Volume 11 (2015): Edizione 1 (March 2015)

The purpose of this paper is to identify the effects of the implementation of selected regulations on corporate governance in the reporting practice of banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The survey examined the disclosures concerning the main features of the internal control and risk management systems in relation to financial reporting in banks. Research studies on disclosures related to control over financial reporting have not yet been conducted. The paper uses a research method involving the analysis of annual reports disclosed by banks. The method of induction was used in the process of inference. The results of the study indicate that in the practice of reporting of banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2011, there was no uniform reporting form in terms of the presentation of information on internal control or risk management systems in relation to financial reporting. The disclosures were different both in terms of level of detail and content. In some banks disclosures were drawn at a high level of generality.

The Central and Eastern European (CEE) capital markets (of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and, to a limited extent, Belarus) are gradually evolving towards increased breadth (diversity) and depth (liquidity), however, they are still exposed to considerable cross-country volatility and interdependence spill-overs - especially in times of capital flight to more established asset classes (“safe havens”). Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have widely been censured for their undesirable political interference and chronic operational opacity. This paper demonstrates that in CEE, contrary to widespread perceptions attributable to developed markets, SWFs can act as natural and powerful risk mitigators (contributing to a more stable capital base and reduced systemic volatility). Such a proposition is premised on several factors specific to SWFs oriented to CEE. They comprise: strategic long-termism and patience in overcoming interim pricing deficiencies, commitments to elements of a broadly interpreted infrastructure, and absence of overt conflicts of interest with the CEE host economies. The paper, besides reviewing the utilitarianism of SWFs in the CEE’s risk mitigation context, highlights regulatory and technical barriers to more SWF funding for CEE. It also recommends policy measures to the CEE economies aimed at luring more host-friendly SWF investment into the region.

The profitability of analysts’ recommendations is documented in numerous studies from all over the world. However, the evidence from the Polish market is relatively modest. The primary aim of this study is to fill this gap. The paper contributes to the economic literature in four ways. First, it provides fresh out-of-sample evidence on return patterns following analysts’ recommendations from Poland. Second, it examines the relations between these patterns and the size of the rated companies. Finally, it investigates whether it is possible to design profitable strategies based on the discovered patterns. We use monthly stock level data from Poland and the sample period is 2004-2013. In order to examine the profitability of analysts’ reports, we build market-neutral portfolios and test their performance against CAPM, Fama-French three-factor and Carhart four-factor models. The principal findings can be summarized as follows. First, we document that the top rated companies deliver better returns than the bottom rated companies. Second, we find that the profitability is particularly impressive among the small companies. Third, the abnormal returns are partially explained by momentum and value based factors. Finally, we provide evidence that strategies based on information in recommendations deliver statistically significant positive abnormal rates of return.

We investigate several promising algorithms, proposed in literature, devised to detect sudden changes (structural breaks) in the volatility of financial time series. Comparative study of three techniques: ICSS, NPCPM and Cheng’s algorithm is carried out via numerical simulation in the case of simulated T-GARCH models and two real series, namely German and US stock indices. Simulations show that the NPCPM algorithm is superior to ICSS because is not over-sensitive either to heavy tails of market returns or to their serial dependence. Some signals generated by ICSS are falsely classified as structural breaks in volatility, while Cheng’s technique works well only when a single break occurs.

The European Football Championship (Euro 2012) organized in Poland became the pretext for a number of infrastructural changes. A high level of expenditure makes the Polish event the most expensive among events of this magnitude. The fact that these changes were 100% financed by public funds raises the question of whether these funds were used in a substantiated way. Therefore, the aim of this study is to estimate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) among the community of the Pomeranian region, in connection with the construction of the stadium in Gdansk. A survey conducted among 299 respondents was the source of information. The results of the study show that the average value of WTP for the whole sample was 6.71 EUR2012, while the aggregate value for the whole region was 15.4 million EUR2012. The regression analysis showed that the level of WTP is determined in particular by income levels. The results thus confirm the existence of intangible benefits associated with the constructed facilities. However, it should be noted that the importance of these benefits is insignificant and does not compensate for the massive expenditure from public sources.

An efficient market should not show any anomalies. When new information reaches a market which is efficient, it should automatically translate into prices of assets, which ought to eliminate the possibility of gaining an advantage over other investors, thus preventing excess profits. However, studies on capital markets indicate that in reality it is possible to earn unusually high profits by taking advantage of certain anomalies which occur on a given market. Among such anomalies there is the momentum effect. This study performed on the Stock Exchange in Warsaw has shown that the momentum effect occurred throughout the entire analyzed time period. Positive returns demonstrated for investment strategies based on the momentum effect were unexplainable by the classical theory of finances. A correlation was found between the economic situation on the stock exchange and portfolio return rates, but it was too weak to attribute the effect to a single decisive factor. In addition, the returns from investments based on the momentum effect were statistically higher in January than in the other months, which was caused by the January effect, stimulating the occurrence of statistically higher returns at the beginning of a year rather than later on during the analyzed period of time. Research in this field carried out in other countries justifies the claim that there are many irrational factors which together create the momentum effect on the stock exchange. Thus, it is possible to conclude that irrational decisions may have strong impact on the pricing of stocks on the capital market. The momentum effect persisted throughout the entire analyzed period, although its power changed cyclically, which coincides with results of research carried out in other countries. The fact that the momentum effect did not disappear may suggest that the factors involved in its creation are an indispensable part of the market, and this seems to undermine the commonly accepted hypothesis about the efficiency of capital markets.

One of the most significant factors which influences the level of banking sector liquidity is Currency in Circulation. Although the central bank is in charge of distribution of the currency it can’t assess the demand for the currency, as that demand is generated by the customers of commercial banks. Therefore, the amount of Currency in Circulation has to be modelled and forecasted. This paper introduces ARIMA(2,1) and SARIMA(2,1)(5,0) models with dummy variables and discusses its applicability to the forecasting of Currency in Circulation. The forecasting performance of these models is compared. The results indicate that the performance of SARIMA(2,1)(5,0) is better and that both models might be applied for monetary policy purposes as supportive tools for banking sector liquidity forecasting.

Selection of appropriate funding sources for company assets is one of the most important decisions taken by a company. The right capital structure and in particular the relevant relationship between own and external sources of financing have a significant impact on the financial results. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the use of own resources in the funding of assets in the dairy industry in the Podlaskie Province in 2010-2012. The information included in the financial statements of the surveyed companies, as well as secondary data included in the studies of the CSO, was used in the paper.

The article refers to the issue of the endowment effect, which acts as a mechanism that influences valuation. The paper’s main aim is to verify the endowment effect phenomenon for branded, fast-moving consumer goods. The subject of this paper also includes examining whether short-term possession, generates the endowment effect. It also studies how the possibility of using a product influences the power of the examined phenomenon. In order to verify the proposed hypothesis, an economic experiment was used. Its results were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics and econometric methods. The study demonstrated that the endowment effect determines the perception of goods and influences their valuation.