Determinants of Banks Profitability: Empirical Evidence from Ghana’s Commercial Banking Industry

Over the years, Ghana’s commercial banking industry has been bedeviled with numerous challenges. The unbridled effect of this is the 2018 banking sector megrim which led to the collapse of seven major banks. This pointed out that it is very crucial to identify and mitigate the factors that negatively affect the performance of the banking sector. This paper is used to investigate the effect of banks specific variables (BSVs) and macroeconomic variables (MEVs) on the profitability of commercial banks (NIM, ROE, and ROA) in Ghana using FRED annual data of 25 years. In order to avoid endogeneity problems and aggregation bias, we used the SURE model to run the estimates simultaneously. The result reveals that profit earned by Ghana’s commercial banks is largely influenced by both internal factors such as KA, AQR, LMGT, MEFFI, and Z-Score and fluctuations in the macroeconomic environment (GDP and FOREX). The impact of KA, LMGT, MEFFI, and Z-score is significantly positive whereas AQR (NPLs) is found to have a negative effect on banks profitability. GDP has a significant negative impact on Ghana’s commercial bank’s profitability whiles forex induced commercial banks profitability positively, but inflation CPI does not determine the profitability of commercial banks in Ghana.

Relationship between Management Accounting and Business Efficiency - the Intermediate Role of Management Efficiency: A Case Study of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Management accounting is a reliable source of information in business activities. However, up to now, there have not been many complete and systematic studies on the factors affecting and the interaction between the implementation of management accounting and the business performance of enterprises. This is a challenging issue for policymakers and business managers. This study, using data from a survey of 370 SMEs in the Mekong Delta, applied the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling in the analysis. The research results show that there is a positive linear relationship between management accounting and business efficiency of enterprises through the intermediate factors of management efficiency. Factors affecting the implementation of management accounting include enterprise size, market competition, business owner awareness, and professional qualification of the accounting team.

An Investigation into the Nexus Between Human Development and Carbon Dioxide Emissions? A Global Panel Analysis

A fact is that the environment remains an open-ended topic of paramount importance and interest in the literature. This is also true among decision-makers and the average person on “Main Street.” Another fact is that the momentum of human development is ongoing in most parts of the globe with higher wealth creation capabilities, better education and access to it, and better healthcare, all of which translates into a higher life expectancy. In that global context, it becomes a worthwhile endeavor to empirically assess the relationship between human development and pollution in the form of carbon dioxide emissions. Towards this end, the study considers different statistical and econometric methods involving granger-causality, panel vector error correction, and impulse responses. Using a broad panel of 139 countries sourced from the World Bank Group and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) over the 1995-2018 period, results indicate some key takeaways and a material policy implication. Improvements in human development exacerbate pollution in the short run. However, in the long run, pollution is contained, even lessened, with improvements in human development. This latter outcome could be due to a growing class of environmentally conscious economic agents and decision-makers over time as economies mature. Such results should not constitute grounds for the pursuit of unchecked and incautious policies. To the contrary, all stakeholders should redouble their efforts in either devising or scrupulously implementing greener policies.

Contemporary Indonesian GDP: Context of Analysis at Unemployment, Labor Force and Poor People

Indonesia is a developing country that has always prioritized sustainable development. In achieving these development goals, Indonesia needs to achieve economic growth by improving population welfare and increasing income. With the form of panel data from 34 provinces in Indonesia that have unique characteristics, the author presented them during 2015-2019. Through multiple linear regression, this study seeks to discuss the relationship of unemployment, labor force participation rate, and poor people to Indonesia’s GDP growth. These findings suggest that the three macroeconomic variables have a negative impact on GDP. Regarding GDP growth, only unemployment has an actual effect, while others have no significant effect. The implications of the policies pursued by the government are not only paying attention to economic aspects but social problems that are expected to spur economic development.

Implications of Water Tariff Structures on Water Demand in Santa Cruz Island (Galapagos Archipelago)

The island of Santa Cruz, located in the Galápagos Archipelago has experienced a significant increase in tourism with consequent growth of the local population over the past two decades. The rapid increase in the number of hotels and restaurants raised pressure on the water demand needed to satisfy the customers’ needs. The municipality of Santa Cruz has not been capable of coping with current expansion rates in order to provide good quality water services. Financial constraints, limited personnel, and tariff structures are the main reasons that restrict the capacity of the Department of Potable Water and Sanitation (DPWS) to manage the water supply system. There are two main settlements on the island are Puerto Ayora and its suburb, Bellavista, with a total population of approximately 14,500 and independent water supply systems. Puerto Ayora has a fixed-priced tariff per month, for categories established by the municipality. On the other hand, Bellavista has a metered system, with fixed consumer costs Yet, approximately 32% of water meters are faulty. Consequently, water demand in these two settlements varies significantly, which is likely influenced by the difference in tariff structures. This manuscript assesses the difference in tariffs between the two settlements. Furthermore, the impacts on revenues due to faulty meters (Bellavista) and fixed tariffs (Puerto Ayora) are quantified. In addition, several scenarios have been developed and analyzed in order to examine the benefits. Finally, the information regarding overdue bills and willingness to pay by the different categories of users has been examined. Results show that the revenues from water supply vary extensively between the two settlements. Due to the fixed tariffs in Puerto Ayora, the estimated cost per cubic meter of water varies depending on the specific category and estimated quantities of water used. In the case of Bellavista, water meters should be managed better and have regular maintenance. The high percentage of faulty meters gives an extra deficit to the municipality.

Crisis Management Strategy in Handling Financial Sector Scandals in the Digital Transformation Era

This paper provides empirical evidence of how scandals could affect financial institutions in terms of market stock price, yearly returns, and the length of time it took to regain the public’s trust and ultimately recover in the long run. Moreover, we carefully examine the importance of dealing with crisis management in the digital transformation era’s financial service sector. We specialize in crisis management, which aims to mitigate the destruction of companies’ public crises in existence. Finally, based upon investigating scandals in public and private financial sectors in the United States, we list 21 strategic crisis management plans at the end of the paper to handle financial services sector scandals in the digital transformation era.

A Method for Deriving High-Priority Financial Data Items that Must be Improved to Increase Market Capitalization

Market capitalization is one of the most important indicators for gauging the value of a company. Normally, improving financial data increases market capitalization. However, because there are numerous financial data, it is important to derive high-priority financial data items whose improvement can increase market capitalization. To achieve this, in this study, a method was developed using a remodeled customer satisfaction analysis model with financial data of the companies that make up the Nikkei 225. A graph was created with the correlation coefficient on the horizontal axis and the deviation value of each financial data item on the vertical axis, and then the financial data items plotted in the lower right corner of the graph were extracted. Using this method, it is possible to derive high-priority financial data items to increase market capitalization from numerous financial data.

A Method for Deriving High-Priority Financial Data Items that Must be Improved to Increase Market Capitalization.

Market capitalization is one of the most important indicators for gauging the value of a company. Normally, improving financial data increases market capitalization. However, because there are numerous financial data, it is important to derive high-priority financial data items whose improvement can increase market capitalization. To achieve this, in this study, a method was developed using a remodeled customer satisfaction analysis model with financial data of the companies that make up the Nikkei 225. A graph was created with the correlation coefficient on the horizontal axis and the deviation value of each financial data item on the vertical axis, and then the financial data items plotted in the lower right corner of the graph were extracted. Using this method, it is possible to derive high-priority financial data items to increase market capitalization from numerous financial data.

The Relation Between Trading Volume Concentration and Stock Returns

The Taiwan Stock Exchange discloses data on daily trading volume across brokerage firms for each listed stock. Market practitioners suggest that the concentration of trading volume contains information on the trading behaviors of big players. We use the Gini Coefficient to measure the degree of concentration, upon which a trading strategy is proposed. We conduct an event study to examine whether such a strategy will yield abnormal returns. Our sample contains 375 listed companies with events identified during the sample period from February 2020 to August 2020. The empirical results show that the trading signal based on the Gini coefficient is informative and that most of the average abnormal returns after the event date are significantly positive with the cumulative average abnormal returns increasing almost monotonically up to the end day of the event window. Consistent with prior studies in which different measures of concentration are utilized, our findings provide additional evidence that the Gini Coefficient could help investors to develop profitable stock selection and market timing strategies.

Estimating the Market Power of Traders in the Arabica Coffee Value Chain in Lam Dong, Vietnam

Although some studies have assessed the market power of advanced degrees in Vietnam’s agricultural sector, this research only focuses on analyzing the level of market concentration through CR4 or HHI indexes. The stochastic cost frontier can estimate market power using the Lerner ratio when input price data are not available and with or without constant returns to scale. Thus, the stochastic cost frontier with a maximum likelihood approach of Kumbhakar et al. (2012) is used to assess the market power of traders in the coffee value chain in Lam Dong province, Vietnam. The estimated market power and Lerner rate results are 0.0001. This index shows that the local coffee market is a market with perfect competition. So the traders do not have market power. Thus, there is no collusion between coffee traders to lower the purchase price for farmers or increase the price for processors and exporters. An RTS ratio of 0.96 (less than one) shows that the return to scale for traders is decreasing. This number proves that the degree of competition in the local coffee market among traders is very high.