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The purpose of this paper is to reveal a new contribution to behavioural finance that focuses on individuals rather than groups.

Research is based on field studies with executives utilizing an assessment instrument to identify and measure their financial traits. The approach to the topic is to present the underlying model of financial traits and show how they add another dimension to behavioural finance approaches.

The model identifies three financial styles, each of which comprises three financial signatures. Each of the financial signatures leads to characteristic financial decisions with specific valuation outcomes.

The research is in its early stages. It requires larger sample sizes and needs to be conducted across industries and different cultures. Its implications are that can be predicted the financial performance and valuation of companies by knowing the financial styles of their leaders and managers, and also their financial cultures.

Practical implications are that this work can be used as a new method for valuing companies, for stock analysis and for portfolio analysis and valuation. It can also be used as a basis for M&A, to assess the financial alignment of companies conducting M&A and the likely chances of success.

The paper shows a totally new way to assess the valuation outcomes of individuals, teams and companies based purely on their behavioural financial traits.

This study examines the role of the observable and unobservable characteristics of top management on earning management and firm risk in China.

The authors used manager-firm matched panel for 104 non-financial firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange between 2010 and 2018. The authors also trace the persistence of managerial financial styles and their active role across two different firms between which managers switched during the sample period.

The results show that managers' financial styles indeed influence earning management and firm risk and that this influence differs across different managers. These findings are robust when tested for the persistence and active role of managers. Furthermore, individual characteristics such as age, gender, qualification and experience influence managers' financial styles.

Given their findings, the authors propose that financial analysts and potential investors should not only depend on quantitative data but also consider the individual characteristics of managers when evaluating firms.

The findings of this study carry serious implications for managers, policymakers and potential investors. The findings assist the external auditors in measuring the risk of material misstatement, the various regulatory bodies to assess the quality of financial reporting and the users of financial statements to evaluate the earnings and make further investment decisions considering not only the quantitative data but also the individual characteristics of top managers.

The current study examines the observable and unobservable characteristics of top management on firm risk and earnings management in Chinese context.

Market-based value style equity portfolios do not systematically outperform market-based growth style equity portfolios, despite considerable academic research that suggests that they should. This is an unresolved puzzle in the long lineage of work on this topic. The purpose of this paper is to question whether portfolio constituency rules employed by active growth and value equity investment managers might explain this puzzle.

The authors use the traditional research design and methodology of Fama and French (1993) to ensure comparability of results to prior research. Further, the authors adapt the return decomposition method of Keim (1999) to specifically answer the question in the research.

The authors find that restrictive constituency rules that omit the smallest, most illiquid stocks improve the performance of both value and growth stock portfolios. However, the authors find the impact of constituency rule restrictions on portfolio returns to be asymmetric with respect to value and growth in the small-cap investment space. Growth portfolios benefit from these changes more than value portfolios. Consistent with prior research, the authors find that value and growth style portfolios constructed from more liquid equities to be void of a statistically significant value-minus-growth return premium. The authors suggest these results might go a long way in explaining why market-based growth fund returns generally equal those of their value fund counterparts over time.

The research question central to the research, the value equity premium, has been investigated by researchers around the world over the last 20 years. The 20 year lineage of global published research on the value equity premium does, however, contain several unresolved questions. The paper specifically asks why the premium, long observed in global equity market returns, does not appear in market-based passive or active equity portfolios. This puzzle exists at the heart of the origins of the return premium itself and has serious implications for investment practitioners. If the matter cannot be reconciled, then market participants might rightly view the entire 20 year lineage of published research as irrelevant. The paper is one of few that has now extended the long lineage of research to its application in real markets.

Stirred by scant regard for market phases in portfolio performance assessments, the current paper investigates the active versus passive investment strategies under the bull and bear market conditions in emerging markets focusing on South Africa as a case study.

Methodologically, the measures of Jensen's alpha and Treynor index are applied to the monthly returns of 20 funds from January 2010 to June 2022.

The results are enlightening; though they contradict developed market evidence, they are consistent with emerging market trends. The findings show that actively managed funds outperform the market benchmark and passive investing style under bear and normal market conditions. Passive investment strategy outperforms both market benchmark and actively investing style under bull market conditions.

In the face of improved market efficiency, increased liquidity and recent technological impact, the findings of this study have practical application. The study outcomes should inform and update global investors, especially asset managers interested in emerging markets; however, the limitations of the study should also be considered.

While limited studies consider market conditions when comparing and contrasting the performance of passive versus active investing, such consideration is lacking in emerging markets. The current study corrects this literature imbalance.

The purpose of this study is to measure mutual funds' manager performance by attributing it to their abilities to choose better securities (selectivity effect) and to allocate these securities better than their benchmarks (allocation effect). The study enables the authors to examine the relative contributions of the commonly known asset-pricing factors in mutual funds' performance.

To examine managers' ability to steer funds' returns, the authors conduct a two-dimensional holdings-based analysis using factor-specific decomposition of funds' excess returns into their ability to select and allocate securities better than their benchmarks. Subsequently, the authors conduct an analysis of the covariance (ANCOVA) due to these factors in explaining funds' excess returns over time.

While managers' ability to choose better securities than the benchmarks (the selectivity effect) appears modest, some funds (especially the winners) allocate securities in their portfolios better than their benchmarks (the allocation effect) based on their exposures to certain factors (e.g. the momentum factor for the winner funds). However, although funds consistently gain through their ability to predict the size and value factors well, they do not consistently possess the skills to predict the momentum factor.

Although the paper analyzes all the available diversified funds, the sample excludes several other categories, such as thematic and international funds. Further, the analysis is based on equity-oriented Indian funds. Broader studies of changes in factor exposures and the inclusion of more factors apart from those conventionally used may shed more light on the managers' ability to maneuver these factors.

The results show that mutual fund managers lack persistence in their performance, even though some of them could predict specific factors well. Since the activity in active mutual funds could not lead to superior performance over time, investors could be better off by selecting cheaper passive funds for their long-term investments.

The paper presents a novel approach to studying funds' performance by conducting a two-dimensional holdings-based analysis to capture the relative contributions of common asset-pricing factors in the cross-section as well as over time.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance and diversification value of water-related funds. As pollution, climate change and accelerated population growth threaten water resources worldwide, such resources have become a sought-after asset. For most investors, it is impractical to physically hold water as part of a portfolio; therefore, an open question is how to better gain exposure to this asset. The authors propose a look at water-related mutual funds, an issue not found addressed in the literature. In addition to the investment potential of these funds, investors might be drawn to them as part of a more comprehensive socially responsible agenda.

In the present study, the authors identify and measure the risk-adjusted performance and diversification value of open-end funds dedicated to investments in water-related securities. Jensen’s alpha is used to measure risk-adjusted performance, whereas diversification value is examined by implementing a methodology widely used in the mutual fund literature.

Consistent with previous studies on the performance of ethical or socially responsible mutual funds, the authors found that their sample of water-related mutual funds neither outperform nor underperform two benchmarks. However, the authors also found that they offer potential diversification gains for international mutual funds’ portfolios.

Open-end water-related mutual funds have only been recently created, and currently, very few funds are available to investors. These facts limit the sample size and the length of the return series examined.

The authors have not found a paper that examines the performance and diversification value of water-related mutual funds. These funds present themselves as a practical way for individual investors to gain exposure to the commodity of water.

This study explores in the context of the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) by management, whether the use of both financial and nonfinancial measures by top managers in their evaluations influences middle-level managers’ evaluations of their subordinates. This study uses a 2×2 experimental design where the subjects (MBA students) were asked to evaluate the performance of two lower-level managers under two different manipulation conditions. Subjects acted as middle-level managers of a hypothetical company. They were provided with the same performance information of two low-level managers under both conditions. However, under one condition, subjects were provided with additional information: the top management's evaluation style which used both financial and nonfinancial measures in their performance evaluations. No additional information was provided to subjects under the other manipulation condition. We also manipulated two performance information patterns of the two low-level managers. We predict that if middle-level managers are aware that the top manager uses both financial and nonfinancial measures in the BSC to evaluate their performance, middle-level managers would develop a mindset in which they will evaluate subordinates in a similar style, evaluating their subordinates on the basis of both financial and nonfinancial measures. The results of this study support the hypotheses. The findings of this study suggest that the contagion effect exists in the use of the BSC in performance evaluations.

This study aims to examine style-deviation practices in the socially responsible mutual funds (SMRF) industry i.e. how mutual funds game their stated financial objectives to earn a higher relative performance ranking. In addition, the consequences of such practices on sustainable scores and money flows are studied.

A sample of 454 US equity SRMFs is studied. This paper uses panel regressions controlling for time and style fixed-effects.

This study finds that 17.60% of SRMF managers in the sample are engaged in style deviation practices. These practices positively impact the sustainable performance of SRMFs and negatively impact their financial performance. One effect offsets the other and they consequently do not affect money flows. Another finding is that only investors with lower portfolio sustainability scores do show return-chaser behaviour.

This paper reveals that SRMF managers deviating from their stated financial style face a dilemma that is non-existent for their conventional peers that is style deviation practices affect financial and sustainable performance in opposing ways, whereas SRMF investor utility depends positively on both dimensions. The findings are not conclusive about the effectiveness of style deviation practices in attracting SRMF money flows.

SRMF industry has experienced tremendous growth in the past decade. The increased competition in this industry has led managers to strive to attract investors, sometimes by relying on irregular practices that enhance their portfolio results. Regulators should consider how to avoid such perverse behaviour with a view to improving mutual funds transparency.

This is the first research that analyses style deviation practices and their consequences for the SRMF industry.

Since the 1990s, there has been a growing interest in style of information usage. However, most studies on style of information usage are conducted in developed countries. There is limited research on style of information usage in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in the existing literature by examining relationships between style of information usage and use of financial and non‐financial information in Malaysia.

The authors adopted a survey method, for which a written questionnaire was prepared and mailed out to companies in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Terengganu and Pulau Pinang.

Findings of the study show that diagnostic style of information usage is positively associated with use of financial information, while interactive style of information usage is positively associated with use of non‐financial information. Further analysis on types of non‐financial information used by managers who adopt interactive style of information usage reveals that customer‐related non‐financial information such as quality, customer satisfaction and flexibility play a more important role in their decision‐making processes.

The paper provides insights into relationships between style of information usage on and use of accounting information in developing countries. Findings of the study can be applied to assist management accountants in meeting managers’ information requirements.

Decision-making rationality is said to be bounded by managers’ cognitive capabilities. Recent studies indicate that accounting functions evolved to augment the cognitively bounded human brain in handling complex economic exchanges. The neuroscience discipline suggests that human brains have the ability to implement “automatic” processes of positive versus negative emotional stimuli to make rational decisions. Neuroscientific evidence shows that the activations in the ventral striatum decrease with negative emotional information/motives and increase with positive emotional information/motives. The authors, hence, argue that our understanding of the decision-making rationality in financial and managerial decisions could be enhanced by using a functional neuroimaging approach.

Decision-making rationality has been focal in debt covenant violation and earnings management research. The contracting theory predicts a relationship between managers’ decisions and the proximity of violating debt covenants. However, no prior research has investigated brain activities associated with the evaluation of debt covenant violation and earnings management. Meanwhile, in another strand of research, there is an extensive prior literature concerning the consequences of managers’ decisions and the use of accounting information in relation to their evaluative style, i.e., supervisory style. The authors argue that the relationship between the proximity to debt covenants violation and earnings management incentives is contingent upon managers’ supervisory style. However, no previous research has examined the impact of the supervisory style on earnings management in the context of the proximity to debt covenants violation and other earnings management incentives.

In this research note, we argue that neuroaccounting could be relied on to examine the relationship between the proximity to debt covenants and earnings management, contingent upon managers’ supervisory style, by capturing brain activities. The adoption of the neuroscience functional neuroimaging approach in this field should contribute to the understanding of managers’ behaviors and provide implications for research and practitioners. The goal of this research note is to provide a new avenue for future research in this field.