Seppo Ikäheimo

Value Based Management Practices - Some Evidence from the Field

Value Based Management (VBM), and especially Economic Value Added (EVA™),1 has attracted considerable interest among organisations in recent years. These concepts can be applied to capital budgeting, valuation, management control, and incentive compensation. Despite the growing number of applications, we have only limited independent research-based evidence on how these concepts are actually applied. However, this can be considered not only an essential step in research investigating the benefits of VBM [cf. Ittner, C.D., Larcker, D.F.,1998. Innovations in performance measurement: trends and research implications. Manage. Acc. Res. 10, 205–238], but also on its limitations. With the aid of six Finnish-based organisations from five different industries, we illustrate the diversity of actual use of VBM. Our results indicate that for some organisations VBM is merely rhetoric, while for others it seems to have an impact on both decision making and control system, taking various forms from one firm to another. In some organisations, application of VBM is restricted only to the highest levels of hierarchy, whereas in others it covers the whole organisation. However, in none of the studied organisations is VBM applied in as comprehensive a manner as suggested in the normative literature. This multitude of different ways in which VBM is actually used in practice raises some problems regarding the study of VBM and its benefits. In particular, the adoption of EVA™, as measured with EVA™ based bonuses [see e.g. Wallace, J.S., 1997. Adopting residual income-based compensation plans: do you get what you pay for? J. Acc. Econ. 24, 275–300; Kleiman, R., 1999. Some evidence on EVA companies. J. Appl. Corp. Finance 12, 80–91], is seriously challenged.

Social Influence and Consumption: Evidence from the Automobile Purchases of Neighbors

This study analyzes the automobile purchase behavior of all residents of two Finnish provinces over several years. Using a comprehensive data set with location coordinates at the individual consumer level, it finds that the purchases of neighbors, particularly in the recent past and by those who are geographically most proximate, influence a consumers purchases of automobiles. There is little evidence that emotional biases, like envy, account for the observed social influence on consumption. Copyright by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

IQ and Mutual Fund Choice

Using a comprehensive dataset of Finnish males, we study IQ’s influence on mutual fund choice. High-IQ investors are less likely to own balanced funds, actively managed funds, and funds marketed through a retail network. This behavior tends to reduce high-IQ investors’ fund fees. Moreover, within each asset class and service category, and controlling for other investor attributes, high-IQ investors prefer the lowest-fee funds, further reducing the fees incurred. IQ’s effect on fee sensitivity is robust to the addition of fund family dummies, which help control for unobservable service attributes. IQ also influences the fee sensitivity of even the most affluent investors, ruling out wealth-related access to low-fee funds as the explanation for IQ’s relationship to fees.

On the Convergence of Management Accounting and Financial Accounting - The Role of Information Technology in Accounting Change

In this article we theorize and conceptualize the recent convergence of management accounting (MA) and financial accounting (FA) with the advancements in information technology (IT), and explicate not only how this convergence is manifested in the technical and technological domain, but also how it is reflected in their convergence at the behavioral and organizational level.

‘The True and Fair View’ of Executive Stock Option Valuation

ABSTRACT We compare the market values of executive stock option (ESO) trades with their Black & Scholes (1973) model values calculated following the major accounting standards, SFAS No. 123r and IFRS2. Our results show major underpricing compared to the traditional B&S method values. This should be considered while applying SFAS No. 123r and IFRS2 for estimating fair values. Especially time to expiration has a major influence on the undervaluation suggesting that the possibility of a change in corporate structure lowers the cost of ESOs to shareholders.

Employee stock option plans and stock market reaction: evidence from Finland

This paper examines whether the adoption of stock option plans results in changes in shareholders’ wealth, and whether the stock market reactions to ESOP announcements could be explained by the target group of ESOP and the dilution effect. Short-horizon test methods are applied for this purpose. The sample consists of ESOP announcements of Finnish publicly quoted companies on the Helsinki Stock Exchange during the time period 1988–1998. The event study results show a slightly positive market reaction to announcements of ESOPs targeted to management and a negative market reaction in the case of ESOPs targeted to all employees. The results of regression analysis show that the ESOPs with limited dilution convey positive information to the stock market and the dilution effect has a negative impact on stock returns, especially in the case of ESOPs targeted to all employees.

External corporate governance and performance: evidence from the Nordic countries

We examine the influence of anti-takeover provisions on valuation, stock return and operating performance using data from an extensive sample of publicly listed Nordic companies during the time period of 1999–2004 (similar to Gompers, Ishii, and Metrick 2003 [Corporate governance and equity prices. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 118: 107–55] in the US). We collected data from nine of the most commonly used provisions. The results suggest that anti-takeover provisions have a negative impact on valuation, no effect on stock return, and a positive influence on operating performance. Analysing the influence of each reveals dual-class stock to be the single most important provision dummy contributing to the negative valuation, though the discount decreases over the years.

Are Mutual Fund Fees Competitive? What IQ-Related Behavior Tells Us

This study analyzes the fees of mutual funds and the choices of mutual fund investors. Using a comprehensive dataset on males in two Finnish provinces, we find that the fees of funds selected by high IQ investors are not significantly lower than the fees of funds selected by low IQ investors. This conclusion controls for a variety of fund and individual attributes that explain mutual fund fees and mutual fund choices. This suggests that fees are set competitively in the fund industry.

The relation between executive time orientation and performance measurement

Purpose – This research presents empirical evidence on which performance measures are perceived as short-term oriented and long-term oriented by company executives, and on whether any perceived performance measure-related time orientation affects the time orientation of these executives. In addition, the study explores which measures impact executive time orientation, regardless of how these measures are perceived. Methodology/approach – A survey was used to collect the perceptions of chief financial officers (CFOs) in 109 companies listed in the Nasdaq OMX, the Nordic Stock Exchange. Performance measures include: stock price, earnings, returns, cash flow, success of development programs, EVA™, sales, and balanced scorecard, and the method employed was multiple regression. Findings – First, the CFOs perceived returns, sales, EPS, and stock price to have long time orientation. Second, the use of returns, stock price, and success of development programs as major performance measures encourage the CFOs toward long-term behavior, whereas the use of cash flow encourages short-term behavior. Third, stock price, earnings, and EPS are measures whose perceived time orientation affects the time orientation of executives. It is most likely due to this influence, that they have received major attention in public debates on the short time orientation of executives at the expense of other, more “silent” measures that also impact executive time orientation. Contextual factors strongly affect the results. Practical implications – The study assists in designing executive performance measurement systems that encourage desired time orientation. Originality/value – This study contributes to the fields of performance measurement and time orientation by recognizing the multidimensionality of the construct of time orientation and by showing how performance measures and their perceived time orientation influence executive time orientation.