Issue #1 (Volume 15 2018)

The evaluation of equity mutual fund performance and identification factors that affect mutual fund performance is of great interest to an investor in Indonesia. This study investigates the performance of equity mutual fund by using risk-adjusted performance proposed by Treynor (1965) and examines factors affecting mutual fund performance by using the ability of investment manager (market timing and stock selection skill), fund size, and inflation. To achieve the objectives of this study, a total of 19 equity mutual funds was selected using purposive sampling method from the period from 2011 to 2015. A panel data analysis method has been used to analyze the effect of those factors on the equity mutual fund performance. The result showed that equity mutual fund performance tends to fluctuate in Indonesia. Equity mutual fund performance influenced by stock selection skill and inflation, meanwhile, market timing skill and fund size have no significant effect on the equity mutual fund performance.

Prior research has shown that a firm’s tendency to meet or beat earning targets is greater during bad economic times than good times. The paper extends this line of research by investigating which means of earnings management is used in different states of economy. A sample of non-financial companies listed on Korea Securities Market from 2003 to 2011 is used for empirical tests. The findings of this study are summarized as follows. The magnitude of discretionary accruals is negatively related to investment sentiment, indicating that firms tend to use positive discretionary accruals to manipulate reported income upward when the sentiment is pessimistic. However, the real activity based earnings management is not significantly associated with the state of economy. Collectively, this study contributes to behavioral finance and accounting literature by suggesting that managers use discretionary portion of accruals, but do not change their real operating activities, in order to meet or beat earnings targets in economic downturn.

This article studies the derivatives pricing using a method of spectral analysis, a theory of singular and regular perturbations. Using a risk-neutral assessment, the authors obtain the Cauchy problem, which allows to calculate the approximate price of derivative assets and their volatility based on the diffusion equation with fast and slow variables of nonlocal volatility, and they obtain a model with multidimensional stochastic volatility. Applying a spectral theory of self-adjoint operators in Hilbert space and a theory of singular and regular perturbations, an analytic formula for approximate asset prices is established, which is described by the CEV model with stochastic volatility dependent on l-fast variables and r-slowly variables, l ≥ 1, r ≥ 1, l ∈ N, r ∈ N and a local variable. Applying the Sturm-Liouville theory, Fredholm’s alternatives, as well as the analysis of singular and regular perturbations at different time scales, the authors obtained explicit formulas for derivatives price approximations. To obtain explicit formulae, it is necessary to solve 2l Poisson equations.

This study examines the consequences of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in terms of the investor perception of earnings quality in the Korean stock market. Building on evidence from Ecker et al. (2006) suggesting that return-based earnings quality (E-loading), as captured by the sensitivity of stock returns to accounting information risk, accurately represents investor perceptions of earnings information risk, the authors examine whether E-loading is different between the pre- and post-IFRS adoption periods. Using KSE-listed firms from 2006 to 2014, the authors find the evidence that the extent of stock return sensitivity to information risk embedded in financial statements is greater in the period of post-IFRS adoption than in the period of pre-IFRS adoption. This finding indicates that even though accounting-based earnings quality improves after the adoption of IFRS, investors perceive earnings information after the adoption of IFRS as riskier than before. In addition, the difference in investor perception is more pronounced for firms with low accruals quality as captured by discretionary accruals, indicating that the effect of IFRS adoption on return-based earnings quality is distinctive from that on accounting-based earnings quality. The paper contributes to the literature on IFRS by exploring the effect of IFRS adoption through a new perspective on earnings quality in capital market.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical analysis of cointegration between Europe and the other significant trading partners, namely US, China, Japan and Australia, for the period from January 1, 2010 to December 30, 2016. This captures the impact of the sovereign European debt crisis and the Greek crisis. A range of parametric techniques were adopted including Johansen cointegration analysis, Vector Error Correction Model and Granger causality. The results of the crisis Granger causality test during the European sovereign crisis implies the highest influence to be that of the US and Japanese stock market over the other four markets. Overall, found that the Asia-Pacific region plus the US stay closely related to each other, while European countries influence all the studied markets except each other. For the post-crisis sub-period, the Granger causality is slightly different. It is observable that the UK and Germany are influencing all the markets. This is probably due to the recent Brexit referendum outcome and potential consequences not only for the EU, but also for the rest of the world too. Overall, the Granger outcome shows the dependence between Europe and other global markets, but there is no European interdependence during the sovereign debt crisis period. It may be concluded that there is a separation of Asian markets from the European markets and even though cointegration exists, the relationship is rather weak.

The authors study the Fama and French three-factor (FF-3F) model in relation to a developing market. To this end, they consider Chinese stock markets over the period 1995–2008, which is to say, over a period when these markets are recognized as “developing” markets influenced by speculative activity. The authors find that the model appears to be working as a form of “principal component analysis for the determinants of stock price formation with book-to-market (B/M) as the “variable of choice” on account of that it captures the earnings-to-price (E/P), cash-flow-to-price (C/P) and sales-to-price (S/P) variables while remaining largely uncorrelated with firm size (whereas E/P, C/P and S/P are themselves positively correlated with firm size). The variables, however, are unrelated to risk as represented by market exposure, volatility, or leverage.

Among the founders of family firms, succession is the greatest challenge to long-term success. According to The Family Firm Institute (n.d.), only about 30% of family businesses survive into the second generation, 12% are still viable into the third generation, and only about 3% of all family businesses operate into the fourth generation or beyond. In contrast to Western countries, the sustainable development of family-owned enterprises within Chinese society must rely on the operation of enterprises. Succession, being inevitable, can reduce the value of a company. This study sought to identify the appropriate succession plan to maintain business value and family’s wealth. The main purpose of this study is to discuss the relationship between a family’s succession, the successor, and firm performance. The sample is comprised of listed firms in Taiwan with necessary data from the Taiwan Economic Journal Database (TEJ). The period extends from 1996 till 2016. Securities, financial firms, and other elements of incomplete information are excluded from the sample. The research sample including 1,286 firms and 13,849 firm-year data, 2,918 of which indicate succession issues. This study employed regression model and investigated the relationships between family succession, the successor, and corporate performance. The main findings indicate that succession negatively influences corporate performance. However, an internal successor is better than an external one, and children successors are better than other relatives.

The authors explore the reaction of US stock portfolio returns to macroeconomic announcements spanning the period from April 1998 to May 2017. Using daily returns of 25 portfolios formed on operating profitability and investment, the authors investigate the extent to which potential asymmetries permeate the stock portfolios following macroeconomic announcements. The three methodological approaches utilized in this study suggest that the ISM non-manufacturing index, employees on non-farm payrolls, retail sales, personal consumption expenditure and initial jobless claims have a significant impact on portfolio returns. Also, portfolios consisting of companies with higher operating profitability and investment level are found to be less responsive to announcements. As the particular area has received little currency over the years, this contribution is of great significance, because it provides insights into the reaction of returns in value-weighted portfolios to announcements on certain macro-indicators. At the same time, the study informs portfolio managers of the implications of macroeconomic news, which drive economic expectations and can reverberate through the expected returns in US stock portfolios.

The Chinese market for corporate control has recently gained much academic attention. This research constructs a sample of 159 cross-border acquisitions made by 123 Chinese firms between 2010 and 2014 and relates the roles of governance and culture to the wealth effects of mergers. First, the shareholders of Chinese bidders experience gains upon the announcement of overseas mergers. Second, country- and firm-level governance notably affects the cumulative abnormal returns of Chinese acquirers. Lastly, and however, the cultural distance per Hofstede’s (1980) four cultural dimensions does not appear to be a significant factor in determining the shareholder wealth of Chinese purchasers.

In the age of modern accounting, the era where income information is viewed to be no longer the main information that investor seeks, income smoothing is proven to be still existing. This study aims to find why income smoothing (IS) still exists in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) by analyzing its effect on the market performance (MP). The study divides MP into three perspectives: market response is representing current investor; market risk (MR) is representing potential investor; and market value (MV) is representing the management. Purposive sampling method is applied in this study and 65 companies are examined throughout 2011–2013.
Using three models to analyze each of the relation, the results shows that IS only significantly affects the MP of companies in the aspect of market response, while the other aspects, MR and MV, yield insignificant results.

This paper focuses on classical portfolio strategies applied to five countries, which are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These five countries form the so-called BRICS group. In particular, the authors investigate their corporate and sovereign bond market and evaluate whether these markets can represent a profitable investment for non-satiable and risk-averse investors. Two-step optimization is proposed to control price risk and market risk. For price risk management, classical immunization strategies and are obtained funds of bond are obtained that share the same risk measure. For market risk control, the previously found funds are used and a performance measure optimization commonly used in stock markets is applied to define the best portfolio of funds. Therefore, the resulting optimal portfolio controls the price risk and jointly maximizes a desired performance measure that includes the market risk. Finally, the authors propose an empirical analysis to evaluate the profitability of the suggested two-step optimization for the five BRICS countries and compare the ex-post sample paths of the obtained portfolios for testing the stochastic dominance relations.

The timeliness of the research is conditioned by the need to analyze the development of small business as an indicator of the development of the middle class, which characterizes the socio-economic level of the country in general and contributes to strengthening its financial situation. The article contains the analysis of the small business development and its influence on the formation of local budget revenues in Ukraine. Based on the correlation and regression analysis, the statistical series of the sales volume of small business was aligned, taking into account changes in the legislation for the criteria for the small business definition in 2008 and in 2012. The correlation between the sales volume of the small business and the local budget revenues of Ukraine is analyzed. In order to evaluate the certainty of the small business development trends and its impact on local budget revenues, the same analysis was done on the basis of the indicators calculated in the currency equivalent.

The investment nous of active managers is judged on their ability to outperform specified benchmarks while complying with strict constraints on, for example, tracking errors, β and Value at Risk. Tracking error constraints give rise to a tracking error frontier – an ellipse in risk/return space which encloses theoretically possible (but not necessarily efficient) portfolios. The β frontier is a parabola in risk/return space and defines the threshold of portfolios subject to a specified β requirement. An α - TE frontier is similarly shaped: portfolios on this frontier have a specified TE for a maximum TE. Utility and associated risk aversion have also been explored for constrained portfolios. This paper contributes by establishing the impossibility of satisfying more than two constraints simultaneously and explores the behavior of these constraints on the maximum risk-adjusted return portfolio (defined arbitrarily here as the optimal portfolio).

The aim of the study is to investigate substantial bases and mechanisms for institutional changes that facilitate the adjustment of an economic system to abrupt changes. To achieve this objective, comparative analysis is carried out in order to disclose different approaches to crisis management and resolution regimes following the financial imbalances in Denmark, Sweden, and the USA that represent three different models of institutional adaptation. Thus, the paper reflects on the multifaceted phenomenon of institutional change, evaluating the theoretical background, which is further adjusted to the concept of institutional adaptation. In turn, the concept of institutional adaptation is developed from crisis management and post-crisis financial policies’ perspective. Built on various resolution procedures, the main mechanisms behind institutional adaptation are highlighted: extension (extended authorities of traditional institutions that have been empowered with additional functions); limited creation (newly-created institutions with restricted opportunity to exercise their discretion); redeployment (utilized and redeployed traditional effective institutions in order to implement new resolution schemes); modified formation (newly-formed institutions that have been modified and adjusted); grafting (grafting the new appropriate elements onto statutory institutional frameworks); transfer (transfer of practices from other domains and markets), and rebuilding (rebuilding functional competences). It is proved that even though policy-makers draw on institutions and logic of actions originally established and developed before the need to respond to new circumstances, they adjust and redesign them to fit and produce a renewed action plan.

In the process of small business establishment and development, it is very important to understand both the financial needs of entrepreneurs and the main obstacles and difficulties arising in the way of financing. Alternative sources of financial support, along with traditional ones, create opportunities to increase funds, but the solution to the issue of their attraction should be based on modern effective methods and decision- making technologies. The article uses the decision tree method to determine the optimal alternative to financial support of small business at the early stages of the life cycle. The results highlight the importance of alternative source of resources for small business entities, namely business angels’ means. The empirical and statistical analysis confirms that access to alternative sources of financing for small businesses in EU countries is improving, while in Ukraine, informal financing is a rather new and underdeveloped area. Based on the analysis of the advantages of using the business angels’ funds, it was concluded that they need to implement their potential in small business of Ukraine. The results show that the decision tree method is an effective tool for deciding on the prioritization of a financial alternative to the small business, and is characterized by ease of use, forecast precision and problems solution novelty.

The aim of this work is by combination of the graph theory and Markowitz portfolio theory to illustrate how some graph characteristics are related to the diversification potential of individual portfolio-forming stocks. Using the graph characteristic, the vertex eccentricity, individual stocks are divided into two groups: a group of large and group of small eccentricity. Eccentricity in this context is considered to be a very suitable metric of the centrality of individual vertices. Different price histories (5 to 30 years) of the Standard and Poor’s index are analyzed. Using the simulation analysis, samples of mentioned groups are generated and then tested by means of comparison to show that larger eccentricity samples, representing stocks on the periphery of the minimum spanning tree of the graph, have a higher potential for diversification than those found in the center of the graph. The results published in the article can be a practical guide for an individual investor during the portfolio creation process and help him/her with decision-making about stock selection.

The authors study the performance of mean-variance optimized (MVO) equity portfolios for retail investors in various markets in the U.S. and around the world. Actively managed equity mutual funds have relatively high fees and tend to underperform their benchmark. Index funds such as exchange traded funds still charge appreciable fees, and only deliver the performance of the benchmark. The authors find that MVO portfolios are relatively easy to manage by a retail investor, and that they tend to outperform their benchmark or, at worst, equal its performance, even after adjusting for risk. Moreover, they show that the performance of these funds is not particularly sensitive to the frequency at which they are rebalanced so that, in the limit, an investor might have to rebalance his/her portfolio only once a year. This last finding translates into very low trading costs, even for retail investors. Thus, the authors conclude that MVOs offer an easy, cheap alternative to invest in the world’s equity markets.

The financial markets are found to be finite Hilbert space, inside which the stocks are displaying their wave-particle duality. The Reynolds number, an age old fluid mechanics theory, has been redefined in investment finance domain to identify possible explosive moments in the stock exchange. CNX Nifty Index, a known index on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd., has been put to the test under this situation. The Reynolds number (its financial version) has been predicted, as well as connected with plausible behavioral rationale. While predicting, both econometric and machine-learning approaches have been put into use. The primary objective of this paper is to set up an efficient econophysics’ proxy for stock exchange explosion. The secondary objective of the paper is to predict the Reynolds number for the future. Last but not least, this paper aims to trace back the behavioral links as well.

The aim of this study is to examine the sub-variants of price momentum strategies. The paper recommends which sub-variants post above average returns for Australian Stock Exchange. It also analyzes the return behavior of short-term momentum effect among sub-variants of price momentum strategies. It has been found that monthly price momentum strategies result in above average abnormal returns, whereas weekly price momentum strategies should be used in combination with monthly price momentum strategies. Trading volume-based momentum investment strategies should not be used at all.

The paper aims to clarify the role of earnings management in the relationship between accruals and the market value of companies. Previous studies suggest that some managers, for providing a desirable image of their performance, manage their profits through distorting cash or accruals. Consequently, investors rely on this information and estimate inaccurate stability of accruals which lead to mispricing phenomenon. Finally, the returns earned by the investors will not be equal to the expected return and thus the accrual anomaly will be created.
To this aim, two hypotheses were developed and three regression models were applied to analyze the data. To analyze and estimate the models employed, the financial information of 110 companies listed on the stock exchange between years 2008 to 2014 is used. A selective approach to test the hypotheses is studying cross-sectional data.
After conducting statistical tests, the results showed that discretionary accruals through which earnings management is done are improperly valued by the market, but the issue is not applicable regarding the non-discretionary accruals. Based on the close relationship between earnings management and discretionary accruals it can be found that earnings management can have an effect on the relationship between accruals and market value.

This paper extends the Capital Structure Model (CSM) research by performing the following tasks. First, a correction is offered on the corporate tax rate adjustment found in the break-through concept of the levered equity growth rate (g_L) given by Hull (2010). This correction is important because g_L links the plowback-payout and debt-equity choices and so its accuracy is paramount. Second, this paper introduces a retained earnings (RE) constraint missing from the CSM growth research when a firm finances with internal equity. The RE constraint governs the plowback-payout and debt-equity choices through the interdependent relation between RE and interest payments (I). Third, a by-product of the RE constraint is a second constraint that governs a no-growth situation so that I does not exceed the available cash flows. Fourth, with the g_L correction and two constraints in place, updated applications of prior research and new applications are provided. These applications reveal lower gain to leverage (G_L) values than previously reported with more symmetry around the optimal debt-to-equity ratio (ODE) while minimizing steep drop-offs in firm value. For larger plowback ratios, the optimal debt level choice can change. The new constraints serve to point out the need for further research to incorporate external financing within the CSM framework.

An investigation was conducted to study a sample of 23 Greek firms listed on the Athens Stock Exchange that underwent mergers from 2011 to 2015, which is a period that embodies the Greek economic crisis. For the investigation, the authors use statistical tests to explore relative changes at twenty accounting ratios of the sample firms. These ratios are computed for one year before and after the merger. These ratios are found to be statistically insignificant indicating firms do not experience a post-merger improvement in accounting performance. The authors also examine six qualitative variables representing merger characteristics as past managerial decisions. Important findings for these characteristics include the following. First, for companies that do not fall under the same production line, the researchers observe an improvement for three ratios: collection period ratio, return on total assets, and profit or loss before tax. Thus, liquidity and profitability are improved. Second, when companies merged with their subsidiaries, the authors discover significant improvement for two ratios: gross margin and collection period ratio. In brief, positive results are found for mergers with subsidiaries and negative results with others. Third, the payment method influences two ratios, the current ratio and the stock turnover ratio. The current ratio is affected positively for the transactions in cash and negatively for the transactions in shares, while the stock turnover ratio is affected negatively for cash transactions and positively for share transactions.

This paper investigates the impact of board diversity and CEO educational background on bank performance. Based on a sample of 54 UK publicly listed banks over the period 2005–2015, we examine the relationship of both static and dynamic modelling frameworks, which controls for individual specific effects and potential sources of endogeneity. The study reports a positive but insignificant relationship between CEO education and bank performance, and a positive significant association between gender diversity and bank performance. It further denotes a negative and significant impact of nationality diversity on bank performance. Our findings provide empirical support for the significance of the association between board diversity and firm performance. Our study also provides support for theories concerned with how corporate governance differs in financial institutions.

This research analyzes behavioral finance, especially the behavior of investors in Yogyakarta, Indonesia Region. The performance of investor behavior is examined based on the LQ 45 stocks return on Indonesia Stock Exchange and questionnaires that are spread out to five securities agents in Yogyakarta.
The performance of LQ 45 stocks return is compared to the questionnaire analysis in the “Belief” part at the first and second stages. The first result shows that LQ 45 stocks are profitable. It can be seen from the average return of the stocks that it has positive value and is statistically identical with the LQ 45 index return. This result is in line with the investors’ opinion that LQ 45 stocks are profitable. The second result shows that most of LQ 45 stocks are profitable and give high return. But, this result is also contrary to the opinion of investors towards traditional finance paradigm that investors still believe “high risk – high return, low risk – low return”. Although most of LQ 45 stocks are considered as low risk stocks, many investors prefer to choose LQ 45 stocks. It means that the traditional finance paradigm has weakness. It is proven that investors sometimes act irrationally.
The third and fourth stages of the study are aimed to analyze the relationship between feeling and belief towards frequency of transaction each day based on the questionnaire using regression analysis. The result shows that there is significant relationship between feeling and frequency of transaction each day.

The study aims to test investment inefficiency of fixed assets in mediating the relationship between free cash flow and earnings management and to test the controlling shareholders in moderating the relationship between free cash flow and fixed assets investment inefficiency. The research problem proposed in this study is whether the use of free cash flow for the investment inefficiency of fixed assets is able to ultimately improve the managerial performance. This research investigates new empirical evidence related to management earnings practices caused by free cash flow fixed assets investment inefficiency. The study was conducted on all the manufacturing firms listed on the Indonesia stock exchange from 2010 to 2015. The data used are secondary data in the form of the firms’ financial statements. Using purposive sampling, 314 units were analyzed from 69 manufacturing firms. The estimation of the path model was completed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by WarpPLS program version 5.0. The results showed that free cash flow is positively related to earnings management. Fixed assets investment inefficiency is able to mediate the relationship between free cash flow and earnings management.

Extant literature shows the positive impact of institutional development on investor rationality and market efficiency. The authors extend this evidence by investigating the performance-flow relationship in the Chinese mutual fund market before and after the enforcement of the revised Law of the People’s Republic of China on Securities Investment Fund. Empirical evidence reveals that Chinese investors irrationally chase past star performers before institutional reform, but gradually become rational and less obsessed with star-chasing behaviors after reform. Moving one percentile upward in the relative performance among the star funds is associated with money inflows by 0.532% after reform, much lower than 1.433% before reform. The findings confirm the positive influence of institutional development on investor rationality and market efficiency. The successful experience can be borrowed by other emerging markets with less developed institutions.

This study investigates the determinants of foreign portfolio investment in Jordan using series of data covering the period from 2000 to 2016. Eight independent variables were employed. They are: aggregate economic activity, inflation, interest rate differentiation, stock market performance, risk diversification, country creditworthiness, governance, and corruption. The regression results show that good and stable macroeconomic environment attracts foreign investors. In addition, foreign investors prefer to invest in the capital market which provides an opportunity of risk diversification. A country that has enough liquidity to meet its obligation, and has well-governed environment attracts more portfolio investment. The results of the study provide empirical evidence about the factors that have a significant impact on the flow of foreign portfolio investment to Jordan. These factors can be utilized when formulating polices by the specialized authorities who are seeking to attract more portfolio investment.

Financial services market (FSM) is one of the effective mechanisms for ensuring the competitiveness of the country’s economy. It is precisely because of its ability to direct investment flows into the most attractive segments of the economy, and the FSM development can contribute to economic growth. Accordingly, today it is important to strengthen the financial services market in Ukraine. For this purpose, it is necessary to study the current state, identify problems and determine the main directions of its development in a timely manner.
The article investigates the financial services market in Ukraine, which is unstable, characterized by a significant outflow of financial resources, and underdeveloped financial intermediaries. FSM deterioration was also influenced by factors such as: financial crisis, sharp exchange rate fluctuations, military conflict, decline of the country’s economy, etc. Negative consequences of the events in the country were reflected even in a quite developed banking system. The focus is on the lack of financial culture in society, which is due to low deposit activity, high level of non-repayment of loans, lack of confidence in the new tools, and the introduction of new products in the financial services market. However, the development of the country as a whole is impossible without a strong financial services market.
It is noted that one of the important conditions for the FSM development and the effectiveness of macroeconomic tasks entrusted to it is the formation of an effective mechanism of the financial market state regulation. Such a mechanism should include both elements of state regulation and self-regulation of the financial services market. Accordingly, the formation of indicators aimed at assessing the impact of state regulation on the development of the financial services market becomes relevant.
The article examines the implementation of state regulation in financial services markets, analyzes the activity of the FSM state regulation in Ukraine and the control function effectiveness, considers the dynamics of the main indicators of the financial services markets development in Ukraine, and analyzes the level of financial services markets development.

The aim of this paper is to illuminate the role of the socio-economic, cultural and religious context in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of banks in Bangladesh. The authors utilize content analysis of annual reports and websites of banks to identify CSR activities in healthcare, education and financial inclusion sectors. Structuration theory (ST) is used to explain how interactions between bank managers (as agents) with the social structures (institutions and government) shape CSR practices. The findings show that banks’ engagement in CSR activities is embedded in the social fabric of Bangladesh and not a result of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). It is also noted that Islamic banks focus their CSR activities on social justice, while other banks target education and other humanitarian issues. The authors contribute to the literature on the determinants of CSR by revealing the rationalizations of different actors in the production and reproduction of CSR practices in Bangladesh, an insight attributed to ST. The researchers conclude that Islamic beliefs influenced managers to mitigate poverty through CSR investments.

In the period of Ukraine’s integration into the European economic space, one of the basic conditions for achieving compliance with the European community requirements is the formation of favorable investment environment. In view of this, the aim of the article is to analyze the economic preconditions for the unification and adaptation of the investment mechanism in the period of Ukraine’s integration into the economic euro area, and to develop recommendations for unification of institutional support for the formation of the investment environment in Ukraine. In the course of the study, the system approach and the method of system analysis and synthesis are the basis. Based on the analysis of the activities in Poland, it is outlined that the conditions for their achievement of high rating indicators are the legally regulated mechanism for promoting investment, which includes relevant institutions, low tax rates, transparency and ease of doing business. The comparison made on this basis has made it possible to determine key differences and problems between approaches of European countries and Ukraine, namely: the lack of correspondence between the actual measures legally declared, the monetary unit instability, the unpredictability of the political and economic situation, the complexity of doing business. Approaches to unification of institutional support for the formation of the investment environment in Ukraine and measures aimed at increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of investment activity are proposed.

This study examines the relationship of auditor tenure and audit quality in four European countries, namely Germany, France, Italy and Spain, with the innovative GMM (Generalized Methods of Moments) model during the period from 2005 to 2013.
Two GMM methods are used with two alternative definitions of crisis – the main and the robustness method. The results agree regardless of the fact that some of the control variables are excluded in the robustness test.
The results support the finding that in Spain, there is an impact of auditors’ long-term tenure on discretionary accruals, affecting auditors’ quality and independence indirectly. In addition, the crisis affected Germany and France as far as the change in negative and positive values of GDP is concerned. In this respect, the crisis affected the above two countries when the years before and after the crisis are considered as a robustness check. The results contain important implications for accountant regulators and policy makers.

The article examines the relationship between external debt and economic growth in emerging economies for the period 2006-2016. The authors used different econometric tools, e.g., ADL model and correlation analysis. The regression results showed that the original values had no significant impact on the estimation of the parameters. Thus, there was made an assumption that emerging economies have a non-linear impact on macroeconomic parameters, including external debt that has a non-linear type of influence on economic growth. The authors established that high level of external debt, in conjunction with macroeconomic instability, impedes economic growth in such countries. The regression model also showed that there is a critical level of debt burden for emerging economies, where the marginal impact of external debt on economic growth becomes negative.
The results of the study highlighted the significance of the problem of effective public debt management strategy implementation in Ukraine. This issue is predetermined by the appropriate organizational support. The study recommends improving a public external debt management model. In this paper, the authors proposed a new structure with the participation of new element – independent agencies. The unified external debt management system should integrate all state institutions and executive power structures in this area.