This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by Accounting and Finance staff and students. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/229 2026-10-03T23:02:28Z 2026-10-03T23:02:28Z Gross, Christian Perotti, Pietro Giansante, Simone Lyu, Peiwei http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38349 2026-09-28T10:09:52Z 2026-09-06T00:00:00Z

Title: The Effects of Industry Peers’ Consistency on the Properties of Analysts’ Forecasts Author(s): Gross, Christian; Perotti, Pietro; Giansante, Simone; Lyu, Peiwei Abstract: In this paper, we empirically examine the effects of one specific characteristic that could facilitate earnings forecasting for sell-side financial analysts: the stability (consistency) over time of industry peers. We develop an accounting-based proxy for this, which we call industry peers’ accounting consistency (IPAC). First, we argue that a set of industry peers that is stable over time—with stability being linked to their accounting choices relative to the target firm—improves the accuracy of sell-side analysts’ earnings forecasts, because previously developed heuristics for identifying industry peers and forecasting earnings of target firms against their peers can continue to be used. Second, we conjecture that higher peer stability over time decreases the dispersion of sell-side analysts’ earnings forecasts because more obvious peer choices are available. Consistent with our expectations, we find that IPAC is significantly associated with higher accuracy and lower dispersion in analysts’ earnings forecasts.

2026-09-06T00:00:00Z Watson, Duncan Webb, Robert Cook, Steve http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38202 2026-07-21T00:09:11Z 2025-07-29T00:00:00Z

Title: Pedagogical inertia and asynchronous specificity: a heuristic model of post-covid teaching in higher education Author(s): Watson, Duncan; Webb, Robert; Cook, Steve Abstract: Our paper introduces a heuristic model to explain how the UK higher education sector’s rapid shift to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic may constrain subsequent pedagogical innovation. Adapting the asset specificity framework, first introduced in the 1980s, we develop the concept of asynchronous specificity, a form of pedagogical lock-in that arises when teaching materials and institutional practices become narrowly tailored to pre-recorded, non-interactive delivery modes. We argue that these covid-era adaptations, though necessary at the time, may have created structural and cognitive sunk costs that disincentivise research-informed pedagogical reform. Our model highlights the competing incentives facing academics, between compliance and innovation, and the institutional conditions under which innovation is more likely to be suppressed. While our approach is conceptual rather than predictive, our approach offers a diagnostic tool for understanding inertia in teaching practices and sets out an agenda for policy and professional development reforms. We conclude by arguing that unless emergency responses are critically reassessed, the sector may risk mistaking short-term coping strategies for long-term pedagogical progress.

2025-07-29T00:00:00Z Huang, Rong McMillan, David Kambouroudis, Dimos http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38189 2026-07-21T00:02:16Z 2026-07-12T00:00:00Z

Title: The Effects of U.S. Monetary Policy Shocks on Portfolio Diversification Author(s): Huang, Rong; McMillan, David; Kambouroudis, Dimos Abstract: We investigate the impact of changes in U.S. monetary policy on portfolio diversification. We build four different types of portfolios, including a U.S.-only, a stock-bond (60/40) portfolio, an international diversified stock portfolio, and an asset diversified portfolio. Our assets include the S&P 500 index, a developed market index (MSCI EAFE), an emerging market index (MSCI EM), gold, oil, and U.S. 10-year Treasury notes (10-year T-Note). We provide the following evidence. First, U.S. monetary policy is a risk factor in these global asset markets. Second, the results demonstrate that these markets, except for the 10-year Treasury notes, are unlikely to react to anticipated monetary policy changes. Third, we suggest that risk-averse investors can use U.S. 10-year Treasury notes and choose the stock-bond portfolio to hedge risks when monetary policy is volatile, as we find that all stock indexes, gold and oil respond more to U.S. monetary policy surprises than 10-year Treasury notes. Fourth, all portfolios are negatively related to the monetary policy surprise, and we contend that U.S. monetary policy may be a systemic risk that cannot be fully diversified.

2026-07-12T00:00:00Z Al-Shaer, Habiba Uyar, Ali Kuzey, Cemil Karaman, Abdullah http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38170 2026-06-17T00:02:53Z 2026-06-04T00:00:00Z

Title: Paying for Privilege: How Political Contributions Undermine Environmental Sustainability — and How Executive Contracting Can Restore Balance Author(s): Al-Shaer, Habiba; Uyar, Ali; Kuzey, Cemil; Karaman, Abdullah Abstract: We are interested in investigating whether firms use political donations as a license to neglect environmental sustainability. We further deepen the examination by exploring the role of executive contracting. Drawing on a wide range of data between 2002 and 2021 and a global sample, our findings confirm that firms use political contributions as a license to neglect environmental sustainability. More specifically, we find that political donors have a poor environmental performance which is confirmed by the composite environmental score as well as its two dimensions namely emissions and eco-innovation performance if not resource consumption performance. However, executive ESG contracting helps political donation givers strengthen their environmental performance. Further tests reveal that board independence and cash flow help political donors enhance their environmental performance. Female directors are also useful in breaking the negative link between political donation and environmental performance if they cannot turn this link into a positive relationship. Finally, the results highlight that the institutional environment (i.e., environmental tax) matters in using political contribution as a license to neglect environmental sustainability. The findings are robust to alternative samples, political donation proxy, endogeneity issues, and the Paris Treaty. In the end, we propose our theoretical and managerial implications.

2026-06-04T00:00:00Z