontier market economies. To date,

research on forecasting exchange rates has tended to focus mostly on advanced economies.

Little attention has been paid on emerging and frontier market currencies and this research

fills a major gap in the literature. The motivating factors for the examination of foreign

exchange volatility are twofold. Firstly, like all other financial markets the market for foreign

exchange has large temporal variations in volatility. Secondly, recent years have seen the

development of models of conditional heteroscedasticity, which have been proven to be

highly satisfactory tools to describe the phenomenon of heteroscedasticity in residuals over

time.

The prime reason for focusing on emerging and frontier markets exchange rates derives from

the fact that the financial linkages between these markets with global economy have risen

significantly in recent decades. It is believed that advanced economies are the main

participants in the financial globalization process, but emerging and frontier markets have

also started to participate. Emerging and frontier markets often receive foreign direct

investment (FDI) and other financial flows from advanced economies. Mauro et al. (2006)

stated that capital flows from advanced to emerging and frontier countries have significantly

increased since the mid-1990s. This dramatic increase in capital flows to emerging and

frontier countries has created new challenges for policy makers, academics, investors,

individual firms and various agents for these countries. Exchange rate volatility plays a

significant role in this financial globalization process. So as to manage this process

effectively, it is very important for the policy makers and various agents to be able to

generate accurate forecasts of exchange rates and their anticipated volatilities. Thus, it would

be of great importance to investigate whether established time series models, econometric

models or a combination of both models perform equally well for emerging and frontier

countries.

Example research questions could include:

• To check whether the volatility is present in emerging and frontier countries exchange rate series.

• To examine whether the traditional univariate volatility models, used widely and successfully in the literature in relation to advanced countries, could perform equally

well in emerging and frontier countries.

• To investigate the impacts of good and bad news shocks upon advanced, emerging and frontier markets currencies exchange rates.

• To investigate the long- and short-run relationships of exchange rates with macroeconomic fundamentals and subsequently to examine exchange rates’ speed of

return to equilibrium.

• To compare the forecasting performance of a causal econometric approach with time series approaches in the context of advanced, emerging and frontier markets exchange

rates.

Topic 22 Sports Finance

Topic Background:

With the ever increasing commercialization of sport, sports finance has rapidly grown to

become an area of finance in its own right. General areas of research in this field could

include the funding and/or financial legacy of major sporting events, a comparison of the

American and European financing models or the impact of regulation on sport funding.

Football has arguably the highest profile of all sports and in recent years the financial

performance of football clubs has increasingly come under close scrutiny. Many clubs in the

English Premier League are accused of spending too much on wages and salaries and being

dependent on borrowed money or money from the sale of television rights. Added to this are

the inflated prices paid for the transfer of players. There is a huge amount being written on

this topic, and accountants Deloittes produce an annual report on the financial performance of

football clubs.

Example research questions could include:

• Can the American model be applied in the UK – financial impact • Analyse the financial legacy of major sporting events. • Will the financial regulations imposed by UEFA work? • Does success on the field of play result in healthy financial statements? • Why do so many football clubs in the English Premier League experience severe

financial problems? Is it solely due to poor financial management?

Topic 23 Competition, Efficiency and Stability in Banking

Topic Background:

The question of whether more competition in banking is good or bad for financial system

stability in general and individual bank risk in particular has been intensely debated in

academic, as well as policymaking and regulatory circles, and there is no academic

consensus. Moreover, what role the efficiency could play between competition and bank

stability?

The project can analyse efficiency and productivity in banking in a country / area of your

choice, and /or assess the impact of market competition on bank’s performance, and / or

empirically examine the relationship between competition and systemic risk.

Example research questions could include:

• Efficiency (and productivity) analysis in banking • Assess the impact of increasing banking competition on financial stability • Does competition reduce the risk of bank failure? • Empirically examine the relationship between developments in bank efficiency and

bank risk

Topic 24 Personal Finance

Topic Background:

Personal Finance includes a wide range of topics, for example from the consumer

perspective, decisions on income, saving, borrowing and lending. From a business

perspective we have businesses involved in investment, mortgages and real estate, banking

and consumer credit, pensions and insurance. Regardless of perspective, personal finance can

be explored along many dimensions including behavioural finance, economics (macro and

micro), politics, ethics, law, gender, sociology, psychology and information technology.

One of the most important topic areas within Personal Finance is Personal Financial

Education (PFE), for which the US term is Financial Literacy Education (FLE). PFE/FLE can

be thought of as how those who currently know about these things might ensure that

everyone has appropriate and adequate grasp of what they need to know. PFE/FLE concerns

are remarkably similar across a wide range of countries so knowledge gained in the UK will

translate easily into expertise elsewhere. One consequence of the increases in interest in these

areas is a wealth of material, including academic material and government reports. The

OECD has taken a formal interest in PFE/FLE since 2008 and its information gateway is an

excellent route into studying these concerns.

Example research questions could include:

• How is one’s approach to personal finance differentially affected by characteristics such as age, gender, income, wealth, social class, etc.

• In terms of PFE/FLE, what is current best practice and how can this best practice: • Be scaled up to serve all members of a society? • Be applied in different countries?

• How can the vulnerable best be financially protected without inhibiting the creation and delivery of financial services?

Topic 25 General Financial Accounting

Topic Background:

This area can cover a range of topics in ‘classic’ Financial accounting, for instance,

accounting standards or financial reporting.

Example research questions could include:

• Comparison of accounting standards in different countries • IFRS and local accounting standards • Analysis of specific accounting standards (and changes) and implications for financial

reporting

Topic 26 Calendar Effects

Topic Background:

Calendar effects are cyclical anomalies in returns, which appears to be related to the calendar.

The most important calendar anomalies are the January effect and the weekend effect. Many

calendar effects have diminished, disappeared or even reversed since their discovery.

Example research questions could include:

• Are there still significant calendar effects, such as January effects? • What factors may contribute to the calendar effects? • Whether the calendar effects found can be utilized to generate positive investment

returns?

• To test the profitability of trading rules based on calendar anomalies.