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The purpose of this study is to compare two theories that relate the proportion of diversified firms in the economy and the implied discount for diversified firms: the first is a real-options model predicting a positive relationship between the discount and management’s choice to operate a diversified firm; the second is based on catering theory, in which a negative relationship is predicted, as management is attentive to investor preference concerning diversified firms.

This study proposes a new aggregate measure of the diversification discount. The authors’ measure allows for decomposition of the discount into firm-level mispricing, industry-level mispricing and long-run fundamental value components.

Results support a catering theory of diversification. The discount appears to be the result of firm-level mispricing. Thus, providing an explanation for why, in light of the observed discount, a large number of diversified firms persist.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to provide evidence that firm-level mispricing may drive the observed diversification discount.

We explore the apparent value of ERM within the CB landscape in the absence of endogeneity concerns.

We explore the observed market value of enterprise risk management (ERM) in a specific industry, community banks (CBs). To do this we employ standard event study methodology. We use the surprise failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank (SBNY) as a natural experiment to investigate this phenomenon.

We observe several consistent results. CBs with high institutional ownership and high insider ownership exhibited a negative relationship with abnormal returns. Univariate results indicate that there is a negative relationship between ERM and CB. However, multivariate results controlling for other known factors which impact returns indicate no relationship between ERM implementation and value for CBs. Finally, we find evidence the market considers CBs to have less risk of failure or exposure to regional banking contagion, as CARs are positive when using a regional bank index as the market model benchmark.

These results call into question the value of ERM for CBs.

These results call into question the value of ERM for CBs. This is the first paper to explore ERM value within CBs using a natural experiment approach.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of financial flexibility as represented by excess cash holdings and debt capacity upon firm returns after periods of high market uncertainty.

Days of high uncertainty are identified from 1987-2011 using the VXO Index (implied volatility of the S&P 100) yielding approximately 45,000 firm events. The main variables of interest are excess cash (Duchin et al., 2010) and debt capacity. Two financial constraint indexes are used as controls in a cross-sectional OLS regression.

The precautionary value of cash during and after times of uncertainty is beneficial. A positive relationship exists for periods of up to two years following the initial day of high uncertainty. Positive BHRs exist on a zero-cost trade investing in a portfolio of high excess cash firms and shorting a portfolio of cash constrained firms. The value of excess debt capacity, on the other hand, is harder to discern; positive profits are obtainable on a zero-cost trade while regression estimates are typically insignificant on average.

This paper expands the financial flexibility literature by testing the effects of financial flexibility on returns following days of high market uncertainty.

This paper reviews the role of alloying elements in aluminium and alloy fabrication on performance during surface treatment and surface finishing. Such elements may be present in solid solution as fine segregates, strengthening phase and equilibrium phases. For surface treatment and finishes, which generally proceed in the presence of alumina film, knowledge of the processes proceeding at the alloy/film and film/electrolyte interfaces, and those within anodic alumina films, gives rise to the possibility of controlling features of nanoscale dimensions, for improved performance, arises. Its influence on nanotextures at treated surfaces and compositionally and morphologically modified films is explained briefly.

IN the two years since the last Farnborough Air Show was held by the Society of British Aerospace Companies the aircraft industry has achieved an almost complete metamorphosis from the body blows in the form of major programme cancellations that almost felled it in 1965 to the very healthy position that it holds today.

Normalair‐Garrett Ltd., (Stand No. N31) part of the Westland plc Group of Yeovil, Somerset, is exhibiting a wide range of products which demonstrate the company's diverse capabilities in control systems and precision components for the aerospace industry.

The study focusses on explaining why advocates for reform to state audit in the United Kingdom (UK) in the early 1980s, focussed on improving the links between the new National Audit Office (NAO) and Parliament, rather than on traditional notions of audit independence. The study shows how this focus on the auditor's link to Parliament depends on a particular concept of liberty and relates this to the wider literature on the place of audit in democratic society.

Understanding the issue of independence of audit in protecting the liberties and rights of citizens needs addressed. In this article, the authors investigate the creation of audit independence in the UK in the National Audit Act (1983). To do so, the authors employ a neo-Roman concept of liberty to historical archives ranging from the late 1960s to 1983.

The study shows that advocates for audit reform in the UK from the 1960s to the 1980s were arguing for an extension to Parliament's power to hold the executive to account and that their focus was influential on the way that the new NAO was established. Using a neo-Roman concept of liberty, the authors show that they believed Parliamentary surveillance of the executive was necessary to secure liberty within the UK.

The neo-Roman republican concept of liberty extends previous studies in considering the importance of audit for public accountability, the preservation of liberty and democracy.

Public sector audit can be a fundamentally democratic activity. Auditors should be alert to the constitutional importance of their work and see parliamentary accountability as a key objective.

The neo-Roman concept of liberty extends previous studies in considering the importance of audit for public accountability, preservation of liberty and democracy.

The Westland Lynx helicopter is a particularly fine example of the use of advanced fan technology in modern aircraft applications. The firm of Airscrew Howden have come a long way from their original manufacture of the wooden ‘prop’ but they still continue to play a very essential part in all types of aircraft flying today; this takes the form of sophisticated fan designs to cover a wide variety of special air‐movement requirements that can arise in this sector.