Impact of Industry-Specific Risk Factors on Stock Returns of the Malaysian Oil and Gas Industry in a Structural Break Environment

This study examines the impact of industry-specific risk factors such as oil price, gas price, and exchange rate on stock returns of Malaysian oil and gas firms in a structural break environment by employing the break least square approach of Bai and Perron (1998, 2003). Existing studies fall short of providing such empirical evidence. The results document evidence of structural breaks in the relationship between industry risk factors and the stock returns of the oil and gas industry. Industry-specific risk factors are shown to significantly affect the stock returns of oil and gas industry sub-sectors alongside market-based risk factors. The results reveal that the beta values of oil price, gas price, and exchange rate vary across sub-periods hence confirming that exposure of oil and gas stocks to industry risk factors varies over time and across sub-periods. The effects of oil, gas, and exchange rate risk factors also differ across the sub-industry, with impacts and directions largely dependent on the core business activities of the oil and gas sub-industries. The empirical results offer implications for asset managers and investors.

Tone at the Bottom: Measuring Corporate Misconduct Risk from the Text of Employee Reviews

This paper examines whether information extracted via text-based statistical methods applied to employee reviews left on the website Glassdoor.com can be used to develop indicators of corporate misconduct risk. We argue that inside information on the incidence of misconduct as well as the control environments and broader organizational cultures that contribute to its occurrence are likely to be widespread among employees and to be reflected in the text of these reviews. Our results show that information extracted from such text can be used to develop measures with useful properties for measuring misconduct risk. Specifically, the measures we develop clearly discriminate between high- and low-misconduct-risk firms and improve out-of-sample predictions of realized misconduct risk above and beyond other readily observable characteristics, such as Glassdoor firm ratings, firm size, performance, industry risk, violation history, and press coverage. We provide further evidence on the efficacy of our text-based measures of misconduct risk by showing that they are associated with future employee whistleblower complaints even after controlling for these same observable characteristics. This paper was accepted by Brian Bushee, accounting.

A model for risk assessment in glass manufacturing using Risk Matrix technique and IVIF-TOPSIS method

The glass manufacturing includes operations, such as batch forming using raw materials, melting, forming, annealing, quality check and package. Due to risky processes in glass manufacturing, significant health hazards for workers are present in the glass industry. Risk assessment is effective way to prevent accidents and protect workers from serious accidents during glass manufacturing. To assess health hazards associated with glass manufacturing, in this study Risk Matrix and The Technique for Order Preferences by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method are integrated under Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy (IVIF) environment to prioritize risk factors and suggest required preventive and protective measures. Suggested preventive and protective measures provide technical, economic and environmental challenges for glass manufacturing firms. Once the importance weight of risk parameters in Risk Matrix’ are determined, the risk factors are assessed performing IVIF-TOPSIS method during glass manufacturing. In order to verify the validity and stability of the proposed risk assessment model, sensitivity and comparative analysis are accomplished at the end of the study.

Research on the Risk Assessment of New Energy Automobile Industry Based on Entropy Weight-Cloud Model in China’s Jiangsu Province

The development of the new energy vehicle industry is necessary for its advantages of saving energy and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. However, the industry is currently facing risks with regard to, for example, technology, market, and the policy. Most existing studies of industry risk focused on analyzing and evaluating risk factors and summarizing and interpreting risk phenomena. In this study, systematic classification and quantitative analysis for the risk of the new energy vehicle industry were investigated, in which the entropy weight method and cloud model were combined to evaluate and quantify the industry risk. The formation mechanism of the industry risk from endogenous and exogenous perspectives was analyzed to screen out risk-evaluation factors. Combining the expert-investigation and fuzzy-statistics methods, a risk-evaluation index system with six primary indicators and twenty-four secondary indicators was constructed. On the basis of the entropy weight-cloud model, the risk of the new energy automobile industry of Jiangsu province in July 2019 was evaluated. Results indicated that the impact of exogenous risk on the industry was greater than that of endogenous risk, and industry risk was higher than medium risk, which was close to a higher medium level. A series of suggestions are given for preventing industry risk, such as improving the industry’s own ability to resist risk and building the industry’s soft environment.

Company-Specific Risk and Small Company Valuation

A significant role of forensic accountants is valuing privately held companies (Domino, Stradiot and Webinger 2015; Trugman 2017; Allee, Erickson, Esplin and Yohn 2020). This study examines the role of private company transaction features on the composition of capitalization rates, industry risk premiums, and company-specific risks for private companies. We find that company-specific risk accounts for at least 50 percent of the capitalization rate. Further, while the industry risk premium represents less than 2 percent of the capitalization rate, it is significantly associated with company-specific risk, suggesting that industry risk is an important determinant of company-specific risk. Finally, we find evidence that several private company transaction features are associated with company-specific risk. These findings represent an important step in understanding capitalization rates and company-specific risk for private company valuation. These findings should also help practitioners and academics better determine the cost of capital for private companies.

Pah Content of Clarais gariepinus Harvested from Ekulu River, Eastern Nigeria Contaminated with Effluents Generated from a Roofing Sheet Industry Risk Impact Assessment

Aim: This study evaluated PAH content and health risks associated with consuming Clarais gariepinus (cat fish) from Ekulu Rivers, in Enugu, Nigeria fed with roofing sheet company effluent. Place and Duration of Study Design: Ekulu River, the largest body of water in the city of Enugu in Enugu State, south-eastern Nigeria, is a 25-kilometer long river (16mi) and it originates in the same city as well. The city is located on latitude 06o 21o N and 06o 30o and longitude 07o 26o E and 07o 37 Eo. Methodology: This analysis was conducted with the use of Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) machine equipped with Flame ionization detector (FID). The health risks were evaluated by the mathematical models stipulated by USEPA and WHO. Results: The PAHs identified from the Clarias gariepinus samples were Acenaphthene, Acenaphthylene, Naphthalene, Fluorene, Phenanthrene, Anthracene, Flouranthene, Pyrene, Benzo(α)pyrene and Benzo (g-h-i)perylene. Benzo(α)pyrene and Benzo (g-h-i)perylene were predominant. The quantity of PAHs detected in all fish samples including the control ranged from below detectable limit (BDL) through 0.001 to 0.0786mg/kg. The LMW PAHs detected were 60 % while the HMW PAHs were 40 % of the total PAHs in isolated. The total PAH concentration observed from the different point locations were 0.1003 mg/kg, 0.0977 mg/kg, 0.1102 mg/kg and 0.0414 mg/kg for the downstream, upstream, POD and control respectively. The HQ and HI obtained in all point locations were < 1. The ILCR of all the PAHs detected were in the range of 10-5 to 10-9. The benzo (α) pyrene in cat fish obtained from the POD has the most carcinogenic potency and also recorded the maximum limit (5E -03 mg/kg). Conclusion: it is pertinent to enlighten the fish consumers and mongers on the dangers posed by the consumption of fish from Ekulu River and also caution industries with injudicious effluent disposal into water bodies.

Health Concerns of Textile Workers & Associated Community

Background: Workers in the textile industry risk developing various respiratory and pulmonary diseases due to exposure to cotton dust. The particles from the cotton lint are inhaled by the workers and results in the breathing problems including asthma, shortness of breath, cough and tightness in the chest. The poor health of labor contributes to the low productivity of the labor and in serious cases loss of jobs leading to the poverty. Methods: This study explores the health profiles of the textile workers and associated community and contrast them against the health profile of the control group to factor out any confounding factors. The study is conducted on cotton industry in Kasur, Pakistan. We interviewed 207 workers, 226 people from associated community (living in vicinities of weaving units) and 188 people for control group (from areas far away from weaving units and people are not associated with weaving industry) based on stratified random sampling technique. We employed descriptive methods and logistic regression to explore the association between respiratory diseases and weaving workers. Results: Overall, prevalence of postnasal drip, byssinosis, asthma, and chronic bronchitis were 47%, 35%, 20%, and 10% respectively among the workers. These percentages are significantly higher than the control group. Among workers, 43% & 21% feel difficulty in hearing against noisy background and at low volume respectively. Due to bad light arrangements at workstations, 21% & 31% workers are suffering from myopia and hyperopia respectively. Proportions of the workers suffering from continuous headache, skin infection, depression, and low back pain are 28%, 29%, 27% and 44% respectively. Conclusion: Better environment at workstations, use of protective gears and education are the factors which reduce the risk of associated diseases among workers.