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The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between good corporate governance and dividend payment in the regulated insurance industry.

A modification of Rozeff's transaction cost/agency cost trade‐off model was estimated on a sample of 55 firms in the insurance industry. Data cover a five‐year period ending in 2006.

Consistent with an agency view of dividends functioning to reduce the need for firm monitoring, it was found that there is no relationship between good corporate governance and dividend policy in a regulated industry. In other words, regulation appears to supplant the need for most corporate governance mechanisms and dividend distribution to provide information.

One data point used in this study, the corporate governance quotient (CGQ), is a relatively new metric created in 2001. Therefore limited use of this variable has appeared in previous research. Additional work is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of CGQ as a true measure of corporate governance.

Regulated firms in the insurance industry do not need to be subjected to the external monitoring forced by high dividend payments. Regulators perform that function instead.

This study is the first to evaluate the impact of good corporate governance on regulated firms’ dividend policy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential impact of political party control on bank profitability and risk. This study extends previous work by looking at overall political power with respect to party control of the House, Senate, and the Presidency.

This paper employs regression analysis using several different dependent measures of risk and return. The independent variables include dummies to represent political power and control.

The results indicate that political control does impact both bank returns and risk. More specifically, concentration of power in either party results in higher profits. However, risk and returns typically increase during periods of democratic control.

To date, no research addresses the impact of political control and party affiliation on bank risk and return. Given the importance of banks to the overall economy and financial system, this research should provide policymakers and regulators with a different perspective on bank risk and return.

This study sets out to focus on the identification of determinants of real estate limited partnership (REIT) capital structure from a market perspective.

This study uses ordinary least squares regression to test whether REIT capital structure is impacted by various market variables.

The findings indicate that investors do appear to be attracted to specific debt characteristics of REITs or, simply put, REIT capital structure is influenced by market factors. REIT debt levels appear to be directly influenced by the price‐to‐book ratio and are inversely related to the percentage of institutional ownership and price‐to‐cash flow. Forecast growth rates do not appear to significantly influence debt while the type of REIT (mortgage, retail, etc.) does appear to influence the level of debt.

Small sample size limits applicability of results, so further research with larger datasets is appropriate.

Investors do appear to consider capital structure when purchasing REITs. REIT managers should consider this when determining whether to incur additional debt.

The determination of various market factors linked to REIT capital structure.

The purpose of this paper is to forecast variability in mortgage rates by using interval measured data and interval computing method.

Variability (interval) forecasts generated by the interval computing are compared with lower‐ and upper‐bound forecasts based on the ordinary least squares (OLS) rolling regressions.

On average, 56 per cent of annual changes in mortgage rates may be predicted by OLS lower‐ and upper‐bound forecasts while the interval method improves forecasting accuracy to 72 per cent.

This paper uses the interval computing method to forecast variability in mortgage rates. Future studies may expand variability forecasting into more risk‐managing areas.

Results of this study may be interesting to executive officers of banks, mortgage companies, and insurance companies, builders, investors, and other financial decision makers with an interest in mortgage rates.

Although it is well‐known that changes in mortgage rates can significantly affect the housing market and economy, there is not much serious research that attempts to forecast variability in mortgage rates in the literature. This study is the first endeavor in variability forecasting for mortgage rates.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dickens et al. model of bank holding company dividend policy. They identified five explanatory factors in a sample of bank holding companies (BHCs). Banking companies typically pay larger dividends and more often than industrial firms. Investors often look at the dividends as being important return variables.

In this study, a sample of 99 firms with 2006 data from governmental reports and Yahoo is used in regression equations to test the relationship of the five identified variables with dividend yields. The analysis is extended to investigate non‐linearities between dividend yield and insider ownership.

The paper finds that the original model is robust, but not all variables keep their significance. Insider holdings have a non‐linear relationship with dividend yields.

The significant factors affecting bank dividend policy help dividend seeking investors find BHCs that return higher dividend yields.

This paper reveals a non‐linear link between insider holdings and dividend yields among BHCs.

The purpose of this research paper is to provide practitioners and researchers with guidance and ideas for benchmarking employee benefits in companies providing professional services. The research addressed employee benefits in multi‐owner accounting firms.

Data from a survey of a large number of multi‐owner accounting firms (CPA firms) were analyzed to examine professional employee benefits and to look at the relationship between firm size and benefits offered.

An analysis of survey results suggested that larger firms offer better benefits than smaller firms. Larger firms tend also to be more profitable. Various employee benefit metrics were examined.

The survey was limited to accounting firms in the United States, so the findings may have limited value for researchers and practitioners in other countries.

The better benefits offered by larger accounting firms may allow them to attract better personnel, possibly accounting for their greater profitability. If this is indeed true, then a good benefit package may well be a key success factor for accounting firms, and possibly for other professional services. Firms seeking to improve their competitive position may, therefore, find it advantageous to benchmark their professional employee benefits against the benefit packages of larger more profitable competitors.

This paper examines professional employee benefits in multi‐owner accounting firms and identifies metrics that could be useful to practitioners in benchmarking those benefits. The metrics identified and other findings may provide practitioners with ideas for benchmarking benefits in other professional service organizations.

This paper examines the determinants of corporate dividend policy in Jordan. The study uses a firm‐level panel data set of all publicly traded firms on the Amman Stock Exchange between 1989 and 2000. The study develops eight research hypotheses, which are used to represent the main theories of corporate dividends. A general‐to‐specific modeling approach is used to choose between the competing hypotheses. The study examines the determinants of the amount of dividends using Tobit specifications. The results suggest that the proportion of stocks held by insiders and state ownership significantly affect the amount of dividends paid. Size, age, and profitability of the firm seem to be determinant factors of corporate dividend policy in Jordan. The findings provide strong support for the agency costs hypothesis and are broadly consistent with the pecking order hypothesis. The results provide no support for the signaling hypothesis.

The purpose of this paper is to identify pre‐loan factors that ultimately impact post‐loan risk ratings of small business in southern Arkansas.

Ordinary least squares linear regression analysis is conducted on small business data to determine which factors contribute to higher post‐loan credit risk ratings.

Businesses with records of loan repayment and personal financial assets at stake are more likely to be assigned better credit risk ratings. Additional analysis indicates that businesses with no past due collections or judgments, having good trade references, a profitable business, and not operating in a volatile industry are much more likely to result in loans ultimately receiving good post‐loan performance marks and lower risk ratings.

This paper has a small sample of firms in a historically economically depressed region. While the relevant factors seem intuitive they may not apply to other regions and/or larger businesses.

Results of this paper may be interesting to loan officers of banks and other lenders, particularly in this region given the current financial crisis.

This paper is the first to analyze actual data from small businesses in southern Arkansas. The results may help the organizations attempting to aid economic development in this region.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine cross‐sectional differences in the profits, returns and risk of high‐ and low‐market‐to‐book ratios (M/B) stocks before and after the initiation of regular cash dividend payments. Design/methodology/approach– This study uses parametric and non‐parametric statistics and ordinary least squares regression to test for differences in the profits, returns and risk of high‐ and low‐M/B stocks before and after dividend initiation. Findings– Low‐M/B stocks display the most positive price reaction to dividend initiation announcements. High‐M/B firms have larger profits, cash levels and capital expenditure before and at the time of dividend initiation, but more closely resemble the low‐M/B firms in terms of these characteristics within three years following dividend initiation. Excess returns earned by low‐M/B firms are related to decreases in systematic risk, while the returns of high‐M/B firms are related to their higher profitability. Research limitations/implications– Averaging results from 1965‐2000 does not account for possible changes in the information content of dividend initiations over time (as evidenced by steadily declining dividend yields over this period). Practical implications– The findings are consistent with the idea that firms begin paying dividends as they are maturing into a slower growth period, and do not support the idea that dividend initiation signals faster future earnings growth. Originality/value– The analysis adds to the body of knowledge by explicitly conditioning the expectations from various dividend theories based upon individual firms’ growth phase as reflected in their M/B ratios, and suggests that signaling, agency and risk explanations for dividends must be considered jointly with a firm's growth prospects when studying dividend events.